Fon Doh’s Son From ENAM Could Succeed Him

By Tegha Otega

The long awaited smoke, like it happens during the designation of a new Roman Catholic Pope, would soon be billowing from the mountains of Balikumbat. This follows a week of deadlock after the ‘missing’ of the Almighty Fon Doh Gah Gwanyin III. Last Saturday September 8, 2012 as an extraordinary congress of Balikumbat Development and Cultural Organization, BADO met in the village all eyes/ears were up the mountain, following the reports that kingmakers were in search. An authoritative palace source hinted Chronicle on grounds of anonymity that the one eyed to succeed Fon Doh could be named Fon Galabe III. The one tipped is one of the sons of the missing Fon, who recently graduated from the School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM. By press time, nothing had filtered though Chronicle was told that there is a deadline of Tuesday September 11, 2012.

Balikumbat sons and daughters had since been mobilizing towards the coronation of their new fon and a hectic cry-die for Fon Doh. Chronicle learnt that the cry-die would be in November 2012, which date has been communicated to the presidency of the Republic.

The Chairman of the organizing committee, Chronicle learnt, is Hon Emmanuel Banmi. Last Saturday, some 3 million FCFA was raised in the first fundraising, in preparation for the cry-die, which is expected to be grandiose, given the weight Fon Doh pulled as former MP, Mayor, CPDM central committee member and an apostle of President Paul Biya.

How Fon Doh Will Be Remembered

When a man is alive we rate him from his worst performance, but when he is dead, by his best. There are the words of Samuel Johnson considered generally as the best reviewer of Shakespeare’s works. Johnson is commenting on the common human tendency that when people are alive their neighbours and contemporaries tend to see only the negative side of their characters. They only begin to see the positive after these people are dead.

Doh Gah Gwanyin III of Balikumbat certainly had faults like other human beings, but sentiments aside, he was one of the greatest men Cameroon ever produced. Reason why it would be the most appropriate thing if he is given a state funeral. Before explaining why let us state what Fon Doh really was.

Fon Doh The Genius

“Genius is nine tenth perspiration and only one tenth inspiration. This is the definition of the word genius by one of the world’s greatest geniuses, Albert Einstein. We rarely have more than one genius in a given generation. We could have many intelligent persons at a given time, but ingenuity in Einstein’s sense of the word is seldom. Fon Doh, like Simon Nkenti was a genius following the above explanation.

Those who knew Fon Doh well would admit he was decades ahead of his time; he was not only extremely hard working but had considered foresight. Even at the time when Cameroonians in general and North Westerners in particular regarded John Fru Ndi as a messiah sent by God to deliver Cameroon, Fon Doh knew the SDF national chairman was a self seeking politician whose preoccupation was to enrich himself. What many people don’t know is that Fon Doh was one of the first and highly committed militants of the SDF. He had known Fru Ndi in the domain of football (Fon Doh headed CAMMAKK) and Fru Ndi PWD at various points in time). He knew Fru Ndi as generally an inflexible person in the domain of management and thought he would be dynamic in politics. But when the same tendency manifested itself through SDF’s boycott of the 1992 parliamentary elections, Fon Doh called it quits with him. Why should a party created to take power be afraid of an election which is the only peaceful and legitimate means to take power? Is that not the same as a woman who gets married but is afraid of childbirth? Fon Doh reasoned.

Fon Doh next decided to support Bouba Bello’s UNDP leading to his clash with some of his subjects during the 1992 election. At least one person was wounded when in self defence Fon Doh opened fire. Doba Henry is the name of the person. The Balikumbat leader was almost lynched after that. Balikumbat people are yet to forget the repercussions when gendarmes raided the village the next day. At least 84 of them were arrested and detained for over six months.

Those who condemn Fon Doh for this incident which took place on March 1, 1992 lose sight of one thing. Politics is about taking power and keeping it. It is not a game in which you love your opponent and fight to protect him. By this incident Fon Doh established himself and was recognized nationwide and beyond as a no-nonsense politician. The ruling CPDM party which he subsequently joined equally recognized him as such. Reason why Balikumbat became the first special constituency in the country. Government’s calculation proved correct.

In 1997 and 2002 the CPDM won in the North West only in Balikumbat in the parliamentary election. It would have lost the right to be called a national party if Fru Ndi’s SDF swept all 20 seats. President Biya and the ruling CPDM have since remained grateful to Fon Doh for this successful rescue mission. It was for this reason that the decision to lift Fon Doh’s immunity so he could stand trial for Kohtem’s death was indeed a painful pill for Biya to swallow. Fon Doh a law abiding citizen didn’t escape from the country despite this although he had the means and the capability to do so. Like a lamb being led to the altar of sacrifice, he accepted his 15-year jail term knowing that the truth would prevail at last. It did.

The first indication that Fon Doh would be freed came from the North West Attorney General, Bechem who soon after the conviction told the press that Fon Doh was not convicted for murder, but for assault occasioning death meaning that Fon Doh and supporters didn’t set out to kill Kohtem but simply to discipline him through beating and he unfortunately died. This statement ties with Fon Doh’s alleged confession to his wife, Kohtem’s sister when he returned home that night “I beat your brother, but I didn’t know he would die. Forgive me” Rather than forgive him, his wife Emmaculate packed and left the palace. The North West Appeal court later freed Fon Doh because the panel of judges which sentenced him was not properly constituted.

Consistency as a Politician

Politics is not only a game of interest, but one of consistency. No sane person can trust a politician who behaves like a bed hopper jumping from one bed to another. A good politician should behave like a truly married person stick to his or her political party for better or for worse. That is what Fon Doh has done with the ruling party. In the heat of controversy that followed his imprisonment and release on bail, Fon Doh never uttered a single word of condemnation against the ruling CPDM party, at least not in public. Some SDF political opportunists took advantage of the humiliation Fon Doh suffered to impress on him that his best option was to support an SDF bid “you should prove to the CPDM that you are a good player who can play in any team. Join the SDF and help us win. Fon Doh rejected the argument outright. The worst of these tempters were some of Kohtem’s sympathizers who cajoled Fon Doh that they would forgive him if he joined the ranks of the SDF. Fon Doh was not in need of their forgiveness because they were not God.

Fon Doh’s real challenge came from people within his own party. Some of them fought for the disqualification of Gabsa Sixtus, his choice for parliament in 2007 after Fon Doh was disqualified in spite of his landslide victory in CPDM primaries. One of Fon Doh’s opponents who deemed himself the legitimate CPDM candidate even took the matter to the supreme court. But despite Gabsa’s disqualification, Fon Doh still backed Banmi who eventually beat the opposition candidates to become Balikumbat’s MP in 2007.

Initially Fon Doh dragged his feet because of his deep-rooted conflict with Banmi but because of his love for President Biya and the CPDM he swallowed his anger and mobilized the Balikumbat electorate to give Banmi a landslide victory. A good politician should overlook petty differences within his party and embrace the good of the organization. The Democratic Party in the U.S demonstrated this in the case of Obama and Hilary Clinton. Obama beat Mrs. Clinton in the primaries to clinch the ticket for the American presidency. But Mrs. Clinton still campaigned vigorously for him and Obama became America’s president.

Indefatigable CPDM Till Death

To forgive does not mean to forget. The ancient Greeks were the only people who discovered the means of forgetting. They had or treated a river called Lethe which those who drank water from forgot all their problems. The Lethe for Cameroonians is beer. But its effects are temporary. Fon Doh could not forget that he was a politician and that as Nkumah said ‘seek ye first the political kingdom and all else would follow’. This explains why the moment Fon Doh was cleared of the Kohtem murder he resolved to bounce back even while the appeal was still to come up he contested primaries and beat his challengers hand down has already indicated. He knew it would be an uphill task getting back to parliament at that time, but he needed to remind the CPDM, Cameroonians and the rest of the world that he remained the political colossus of Balikumbat. His challengers only got him out of the way by exploiting the aspect of the law which stated that a certificate of non-conviction which is one of the requirements for contesting legitimate political elections in Cameroon must be obtained only from one region of origin. Fon Doh’s own was obtained in Yaounde. His opponents took this to the press and Fon Doh was disqualified.

But with the North West court of appeal having cleared him. Fon Doh was warming up to take back his legitimate position as Balikumbat’s representative in parliament when death deprived him of the opportunity. Knowing whom Fon Doh is, his political opponents jubilated at news of his death and rushed to the press with it less than an hour after it happened. Although hypertensive and diabetic, many still think Fon Doh’s death was not natural.

Those who claim Fon Doh would have failed because of the newly introduced biometric system of voting miss the point. Some even think he committed suicide because of his conviction that he could never win free, fair and transparent elections under the biometric system are hundreds of miles away from the truth. These critics certainly don’t know who Fon Doh was in Balikumbat.

Why Fon Doh was the Darling of Balikumbat

The failure to understand that Fon Doh was the darling of Balikumbat is the reason why some persons, including journalists, think Fon doh’s death has freed Balikumbat. If they knew Balikumbat well, they wouldn’t make such a mistake. Fon Doh’s jail term and his four months in prison gave him enough reason and time for reflection when he came out even many of his former enemies sympathized with him.
This was thanks mainly to Dingha Ignatius Bayin, BADO president who told fellow Balikumbats that the fact of their Fon being jailed was something to lament and not jubilate about. Dingha organized an ecumenical service after that and called on Balikumbat people to pray for peace, good harvest and for their jailed traditional leader. Fon Doh’s return after only four months in jail was like the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Not only was Fon Doh more soft-spoken and friendly, he was very generous. He had always been generous like his father, Fon Galabe, but this tendency increased tremendously when he returned from prison

Fon Doh the Utmost Developer

Upholding political ideology is not enough. A good politician must embrace development. Fon Doh was indefatigable in his efforts to see Balikumbat transformed into a paradise. He personally presided at annual general meeting the Balikumbat Development Organization BADO. He ensured that the right persons were in place to pilot the affairs of the organization. When at one time Dingha Ignatius and executive threatened to step down, saying their term of office was over, Fon Doh personally led the protest and songs were sung to praise Dingha’s executive and urge them to continue.

Fon Doh didn’t end at ensuring BADO succeeded in its mission to develop Balikumbat. He lobbied for development projects for the subdivision schools, administrative building etc. If there is one politician in the North West who embraced President Biya’s grand ambition ideology, it was Fon Doh. Those who said he got paid for the government contracts he executed in Balikumbat did him even more credit. It was better to lobby for contracts, execute them and be paid by government, than to sit doing nothing and sending nchindas to harass subjects and collect money from them as some traditional rulers do. Fon Doh was one of those subjects who gave rather than receive from his subjects. He truly embraced the biblical concept that it was more blessed to give than to receive.

It may not be out of place to note here that to develop one’s community it is necessary to develop one’s self first. Fon Doh was certainly not as educated as some traditional rulers and many North West or Cameroonian elite. But he was very knowledgeable. He mastered not only the political landscape, he made tradition revolve. Of what use is it to sit only in one’s palace when there are things to be done for the nation? The formation of the North West Fons’ Conference NOWEFCO, was Fon Doh’s laudable initiative to bring about collaboration among North West Fons. Unfortunately, he was misconstrued as seeking power for himself. As it is often the case with North Westerners some of his royal colleagues rather than persuade him to join their ranks, chose to use backstabbing and mudslinging. Despite the fact that the North West Fons’ Association, NOWEFA, formed to rival NOWEFCO had as members the so-called Big Five, NOWEFCO had the support of tog government officials, among them Hon Simon Achidi Achu, Prime Minister at the time.

Fon Doh as a Man

We gave actually commented on Fon Doh’s generosity. As a man he was a good conversationist- soft spoken, calm and tolerant. What many people don’t know or refuse to acknowledge about Fon Doh is that he was never an aggressor. He only acted in self defence. Let us take the Kohtem case. John Kohtem took advantage of the fact that Fon Doh was married to his sister and spoke to him rudely at the time, mostly in public. Whenever we hear somebody has been beaten or even killed the first thing we do is blame the person accused. We fail to find out what the other person did before he or she was assaulted. Take the case of a wife who brings a lover to sleep with her on her husband’s bed. Does such a woman deserve pity when beaten or killed?

Fon Doh was more often sinned against than sinning. The hierarchy of the ruling party was genuinely grieved by the news of his demise. Biya has faults, but ingratitude is not one of them. He certainly understands the worth of the sacrifices Fon Doh has made for the CPDM and for Cameroon’s democracy. He introduced debate in a province where the SDF had absolute monopoly and dictated terms to the people.

Fon Doh gave courage to those who initially feared to stand for the CPDM in the face of massive intimidation from Fru Ndi and his ‘Society for Demonic Feymen’ as late Alhadji Soulemane termed the SDF and because he survived for ten years CPDM supporters who feared to make their voiced heard plucked courage, campaigned with this audacity and obtained 9 out of 20 parliamentary seats and 18 out of 34 councils.

Any Hope for Balikumbat CPDM After Fon Doh?

Definitely. Balikumbat is CPDM. Fon Doh implanted there, watered it and it grew to its present size of a baobab tree. The SDF has over the years done nothing more than bark. Many of those who stand for the party live outside Balikumbat only coming in during reorganizations or elections. Politics is not about noise making. Fon Doh was not just a politician with concrete achievements to show. He was a patriot of the highest rank. President Biya would be encouraging the virtues of hard work, courage, resistance and love for fatherland if he decreed a state funeral for Fon Doh and raise his successor to the pinnacle of administrative power within his government. Luckily his successor is likely to be an ENAM graduate.