Fons without Fondoms: Autopsy of Royal Bushfallers

By Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta

 

In the early 90's following the groundswell of political agitations that came in the wake of the launching of Ni John Fru Ndi’s Social Democratic Front, I wrote an article titled "Fons Without Fondoms" that was published in Paddy Mbawa’s erstwhile Cameroon Post weekly. In that article, I took umbrage at traditional rulers (fons and chiefs) that had unashamedly engaged in partisan politics, logorrhea and harlotry to the point of debasing not only themselves but the thrones over which they held hereditary custody. As Kebila Fokum would have it, “…fons of the Northwest have lost their compass… Most of the fons have desecrated the throne, betrayed their people and ridiculed the region” (2).[i]

The aforementioned article was my reaction to the untoward events that had transpired in Bamenda in the 90s with Fon Angwafor III taking center stage. Fokum notes that “Fon Angwafor was seen in public holding an umbrella over the head of governor Bell Luc Rene (op. cit, 3). I referred to the fon of Mankon in my newspaper article  as ‘Mr. Angwafor’ because of this unbecoming attitude. It was therefore, no surprise when the population of Bamenda who had taken offence at the fon’s servile comportment and foul-mouthed utterances against the SDF and its Chairman rose up in anger and pelted him with rotten tomatoes and burned down his palace.

Whether or not fons and chiefs should engage in party politics is a question that falls beyond the scope of this write-up. The intent of this discourse is not to denigrate or belittle our traditional leaders. Let the weighty words used in this paper to qualify the unabashed comportment of these rulers not be misconstrued to connote a disdain for traditional leadership on the part of this writer.  I hail from a village where traditional rulers are held in high esteem. In point of fact, my people perceive their fon as being more than an ordinary human being; an intermediary between the living and the dead. That explains why they refer to him by having recourse to hyperbolic epithets: the fon’s eyes are analogous to the stars (beulo’oh); his head is akin to a granary (beuhkeuh), and so on.

Little wonder, therefore, that my people find it unfathomable that the once revered traditional rulers are today at the bottom of abysmal moral depravity. The integrity, nobility and dignity that were once the hallmarks of royalty have been thrown to the dogs. Low self-esteem and greed have given birth to a crop of fons and chiefs who speak and understand only one language: money. To borrow words from Fokum, “Traditional rulers can be seen palling around with armed robbers; they confer titles of notability on celebrated embezzlers and professional crooks. Most fons in the northwest have sold their souls to the devil” (op.cit, 1).  Some fons, like Doh Gah Gwanyin of Balikumbat in Ngoketunjia Division have earned the notoriety of murdering their own subjects with impunity: ”At the height of this buffoonery, Fon Doh Gah Gwanyin of Balikumbat pulled out a gun and shot at innocent villagers who refused to assist him in stealing the vote”(Fokum, 9). This bestial dereliction of royal duty brooks no commentary.    

 Suffice it to say that in this day and time, we are witnessing the emergence of a rather bizarre form of dereliction of duty among our traditional rulers—royal bushfallers.[ii] Caught in the web of pecuniary lure, some Cameroonian fons and chiefs have jumped the fence and are “loitering in DC and disturbing”…  “peace in this great nation.”[iii] To add salt to injury, these royal runaways are entangled in bitter squabbles as this email communication shows:

Good People,

Please help save the NW Culture before too much harm is done to ROYALTY. How can someone who calls himself a king abandoned his WIFE & KIDS in Cameroon for more than five years but yet have the mind to pay the Gazete News Paper to make up stories for him. Is it a toll for begging or to use it to obtain favors from the U.S. government? Regardless, "king" Raymond Mbumbi Kangsen need to answer questions. Is "MBANTUNG" translated as KING?

1) why have he abandone his family that long?

2) why didn't he as a king go home for royal rituals and to comfort his wife after the death of his first child years ago as royalty demands?

3) Is it royal for a "king" to desert his "Queen" for years?

4) Was the Right Moderator J.C. Kangsen that he succeeds a king? Was he ruling Wum or Nkesu?

5) Does he have a kingdom in Wum? What did he know or do about the LAKE NYOS DESASTER?

We also need answers from "king" CHUFONG GODLOVE LONGLA AYENG on what went wrong with the FULL GOSPLE CHURCH in Bamukubit and why is he always in physical fights if he is realy a "king"

Finally, we want to know why these "kings" sponsored the destabilization of FON ANYANGWE'S DYNASTY. Are they out to destroy dynasties for I even have a video of them organising, encouging and promoting a near deadly conflict in BABUNGO where I'm SECOND IN COMMAND to His Royal Majesty Fon Ndofoa Zofoa III.Why are they so DIVISIVE & DESTRUCTIVE if they're the kings that they claim to be. Be a crusader. Stop the assassination of our NW cultural norms & tradition.[iv]

The language in this citation certainly leaves much to be desired but grammatical correctness is not the crux of the matter here. What preoccupies this writer is the character assassination that is being perpetrated by these royal bushfallers who are at daggers drawn. Just ponder the ramifications of what you have read above and you will have an idea how low our chiefs and fons have sunk. The writer of the email above, who paradoxically, is himself a mbah (assistant fon resident in DC area for years now asks a pointed question:”How can someone who calls himself a king abandoned (sic) his WIFE & KIDS in Cameroon for more than five years…?” In fact, the interrogator should be asking himself the same question? Why is he here in the US and not in the village of Vengo co-ruling the village with fon Ndofoa Zofoa III ?

It is crystal clear from this email communication that these royal bushfallers have metamorphosed from respectable dignitaries to dishonorable pan-carriers, scoundrels, and mendicants in the white man’s land:”Is it a toll (sic) for begging or to use it to obtain favors from the U.S. government?”  In his lament on the sad predicament of royal bushfallers, Fokum opines: “The insatiable quest for money by traditional rulers has given birth to royal kilkers, royal dealers, royal drug barons, and royal beggars” (op.cit, 14). I maintain that a traditional ruler who shirks his responsibility to the point of not conforming to the rites and traditions that were bestowed upon him on the occasion of his enthronement ceases ipso facto to be the custodian of such rites and customs. By the same token, such a leader stands in breach of the social contract that binds him to the people (subjects) who perceive these rituals as their existential modus vivendi.

Royal misconduct harbors a myriad of socio-economic consequences: erosion of honor due to royalty, sexual promiscuity among the queens left unattended back at home, dysfunctional parenting for princes and princesses, philandering between jaded queens and sex starved nchindas or royal pages, and a host of other misdemeanors. Some observers have called for the immediate dethronement of irresponsible traditional rulers as a solution to dereliction of duty. Others have called upon subjects to commit regicide if duress cannot be brought to bear on absconding fons and chiefs to return home. The people of Kejem Keku (Big Babanki) seem to have heeded this clarion call when many years ago they burned their fon to death.

The circumstances surrounding this gruesome murder might have been unrelated to bushfalling but this only goes to show the extent to which people are prepared to go when faced with insurmountable frustration and angst. I do not condone assassination as a solution to misconduct. At the same time, our fons and chiefs at home and in the diaspora should be mindful of the burden of incumbency and desist from indulging in despicable comportment that puts them in harm’s way.

In a nutshell, the purport of this paper has been to spark a fruitful debate among Cameroonians at home and abroad on the role of traditional leadership, and the ramifications of neglect of royal responsibility. Our traditional leaders need to be reminded that character is the foundation stone on which to build in order to earn respect. As Ntemfac Ofege cautions:”Until Northwesterners are bold enough to call their fons to order as they do with President Paul Biya, the rot will continue” (“Royal Beggars: Northwest Fons and the Decadence of Tradition”, 8). I add my voice to that of Ofege in calling upon our royal bushfallers to give a second thought to the rationale behind their self-imposed exile. They must rethink and act now before it is too late.

Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is a professor of modern languages at the Defense Language Institute, California, USA.
http://www.vakunta.blogspot.com

 

Notes

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[i] “Royal Beggars: The Northwest Fons and Decadence of Tradition.” Retrieved on July 8, 2011 from http://scylinfo.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/kebila-fokum1.pdf

 

[ii]  Peter Vakunta. 2010. “The De-identification of African Bushfallers in the Diaspora.” Retrieved on July 8, 2011 from http://www.postnewsline.com/2010/12/the-de-identification-of-african-bush-fallers-in-the-diaspora.html

 

[iii] Email communication via Cameroon politics, May 29, 2011

[iv] Email communication via Cameroon politics, May 29, 2011

Comments

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Written simply and tastefully. It’s pleasant to read. Thank u.

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Dr. Vakunta comes out with a sledge hammer on royal bushfallers! They often want to "eat their cake and have it." Why call yourself a fon or a chief, and yet spend your entire life in a self-imposed exile in Europe or the U.S.? I know of many royals who went on exile, but only in cases where they were dethroned: King Farouk of Egypt, King Idriss of Libya, Haile Salissi of Ethiopia, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, The Dalai Lama, etc. Cameroonians royals may not, in any fashion, be comparable to these names, but they also carry the aura of authority within their villages and sometimes beyond like these big royals. It's however inconceviable that these Cameroonian ones on self-imposed exile should imagine themselves managing their villages, thousands of miles from where they are actually resident.

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