When The President Of The House Of Chiefs, Southwest, Chief Dr Atem Ebako, Was Called To Order By The Administration, He humbly Adjusted

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 100?

The current President of Chiefs of the Southwest is Chief Moses Obenofunde, the President of the Southwest Chiefs Conference, SWECC.

Since NOWEFU was grounded in 2018, the Northwest Fons have no association, and thus no legal leader

If the Northwest Fons had an association, they would have used it to organize the first edition of the Cultural Heritage Festival, instead of trying to illegally use the House of Chiefs

When the Southwest Regional Assembly went functional, the President of the House of Chiefs, Chief Dr Atem Ebako, initially blundered by making declarations as if the House of Chiefs was independent of the Regional Assembly. It was thus as if the President of the House of Chiefs was independent, and was not under the President of the Regional Assembly as Vice President.  It did not take long for the Governor of the Southwest Region, Bernard Okalia Blai, to call Chief Ebako to order. The Governor told him to read the Law well, and reminded the Chief that the House of Chiefs is part of the Southwest Regional Assembly and not an independent institution, and that as President of the House of Chiefs, he is the Vice President of the Regional Assembly.

The Governor made it clear to Chief Ebako, that according to the Law, the Boss of the Regional Assembly is the President of the Assembly, who is assisted by a Vice President who is the President of the House of Chiefs.  The Governor also pointed out to Chief Ebako that according to the Law, the Spokesperson of the Southwest Regional Assembly is the President of the Assembly, and not the Vice President who is the President of the House of Chiefs, and which is part of the Regional Assembly. Fortunately for the Southwest Regional Assembly, Chief Dr Atem Ebako was humble enough to learn his lesson and toe the line. Since them, he stays in his lane.

 Associations Of Traditional Rulers

In the absence of a veritable House of Chiefs, the Cameroon Law still gives traditional rulers in the two Anglophone Regions (Northwest and Southwest Regions),  as  well as their colleagues in the eight Francophone Regions, the opportunity to create  their associations as forums to discuss their issues inkling their projects.

The Southwest Chiefs for example, have their regional association known as the Southwest Chiefs Conference, SWECC, which has stood the test of time.  The Southwest Chiefs Conference which is a well – structured association, also has Divisional structures. There is for example the Fako Chefs Conference which has an Executive Bureaus, Same thing as the Meme Chiefs Conference, the Kupe Muanenguba Chiefs Conference, and so on.   So the chiefs are able to discuss issues both at the Regional and Divisional levels. It should be noted that the legal and legitimate President or leader of Southwest Chiefs is the President General of the Southwest Chiefs Conference, and not the President of the Government – created House of Chiefs. So the current President of Southwest Chiefs is Chief Moses Obenofunde, and not Chief Dr Atem Ebako.

First Edition Of Southwest Cultural Festival

Meanwhile, the President of the House of Chiefs, Northwest, Fon Yakum Kevin, was probably inspired to think of organizing the Cultural Heritage Festival, by the plan by the Southwest Chiefs to organize the 1^st Edition of the Southwest Cultural Festival, which comes this weekend in Buea, precisely on Friday, December 13, and Saturday, December 14, 2024.  But the Fon should have known that it is the Southwest Chiefs Conference, SWECC, and not the House of Chiefs, Southwest, that is to organize the festival. The press release of last August that announced the planned organization of the 1^st edition of the Southwest Cultural Festival in Buea, and which The Mentor News reported on, was jointly signed by the President and Secretary General of the Southwest Chiefs Conference, Chief Moses Obenofunde and Chief Ekoka Molindo respectively.

SWECC is an association of Southwest Chiefs that was created and officially registered by Southwest Chiefs.  As an association, all that SWECC was required to do for their Southwest Cultural Festival was to deposit a demand for authorization with the competent local administrative authority, or better still, the DO of Buea, since the festival is to hold in Buea.

If it was the President of the House of Chiefs, Southwest, Chief Dr Atem Ebako, or the House of Chiefs, that wanted to organize the cultural festival, the President or the House would have certainly had the same problems with the Southwest Governor, Barnard Okalia Bilai, as Fon Yakum Kevin had with the Northwest Governor, Lele Lafrique Adolphe. This is because the text is clear that for such an event, it is Regional Assembly, of which the House of Chiefs is a part that has the authority or powers to organize it. The House of Chiefs can only give an opinion. So, It is a matter of what the text or the Law says.

Northwest Fons Have No Association

It should be noted that since the Northwest Fons Union, NOWEFU, was grounded in 2018 over a mafia that sparked a strong disputes between some Fons, Northwest Fons have no association and thus no legal leader who is supposed to be the President General of their association. If NOWEFU was functioning, the Northwest Fons would have simply used it to organize the first edition of the Cultural Heritage Festival which they wanted to launch, instead of trying to illegally use the House of Chiefs which is part of the Northwest Regional Assembly, and that does not have the powers to organize such an event.

The Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Shumetang Kevin of Bambalang, as well as the Fons who were in the group that wanted to organize the Cultural Heritage Festival with him, found themselves humiliated, when Northwest Governor, Lele Lafrique Adolphe, called Fon Yakum to order, and thus stopped the illegal attempt to try to use the House of Chiefs to organize the Cultural Heritage Festival.  The festival thus did not hold. This however serves the Northwest Fons right, that unlike the Southwest Chiefs, they have been without an association for over five years.

By Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)

Website: www.thementornews.com

Facebook: The Mentor

Email: djpefok@yahoo.com / djpefok13@gmial.com

Contacts:  Telephone / WhatsApp : (237) 699 71 83 92 /  677 17 51-4 51