The Two Recent Cases Of Public Humiliations Suffered By The President Of House Of Chiefs, Northwest, Fon Yakum Kevin, Could Have Been Avoided

 After four years of existence of the Regional Assembly,  Fon Yakum is seemingly still to understand or accept that the Biya Gov’t – created House of Chiefs, is part of the Assembly, and NOT an independent Institution  

NW Governor accuses the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Kevin, of abuse of power.

Last month the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Shumetang Kevin, got himself involved in two controversial situations, which forced the Governor of the Northwest Region, Lele Lafrique Adolphe, to twice call him to order. The situations twice plunged the Fon into a state of public humiliation, and became an embarrassment to some Northwest people.

But the fact of the matter is that these two cases were all situations that Fon Yakum could have simply avoided, if as Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs,  he did not arrogate to himself powers that he does not have.  Fon Yakum twice went far beyond the limits of the powers given him by the Law as regard the functions of the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs.  The Northwest Governor thus had no choice but to call Fon Yakum Kevin to order, by reminding him of the provisions of the Law that he failed to respect, by indulging in the controversial actions that he took.

Cultural Heritage Festival

First, the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly, Fon Yakum Shumetang Kevin, unilaterally took the decision to rally some Northwest Fons, to organize the first edition of the Cultural Heritage Festival that he announced for December 4 – 7, 2024 in Bamenda. Fon Yakum went on to create an organizing committee and sub –committees, and also appoint chairpersons of the committees. It is difficult to understand why Fon Yakum went ahead to do all these, when  the General Code on Regional and Local Authorities that the Northwest Governor did remind him of, is clear that the House of Chiefs shall give an “opinion” when it comes to the organization of cultural and traditional events in the region. The body that has the powers to organize such events is the Northwest Regional Assembly, of which the House of Chiefs is a part.

It is thus clear that the President of the House of Chiefs, or even the House of Chiefs, has no power to organize the Cultural Heritage Festival that Fon Yakum announced. More so, what was even the  reason  for the President of the House of Chiefs to want to organize  a cultural event, when  the Northwest Regional Assembly of which the House of Chiefs is a part, is already organizing cultural events dubbed, “Cultural Festival for Peace and Social Cohesion”, It should also be noted that quite a number of the Fons that joined Fon Yakum at the forefront of the plan to organize the Cultural Heritage Festival in Bamenda, are Fons that had  long escaped from their Fondoms, and are  living in Yaounde. Their plan was certainly that they would leave Yaounde for the festival and end in Bamenda, and return to Yaounde.

House Of Chiefs Is Not A separate Entity

Many people are making the mistake to say that Fon Yakum is the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly, who doubles as President of the House of Chiefs. No. Again, the House of Chiefs that President Biya or the Biya Government created is not a separate entity or an independent insti0tution from the Regional Assembly. Simply put, the Vice President of the Northwest or Southwest Regional Assembly is the President of   the House of Chiefs.  Members of the House of Chiefs are in fact members of the Regional Assembly. But Fon Yakum is seemingly still to understand or accept that the House of Chiefs is part of the Regional Assembly, and that as the President of the House of Chiefs who is the Vice President of the Regional Assembly, his boss is the President of the Regional Assembly, and that he is free to resign if he is not comfortable with the Government text which he was supposed to know before his uncle, Senator Fon Chafah XI of Bangolan, lobbied for the post for him in Yaounde.

As explained in another article, after the major National Dialogue,  President Biya,  or better still the Government, was looking for materials to fill the empty shell called Special Status, which the National Dialogue of 2019 recommended for  the two Anglophone Regions, as part of  measures or ‘solutions’  to ‘end’ the Anglophone Crisis. So Biya’s House of Chiefs was created, which is simply that during sessions of the Regional Assembly, Fons or chiefs sit in separate rooms from the other members of the Regional Assembly.  The separate area where traditional rulers who are members of the Regional Assembly do sit, is the Biya Government’s House of Chiefs.  That is all.

The Fons and Chiefs of the two Anglophone Regions would have boycotted or even threatened to boycott the December 2020 regional elections, because the Biya Government’s House of Chiefs is like the Special Status, an empty shell. They would have insisted that concrete content be put in the House of Chiefs, and that the House of Chief should be given some powers. That would have sent a strong message to President Biya. But then, they instead rushed in without complaint, and so embraced the House of Chiefs the way it is. So they should not complain today.

Controversial Correspondence Addressed To Senator Enwe Francis

Meanwhile unlike the Northwest Governor’s first correspondence that was addressed directly to the Vice President of the Regional Assembly who is President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Shumetang Kevin, the second correspondence which was on a different issue, was addressed to the President of the Northwest Regional Assembly, Prof Fru Angwafo III, who before going on retirement last served as Secretary General in the Ministry of Public Health.

The Governor’s second correspondence was a reaction to a controversial and embarrassing correspondence dated November 25, 2024, which the President of the House of Chiefs, Northwest, Fon Yakum Kevin, addressed to Senator Enwe Francis, who hails from Widikum Sub –division, Momo Division of the Northwest Region.

 The Summoning Of Senator Enwe Francis

Before getting into the Governor’s correspondence, it is necessary to first look at the controversial correspondence, dated November 25, 2024, which the President of the House of Chefs, which is part of the Northwest Regional Assembly, unilaterally addressed to Senator Enwe Francis, summoning him to appear at the House of Chiefs in Bamenda on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.

The Content Of Fon Yakum Kevin’s Correspondence, Below, Read:

“I am writing concerning a matter that has been brought to my attention regarding the use of traditional regalia.

“I have been reliably informed that you were seen in Yaounde recently, wearing a cap, and such a cap has a cultural significance which its use is reserved. I would like to invite you to provide clarification on the circumstances surrounding its use.

“I kindly request that you present yourself to the Northwest House of Chiefs on Tuesday, 03 December, 2024, to discuss this matter. Please bring along the cap in question for reference”.

Violation Of Human Rights

It is not clear whether Senator Enwe Francis, a former member of the National Assembly, formally reacted to the controversial correspondence of the President of the House of Chiefs. He was however quoted by some sources close to him, to have termed the correspondence addressed to him by Fon Yakum as a violation of his human rights, and insisted that he has the freedom to dress the way he likes. Of course Senator Enwe Francis who is presently in Yaounde for the November – December Parliamentary Session ignored the controversial and ignominious correspondence of the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Kevin, which summoned him to appear at the House of Chiefs in Bamenda on December 3, 2024. So he did not show up.

Honestly speaking, what is the business of the House of Chiefs with the dress codes of sons and daughters of the region! When sons and daughters of the Northwest Region made important calls on Fons to stay away from partisan politics, and maintain their status as fathers to all their subjects, they do not listen.

The Reaction Of The Northwest Government

As aforementioned, the Governor of the Northwest Region, Lele Lafrique Adolphe, who has been having a lot headache over controversial acts committed  by the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Kevin, that has arrogated to himself powers that he does not have, reacted to the correspondence on November 28, 2024. The Governor’s correspondence was addressed to   the President of the Northwest Regional Assembly, Prof Fru Angwafo III, a Prince of the Mankon Fondom.

Below is the content of the Governor’s correspondence of November 28:

“It has come to my knowledge that a certain correspondence No. 24 / 113 / 4 / NWRA / HOC of 25 / 11 / 2024 signed by the Vice President of the Regional Executive Council, Northwest and President of the House of Chiefs, Northwest, and addressed to Senator ENWE FRANCIS, relating to the subject cited supra, is circulating on social media and raising lots of dust.

“Should this be true, and in order to put an end to such an unorthodox mode of operation to ensure the respect of human rights instruments duly ratified by Cameroon, I hereby request you to refer him to the Law No. 2019 / 024 of 24 / 12 / 2019, instituting the General Code of Regional and Local Authorities, in its 359 and 337 and other relevant provisions, which clearly state the functions of the President and Vice President of the Regional Executive Council. The House of Chiefs is not a tribunal or an ambudsman, and therefore has no authority what so ever, to either determine or question any individual on his dressing code, let alone a Senator of the Republic.

“Furthermore, this action is a blatant abuse of power as well as an infringement of the personal rights of individuals. May I inform you that this is contrary to the Law and regulations of the Republic and likely to attract legal consequences”.

 Again, The Governor Simply Did His Job

Again, it should be noted that Governor Lele Lafrique simply did his job by calling the Vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly who is the President of the House of Chiefs, Fon Kevin Shumetang Kevin, to order. It should be noted that the President of the House of Chiefs is becoming notorious for controversial and embarrassing decisions.  It would be recalled that after an heinous act was committed outside the fence of Nacho College in Bamenda, when some separatist fighters satanically shot and killed a number of civilians, Fon Yakum issued a communiqué as President of the House of Chiefs, calling on Fons to turnout for a protest march. The population cried out in shock. Fons, marching! ABOMINATION!

By Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)

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