Suspecting SCNC agenda:

Gov’t bans joint NW fons/SW chiefs confab in Kumba

By Johnson Batuo in Kumba

SW Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai

The indefinite postponement of the planned joint meeting in Kumba of Northwest fons and Southwest chiefs is still animating discussions in bars and street corners here.

                Billed to hold on Tuesday 3 October 2016 at the Kumba palace of the paramount ruler of the Bafaws, Nfon Victor EsseminsonguMukete, the meeting did not take place; reports say it has been postponed indefinitely.

                Even though the reasons for the postponement or ban are not immediately known, it is widely believed that the traditional rulers were intimidated by the administration to call off the meeting.

                Commentators speculate that because the meeting was scheduled to hold just two days after the Independence Anniversary of the Former British Southern Cameroons on 1st October, the authorities feared that the marginalization of Anglophones would be top on the agenda and SCNC militants may also jump for the opportunity and do what they are known for.

                It should be mentioned that the meeting was called off even when some Northwest fons and Southwest chiefs had started converging on Kumba. One of the chiefs who had already come to Kumba for the meeting, HRH Chief Elis Eseme of Kokobuma village along the Kumba-Mamfe road told The Median on Tuesday 4 October that the meeting had been postponed indefinitely on instructions from the government but said he was not privy to the reasons for the postponement.

                Chief Elis speculated that the government feared that the meeting would help to weep up SCNC sentiments and give opportunity to advocates of secession to take advantage and do what they are good at: hoist the Southern Cameroons flag and circulate seditious tracts.

                Meanwhile our usually reliable sources have hinted that the Divisional Officer for Kumba I, Foumounbod Duala Charles, did not grant authorization for the meeting. Yet other sources said the ban came from the Southwest governor, Bernard OkaliaBilai. 

                It should be noted that for some time now the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws, Nfon V. E. Mukete, who is arguably the eldest living actor and witness of events leading to the 1961 reunification of British and French Cameroons, has missed no opportunity to point out to the authorities that they are not respecting the spirit and the letter of the reunification agreement. NfonMuketetells  who ever cares to listen that the marginal use of the English language in Cameroon and the stigmatization of Anglophones is preposterous and very sad. He has pointed this out even to president Paul Biya.

                Nfon V. E. Mukete was a Federal Minister in Nigeria  way back in the 1950s. He was among those who fought hard alongside other Southern Cameroons politicians at the time to see that the reunification comes to be. Today  Mukete is considered somewhat of a living encyclopedia of Southern Cameroons history and independence.