When Fons take their shrine to protest!.

In Chieftaincy issues in the Anglophone Regions, especially in the North West Region, where Fons are perceived to have an intimidating sacred status, derived from their shrines, it is an abomination for them to daub placards and protest in public with an aura of a kaleidoscopic masquerade. 

In 2019, South West Governor, Okalia Bilai Bernard, ordered all Chiefs in the Region to march on May 20, along with their subjects under pain of losing their royal crowns if they didn't obey.

At a preparatory meeting for the National Day celebrations, he had warned that: "...all the Chiefs will march with a placard indicating their village and with their population behind them...If that is not the case, it means those Chiefs don't exist. And if you don't exist as a body, as a village, then you should neither be called a village nor be counted among villages".

In a quick response, the President of the South West Chiefs’ Conference at the time, Chief Mafany Njie Martin, said in a statement that: "We, the South West Chiefs, categorically condemn the demeaning and threatening manner by which the Governor of the South West Region reminded us of our usual civic duties, which we have always performed so diligently without being ordered to do so by whosoever".

He had insisted that their duties did not include marching in public. 

The Guardian Post can vouch that it would have been an identical reply if North West Fons were compelled to march in public; irrespective of the occasion. 

But this time, the masquerades in the North West shrines are angry and the traditional rulers, under the aegis of the North West House of Chiefs, will in their overflowing gowns protest in public to express their indignation over the rising rate of wanton killings in the Region and other parts of Anglophone Cameroon. 

The President of the North West House of Chiefs, Fon Yakum Shumitang II of Bambalang, who for more than a year was held hostage by separatists fighters, in a statement after at least 15 persons were killed within 48 hours in Bamenda wrote: “It is with deep sadness that I address you ...following the tragic incident that occurred in Bamenda on Sunday 16 July, 2023. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims who lost their lives in this act of violence”.

He announced that: “In solidarity with the families of the victims and as a sign of our commitment to peace, we invite all Fons of the North West Region, to join us in a solidarity march to denounce these acts. The march will take place (today) from City Chemist Round About to the Governor’s Office”.

It's unusual for revered traditional rulers who are calling on their subjects to "drop their guns" and enlist into DDR centres to become peaceful demonstrators.

But as Jack DuVall, international civil society leader and President of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict in the United States, writes, such protests are necessary only "when established forms of political contention, like elections or petitioning office-holders, are hollow and ineffective".

At The Guardian Post, we go with the believe that the protest is indicative of government's failure to resolve the more than six years conflict. It is also the failure of traditional rulers in the North West Region to call their subjects, who are in the bushes, to order.  

Before reunification, the socio-political importance of traditional rulers was illustrated through the West Cameroon House of Chiefs, which was later abolished. Following the recommendation of the Major National Dialogue, Houses of Chiefs were created in the two restive Regions.

What then is the role of the North West House of Chiefs, if it cannot tackle the killings in Bamenda by setting up its own independence commission to investigate the massacres of innocent compatriots in a drinking spot? 

If it is not within their competence, then street protests are just playing to the gallery.

The Fons should have sent a delegation to the Head of State, who they once honoured as Fon of Fons and urge him to set up an investigative commission as he did on the Ngarbuh massacre. 

They should have also pleaded with him to harken to the various counsels from personalities of mettle, international organisations and friendly countries, to organise an inclusive dialogue as killings, be it by separatist or government troops, shall never bring peace and security in the North West and South West Regions.