Fire on the Mountain:

Biya’s envoy exposes cracks in Fako CPDM

Technical Adviser at the cabinet of the Presidency of the republic, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono has lashed out angrily at CPDM leaders in Fako Division, calling them ‘hypocrites’ and accusing them of employing divisive antics that only help to fragment the party and put a dent in President Biya’s popularity at the base

By Boris Esono in Buea

Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, disgusted 

by the attitude of Fako politicians

In what political watchers have described as coming out forcefully from his reserve, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Cameroon Diplomatic Corps and Technical Adviser at the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, has fired a grim message to members of the CPDM establishment in his native Fako division. This was after the Fako CPDM leaders last week boycotted two significant events that had the blessing and support of the head of state, President Paul Biya.

                The first event was an ecumenical service, in the morning of Saturday 2 September 2017, at Mile 29, near Muyuka, where 19 young men and women had lost their lives in a ghastly accident that occurred on 19 August 2017. Jointly organized by the Buea and Muyuka councils and attended among others by SW governor, OkaliaBilai, who was personal representative of the president of the republic, the event witnessed the reading of the condolence message from President Paul Biya and his wife Chantal Biya, to the bereaved families.

                The second event thesame day at the Buea Council Chambers was a ceremony to handover FCFA 20 million, being President Biya’s financial assistance to the bereaved families. The money was handed to the families by the Fako SDO, in the presence of the president’s envoy, Churchill Monono and the etat-major of the SW region.

                Intriguingly, the leaders of the CPDM in Fako including members of central committee, politbureau, section presidents, senators, MPs (save for Hon. Fritz Etoke), mayors (save for the Limbe Government Delegate Andrew Motanga) all boycotted the two events.

                Unable to bear the embarrassment, Churchill Monono, who was President Biya’s envoy to the dual events, wasted no time to condemn the attitude of the Fako CPDM leaders, saying their boycott action was not only out of place but smacked of disrespect for the President of the Republic, who was showing his compassion for the families of Cameroonian citizens who had lost their lives.

                Sounding somewhat of a pedagogue, Monono exhorted members of the Fako CPDM establishment to “stop this nonsense and learn to do the right thing and at the right time”.

                Tagging the CPDM leaders as ‘hypocrites’, Monono said very soon the same people who boycotted the president’s gesture will be the first to hurry and write motions of support thanking the president for the gesture.

                Churchill Monono’s vexation with his fellow Fako CPDM elite was more so perhaps because of the many accidents that had occurred around the country in the past recent weeks and which have claimed the lives of over 116  Cameroonians (official figures), it is the Mile 29 accident that has attracted a special attention from President Biya.

                Reason why Churchill Monono lashed out on his Fako CPDM brethren, questioning why they had to snub this special gesture of the President; a gesture which, according to him, presented Fako with a golden opportunity to once more express their unreserved appreciation and gratitude to the President for all the things he has done for the division.

                “These same people who today have boycotted the President’s gesture are the ones who tomorrow will want their names to appear on top of the list of signatories to motions of support to the President… They are those who will write motions of support even for the most trivial reasons. Yet they do not see it necessary to acknowledge a big gesture from the president. I hope after boycotting these two events they will also refuse to acknowledge it in the next motion of support that they will write and send to the President,” remarked Churchill Monono in utter disappointment and annoyance.

                Monono wondered further: “Why should people who have received almost everything from President Biya now turn their backs on him and at a moment when he expects to see their appreciation? Why should Fako people deny an opportunity to give gratitude to president Biya? Why should they refuse to acknowledge the President’s gesture to Fako?”

                Churchill Monono extrapolated from the attitude of the Fako CPDM establishment that maybe it is packed with people who only support the president when it is convenient to them and when they are sure that their personal interests is protected.

                “By boycotting this gesture of the President Fako elite have shown to the wider public that they support the head of state only when it is convenient to them and when they are sure to make personal political capital out of it,” Monono regretted, hammering that the Fako CPDM establishment is composed essentially of hypocrites. 

                However, commentators contend that the boycott by Fako CPDM elite of the events at Mile 29 and at the Buea Council Hall could be expected considering the icy relation between the Buea Mayor, Patrick EkemaEsunge and the Fako CPDM establishment.

                The commentators note that since for some time now, the CPDM in Fako has been literally split into two camps, with one camp supporting the establishment in Yaounde and the other camp supporting the dauntless and fire-eating Mayor of Buea, Patrick EkemaEsunge.

                They noted that though the fragments in Fako CPDM had existed long before, the battle lines only became clearly visible in December 2015, and that was when some people who arrogated to themselves the role of king-makers, decided to subvert the presidential circular laying down rules and regulations for the election of leaders of grassroots structures of the party.

                They recalled that clearly at variance and in total disregard for the presidential text sanctioning the elections, which allowed for militants to freely decide whether or not to aspire and run for elective positions in the party, these rather self-serving Fako King-makers, put aside the presidential circular and imposed an obnoxious condition which technically eliminated some otherwise eligible and popular candidates from contesting in the election. The rather “unpopular and controversial” condition barred elective office holders from running for office within the party structures in Fako CPDM.

                The Buea Mayor, Patrick Ekema, who was understood to be the person targeted by the sinister condition in Fako CPDM and who was eventually technically knocked out of the race for section president in CPDM Fako 111 Buea, has since not forgiven the Fako CPDM establishment for the “injustice”. Ekema has literally parted ways with the members of the establishment, whom he now sees, rightly or wrongly, as his political enemies.

                Until today, Ekema, just like the members of the Fako CPDM establishment have been boycotting one another; events organized by one camp are not attended by members of the other camp, and vice versa, observers have noted.

                Perhaps this explains why you can hardly find Patrick Ekema in any event that is organized by any member of the Fako CPDM establishment. The reverse is true for members of the establishment.

                That is perhaps why an earlier event organized in Buea by the establishment to honour the victims of the Mile 29 accident was boycotted by Ekema and his partisans.

                Political watchers have wasted no time therefore to conclude that the boycott of the events in Muyuka and Buea by some frontline political elite in Fako was because Ekema had a frontline and active role to play in the organization of the events.

                Yet, to Churchill Monono, whether or not there is  wrangling and/or camps within the CPDM in Fako, that should not warrant political bigwigs of the party to undermine the President of the Republic as to snub his gesture.

                “If CPDM bigwigs in Fako have elected to be boycotting each other, it is no excuse for them to also boycott a gesture from the head of state,” Churchill Monono opined, noting that in sending the condolence message and financial package President Biya was acting not as President of the CPDM but as head of state and father of all Cameroonians.

                When this reporter sought to know from Churchill Monono why he sounded so bitter with his Fako brethren and whether his annoyance was because his brothers had also undermined his presence in Buea for the events, he retorted with a resounding no.

                 “No, no! I have any personal interest in all of these; but as envoy of the president of the republic and one who serves the president in his cabinet, I find it embarrassing to notice this kind of attitude from my own people, a people who have received just everything from the President,” Monono explained, stating that; “the president chose me from Fako to serve him in his cabinet; so I will not and cannot stay silent and watch my own people undermining my boss.”

                However, when this reporter sought to know from a member of the Fako CPDM establishment why he stayed away from the events in Buea and Muyuka, Senator MbellaMoki Charles hastened to say he was not informed about the holding of the events talkless of being aware that the events had the blessings of the Head of State.

                As for the head of the permanent delegation of the CPDM to Fako, Hon. Emilia Lifaka, who doubles as VP of the National Assembly, we are told she too said she was not officially informed by the organizers of the events. Lifaka was however reported as saying she only received an SMS from the Buea Mayor announcing the events.

                But to Churchill Monono, the alibi presented by the Fako CPDM bigwigs is untenable because according to him any politician worth the name will jump for the next available opportunity to relate with his constituents.

                A career diplomat, Churchill Monono is arguably the longest serving and perhaps the highest in among Anglophones serving in the Cabinet of the Presidency.  Monono is also a former attaché at the General Secretariat of the Presidency and former counselor successively at the Cameroon Embassies in Ethiopia and Russia.