Ingratitude

SW CPDM abandon Stephen Mbonda’s corpse
Though the Central Committee of the party was represented by a high-powered delegation led by party scribe Jean Kuete and Mme Yaou Aissatou, the regional leaders of the party were conspicuously absent. Their boycott was attributed to infighting between conservatives and progressives in South West CPDM
By Jude Njinjuh in Mbonge and Bai Sombe
Militants of the ruling CPDM party in the South West Region and Meme Division in particular have been accused of practicing the politics of hate and bad fate. This because of the low turnout and almost total boycott of the funeral of the late Stephen Mbonda Motia, National President of the youth wing of the party (YCPDM), who died last August and was buried on Saturday 11 September, in his native Bai Sombe Village, near Mbonge in Meme Division.
    As was least expected, CPDM militants and sympathizers in Meme Division did not come out, dressed in their party uniforms to crowd the Kumba District Hospital Mortuary where Mbonda’s corpse was coffined, and bid a final and befitting farewell to the fallen national hero. Rather, at the time of removal of Mbonda’s remains, only a few CPDM militants of both the Youth wing and the Men and Women’s wings were spotted around the Hospital Mortuary. The CPDM barons who were present at the Mortuary early that morning notably Minister Ngole Philip Ngwesse of Forestry and Wildlife and Senator Nfor Tabe Tando, wondered in discernible surprise and disbelief why the mortuary was so deserted. Neither the regional leader(s) (Musonge, Ebong Ngole etc) of the CPDM in the South West nor the local section leaders were seen. Not even militants and leaders of the CPDM in Kumba, where Stephen Mbonda lived and died, were mobilized for the funeral.   
    Seemingly angered, by the scanty turnout of CPDM militants at the mortuary, the supporters (tugs) of Mbonda who came mostly from Mbonge claimed the corpse and prevented any CPDM youths at the mortuary from coming close to the casket.


Funeral ritual in Mbonge
    In Mbonge Marumba where part 1 of the funeral was set, the situation was not better. Only members of the Central Committee Delegation from Yaounde and a host of friends, sympathizers and family members filled the Mbonge Municipal Grandstand. Many persons who came from other parts of the SW and Cameroon to at least witness the corpse removal at the Kumba Mortuary, but who got to the mortuary late, did not proceed to Mbonge. 
According to observers who spoke to this reporter on the basis of anonymity, the evident lack of enthusiasm and poor mobilization of militants during the funeral of Stephen Mbonda was not unconnected to the infighting between the conservatives and the progressives within the CPDM in the South West region. It is said that because of his exceptional qualities, especially his gifted oratory and mobilizing capacity, Stephen Mbonda quickly attracted for himself more enemies and detractors than admirers, soon after he got the job of National Youth President. And the bulk of his enemies were among the conservatives, who considered him too ambitious and arrogant. Mbonda sometimes confided how some of these conservatives would urge him to exercise patience because according to them he was still too young to aspire for certain positions.
    “How can somebody of 40 and above be considered too young for office?” Mbonda always wondered to his confidants.
    It is even believed that some CPDM conservatives in the South West did not like the fact that Mbonda was given the post of National Youth President of the party. The Median learnt on good authority that some CPDM top brass in the region because of their inordinate ambition had preferred that the NW and South West should swap posts in the national bureau, so that the NW should take the post of National Youth President while the SW grabs the post of National Vice President, which has been held by North Westerners since the creation of the CPDM in 1985 in Bamenda.

CPDM pay tribute to Mbonda
    In his eulogy while presiding at the funeral, the Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee, Jean Kuete, described Mbonda Stephen as “one of the most outstanding figures of the party.”  He said Mbonda’s immeasurable qualities and output as youth president has merited for him the special, sincere and deepest condolences of the national president of the party, Paul Biya, and his wife Chantal Biya. Jean Kuete said Mbonda’s multiple and exceptional talents made him easily become “a most representative symbol and most promising icon of the fresh momentum gained by the CPDM party after the last ordinary congress of the party that took place in Yaounde in September 2011.
    Jean Kuete recalled how after joining the CPDM at a tender age in the mid 1990s, Mbonda Stephen quickly became the YCPDM subsection president of  Bomboko, Mbonge and was later elected as YCPDM President for Meme 11 Section, a position he held until his brilliant election to the position of National Youth President, during the September 2011 congress.
    The CPDM scribe credited Mbonda for bringing fresh impetus and vitality to the youth wing of the party, in just three years as national youth president.
    “Today, thanks to that impetus the party’s youth are constantly active,” Jean Kuete said, saying that the victories of the CPDM in the twin elections of September 30, 2013, were in great part because of this renewed activism of the youth.

Mbonda’s father accuses CPDM 
    Addressing the crowd of mourners at the Mbonge grandstand, John Basisa Mbonda, father of the late Mbonda Stephen, attributed the death of his son to the CPDM party. He said that his beloved son could have remained alive if he were not raised to such a covetous position in the ruling CPDM party. Pa Mbonda promised to dig out the cause of his son’s death, while asking God to pay the perpetrators of the act in their own coins.

Burial proper abandoned to family members
    It should be mentioned that the high-powered CPDM Central Committee Delegation from Yaounde headed by the Secretary General Jean Kuete and comprising of Mme Yaou Aissatou of WCPDM, Ibrahim Talba Malla and Victor Mengot, Monkam Jonathan Fru and Monkam, spent barely less than two hours in Mbonge and disappeared, living the corpse to the family. Others included CDC GM, Njie Franklin Ngoni, Pamol Interim GM, Chief Mekanya Charles Okon, Senator Otte Mofa, Mr. Churchill Ewumbue-Monono Technical Adviser at the President’s Cabinet and Alternate Senator Njikam Richard.
    Only family members and a few friends and sympathisers accompanied the corpse to Mbonda’s native Bai Sombe village where it was buried.  Observers did not hide their disappointment with the CPDM party for what they considered an indignity to the fallen hero. Commentators said that despite the bad roads, it was still possible for the CPDM delegation to brave the rough terrain with their big all-weather vehicles to convey their comrade to his final destination. They indicted the authorities of the party for practicing double-standards, saying that if Stephen Bonda were a big office holder all Yaounde would have emptied into his village to witness the burial even if it meant using caterpillars.
    The pick-up vehicle carrying Mbonda’s body left Mbonge at about 1pm and only arrived in Bai Sombe village at 6pm. The burial followed almost immediately. The few friends and sympathizers who accompanied the corpse also left immediately after the burial, leaving the villagers wondering if their brother was truly a big man in the CPDM. Not even the CPDM Section President for Mbonge accompanied the corpse to Bai Sombe. The only officials who braved the odds and accompanied the corpse to its final resting place were the GM of PAMOL Plantations, Chief Charles Mekanya Okon, Senator Andrew Otte Mofa, Alternate Senator Richard Njikam and Lawson Tabot.  
    Even the local press both private and public did not accompany the corpse to Mbonda’s village.
    Commentators said the funeral of Mbonda Stephen should serve as a lesson and eye-opener to all those who are seeking political office in both the ruling party and the opposition.