Buea Paramount Chieftaincy Saga:

NjohLitumbe vindicates the Kingmakers

- Says it is the prerogative of the royal family to select the new chief by virtue of Bakweri customs and tradition; the traditional council has nothing to do in matters of chieftaincy selection.

By Ajongakou Santos in Buea

MolaNjohLitumbe: Traditional councils

have no place in chieftaincy selection

Veteran Chartered Accountant and acclaimed ‘living encyclopedia’ of Bakweri history, customs and traditions, MolaNjohLitumbe has urged members of the Buea Town Traditional Council to stay out of the process of selecting a new chief to replace the late Paramount Chief, Nakuve SML Endeley IV of Buea. According to MolaLitumbe, the opinion of the traditional council is inconsequential in chieftaincy matters this because the traditional council is constituted essentially with people chosen out of the royal realm.

                Speaking recently on LTM television’s prime time program, Town Crier, MolaNjohLitumbe said that in Bakweri land and by virtue of Bakweri customs and traditions, when the chieftaincy stool is declared vacant as a result of death, incapacity or destitution of the chief, it is the elders from the households that constitute the royal family who sit in conclave and select a successor. The successor so chosen is then presented to the public.

                Quizzed as to the role of the traditional council in the chieftaincy selection process, MolaNjohLitumbe retorted: “no, no, no, the traditional council has no business in chieftaincy matters.”

                The patriarch explained that the traditional council is appointed by the chief to help him in such matters as the development of the village, peace keeping and any other functions duly assigned to it by him.

                “How then can the traditional council that is appointed by the chief give its opinion on who should be the chief,” MolaLitumbe wondered aloud, emphasizing that the chief in Bakweri land is supposed to be a pure-breeding, blue-blooded son of the soil, and not just any body claiming to have royal blood.

                To buttress the point further, NjohLitumbe explained that in those days it was very common to find Bakweri men having several wives. And when this was the case it was possible for some of the wives to make children with the servants (nchindas) of the palace. This was because the man in question could not always meet with and satisfy all his wives all the time.

                Because there was no guarantee that all the children born to the man are his biological children, the decision for who should be the successor when the man dies had to be taken by his siblings, not outsiders. This is because it is believed that only the late man’s brothers can easily know, from phenotypical evidence may be, who among his children carries the family blood,  

                Besides, MolaLitumbe explained that at times the chief can decide to co-opt into the traditional council some non natives of the village whom he considers resourceful enough to help in the development of the village. But these ‘strangers’ (vagili) can not give their opinion on who succeeds the chief when he dies. 

                MolaLitumbe’s explanations have been easily interpreted in Buea as sounding a grim warning to the president and members of the Buea traditional council, and to any other persons who are trying to poke their noses in the royal domain by attempting to give their opinions on the chieftaincy selection process.

                It should be recalled that several months following the passing on 7 July 2015 of the late Paramount Chief, HRM Nakuva Chief Justice SML Endeley IV of Buea, the royal family met in conclave on 23 May 2016 and chose a successor in the person of Prince Robert EsukaMbellaLifafaEndeley.

                But no sooner was Prince Esuka presented to the wider Buea public and this, in a very grandiose and popular ceremony, than Sir Humphrey EkemaMonono, the president of the Buea traditional council, called a crisis meeting to challenge the process that led to Prince Esuka’s selection. Monono reportedly claimed that the process of selecting Prince Robert Esuka was mired in controversy and irregularities.

                It however turned out that Monono’s enlarged meeting that also saw the participation of some chiefs from other neighbouring villages, turned out to be an embarrassment both to him and some others who answered present in the meeting.

                This was because as soon as he(Monono) read out the one-point agenda for the meeting, some participants immediately took the floor and called him to order. They not only told Monono that he had overstepped the limits of his powers as president of the Buea traditional council, they also urged him to suspend the meeting because “chieftaincy matters are not discussed in the market place and in the midst of ‘strangers’ and ‘commoners’.”

                Meanwhile, latest reports from the Mokunda Palace in Buea town indicate that, pending consultative talks, the royal family of Buea has already forwarded the name of Prince Robert EsukaMbellaLifafaEndeley to the administration for validation as their candidate to succeed the late Nakuve SML Endeley IV.  

                 Then to preempt any subversion of the decision of the kingmakers, the royal family has also petitioned the Prime Minister and the Presidency notifying them of the nefarious schemes of some Fako elite who in a bid to foster their self-seeking agendas, want to disrupt the chieftaincy succession process.