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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Mankon pressure group clashes with B’da gov’t delegate’s supporters

From Micheal Ndi in Bamenda
 
The age-old cold war pitting the people of Mankon and the government delegate to the Bamenda city council, Vincent Nji Ndumu (who hails from Bamendakwe) blew to the open on July 9, 2014 during the popular CRTV Bamenda morning programme dubbed: “Highland Morning Show.”
Taking advantage of the day’s topic: ‘‘What is in a name?,” callers who identified themselves  as members of the pressure group, Movement  for the Restoration of Mankon Nationhood, openly clashed with those who were in support of the government delegate to the Bamenda city council.
Even though the topic was not directed at any particular interest group(s), the war of words between members of the Movement for the Restoration of Mankon Nationhood and Ndumu’s supporters (apparently from his Bamendakwe village of origin) left listeners with the feeling that were it an open public debate, it would have degenerated into a physical confrontation. 
It makes sense to indicate that the first salvo was fired by a caller who identified himself as a member of the Movement for the Restoration of Mankon Nationhood. Not only did he call Ndumu names but questioned why the government delegate unilaterally changed the name of Mankon Main Market to Bamenda Main Market and the Mankon Municipal Stadium to Bamenda Municipal Stadium.
Another caller, apparently also a member of the Movement for the Restoration of Mankon Nationhood sounded even more  bitter with Ndumu; sustaining that the Mankon Main Market came into being at the time there was the Mankon Area Council. He was corroborated by other callers who were unanimous that the government delegate’s decision to change the historic names of important structures carrying Mankon was born out of what they claim was mere jealousy. The Bamenda government delegate, they claimed, hails from Bamendankwe village which has always been in conflict with the Mankon fondom.
The Mankon pressure group callers clearly-exhibited tribal instincts and hatred for the widely-acclaimed Ndumu when they tried to compare his transparent management of the Bamenda city council with the catastrophic reign of his predecessor, Tadzong Abel Ndeh, an indigene of Mankon. Listeners of the programme were spotted laughing out their lungs when a caller said: “During the reign of Tadzong Abel Ndeh, Bamenda was rated the second cleanest city in the country…but with the coming of Vincent Nji Ndumu, Bamenda has become the dirtiest city…”
  For their part, callers who left no one in doubt they were Ndumu’s supporters fired back at the government delegate’s critics; describing members of the Movement for the Restoration of Mankon Nationhood as cowards and hypocrites because according to them, the movement is operating underground with no authorization, yet has been issuing tons of tracts to blackmail and derail the hardworking government delegate.
While backing Ndumu’s decision to change the name Mankon Main Market to Bamenda Main Market and the Mankon Municipal Stadium to Bamenda Municipal Stadium, a caller wondered whether CRTV Bamenda, located on Bamendakwe soil, should now be called CRTV Bamendakwe. Yet, another caller also sort to know from members of the Movement for the Restoration of  Mankon  Nationhood whether the state university with seat in Bambili, should be called the University of Bambili instead of the University of Bamenda, UBa, as it is known and called. Hear him: “It beats my imagination that at the time people are going global, some of us are rather going back to the village.”

Genesis of the conflict between Mankons and B’da gov’t delegate
It should be recalled that the conflict between the Mankon fondom and the government delegate to the Bamenda city council, Vincent Ndumu Nji, first showed its ugly head when in July 2012, the fon of Mankon, S.A .N. Angwafor addressed a strongly-worded memo to the governor of the North West region, through the SDO for Mezam, in which he castigated Ndumu for unilaterally changing the name “Mankon Main Market” to “Bamenda City Main Market”.
In a reply to Fon Angwafor that was copied  the minister of territorial administration, North West governor, Mezam SDO, the fons and grand councillors of the  Bamenda city council, Ndumu wrote :
“…Before delving into any clarifications, I must, first of all, intimate that as government delegate to the Bamenda city council, and contrary to what many ill and reduced-minded persons may believe, I elect never to succumb to the concept of “village”. After all, is it not Professor Ali Masuri, the famous Kenyan writer, who, in “The Africans”, said and I quote: “While the white man has gone to the moon and is on his way back, the African is returning from the city to the village,” unquote. In the same vein, the fon and the caucus advising His Royal Highness know that I do not act “village”; I do no think “village”; and I do not believe “village”.
Therefore, on the points raised against me by the fon and his royal court advisers, I make the following remarks: In His Royal Highness’ letter, I am accused of having change the name “Mankon Main Market” to “Bamenda City Main Market” without a deliberation or resolution from the city board as required by law. Maybe the fon, guided by his royal college of advisers, may show some proof of same legal documents, which sanctioned the appellation “Mankon Main Market”. This apart, I would like to reiterate that as government delegate to the Bamenda city council, I am here to administer a city and not a village!
Furthermore, it remains the exclusive preserve of the city executive that I head, together with the legislative arm of the city council (constituted by grand councillors from the Bamenda I, II and III sub divisional councils, made up of people from various horizons, not only from Bamendankwe, Chomba, Mbatu, Mankon, Ndzh, Nkwen and Nsongwa) to give names to structures erected with public funds.
On the contrary, if the fons and people of the various villages that make up the Bamenda city council area could raise their own funds to erect markets, parks, hotels, et cetera, then they could as well go ahead to baptize these structures anything, including all kinds of names as they so wish.
It is from this backdrop that I once more re-emphasis here, that once public funds (as is the case with all the markets controlled by the Bamenda city council) are used to erect structures anywhere within the municipality (even inside palaces and shrines), the naming of said structures is the sole preserve of the public body represented in our case by the city council and its board…’’

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