What Simon Nkwenti Will Be Remembered For

Simon Nkwenti is no more, Long Live Simon Nkwenti

When a man is alive, we rate him from his worst performance and when he is dead, by his best. These words of Samuel Johnson in his Preface to Shakespeare” sum up the general tendency of human beings towards the living and the dead. Like all great thinkers Shakespeare’s enemies were fellow writers like a group which called themselves “The University Wits”. Shakespeare had never been to the university, but he was a far better playwright than his opponents. His lack of university education was the only deficiency which his opponents exploited to ridicule him.

Simon Nkwenti compared to many of his contemporaries was not quite certificated. At the time he began his crusade for better education for Cameroonians, he was only a graduate of ENS Bambili which by academic standards was only slightly better than GCE Advanced Level. But he was a million times superior to them in courage, eloquence and commonsense. Thanks to these gifts, he foresaw the collapse of TAC with Azong-Wara, Arrey Mbi and collaborators getting into the GCE Board. He had already proven his dreadnought qualities when as secretary general of the Cameroon Public servants’ union, CAPSU, he was caught in the midst of an anti-government demonstration and detained at the public security constabulary in Old Town Bamenda. As part of the humiliation, the Biya regime felt he deserved Nkwenti the Afro hairstyle he wore at the time was crudely shaven. This act made Nkwenti more radical and volatile than before.

Not long after his release, TAC fell into disrepute following the egoistic tendencies of Azong-Wara and his partner-in-crime Arrey Mbi Samuel. Nkwenti was to suffer another  bout of detention at the Mobile Police Intervention Unit, GMI Bamenda. He was there fore close to six months. After this real ‘baptism of fire’, Nkwenti became unstoppable. Having been to hell and back no devil frightened Nkwenti. Details of Nkwenti’s pro-education activism could fill an encyclopedia. Let us try to compress it for the purpose of this analysis.

The Rise of CATTU Under Nkwenti

As indicated above, the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union CATTU, was born in the midst of detention, torture and especially the pangs of attacks from TAC opportunists who feared they would be dwarfed by the very brilliant, witty and eloquent Nkwenti. And like every target of persecution, Nkwenti grew stronger after each attack.

But worse than these TAC underachievers, were some persons within CATTU who gave the impression that the vibrant trade union’s executive secretary was a power monger. Nkwenti disproved them during an elective general assembly in which he was faced by a challenge. The majority of CATTU members wanted Nkwenti elected by acclamation, but he rejected the idea and insisted on being faced by a challenger. Nkwenti had an overwhelming victory over his opponent. Since then, his legitimacy as CATTU leader has never been put to question.

This legitimacy was later strengthened by the victories he won for CATTU and for the Cameroon GCE. When Omer Yembe and wife tried to personalize the GCE Board. Omer Yembe with little or no consultation wanted to introduce multiple choice questions into the GCE syllabus and his wife had already traveled to London to prepare samples. Nkwenti, without dismissing the idea of multiple questions, argued that such a reform needed time and should be discussed with other teachers, examiners and stakeholders in the education process. When Omer Yembe never showed signs that reason could take precedence, over greed, Nkwenti convened a CATTU meeting in Bamenda in which a strong resolution was taken opposing Omer Yembe’s precipitated reform. This was followed next day by the departure of a CATTU delegation to Yaounde led by Nkwenti. The delegation met the Minister of Secondary Education Louis Bapes Bapes and Nkwenti successfully punctured Omer Yembe’s move.

The next thing Nkwenti did was to champion the campaign to get Omer Yembe out of the Board. Omer Yembe’s term as Registrar had since expired with those of his collaborators. Not long after the GCE Board Registrar came tumbling from his lucrative posts and Humphrey Ekema Monono magisterially walked in after his appointment.

CATTU And NUCT

It was mentioned earlier that TAC (under Azong-Wara) tried to put very slippery banana peelings in the way of Nkwenti. But the CATTU Executive Secretary proved more formidable than his opponents imagined. Nkwenti had the gift of speech coupled with the heart of a lion which his opponents lacked. TAC went comatose when Azong-Wara and Co. were fully involved in the process of ‘chopping’ at the GCE Board. CATTU had by them assumed its full responsibility as the voice of Anglophone education. Not long after, Nkwenti realized that Cameroonians in general, needed a strong voice to articulate the problems of education to the powers that be. Teachers’ organizations led by francophones lacked this strong voice which CATTU had. It was therefore no accident. It was through the process of natural selection CATTU emerged as Cameroon’s strongest teachers’ trade union.

No sooner had CATTU attained the status of Cameroon’s leading teachers’ core than underachievers woke from slumber and started creating fake trade unions. One of these was called National Union of Cameroon Teachers, abbreviated NUCT. At the helm was a certain Gerald Ndukong. Ndukong and his collaborators thought they could easily reach the pinnacle of fame by fighting CATTU and Nkwenti. They tried to impress on Anglophones that NUCT was the perfect organization to articulate their problems by pointing out what they were convinced, were the weaknesses of CATTU. They singled Nkwenti for attack. But the mind of the public was already made up and therefore, no longer at the mercy of manipulation. Having failed to replace CATTU in the hearts of Cameroonians. Nkwenti’s enemies resorted to the only strategy employed when manipulations and intrigues failed. They invaded the airwaves of CRTV bombarding the eardrums of Morning Safari with invectives and diatribes against Nkwenti. Not satisfied with this, they shifted battle ground to conferences and workshops. Listeners didn’t need literacy skills to savour the interventions of a certain George Quincy during a recent occasion at Ayaba where Nkwenti made a very brilliant presentation. He tried to contradict the CATTU Executive Secretary, but his ability to commit mischief was far less than ability. The murmurs of protest from the audience proved once more than NUCT had been rejected by Cameroonians.

Nkwenti and the Tactlessness of TAC

TAC resurfaced more than 10 years after Azong-Wara had fallen from glory at the GCE Board and was also on retirement from the public service. Although by age and the fact that he had quit the public service Azong-Wara should have deserved the appellation “Senior Citizen”. He is not. There is no better indication of a small brain within a fat head like inability to stick to a particular philosophy. Nkwnti succeeded because he was consistent. Azong-Wara failed because he was volatile. Had TAC re-launched voicing only the desire to work for the welfare of teachers Cameroonians would not have reacted with that degree of disdain which they manifested following the utterances of Ninjo Paul and his comrades-in-arms at LCC Mankon where the rebirth took place. TAC members tactlessly revealed in their various speeches that their principal mission was to annihilate TAC and crush Nkwenti, not to leave Cameroonian education better than they found it. The keynote address on the occasion attacked Nkwenti saying he manipulated the Minister of Secondary Education in the appointment of secondary school principals.

Nkwenti learnt of it; he even had a copy of the speech, but never reacted to it either through speech or writing. He followed the advice many of us have been taught since elementary school years that the best answer to a fool is to keep quiet. By so doing, Nkwenti demonstrated that he possessed tremendous powers of self control. The behavious of the CATTU Executive Secretary was greatly acclaimed and TAC’s renaissance has remained a non event till present day.

The tactlessness of TAC was further demonstrated when its top officials wrote to Frederich Ebet Foundation calling on this renowned German organization to stop funding CATTU. How can you expect to stop somebody from doing something which he/she didn’t rely on your advice to commence?

If you see somebody, a rich man for instance assisting your neighbour and you are desperate, simply request that person’s assistance too. When you rather say he/she should discontinue assistance to your neighbour, you portray yourself as rather resentful than needy. Great achievements never hide. If TAC officials were achievers they needn’t tell people. The world would see and commend them. Ninjo Paul and Tameh Valentine his secretary general can impress on Cameroonians by showing what they have done to improve the living standards of Cameroonian teachers, students and pupils. Not by calling on press panel or any other popular CRTV programme to recognize what they have done which are not visible. All Cameroonians know Simon Nkwenti fought for teachers’ research allowances and obtained them.

Nkwenti, Cameroon’s Foremost Catalyst to Educational Reform

The developments are there for all to see. The second cycle of ENS and the Advanced Technical Teachers Training College in Bambili. He didn’t fold his arms and they came. Nkwenti lobbied North West CPDM members of parliament to meet High Education Minister, Jacques Fame Ndongo to create the schools. He knew that being CPDM himself the minister would be more willing to listen to members of his own party than he would if they were those of the opposition. Only a divinely inspired leader can think this progressively.

Those who might have doubted Nkwenti’s contribution towards the creation of the University of Bamenda can not question his role in the appointment of its pioneer officials, beginning with the Vice Chancellor. Who in Bamenda especially doesn’t remember how the North West administration under Abakar Ahamat shook like leaves in a forest moved by the force of violent wind when Nkwenti announced non-stop street demonstrations until a Vice Chancellor for the University of Bamenda was appointed. Who in Bamenda can forget how Fon Chafah of Bangolan, dispatched as peace maker by PM Yang was almost detained on the orders of the same overzealous Abakar Ahamat because he stood firmly by Nkwenti?

We all know the importance of lobby and advocacy thanks to Nkwenti. He organized a street march to thank President Biya for appointing Philemon Yang Prime Minister, but was also the champion of pretests when government failed to live up to the expectations of Cameroonians. The threats to hold an Anglophone educational conference forced Abakar hold a North West peace and development meeting.

Civil Society Leader

Nkwenti is indisputably the first Anglophone Cameroonian and perhaps one of the first few Cameroonians to understand the importance of a civil society in the progress of a society. The Biya regime had known this and chosen Moise Njambe to play the role of civil society leader. Moise Njambe was the leader of SOS Dialogue who doled out money like groundnuts to the press preaching peace and dialogue. But when the lid that covered his activities was blown off the pot by Magic FM, a Yaounde based radio station, he flew into a range, stormed the studios of the radio and rained blows on the station manager. Before the regime could choose another impostor to impersonate as civil society leader, Nkwenti had already sensitized Cameroonians enough to reject such another hypocrite. Nkwenti didn’t declare himself civil society leader for Cameroon. He chose the North West, his region of origin. As usual, his detractors asked: why only Nkwenti? And Nkwenti’s admirers were fast to reply: why not Nkwenti? Nkwenti was not contented with speeches and resolutions. He carried his policy of lobby and advocacy further and where he perceived inertia and corruption, he added ‘Naming and shaming’. His argument in defence of the latter policy was that since the civil society cannot punish the best thing is whistle blowing. After he had successfully led civil society supporters to blow whistles at the police station in Mile 7 Mankon, many services adjusted. The North West Taxation Department reeking with bribery and corruption adjusted fast for fear that the civil society could embark on civil disobedience and stop paying taxes. Gana Joseph, its chief requested and held a meeting with the civil society to discuss Cameroon’s tax policy and explain Cameroon’s tax policy.

AES SONEL, MTN

These are surely some of the services that will heap a sigh of relief following Nkwenti’s death because the late civil society leader kept them on tenterhooks to improve on their poor services. But as one Nkwenti admirer remarked following his death, Nkwenti is dead, but another hero will inevitably step into his shoes.

Simon Nkwenti will not only be remembered as the great CATTU and civil society leader, but as a friend of the press surpassed only by the great philanthropist and peace crusader Ntumfor Nico Halle. Nkwenti will be remembered, for his generosity, his humility, his fear of God and his incomparable sense of humour.