No to administrators desecrating Chieftaincy institution.

There are numerous researches about Chieftaincy institutions in Cameroon, given its pre-colonial importance when traditional rulers in their fiefs had some sovereignty in their Chiefdoms, be they Fons, Nfohs, Sultans or Lamidos.

They were regarded as rulers with divine afflatus and their succession process   laid down by sacred procedures assigned to Kingmakers by unadulterated and unpoliticised traditions and customs of their communities.

Chia Ngam and Kaze Tindo Narcisse Saturnin, in their book titled: “Chieftaincy and Decentralisation in Cameroon: Unmasking the Opportunities and Challenges in Context”, writes that Chieftaincy governance: "Even with the advent of the colonial rule..., incarnated by the Chiefs, was used to consolidate colonial influence and governance in Cameroon. The effective politico-administrative organisation of Chieftaincy, coupled with the traditional system governance, explains why they were co-opted as collaborators by colonial administrators".

With the advent of the post-colonial era, Cameroon legalised Chieftaincy institutions and instituted a Chieftaincy law in 1977, stripping them of some of powers, classifying them into first, second and third class categories and downgrading them to "auxiliaries of administration".

In spite of that, Nigerian author, S. Bamidele Ayo, writes that, "the eagerness and grim determination to make the old order change and yield to the new, there is a particular institution {Chieftaincy}, that has stood its grounds and which rather than yield place to the modernising influence, has continued to dig its roots dipper into the life of the people". 

President Paul Biya is on accord with that, which is why he decreed that traditional rulers, custodians of tradition and culture, should be paid monthly salaries.

Unfortunately, that incentive has been abused by some overzealous civil administrators, who, in their uncouth manners and intemperate behaviour, barged into corruption, are known to have created fake Chiefs and villages. 

In their vaunting ambitions, they want to be Kingmakers or polling officers to elect traditional rulers! They have desecrated traditions, including the legal provisions that empower Senior Divisional Officers, SDOs, to create third class chiefs, which has brought cacophony into a revered domain cherished for maintaining the traditions and cultures of their people.

Though SDOs have powers to create third class chiefs, they do not by any absurd administrative or legal gymnastics have the clout to select a traditional ruler of any category.

That may explain why the traditional authorities of Menchum Division in the North West Region, known for hereditary succession, under the canopies of Menchum Council of Chiefs and the Kingmakers of Esu Fondom, are furious over a letter by the SDO of their Division, Abdoulahi Aliou. He virtually advertised vacancy to succeed the late Fon Kum Achou Kawzuh Albert of Esu, who was murdered in March last year.

In his order, which has sparked fury and consternation, the administrator, Abdoulahi Aliou, called on “prospective candidates to the throne of Esu, to file in their candidacy” in his office for arrangement of consultative talks at the Palace of Esu, where he shall personally preside over.

He explained further that "...it is more than a year, that your beloved Chief disappeared...after due mourning for this period, it is time to move ahead for the development of Esu”.   

Why the hurry? Didn't it take 40 years to find a successor for the traditional ruler in Bisongabang in Manyu Division? Did it stall development? The traditional authorities of Menchum Division find faults against the administrator on legal, administrative, traditional and cultural perspectives.

In unequivocal language, they have told the administrator: “Mr SDO, since the disappearance of our Fon, under unclear circumstances, the Kingmakers by tradition need to first come to terms with what happened on March 9, 2022. Thereafter, they need to invoke their ancestors to provide guidance in the process of finding the new King”.

The Kingmakers also wrote: “In this process, certain sacrifices and rites need to be performed independently of the administration before a new leader can emerge and be presented to the administration”. 

But why should the Menchum SDO be crying more than the bereaved? Has development been halted in Esu because there is no Fon or he finds it tasking to administer the Division because of a vacant stool in Esu?

Be that as it is, the bottom line is that there is the urgent need to revise the Chieftaincy law of 1977, which has become obsolete with the exigencies of time, population growth, partisan politics and migration.