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CHAPTER 3 THE MAJOR SOCIAL
CHANGES 1889 TO 1993 c.1889 to 1898 THE
PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
Fontem Asonganyi is perhaps the most interesting of all the
paramount chiefs to have ruled in the Bangwa area. He is the dominant
figure in the history of Bangwa during the past 100 years and for that
reason he will sometimes appear in what follows. After having fought off a rival claimant, Asonganyi succeeded his father, Fontem Atshemabo, about the year 1889 while still only in his teens. He developed his position as a middleman in the trade economy between the grasslands and the forest area to its full potential and quickly became very wealthy. Through alliances, guile and plain old violence Asonganyi absorbed many of the previously independent local chiefs into his chiefdom, Lebang, making it the largest in all of Bangwa, modelling it and himself much more closely on the lines of the Bamileke kingdoms and their powerful rulers, the Fons. He made extensive use of the traditional societies, particularly Troh and Lefem, as a means of creating greater social and political control over his chiefdom and introduced many others which had previously never been seen, borrowing from not just grassland culture but also forest cultures as well. Between 1896 and 1900 he also led wars against the neighbouring Bayang and Mbo to extend his territory into the forests in order to acquire more 27 palm groves. In the face of such an
adversary the Bayang and Mbo quickly acceded to his demands for greater
trade agreements. Although he could be totally ruthless, he was a man of
great personal charm, foresight, and intellect. By the time he was only
thirty he had established himself as the most powerful and wealthy of
the Western Bamileke chiefs with an influence that travelled far beyond
the boundaries of his own kingdom[6].
Asonganyi’s 60 year reign is still regarded as the golden age of
Lebang. 1899
to 1916 THE GERMAN COLONIAL
PERIOD In 1884 the Germans established a port colony at Douala and almost immediately annexed the whole country, naming it Kamerun. This annexation was recognised in the treaties reached at the Berlin Conference in 1885 (Ardener et al., 1960:27). However, it was not until February 1898 that they first made contact with the Bangwa area. Gustav Conrau, an agent for a trading company which had begun plantations on the coast, came in search of workers. He was highly impressed by the young Asonganyi, by the wealth and organisation of his palace and the extent of his trading network. The two became friends, ritually sealing their bond in blood, and Conrau departed with 88 workers for the plantations, mostly slaves whom Asonganyi had loaned him. When he returned later that year without the workers, most of whom had probably died as a result of malaria and fever, he was imprisoned by Asonganyi who demanded either the men’s return or compensation. Conrau made an unsuccessful escape attempt which ended in his death, most probably from suicide (Dunstan 1965:405). 28
Late in 1899 the German colonial authorities dispatched a
punitive force under General Pavel to the hinterland to quell an ever
growing ‘native’ resistance to their rule (Eyongateh & Brain
1974:72-75). Part of that force attacked Lebang, Asonganyi’s chiefdom,
killing about 80 Bangwa warriors and destroying his palace. A second
force was sent the following year, 1900, to apprehend Asonganyi but he
evaded it and escaped into hiding where he was to remain for the next
eleven years carrying out a sporadic guerrilla war until his eventual
capture in 1911. From then until the defeat of German forces by the
British and French in 1916 he was exiled to Garoua in the north of
Kamerun. During that period the Germans established a garrison at the
site of the former palace, naming it Fontemdorf, and installing Ajongakoh, one of Asonganyi’s sons,
as a puppet ruler (Dunstan 1965:410). Of all the major social changes experienced in the Bangwa area the German colonial period was perhaps the most sudden and violent. The population was conscripted into forced labour both on the plantations and in the building of a road which linked the grasslands and the lower forest area, following the traditional trade route. Many Bangwa died in these ventures. One major change which the Germans wrought on the political system of Bangwa was to define the borders between the various chiefdoms together with those of neighbouring tribes, thereby putting an end to the intermittent warfare which had characterised the area for decades. In fixing the territorial boundaries the Germans also fixed the position of each of the chiefs, relative to one another, confirming the hierarchical system but robbing it of its former fluidity and ability to change 29 through competition. The
repercussions of that act of German tidiness still afflict local
politics to this day[7]. Perhaps the most significant change so violently inflicted on Bangwa society and culture during the German occupation was a psychological one. A people used to freedom of opportunity within a closed world suddenly found themselves subject to the power of the wider world beyond their once secure borders. The co-ordinates of power had shifted. Not only were the chiefdoms and their hierarchies destined to remain unchanged ever after but the Bangwa would never be their own masters again, capable of dealing with change in their own fashion. With German colonial rule the chiefs began their subservience to an outside authority, German, British and Cameroonian, whose agents they would now become, collecting taxes and keeping order, and manipulated for the sake of a ‘national’ whole. Gone was the invincibility clearly demonstrated in the wars against the Bayang and the Mbo. Gone, too, were many of the royal ancestor statues which formed a link with the past and which were an essential feature of the Lefem. These the Germans looted and today they now stare glumly from their pedestals in the alien Lefems of European and American museums. Resentment against German rule found expression 7
The Germans created the system of nine paramount chiefdoms which
the British continued. Several other chiefs claimed that they had been
independent before German rule. One, Fonjenewa, has been involved in a
court case which has lasted since 1922 making repeated efforts to be
recognised as a paramount chief in his own right. That case has resulted
in great enmity between the people of Njenawung and Nwemataw
occasionally erupting into violence, house burning and a long list of
criminal proceedings and further court cases. Neither the British
colonial authorities nor the Cameroon government have been able to find
a solution. 30 in the name Ajongakoh,
the German’s replacement for Asonganyi. He died in exile, alone and in
poverty, his name a curse and a byword for betrayal (Dunstan 1965:413). 1916 to 1961
THE BRITISH COLONIAL PERIOD The British Administration
Under the 1919 Trust Mandate of the League of Nations the former
German colony of Kamerun was to be administered by the British and
French governments. The boundary taken between the two parts of the
country was the Bamboutos mountains. This meant that four-fifths of the
country, therefore, came under French jurisdiction and the other fifth
was administered as part of the British colony of Nigeria (Eyongateh
1974:95-103). In political terms, this effectively separated the Bangwa
from their natural allies the Bamileke. However, for the upper chiefdoms
of M’mockmbie and M’mogndi, which were closer physically,
culturally, economically and socially to the Bamileke chiefdoms than the
other Bangwa chiefdoms, the international frontier had little
significance. They were often excluded from local political affairs both
because of distance and by the fact that the British tended to deal
directly with Asonganyi in all matters concerning the Bangwa[8].
Asonganyi’s position, therefore, was considerably enhanced because of
the British colonial administration’s policy of Indirect Rule (See
Lugard, 1922). 8 During the past ten years the chiefdoms of M’mockmbie and M’mogndi insist on being referred to as the Mok Fondoms. This signal is the result not only of their sense of being more closely associated with the Bamileke but also of their resentment at being excluded for so long from the political affairs of ‘Bangwa’ that they no longer wish to be included within that grouping. 31 The doctrine of Indirect Rule made use of the structure of traditional authority such as the one existing in Bangwa with a few adaptations. By and large the British had little interest in 9 The actual population figures of the report can generally be put in doubt. In April 1983 I interviewed one of Cadman’s clerks and translator, Mbe Stanislaus Nkeng, who informed me that when the district officer’s party was nearing a village the local chief would order half of the population to go and hide in the bush and to take anything which would give a semblance of wealth. The impression to be portrayed was to be one of a small population which lived in abject poverty. The reason for this was the local population’s belief that the district officer was interested solely in making a tax assessment. Upon his departure from the village the able-bodied and the village’s valuables would return to their rightful but unrecorded places. 32 the British
Cameroons. Even the plantations were sold back to their original German
owners after the First World War. Traditional rulers, such as Asonganyi,
were allowed to function very much as before but with the moral,
financial and military backing of the British. A civil service
bureaucracy with Europeans in top control was established throughout the
British Cameroons with an army and police force, again controlled by
British officers, present to keep the peace. The nearest centre of
British administration to the Bangwa area was Mamfe, five days trek
away. Since one of the prime objectives of the Indirect Rule policy was
to enable an efficiency of administration in the interest of organising
local populations for such ends as supplying labour for European homes,
mines and plantations (Drake 1965:519), the Bangwa area figured little
in this scheme because of its remoteness from centres of British
exploitation. As far as the Bangwa and other areas like it were
concerned, British colonial rule was not a time of harsh subjugation or
exploitation as the experience under the Germans was. Rather, it was
viewed both then and still today as a beneficial imposition of order. Despite the apparent lack of contact between the British and the Bangwa, colonial rule did affect and change the nature of Bangwa society in four main ways. The first was that it created a stability between the different chiefdoms and between the Bangwa and their neighbours, the Bayang, Mundani and Mbo. This security extended throughout the British Cameroons and Nigeria allowing free movement. This opening to the wider world for the Bangwa area also marked the beginning of the entrance of outside influences on its society. Some of these would be welcomed, others resisted. Most significantly, during the period of British colonial rule, the traditional Bangwa authorities began to experience a weakening of their power in 33 terms of how society should function, what
should be its priorities and how the members of their own chiefdoms
could act without reference to their authority.
The second effect of British rule was a consequence of this
greater security and freedom, namely, an increase in economic
opportunities. The 1930’s and 40’s saw the emergence of traders who
would develop trade links between the Bangwa area and distant markets on
the coast or in Nigeria by travelling to these places themselves.
Although this did not greatly affect the traditional trading system
between the grasslands and the forest it did limit it to dealing only in
food crops. European goods such as cloth, tools, etc. were brought
directly from the port of entry. The profits involved were considerably
increased. These traders were also the bearers of other goods; new
crops, such as coffee and cocoa; and new ideas, such as, that education
was a key to economic success. The new economic opportunities also
included the possibility of work on the plantations and permanent
migration to the coastal region. The reality of ‘life on the coast’
was one of the most important factors in social change in the Bangwa
area and will be dealt with shortly. As was mentioned above, the opening of the Bangwa area to the wider world opened the way for outside influences upon the society. A third consequence of the British colonial period was the arrival of Christianity and education. Despite the British policy of non-interference in the culture of ‘native’ peoples, except when some aspects outraged the moral sentiments of 34 those ‘back home’[10]
(cf. Drake 1965:518-520), the colonial officers did permit Christian
missionaries to enter and proselytise in the Bangwa area. The impact of
the Christian missionaries, particularly the Roman Catholics, on the
Bangwa would be far-reaching, particularly in the field of education.
The fourth way in which the British colonial administration
affected the nature of Bangwa society concerned the whole idea of
“tradition”. The 1870’s, 1880’s and 1890’s were the
time of a great flowering of European invented tradition -
ecclesiastical, educational, military, republican, monarchical. It was
also the time of the European rush into Africa. There were many complex
connections between the two processes. ....This meant that they [the Europeans in Africa] had to define themselves as natural and undisputed masters of vast numbers of Africans. They drew upon European invented traditions both to define and to justify their roles, and also to provide models of subservience ..... models of ‘modern’ behaviour. - Terence Ranger, The Invention of Tradition, p. 211 (1984) The British authorities’ use of ‘tradition’ as a means of ritualising its power and affirming the colonial hierarchy which governed had two curious effects on Bangwa society and culture. The first was the notion that ‘tradition’ was a social good since it maintained stability by reference to an unchanging set of social doctrines and rituals which had come down tried and tested from the past. It was, therefore, implicit that any change and divergence from ‘tradition’ was wrong since it 10 For example, in the Bangwa area the British outlawed the system of operating on corpses as part of the process of divining whether death was the result of witchcraft (See Directive to the Heads of Customary Courts: Illegal Mutilation of Corpses, 27th. September 1931, E. Arnett, Resident, Cameroons (Buea Archives, Cameroon) 35 undermined the social
order. Furthermore, given that their own respect for ‘tradition’
disposed the British colonial officers to look with favour upon what
they took to be traditional in Africa (Ranger, 1984:212), an idea which
also influenced the whole implementation of Indirect Rule, it is not
surprising that traditional rulers felt very much as ease with these
beliefs. Although chiefs were wont to make reference to ‘tradition’
when it suited their purposes in the past, the fact that the colonial
authority set so much store on ‘tradition’ and enshrined it in ‘Native
Law and Custom’ gave
them a doctrine which had never before been so clearly formulated.
‘Tradition’, Native Law and
Custom, would be the battle cry of chiefs such as Asonganyi
when faced with the ‘modern’ changes which eroded their power
and position.
For the younger generation of Bangwa, particularly those who had
travelled to the coast, British ‘tradition’ represented an awesome
power which found expression in words like ‘modern’, ‘civilised’
and ‘developed’. British ‘tradition’ and European technology
represented an alternative, wider culture to which they aspired for it
provided the opportunity of greater freedom and greater material wealth.
It is ironic that ‘traditions’ which originated partly in the need
to affirm and maintain a strict social class system in Victorian Britain
should provoke a class struggle in African cultures such as Bangwa.
British ‘tradition’, therefore, was interpreted by the ruling
chiefly class as a validation of their system of rule; for the younger,
dispossessed Bangwa it represented not just a new, alternative culture
but also a rejection of the old, closed world of Bangwa as well. 36 The
Plantations
The first plantations on the fertile slopes of Mount Cameroon had
been set up by German companies in 1885 within a year of the
establishment of the German Protectorate (Ardener, 1961:83). After the
First World War the German owners were allowed to ‘buy’ them back.
After the Second World War the colonial administration set up the
Cameroon Development Corporation to run the plantations as one entity
under the management of British personnel.
In
some ways the plantations were a country set apart from the rest of
Cameroon. The common language was pidgin English, the economy based on
cash and the population mostly immigrant workers melded together with
their own distinctive culture. However, no one tribe, it has been noted,
was able to dominate the plantation labour force or the immigrant body
as a whole (Ardener, 1961:89). Sociologically it was like many centres
of industry which sprang up in the British colonies which required
massive amounts of manpower, largely immigrants, involved in the
processing of a single commodity. There are, for example, numerous
parallels between the Cameroon plantations and the mining operations on
the Copperbelt in Zambia. The boom years of the plantations were just
prior to the Second World War and in the decade after it. As many as
25,000 men were employed in 1938 and this would rise to 32,000 by 1953,
the all-time peak (Ardener et al., 1960:3-5). The highest number of Bangwa workers recorded as being employed on the plantations was in 1938 when they numbered some 925 (Ardener et al., 1960:203). Since the majority of plantation workers during this period were often young men between the ages of 18-25, this represented a sizable proportion of the young male population of the Bangwa area. While the 37 adventure of working in far away fields perhaps seemed
preferable to toiling on the ungenerous Bangwa hills, the main motive
for seeking work on the coast was obviously financial. It was easy to
get work and the income earned was a quick way to amass money for
bridewealth. If they were to stay at home most young men could only
expect to marry when they were in their thirties. Many of those who went
were from the poorer families or sons who did not expect to succeed
their fathers. However, statistics show that the majority of young men,
80% of whom were employed as unskilled workers, would only remain on the
plantations for an average of 6 years (Ardener et al., 1960:47). Work
was hard and conditions difficult especially for the men from the cooler
highlands such as Bangwa. Several factors changed the mentality and outlook of the Bangwa on the plantations. One of these was the fact that they came into contact with workers from other tribes. It is interesting to note that in their survey carried out among the workers of the plantations, Ardener, Ardener and Warmington (1960) found that 82.5% preferred to live in mixed-tribal camps and work in mixed-tribal squads (p.101). Although they did maintain close association with their own countrymen they felt that they learned more about life and the world through being with men of other tribes. They also said that there were less disputes, less competition, jealously and witchcraft when camps and squads were mixed (p.101-104). This feeling was particularly true of men from the highly hierarchical tribes of the grasslands such as the Banso, the Bali, the Bamenda and the Bamileke of which the Bangwa were a sub-group. The plantation experience for these men, therefore, was less restrictive socially, more egalitarian despite the difficult conditions. 38
Two other factors were responsible for the change in the young
Bangwa men’s mentality and outlook towards the world and society:
Christianity and the opportunity to gain some education. Christian
missionaries had been active in the plantations almost from the very
start in the late 19th century and many of the workers were converted
there, later taking the new faith and ideas back to their own countries.
In the period just prior to World War II the plantation companies, as
part of their plans to develop a more skilled workforce, began to
provide basic education for workers who wanted it.
The outbreak of the Second World War saw a scaling down of
operations on the Cameroon plantations and many young Bangwa men were
forced to return home. The large influx of men back to the Bangwa area
had numerous social consequences, including a conflict of ideas and
attitudes with the older generation. The Bayang[11]
will not complain (as the neighbouring Bangwa do) that young men having
the opportunity of leaving home and gaining money for themselves no
longer respect the authority of senior men within the home society. (Ardener et al., 1960:244) Given the independent nature of the
Bangwa the above is not entirely surprising. However, many returned to
the coast either to seek employment again in the plantations or to use
their earnings to establish themselves in the new towns growing up in
the coastal area. They would form the beginning of the large Bangwa
community which is present in towns like Kumba, Mutengene and Muyuka. 11 Bayang society is much more egalitarian, like many of the forest cultures of Cameroon, and is not so hierarchical in its social system as the Bangwa and grasslands groups (See Ruel 1969). 39 Christianity
While working in the mixed tribal environment of the plantations
meant entering into a new ‘society’ for the young Bangwa men it also
meant becoming involved in the world of the ‘white man’. The social
hierarchy and economy of the plantations created by the European owners
and managers was primarily for financial ends. In essence it followed a
European pattern, particularly in terms of organisation and technology,
reflecting the European industrial society from which it came and which
it served. The efficiency of operations and their sheer size had never
been seen before in Cameroon. The ordinary plantation worker may have
occupied a lowly place in the scheme of things but he would have no
doubt about the power structure, what the best paid jobs were and what
constituted ‘success’ in this new society. The ultimate in power and
success was epitomised by the European. European culture and values not
only dominated the plantations but they were aspired to by those who
lived and worked there. For many of the plantation workers the spiritual sphere of the white man’s world was represented by the missionaries. The spiritual, the ‘religious’, permeated all aspects of their own culture and society and was integral to its identity and way of functioning. Given this background Christianity was probably viewed by workers as an essential component of the white man’s power, his society and his success (Curtin et al. 1978:526). This was perhaps particularly the case with a colonial authority which had its roots in English society where there was a strong tradition of the complimentary relationship between the Church and State. Having become involved in the white man’s economics it was an almost logical step to become involved in his religion as well. ‘Freed’ from the social setting of the Bangwa world and the Bangwa world view the Bangwa workers were 40 also, to some
extent, ‘freed’ from its spiritual order. On the one hand, their
beliefs, particularly those regarding witchcraft, did not vanish
overnight but these beliefs were no longer subject to the complete
control of the Bangwa society from which they sprang and which had given
the beliefs a social coherence. Many of the Bangwa men who worked on the
plantations during the 1940’s and 1950’s did become Christians.
However, to say that they did so because of a quasi-mechanical social
process of ‘fitting-in’ would be an over simplification and suggest
that they had almost no will in the matter. While the European facade of
Christianity, its ‘newness’ and the role of the group were certainly
factors in bringing about the conversion of workers to the Christian
faith, religious conversion is a complex, indefinite process:
continually awaiting moments of affirmation, doubt or rejection,
continually expressing as much about the mystery of human nature as it
does about the deity[12].
For all its faults, Christianity did represent values which were more
universal and wider than European culture. Generally speaking, before the Second World War, the Christian missionaries in Cameroon were particularly anxious to distance themselves from the colonial authorities. This was partly due to the missionaries’ desire to carry out their work independently of colonial authority[13]. Since both were following different agendas it is not surprising that there were occasions when their different interests and ideas resulted in a conflict 12
For an interesting discussion on the whole question of
conversion, particularly in the African context, see the
discussion between Horton and Peel, see Horton 1971, 1975 and
Horton & Peel 1976. 41 between them[14].
This was especially the case where the missionaries were not of the same
nationality as the colonial officers. However, there were a number of
interesting parallels between the power structures of the plantations,
the colonial administration and the various Christian churches
proselytising the peoples of Cameroon. For example, all of them were
organisations which had their headquarters in Europe and which operated in situ with a European management and African workers. In the case
of the churches, the European bishops, priests and pastors carried out a
policy of evangelisation which had been determined in Europe (Basel or
Rome) through African catechists who, like the plantation labour force
or the lower echelons of the colonial bureaucracy, had no say in the
policy affecting them. The missionaries were as much a product of European culture as were the plantation managers and colonial officers. Consciously or unconsciously, they shared in the prevailing late 19th century and early 20th century European attitude regarding peoples who did not have European technology, science and literature: African peoples were simple, pagan and primitive (cf. Curtin et al. 1978:523-527 & Anderson 1970:9). Given this mentality, European Christianity made little attempt to accommodate itself to African culture. Two other factors were also responsible for this. Firstly, the position of Europeans as controllers of the evangelisation process would hardly help in eradicating the prejudice of European superiority when dealing 14 The London Baptist mission which had been established at Victoria (now Limbe) in 1840 was something of a thorn in the flesh of the German colonial government. The Baptists spoke out very forcibly against the general harshness and cruelty of German rule exemplified in their seizure of land from the native peoples and their policy of forced labour. The Baptists were forced to leave Kamerun in 1886. Their missions were taken over by the (Swiss) Basel Mission. (cf. Bowie 1986:48 & Eyongateh 1974:76) 42 with Africans. Secondly, the doctrinal
struggle between the Christian churches in Europe, particularly between
the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, had produced an unbending
attitude regarding religious truth and practice. In these circumstances
where there was virtually no dialogue between people of different
churches, despite their sharing so much in common culturally, there was
little chance that they would be open to the religious beliefs and
practices of African peoples who were apparently so dissimilar to
themselves religiously and culturally. In some ways the charge that the
Christian churches’ missionary work in Africa was a form of spiritual
colonialism is not entirely without foundation. The fact that the rise
of missionary activity in Africa coincided with the rise of European
colonialism could also be seen as a case for arguing that the former was
the spiritual arm of the latter.
When Africans were baptised as Christians they were also obliged
to make a formal rejection of all things ‘traditional’. The
Christian churches’ intolerance to most aspects of traditional beliefs
and practices was to cause an enormous gulf between African Christians
and their ‘pagan’ relatives and countrymen. What transpired in the
Bangwa area was to bear this out. Christianity was first brought to the Bangwa area by young men who returned home after having been baptised as Christians while they worked on the coast with German officials or in the plantations. These young men would try to convince their people and chiefs of the benefits of the new religion. A request would then be made to the Christian churches to send catechists who would also act as teachers. These catechists were, however, often poorly schooled themselves and not well trained. In the early 1900’s the Swiss Basel Mission established itself in some 43 of the villages in the upper chiefdom of M’mogndi.
These bordered the Bamenda plateau to the north where Basel missionaries
had been active since 1896 (Bowie 1986). At the beginning of the
1920’s the Roman Catholic priests at nearby Dschang sent one catechist
to each of the main villages in Lebang, Lewoh, Essoh-Attah and Ndungatet
after receiving requests from the local paramount chiefs.
Matters were not long in coming to a head when the catechists
began their work in the Bangwa area. Those who were Christians or
catechumens were forbidden by the Church, through the catechist, to be
members of the traditional secret societies, to take part in traditional
ceremonies such as witch-divining, to be involved in polygamy or to be
married without first conducting the Christian ceremony. Conversions were few
and the Christians soon found themselves not only socially isolated but
involved in conflicts with relatives and chiefs. At times these
conflicts ended in physical violence. One attempt to resolve the situation resulted in Christians leaving their own compounds and residing together on the land which the chief had given when the ‘mission’ was begun. This was often as much for the Christians’ own protection as it was for maintaining their sense of identity. The consequence, though, was that it now created a ‘society’ within society (cf. Achebe 1958:105). In the mission Christians now lived with their own sub-culture, laws and government. Although the question of beliefs and participation in traditional rituals remained the cause of serious division between Christians and others, the whole area of authority was much more contentious. Christians obeyed the catechist rather than the local chief or their family head. Where a chief was sympathetic to the Christian faith compromises could be reached by delineating the areas of the 44
catechist’s ‘jurisdiction’. However, some catechists (usually
those who were non-Bangwa) who were over-ambitious for power or
over-zealous in the defence of Christianity
were at constant loggerheads with the local chief.
Asonganyi, the Fon of Fontem, had never wanted Christianity in
his chiefdom and grudgingly accepted its arrival only because it was one
of his most trusted sub-chiefs who had set up a mission in 1922. He was
aware that Christian beliefs and practices were at odds with traditional
ones and that if allowed to flourish Christianity would ultimately
undermine his authority and position. Asonganyi resolved the question of
difficulties between the mission and himself rather speedily and without
discussion. In 1924 he dispatched his police, the Troh, to burn down the
mission and expel the catechist and Christians from Lebang. A similar
approach was taken by the chief of Ndungatet. The situation in
Essoh-Attah was less tense because the chief and the catechist were
related. The Chief of Lewoh, Folewoh Agendia Fotabong, was the most open
of all Bangwa chiefs to Christianity and not only defused the tension
over beliefs and practices between Christians and non-Christians but
actively participated in the life of the mission. However, his bitter
disagreement with a catechist,
Stanislaus Nkeng, about authority in ‘secular’
matters finally ended with the catechist and five Christians being
imprisoned, after the case was referred to the British district officer
in Mamfe[15]. Generally, the British colonial administration tended to support local chiefs in any dispute between themselves and the 15 See Rex versus Nkeng, Mamfe Court, November 1929, Buea Archives, Cameroon. 45 Christian leaders
such as catechists, priests and pastors[16].
The British policy of indirect rule perhaps lay behind this stance since
the undermining of traditional authority by Christian leaders would
threaten the stability upon which the colonial system in Cameroon was
based. The most extreme clashes between the Christian churches on the
one hand and the traditional leaders and colonial authorities on the
other usually involved the Roman Catholics. This is hardly surprising
when one considers the fact that of all the churches it was the most
hierarchical and the one for which matters of authority, decision and
obedience were the most important. Indeed, during the 1920’s and
30’s, reports from colonial officers in Cameroon were often peppered
with the complaint that the Roman Catholics tended to interfere more in
traditional affairs than their Protestant counterparts. In 1931 the
British expelled the two priests responsible for the Bangwa area from
Cameroon[17]
and closed a number of the Catholic missions there. Strangely, the chief
of Lewoh maintained the mission in his chiefdom and continued to
encourage its existence despite his disagreements with the imprisoned
catechist.
Before 1940 Christianity had never made much headway in the
Bangwa area. The small number of Christians lived in pockets around
their mission, visited perhaps two or three times a year by a priest.
For the vast majority of Bangwa they were a source of conflict with
nothing to offer. That would all begin to change in 1940.
16
Throughout the 1920’s and 30’s there was a heated
correspondence between the local Roman Catholic Bishop, Mgr. P.
Rogan, and the colonial authorities who felt that
the unfair bias in favour of the chiefs produced a large number of
injustices. See: Colonial Records, Buea Archives and Roman Catholic
Diocesan Archives, Buea between 1926 and 1936. 46 Education
Of all the elements which brought about change in Bangwa society,
education had the greatest and most far-reaching effect. The two schools
which had been run by the Catholic Mission in Bangwa before 1940 did not
provide any real education beyond the teaching of Christian doctrine.
These schools received children who were usually judged to be
troublesome by their parents and the school was seen as a means of
punishing them and keeping them under control.
1940 was a significant year in the history of education in
Cameroon and the Bangwa area. Three factors were responsible for the
sudden growth and acceptance of education: the colonial government’s
policy of introducing an English speaking education system; the Catholic
Church’s adoption of primary schools as a means of evangelisation (cf.
Oliver 1965:272-281); and the mass return of men from the plantations
which had been closed because of the war. Conscious of the difficulty of trying to administer its colonies with such a small number of staff and aware that one solution was to educate indigenous men to fill the lower bureaucratic positions, the British colonial administration began to introduce a system of basic education throughout many of its colonies. This policy followed the recommendations of the Phelps-Stokes Commission (1922 & 1924) which had toured British colonies in Africa to look into the question of education for African peoples. Very little had been done in Cameroon in this respect because the British tended to treat the country as a backwater of Nigeria, the number of staff was always minimal and communications difficult. Very often the colonial officers did not have the time to supervise the few schools which did exist. However, the late 1930’s had seen an improvement in relations 47 between the colonial administration and the
Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon and Nigeria (Ayandele 1966:303). An
agreement was reached that the colonial authorities would provide
grants-in-aid to the missionaries who would then open schools and
administer them under the supervision of a colonial education officer[18].
All teaching was to be conducted in the English language.
The Roman Catholic missionaries were eager to cooperate in the
venture. Utilising schools as a means of evangelisation had proved
enormously successful in other parts of Africa, particularly in Iboland,
Nigeria under the direction of Bishop Shanahan the pioneer of this
method (cf. Ayandele 1966:265,291, Forristal 1990). Although the
Catholic Mission in Cameroon had a widespread network throughout the
region, its principal difficulty in advancing education had been one of
finance. The alliance with the colonial authorities now provided a
unique opportunity. Rumour and myth have always had an important role to play in history and social change. Since the 1930’s the ‘coast’ has always had a particular significance in the minds of the people living in the ‘interior’ areas of Cameroon such as Bangwa. In geographical terms the ‘coast’ meant the plantations, towns like Buea, Tiko, Douala and even places as far inland as Kumba. However, the ‘coast’ also represented economic opportunity, a better life full of bright lights, excitement and the wonder of the ‘new’. The reality was, and still is, something entirely different, as a visit to many West African towns will demonstrate. The young Bangwa men who returned from the 18 See correspondence between Mgr. P. Rogan, Bishop of Buea, and Sir Donald Cameron, Resident, Cameroon, from 1938 to 1939 (Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives, Buea) 48 plantations
in 1940 no doubt appeared back home like exotic explorers, full of
comparisons between life in the Bangwa hills and that of the
‘coast’. Although it is difficult to gauge the full impact of the
tales they would have related on the minds of those who had stayed at
home, some idea of this is clear in the response to the Catholic Mission
opening primary schools throughout the Bangwa area. The ‘coast’
represented not just further economic opportunity but also a new
economic order, a new world and a new power structure. These were
epitomised in the white man; in his knowledge, his technology and his
values. The returned plantation workers brought with them another world
to which the Bangwa could compare themselves. For a people for whom
economics was a key element in measuring life, status and roles, the
‘coast’ perhaps appeared as an indictment on their society. It was
perhaps during this period in the early 1940’s that the words
‘backward’, ‘civilisation’ and ‘development’ began to assume
the enormous importance they later occupied in the Bangwa vocabulary. In
the minds of many Bangwa, the ‘coast’, the society brought by the
white men, was seen as developed and civilised while their own rural
areas were backward and undeveloped[19]. 19 By way of illustrating the point: In an interview in 1987 with Chief Fobellah, one of the oldest Bangwa chiefs and a former policemen during the time of the British, I asked him what he thought British colonial rule had brought to the Bangwa people. He answered simply with one word: “Civilisation”. When I pointed out that the Bangwa already had their own ‘civilisation’ before the British arrived, he said, “White man fashion na correct one, e fine bad. Black man savy dasso for chop he brother. Before white man come we been be like beef for bush. We been be for inside dark, for inside wo-wo.” The poetry and power of pidgin English is untranslatable but what he was saying was roughly this: The white man‘s way of doing things is excellent. It is the best way. Black men only wish to exploit one another. Prior to the white man’s arrival we were like animals lost in the forest. We lived in a state of darkness, chaos and uncertainty. 49
To enter the new economy and new society it was necessary to
acquire the knowledge and skills of the ruling group, the white men on
the coast. When it was known that the Catholic missionaries were willing
to open schools with a curriculum similar to that in British primary
schools, many villages throughout the Bangwa area approached them. The
request usually took the form of asking for a mission/church to be
opened - and, by the way, could you open a school as well? The priests
were not unaware of the real intentions of the Bangwa. In the spirit of
trade by barter permeating
all aspects of Bangwa life, they agreed to the villages’ request: it
allowed them a foothold in the area to carry out their own real
intention, namely, to convert the Bangwa to Christianity. The schools,
therefore, neatly fitted the aspirations of both the Bangwa and the
missionaries. Between 1940 and 1960 the Catholic Mission opened 20 schools throughout the Bangwa area. Although pupils were not obliged to become Christians, most of them did. For the majority of school children, becoming a Christian was almost synonymous with being educated, with being ‘developed’. As the number of Christians consequently rose, Christianity’s effect on Bangwa society, particularly on its traditional beliefs and practices, increased correspondingly. The old prejudices Christianity had towards these beliefs and practices were still present but what had changed now was that any potential conflict between the Mission and the traditional society had to take account of the presence of the school in the village. With the arrival of the schools Christians were no longer so isolated or treated with hostility. The schools were seen as a positive benefit to children and also brought a sense of prestige, of ‘development’. They also brought teachers with new ideas and salaries to spend in the market. Young men could be taken on 50 and receive their initial training to be teachers. In this
atmosphere traditional society was willing to cooperate with the mission
but it also involved a compromise about its beliefs and practices as
well. Children were taught daily that traditional beliefs were false and
amounted to no more than ‘undeveloped’ superstition. With the years
these children would grow to look on ‘tradition’ no longer as
something vital to their lives but as something akin to folklore:
colourful dances and jujus[20]
brought out on big days solely for entertainment.
The effect of the Catholic schools on Bangwa society was similar
to the effect produced by Christianity when it had first arrived,
namely, that Christians were almost a society within society. In the
case of the children it was not quite so dramatic but there was a
different mentality between children and their parents. Children existed
in a world half-way between the old traditional society and a Christian
‘modern’ one, believing aspects of both and curiously able to be at
peace with a spiritual and cultural schizophrenia. Although the Catholic
missionaries had begun to respect the political structure of Bangwa
society because of their association with the colonial authorities and
because of the fact that without the support of the chiefs they could
not open the schools or keep them going, they did undermine the strength
of traditional spiritual beliefs. What is strange is that in the
post-1940 period so little attempt was made to defend these on the part
of traditional society. The motive for allowing the schools to start was essentially economic. It would appear that for the Bangwa economic considerations had more importance than preserving spiritual traditions such as sacrificing and praying to the skulls of the 20 A pidgin word applied generically to fearsome masks used in dances and meant to terrorise onlookers. 51 ancestors. Some chiefs did
not favour schools because the ideas taught in them would be at variance
with tradition. For example, in the area around Asonganyi’s palace
there was no Christian mission or Catholic school. Only later, after
considerable pressure from his own people, did he allow the opening of a
Native Authority school, administered directly by the colonial
authorities, which did not have any religious education on its
timetable.
The Catholic schools had two other effects upon Bangwa society
which only time was to reveal. The first was that those who proved
themselves capable of succeeding academically usually left the area
after completing school to either further their studies on the coast or
to use the education they had acquired to gain employment. The Bangwa
area, therefore, lost its brightest and most talented people and while
they still maintained contact with the area only returned infrequently.
The second effect of the schools was that those who did succeed
academically would gain positions which would later make them wealthy.
In subsequent years they would become the ‘elite’ who would rival
and overtake the local chiefs in terms of political power, at both a
local and national level. Migration
to Muyuka Much was made at the beginning of chapter 2 about the extreme nature of the topography of the Bangwa area with its steep hills and narrow valleys. With an average rainfall of almost 4 metres per year[21] soil erosion is a major problem. Women clear large areas of ‘bush’ by slashing and burning in order to grow food crops such as cocoyams, cassava and groundnuts. Because of a system of crop rotation, land is left to lie fallow 21 See Appendix III - Average annual rainfall 52 after three years. Land
cultivation has intensified since the early 1980’s for two reasons.
The first is due to the natural increase in population. The second is
because women sell their produce in the markets in order to have money
to pay for the education of their children, particularly those in
secondary schools. The combination of intensive farming on steep
hillsides and the high precipitation have resulted in a dramatic
deterioration in the fertility of large swathes of Bangwa land.
This problem first began to appear in the 1950’s in those
villages which lie between an altitude of 700 and 1,000 metres where the
rainfall was highest. The most affected areas were chiefdoms which were
territorially small and which had the steepest terrain. The most notable
examples of a decline in land fertility were the chiefdoms of Letia and
Fonge, both in the village of Lebang.
One solution adopted by people of Letia and Fonge was to migrate
to the Muyuka area, the flat, fertile plain north of Mount Cameroon and
south of Kumba. The indigenous population of this area was small and
many Bangwa acquired land by approaching the local chief who was glad to
increase the population of his village. Depending on the chief, land was
given freely or was bought with money gained from working on the
plantations. The entire village of Letia, chief and all, moved to the
Muyuka area during the 1950’s. Many from all over Bangwa followed them
and formed what is today a sizable Bangwa colony. Although they are proud of their Bangwa identity and have tried to retain many of the old traditions, they have also been quick to adopt new ways. The distinction between the sexes is less marked among the Muyuka Bangwa than those at ‘home’. 53 For example, men work beside
their wives in farming food crops, something unheard of in the Bangwa
area. Apart from the case of Letia, those who migrated were not chiefs
or title holders. For that reason the Muyuka Bangwa society does not
have the same sense of social hierarchy which prevails in the Bangwa
homeland. Status is usually determined purely by financial wealth.
Within most of the large number of Muyuka Bangwa communities there are
leaders who have been elected principally to settle disputes. These are
normally senior men who are respected but their tenure of office depends
on the will of their community.
Strong links have always been maintained between the Bangwa in
Muyuka and those back home through marriages, visiting one another and
children spending periods of time with relatives. The more egalitarian
atmosphere of the Muyuka Bangwa society was one of the factors which
changed the general Bangwa attitude towards the strict power structure
of chiefs and nobles. As the years passed, the chiefs and nobles were
less held in awe and if a man felt he was unjustly treated by his chief
he could migrate to the Muyuka area like so many others before him. 1961
to 1993 THE
POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD The French Cameroons achieved independence from France in 1960 and became the Republic of Cameroun. The fate of the British Cameroons, however, had to wait until 1961 when the people were asked in a United Nations plebiscite whether they wished to be part of Nigeria or Cameroun (Eyongateh 1974:157-158). While the northern part of the British Cameroons decided to be part of Nigeria, the southern part, in 54 which
Bangwa was located, voted for reunification with Cameroun as part of a
federal republic made up of two states, one francophone and the other
anglophone. The anglophone state, which was now known as West Cameroon,
had its own prime minister and parliament. It retained much of the
British system of law and administration including a House of Chiefs
which acted as a consultative body similar in some respects to the
British House of Lords. However, the president of the larger and more
powerful East Cameroun, Ahmadou Ahidjo, was uneasy at being part of a
country with two systems of government, two languages, two systems of
law, etc. and through political cunning and pressure brought about the
abolition of the anglophone parliament in 1971. The country was renamed
the United Republic of Cameroon (Eyongateh 1974:175-181) and one of the
two stars disappeared from the flag, undoubtedly the anglophone one. The current president, Paul Biya, renamed the country the Republic of Cameroun in 1987 and began replacing the English speaking civil service in the anglophone provinces with French speaking prefets and chefs du post as part of a very open policy of trying to francophone-ise the anglophones. The people of the two English speaking provinces, particularly in the North West, have bitterly resented these attempts at integration. While the nationwide discontent with President Biya’s administration and the calls for greater democratisation are phenomena which have become typical of many sub-Saharan African states during the past few years, the prominence of anglophone Cameroonians at the forefront of the opposition movement is interesting. Having had a taste of substantial local self-government during the time of the Federal Republic, where there was greater account taken of local traditions, anglophones are perhaps more politically conscious and consequently more 55 politically
active than other Cameroonians. The fact that the North West (anglophone)
province, particularly the town of Bamenda, and the western parts of the
Bamileke region have been the scene of the most
violent conflict between the government and the opposition movement also
points to another element in the political equation. These areas, the
high savannah, share a similar culture which was dominated by a highly
developed political structure of Fons, chiefs and nobles. In some ways
the political battlefield of modern Cameroon can be seen as being
divided between the grassland people with their complex
‘traditional’ political structure and the forest peoples of Biya’s
south east where socio-political structures were much more limited and
less developed. Although the Fons and chiefs were powerful, the survival
of their political systems dictated that they had a greater respect for
the moral obligations of exercising power. One consequence of this was
ordinary people of grasslands cultures, including the Bangwa, had higher
expectations of the modern government and its leaders than those in
other parts of Cameroon. One wonders if this mentality is partly
responsible for the close association which would develop between the
Bangwa and the Catholic Church in the post-colonial period. Having a
sense of being abandoned by government, did the Bangwa see in the
Catholic Church an alternative to government not just in terms of
material development but also in their own relationship with the
structures of the wider world? The Bangwa expected that independence would bring them developments such as roads, hospitals and secondary schools. However, after independence the new government ignored Bangwa in much the same way as the British had done. The limited finances of the new state were largely allocated for the growing urban and semi-urban centres on the coast. The 56 reunification with French speaking Cameroun also brought an
added difficulty for the Bangwa economy. All during the British colonial
period the Bangwa had developed extensive trading links with Nigeria.
With independence and reunification this trade route was effectively
closed. Bangwa traders now found themselves very much on the periphery
of a new trading system centred on the south and east. One way to open
up the area to the wealthy
Bamileke grasslands to the east was to build a road.
After appeals had been made to Mgr. Julius
Peeters, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Buea, a Mill
Hill priest, Fr. Jan Brummelhuis[22],
was sent to construct a road from Dschang in the east down to the
Fon’s palace in Lebang. This road was completed in late 1965[23]. In 1964 a Bangwa delegation approached Mgr. Peeters again, this time to ask for a hospital. The reason they made this request was because of the high rates of infant mortality and sleeping sickness in the Bangwa area. The results of a demographic survey of the population of West Cameroon (Paris 1966:102) indicated that over 23% of infants in the Mamfe Division (which included the Bangwa area) as a whole, died within their first year. The Bangwa claim the figure was much higher in their own area and I was told that during an influenza epidemic in 1956 infant mortality reached 93%. The areas between 500 and 800 metres, which were the most populated, are also a 22
Fr. Jan Brummelhuis is something of a living
legend throughout Cameroon. During the 1960’s and 70’s he built
a number of roads to remote areas. He is better known by the various
nicknames the people gave him: “Father John-de-roads” and
“Father John Caterpillar”. 57
perfect breeding ground for the tsetse fly which carries sleeping
sickness. The Fontem area had the second highest rate of the disease in
Africa. Mgr.
Peeters conveyed this request to the
Focolare Movement, an international organisation
whose headquarters are near Rome (see footnote 1). The
Catholic Mission and the Focolare
Movement
During the Second Vatican Council (1963-65) there was a radical
review within the Catholic Church about its attitudes towards other
cultures and other beliefs[24].
The former tendency of denigrating African cultures in particular was
called into question and recognised as being, in fact, contrary to the
Christian principles of charity and openness towards others. The Holy
Spirit, it was realised, also moved and worked outwith the corridors of
the Vatican. Much of the Church’s statements at the Council were based
upon the experience of groups such as the
Focolare Movement which had sought a more open-minded
dialogue with peoples of other cultures, faiths and convictions. This
was partly why Mgr. Peeters had invited the Focolare Movement to work in
the Bangwa area. The Movement accepted Mgr. Peeters’ invitation and in February 1966 a doctor and two builders were sent to set up a health post and begin work on a hospital. Other doctors and staff arrived after a few months and the hospital was opened in January 1967. The Focolare Movement also opened a secondary school, a mill to process palm oil and carpentry and building 24 This opening of the Roman Catholic Church to the world around it took place during the Second Vatican Council (1963-65). See Ad Gentes Divinitus (7 Dec. 1965), the decree on missionary activity, 1-45 (Flannery 1975:813-856) and Gaudium et Spes (7 Dec. 1965), the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world, 53-62 (Flannery 1975:958-968) on the relationship between faith and culture. 58 workshops which
employed and trained local men and women. The Focolare community grew to
about 40 men and women with the arrival of other members from all parts
of Africa and the world. In cooperation with the Bangwa, they bulldozed
a number of roads to different parts of the Bangwa area during the
1980’s and 90’s. In 1972 the area covered by seven of the Bangwa
villages was designated as a Catholic parish, known as Catholic Mission
Fontem, to be served by priests who were members of the Focolare
Movement (cf. Bowie 1986:142-157).
The presence of the Movement/Mission[25]
has undoubtedly made a contribution to the social development of the
Bangwa, for example, infant morality rates have dramatically decreased
and cases of sleeping sickness are now uncommon[26].
It is perhaps impossible to assess the full effect of the Movement on
Bangwa society. The Bangwa themselves often say that without the
presence of the Movement/Mission their area would still be
underdeveloped. Visiting government officials such as the Governor of
the South West Province also repeat this frequently in their speeches.
However, what they focus on are tangible achievements in areas like
health, education and roads. 25
The relationship between the Movement and the Mission perhaps
needs some explaining. The Mission is part of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Buea. It is a normal parish like any other in the
Diocese. While the majority of its members are Roman Catholic, the
Movement would see itself as operating within the structures of the
Catholic Church but, equally important, also outwith those
structures. In this respect it is probably freer to engage in
dialogue with others. Those who perhaps have no wish to be part of
the Catholic Church would hopefully feel more at ease with some
involvement with the Movement. The link between the Catholic Mission
and the Movement in Bangwa is maintained by the Movement’s
directors with the Bishop of Buea and also through the priests who,
while obviously part of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, are
also members of the Movement as well. Although the relationship
between the Mission and the Movement is very close in Bangwa, the
distinction between the two is also clear. 59
The Movement, however, would see its presence in Bangwa not
simply in terms of promoting health or education or roads. Its primary
aim is to promote the well-being of the individual and society at all
levels of human existence, i.e. materially, socially and spiritually.
The Movement would sum up its objectives as promoting unity within
societies and among different societies through its own collective
experience of unity (
Lubich 1981 & cf. Robertson 1978). It is very difficult, probably impossible in the immediate term, to quantify the degree of ‘unity’ within a society or demonstrate clearly the Focolare Movement’s contribution to that end. One way the Movement tries to measure its own success is in terms of the Bangwa people’s association with the Catholic Mission of which the Movement is an integral part. The Movement’s definition of ‘association’ differs somewhat from the traditional missionary notion of association which was reckoned in terms of sacramental participation, i.e. how many people are baptised, receive Communion, etc. Anyone with whom the Mission/Movement has good relations is seen as associated with it. The boundaries of the group, therefore, are extremely wide. The shift here is from the more legal, statistical and sacramental viewpoint of association to one based on personal relationship. One of the main aims of the Movement has been to try and redefine the ‘Mission’ and Christianity as non-exclusive: not only is everyone welcome but the community at large, regardless of whether they are baptised or not, is responsible in some way for the Mission[27]. The starting point of the Movement’s 27 An example of this is the main church in the Bangwa area at Menji. Every village and quarter contributed in cash, materials or labour. The object was that the church would be a building representing the faith of all the Bangwa and that it is belongs to everyone. The design, carvings and liturgy incorporate much of Bangwa traditions. This pattern has been repeated throughout the area. Village churches are built by the whole community. The most recent example is the new, large church in Lewoh which has been financed entirely by contributions from the whole Lewoh community. These churches symbolise not just the unity of the people of a particular area but also their faith in God, regardless of doctrinal differences. 60 missiology is that God’s
relationship is not simply with individuals but primarily with the
group. It is within the group that an individual finds fulfilment in his
or her relationship with God. Consequently anything new that
Christianity has to offer a people such as the Bangwa must be observable
in the way the members of the Movement relate to one another and to
those outside the Movement. It is, in other words, an attempt to
evangelise not so much with words and sermons but by experience and
example. Initially the members of the Movement who lived and worked in the Bangwa area were seen very much as a group apart. Their integration into Bangwa society has been a long and gradual process. At times the relationship between the Bangwa and the Movement has been characterised by close cooperation, at other times by a sharp separation (Bowie 1986: 142-241)[28]. Since the late 1980’s the Movement and the wider Catholic Mission have been accepted as an integral and necessary part of society by most Bangwa. The reasons for this are twofold. A considerable number of Bangwa now see themselves as part 28 In her doctoral thesis (Oxford 1986), the anthropologist, Fiona Bowie, makes some penetrating and accurate remarks about the strained relations between the Bangwa and the Movement. I do not wish to engage in discussion with her here since it would be both complex and lengthy and this paper is not the appropriate place to do so. The only comments I feel should be made are as follows. While her study is comprehensive, her analysis of the relationship between the Bangwa and the Movement suffers from the historical circumstances under which she carried out her research. Her 18 months stay in Bangwa (1980-81) unfortunately coincided with a moment when Bangwa/Movement relations were at their worst ever. What provoked the difficulties was a land dispute. Taken in their historical context, many of her comments are valid, but times have moved on considerably since then and the Bangwa/Movement relationship has improved significantly. 61 of the Movement and Mission without
being formally Christian. The second reason is the Movement and
Mission’s association with the Bangwa in their relations with the
‘outside’ world, particularly with the government agencies.
Changes in attitude are more difficult to measure. On a visit to
Fontem in 1967, the foundress of the Movement, Chiara
Lubich, said that for one culture to absorb new
social and spiritual values, such as those proposed by Christianity,
requires several generations. One would assume, therefore, that as the
Movement continues to be involved in the affairs of Bangwa and attempts
to integrate itself into more into Bangwa society, its ideas and values
will also make themselves more evident in time. Government
Administration If the 1950’s saw the power of chiefs being challenged and weakened, then the arrival of the Cameroon government’s local administrators in Bangwa was the beginning of the end. In 1965 the Bangwa and Mundani areas became a district of Mamfe Division with a resident district officer based in Azi near the Fon of Fontem’s palace in Lebang. Several years later the district offices were transferred to Menji about 7 kilometres away. The decision was a pragmatic one because there was more free land for further expansion. There was also the fact that the growing township which had arisen around the Mission hospital and church seemed as though it would in time become the main centre of population. The decision to move away from the seat of traditional power to set up a whole new compound of government buildings, however, could also be taken as a symbol of the shift of power from the Fons and chiefs to the government officials. The people of Azi have never quite forgiven the government for the move because when the D.O.’s Land Rover 62 left,
with it went the power and with it went also something of their glory.
In the new Cameroon, Paramount Chiefs, the Fons, were now civil
servants who were paid a retainer, expected to be faithful to the party
and to keep their sub-chiefs in line. By the 1970’s, however, they
were excluded from the political life of their areas and only expected
at most to perform a ceremonial function. Their political disinheritance
was as swift as it was complete. This exclusion was dressed with
contempt when D.O.’s of francophone origin were appointed to the area
during the mid-1980’s (cf. de Latour 1991:198-202). Where the British
had upheld and supported the traditional system of chiefs, the French
had either abolished them or substituted them with people who would obey
French rule unswervingly. This was a result of the highly centralised
character of the French colonial system which was fearful of and
intolerant to any independent governing on the periphery. The curious
feature of many francophone officials is that while they often display
an obsessive hatred for the French colonial system of the past, many of
them are faithful replicas of French colonial officers, complete with an
unbridled disdain for ‘traditional’ authority.
The main function of chiefs during the past 25 years has been to
settle minor disputes. However, their authority was somewhat undermined
by the fact that whoever lost a case could take the matter to D.O. Now
even minor disputes are more often dealt with by the gendarmes and
police. The people’s opinion of many traditional leaders perhaps reached its lowest point during the October 1992 presidential elections. Throughout the 18 months prior to the election, popular discontent with President Paul Biya and his government 63 sparked off campaigns of civil
disobedience which called for free multiparty elections. Throughout the
Bangwa area there was massive support for the main opposition
presidential candidate, John Fru Ndi, who is a Ghandi-like figure from
the anglophone Bamenda region[29].
Pressure was brought to bear upon the powerful anglophone and
Bamileke Fons by President Biya to actively campaign
on his behalf. Fearful of their positions and their salaries, many
acceded, among them the Fon of Fontem, the grandson of Asonganyi. The
Fon’s action was interpreted by many Bangwa as a betrayal of his own
people in favour of Biya whom they considered to be the cause of the
economic crisis and hardship affecting them. The sense of betrayal
increased when Biya declared himself the winner of the election after
international observers proved clearly that Fru Ndi had actually won[30]/[31]. In the post-independence period the relationship between Government and people in Cameroon has followed a pattern typical of that found in many of the sub-Saharan African states during the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. Bureaucracy burgeoned and with it the misuse of power (See Bangura 1991 & Sandbrook 1989:ch.2). For the Bangwa the alienation between themselves and the Cameroon government was based on the fact that government had ignored their appeals for development. When the economic crisis began to develop in the mid-1980’s, bribery and corruption, which up until then had not been a major feature of Bangwa life, quickly permeated every aspect of the ordinary people’s relationship with government organisations, be it to receive treatment from a doctor or nurse, to have a favourable 29
He is, incidentally, associated with the
Focolare Movement. 64 judgement in a land dispute
from the D.O., gendarmes or police, and so on. However, weighed in the
economic balance, the presence of even a small number of civil servants,
policemen and gendarmes was seen as more positive than negative. Since
most of them were not natives of the area this meant that they had to
rent houses and spend their money in the markets and beer parlours. They
also complained to their superiors in Yaounde about the roads needing
repairs. In many ways the civil servants were extremely useful in
informing the government of the extreme difficulties of living in the
Bangwa area. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Bangwa were
eager to have more of them despite the drawback of having to bribe them
now and then.
In August 1992 the Bangwa and Mundani area was raised to be a
full division, a prefecture. That the elevation came after many years of
appealing to Yaounde was due mostly to massive bribery by the Bangwa and
the fact that President Biya believed it would improve his standing in
Bangwa eyes at the forthcoming presidential elections two months later.
Full prefectural status meant more offices, more buildings and more
civil servants. However, with the country’s economy in deep recession
there simply was not the finance to build offices and appoint a large
new corps of government workers. It would appear that the benefits of a
full prefecture are still some way away. Nonetheless, when the economy
improves and the new prefecture is equipped with all its necessary
offices and personnel, then it is expected that the small village of
Menji will expand and become a large commercial town. 65 |