Several persons have expressed shock and consternation that their names were published in a list of persons selected for what the government labeled as Peace Caravans to the troubled Northwest and Southwest regions. Their mission? To preach peace and explain the key declaration of the Yaounde major dialogue forum called Special Status. One of them is Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle a self-earned Peace Crusader with a long history of intervening at various levels of the conflict that has now claimed thousands of lives and completely destroyed hundreds of villages. Several others have dissociated themselves from the caravan expressing fears for their security and calling the mission and Empty Basket trip. They are pointing at the threats by Ambazonia separatists’ leaders who call them sellouts and enablers who should be hunted down. This is the suspicious atmosphere that has characterized the Peace Caravan.
In this edition of the Colbert Factor, the Muteff Boy’s ink flows on the peculiar case of Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle whose reputation would have been bruised by the Peace Caravan mission. Enjoy.
This reflection is inspired by the fact that when time came to invite those to represent various Subdivisions, Divisions and Regions for the Major National Dialogue, MND, that took place in Yaounde from September 30-October 4,2019, the powers that be selected mostly CPDM elites who were just to leave from their cozy offices in Yaounde and Cruz over to Palais du Congress and even when it was even announced that President Biya has increased the number of participants from 300 to 400, then to 600 and finally above the number,some well meaning Cameroonians who since the outbreak of the conflict have been burning the midnight candle struggling to proffer workable proposals that could bring an end to the conflict and who still enjoy some leverage with the local population, were never deemed worthy to be invited to the talks. Now that it has become incumbent on the government to go down to the grassroots and explain the resolutions taken during the Dialogue and knowing that those CPDM ministers, Directors and elites who hitherto the crisis had claimed to be representing their local communities cannot set foot in their villages, government has resorted to appointing sacrificial lamps to go do the job of explaining.
It is the more informed by the fact that if those who attended the Major National Dialogue in Yaounde were the true representatives of the grassroots populations, it goes without saying that they naturally would have gone back to report and explain to those who mandated them to the Dialogue. Is it not a truth universally accepted that after a representative of a people or organization attends a meeting or conference somewhere on behalf of his/her people or organization, s/he comes back to restitute the decisions or resolutions of the meeting to members?
It is also inspired by the fact that just as those who do not take part in the baking of a cake, even if they are experts in cake baking, cannot explain the composition of a particular cake just from examining it’s externalities because the difference is always in the details. That maybe the reason why a friend was explaining out to me last week in Bamenda how he had to fall out with another bosom friend because he saw a beautiful girl that he loved but didn’t have the courage to approach her and his friend accepted to play the go-between yet rather than doing just that, he went and presented but his case. In anger my friend quarried him: ‘Ma tum va na ndu laiih njang wa ndu yem yem ah?’, which when loosely translated into English would mean: ‘How can I send you to go extend an invitation for a njang dance social evening and you instead go and sing the song?’ This adage found itself into the Kom narrative after one of the villages spent useful time planning a special njang dance evening with the hope of inviting neighboring villages to come discover their savour faire, but after those who have been delegated to take invitations to the neighboring villages instead went boozing themselves up in a nearby joint and claiming to be revising the njang songs. When they saw a villager from the neighboring village passing they invited him into the joint, rehearsed the songs for the upcoming performance with him and then sent him forth with the invitations. While in his own village, he revealed the quality of the mesmerizing songs to the villagers and they instead decided to adopt the songs for their own Social njang dance evening. After the original village that had prepared the social evening discovered a fast one had been played on them by the emissary they had sent, they accosted him and challenged him angrily on why they sent him only to go distribute invitations for a njang Social evening and he went and instead sang the songs. This is likely to be the case with those who did not take part in the major national Dialogue but are being dispatched to go propagate it’s outcome.
Muteff maybe an unknown local village kaleidoscope. But the things that happen there have ramifications beyond the nine valleys of Kom. The village is host to the most dreaded mystical Lodge, Natang Yoh, with its equally dreaded Grand Master. The mystical Lodge is believed to have an eye over what goes around the valley and beyond. When members of the mystical order meet to determine the fate of the village or put an end to activities of witches and wizards, it usually sends out a team of insiders to bring the message to the local population and in the middle of the night. The original messenger or the grand master who delivers the message does so through a flute or to say the least, in tongues. It takes another grand master of same rank to translate the message and yet another to interpret to the ordinary mortals what the meaning of the message was. Worthy of note is the fact that all those translating and interpreting the message must have been part of the conception or divination process at the mystical Lodge. You dare not attempt interpreting the message of the mystical order when you were not in the lodge or when you have not been initiated. The wrath of the lodge would come down on you. Reason why in Muteff village, people prefer to swear by God than to swear by Natang Yoh, for as it is believed there, although God is slow to anger, he is quick to forgive but Natang Yoh is quick to anger but slow to forgive when one calls it’s name in vain.
The above analysis go to justify one point: That to honestly bring an explanation to conclusions of an agreement somewhere you needed to have been part of the planning process.
But how comes the venerated international peace crusader and legal luminary, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle, who was never deemed worthy enough even to be consulted during the pre-consultative talks, talk less of inviting him to the major national Dialogue, be called upon by the same Prime Minister’s office that left out his name in the first place, to go round the region explaining the resolutions of the major national Dialogue?
For a man who has spent the better part of his life preaching peace and reconciling individuals, families, communities, professional
associations and churches within and without the country ; for a man who single handedly fought to bring Cameroonians to buy in to the fact that something good could come from the National Elections Observatory, NEO, when he staged the feat of organizing free, fair and transparent elections across the North West, even against tempting mouth watering envelopes from regime barons; for a man who rescued the North West traditional institution and built a formidable North West Fons Union single handedly, and only to be thrown out by the manipulative appetite of North West politicians ; for a man who since the outbreak of the conflict in the two English speaking regions have been on his knees praying for peace and touring the regions tirelessly using his hard earned resources and risking his life to preach peace; for a man who has tirelessly proffered workable proposals to the powers that be on how this conflict could be brought to an end in such a manner that appeals both to the fighters in the bushes and activists abroad, yes, for such a towering civil rights individual not to be invited to the major national Dialogue and be asked now to come firefighting, smacks of evil and the fact that authorities in Yaounde are not interested in bringing the conflict to an end.
If that were not to be the case, what would have accounted for the fact that even when Dr Fomunyoh desisted from flying into Cameroon to chair one of the commissions, why was Ntumfor Nico Halle not called in to replace him? Could this have not been an occasion for commission members and others attending the dialogue to find out from him the potency of his earlier proposed road map to the president on how to quickly resolve the Anglophone crisis?
Perhaps, the powers that be were not ready to confront someone who can speak truth to power without blinking his eyes. Perhaps, they were informed by his non nonsense stance within the Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism where he has been categorical that the problem with Cameroon is not that of bilingualism or multiculturalism but that of bad faith, lack of truth, justice love, and above all, lack of accountability. Perhaps, he was vindicated recently in France when responding to a question President Biya made a remark that could read that but for the strong identity differences the 20% Anglophones would have since been assimilated into the majority francophone body polity. Perhaps, Yaounde authorities are still weary of the fact that Ntumfor could, and for good measure, refuse to join the Musonge Commission for a fact finding mission to the affected regions arguing that members did not need to spend taxpayers money to go down field since they were appointed on the basis of their knowledge of the problem. History has also vindicated him for since after the fact finding mission no action has ever been taken and the fact that yet another committee during the major national Dialogue proposed fresh recommendations for bilingualism and living together only means that the Musonge Commission has no raison d’etre.
Make no mistake about it: If there is one Cameroonian that was to be invited to the major national Dialogue, it was to be Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle. For one thing, he is independent of mind. For another, he is among the few Anglophone leaders who still enjoy legitimacy on Ground Zero. Maybe its only after realizing that the cohort of CPDM elites that flooded the Dialogue hall had lost all bearings back in their constituencies that the rejected stone was being reconsidered for a corner stone. Even then, there are laid down processes and procedures to use someone else’s good name for your venture. Courtesy would demand that the Prime Minister’s office first consult with the individual and then after approval, calls up the individual for appropriate briefings and background documentation. It was therefore embarrassing that Ntumfor could see his name on Social Media like any other person as being one of those to go down field for the post Dialogue peace caravan. And after the error has been committed, courtesy demands that the PM’s office not only withdraws the name from the list but also offers apology for trying to drag a towering individual’s hard earned image in mud.
The Muteff Boy’s Take