Martin Jumbam

“Corruption is as damaging to the society as AIDS is to the human body,” panellist says.

By Martin Jumbam

The government anti-corruption arm, known by its French acronym CONAC, has been very active over the past weeks. From one seminar to another, Minister Paul Tessa and his team have been explaining the organization’s role to both public and private business people, who are not always convinced that a government-created structure, like CONAC can effectively stem corruption, which is generally seen, rightly or wrongly, as more endemic in government circles than elsewhere.

"I am leaving behind me a company that is in good financial health," says Martin Jumbam

Interviewed by Grace Ongey

On Monday, October 13, 2008, employees of the Catholic Media House, known by its French acronym MACACOS, welcomed their new interim General Manager, Mr. Emile Clément Abondo. The Co-Adjutor Archbishop, Monsignor Samuel Kleda, presided at the short ceremony in the Company’s conference hall. After the ceremony, L’Effort Camerounais journalist Grace Ongey spoke with the outgoing General Manager, Martin Jumbam, about his tenure of office. Excerpts

We are their shepherd

By Martin Jumbam

On Thursday, July 24, 2008, I stood before the members of the Bui Family Union of the United States of America, commonly known as the BFU-USA, as they held the 20th anniversary of their Union at the Holiday Inn in Edison, New Jersey, to plead with its members to come to the assistance of a technical educational institute, the Cameroon Opportunities and Industrialization Center (COIC) of Kumbo, Bui Division, in the Northwest Province of Cameroon. The said institute has been mismanaged to near extinction but some dynamic and determined sons and daughters of Nso, who refuse to let this institute of technical education die, have been campaigning for its revival. This is one such plea made to sons and daughters of the Nso people, residing in North America, urging them too to join the reviving process.

“The creation of more dioceses is the work of the Holy Spirit,” says Monsignor Immanuel Bushu

Martin Jumbam

The Diocese of Buea once stretched from the coastal town of Victoria to Nkambe, where the northern tip of English-speaking Cameroon snugly rubs its head against the belly of our neighbouring giant, Nigeria. Today, however, the Diocese of Buea looks like a shadow of its former self, having lost territory, first of all to what is today the Archdiocese of Bamenda, which, in turn, gave birth to the Diocese of Kumbo; then to the Diocese of Mamfe, and now the Diocese of Kumba-in-the-making. With such loss of territory, one would have expected the present occupant of the See of Buea, Monsignor Immanuel Bushu, to feel a tinge of sadness because his “power” seems to have been considerably eroded. Instead, he applauds the creation of other dioceses from the mother Diocese of Buea as the marvellous work of the Holy Spirit. Excerpts.

Come, follow me.

By Martin Jumbam

On Sunday, July 24, 2007, the Catholic men of the Douala Archdiocese held the general assembly of the Catholic Men’s Organization (CMO) at the Our Lady of Annunciation Parish in Bonamoussadi. I was asked to lead the assembly in a bible reading but I instead chose to reflect with the group on three words from Sacred Scripture: “Come, follow me”, some of the most frequent words on the lips of our Blessed Lord as he began his public ministry.

Foyer de la Charité, an oasis of silence in Bonjongo

By Martin Jumbam

On one of the hills protruding like a finger from the side of the majestic Mount Fako snugly sits the first ever Catholic Church west of the Mungo, the historic German-built Bonjongo Queen of the Angels Church, surrounded by a breath-taking scenery, an amazing panoramic view that stretches all the way to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea across the bay from Victoria.

Nestling at the foot of this hill, and well within its shadow, sits a rectangular structure that looks more like a convent than the retreat house that it really is. Previously built as a formation house for the Brothers of Saint Martin de Porres, this structure has since the year 2000 been serving as a diocesan retreat house under the French name: “Foyer de la Charité”.

Information Technology: Rwanda takes the lead!

By Martin Jumbam

I recently spent several hours at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on my way home from a business trip to India. As I sat in the waiting lounge, I saw droves of neatly dressed men and women, bankers for the most part, capitalist to their finger tips, draped in dark, grey suits, come and go.

As they waited for their flights, I could pick up much of their conversation without really giving the impression that I was listening. I love to eavesdrop in airports, especially when I have many hours to kill and boredom is hitting me on the chin.

Tourism cannot thrive in a country that is steeped in corruption, says Lonnie Kelley

By Martin Jumbam

In the second part of his interview, the Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy to Cameroon, Mr. Lonnie Kelley, says that Cameroon could reap a fortune from its tourism potential provided efforts are made to curb the rampant corruption that seems to touch every sector of the economy. Excerpts.

Americans urge Cameroonians to register and vote.

By Martin Jumbam

The Counselor for Public Affairs at the American Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Mr. Lonnie Kelley, has urged Cameroonians to register and vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in this country. In the following interview, conducted in Douala, Mr. Kelley, whose office also takes charge of cultural matters and the media, began by assessing the media in Cameroon. Excerpts.

"Merely getting rid of Biya won't solve our problems," says Celestin Monga.

By Martin Jumbam

In this last part of his interview, Celestin Monga , who has always been known for political and economic writing, discusses the other forms of writing he is involved in, notably creative writing, travel diaries, among others. As a parting shot, he warns that merely getting rid of Biya won't cure Cameroon of its ills. It will take much more than just a change of guards at Etoudi. The system itself must be thoroughly over-hauled and changed before the Cameroonian people can start to breathe a sigh of relief after all these years of Biya's misrule. 

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 5): “Our religious leaders have let us down”.

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 5 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga says that our religious leaders of all denominations have let the country down. He openly accuses some of them of complicity with Biya to keep Cameroon in a perpetual state of misery and poverty.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 4): “Biya is no intellectual.”

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 4 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga denies that he is nursing any political ambitions and dismisses the idea that Paul Biya is an intellectual. He also takes delight in flinging punches at other so-called intellectuals, who enjoy the favours of the ruling prince. Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 3): “I drew much inspiration from Albert Mukong’s defiance of the regime.”

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 3 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga talks of his
encounter with some Anglophone and Francophone intellectuals, especially those who played a significant role in the political upheaval period of the 1990s.  Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 2): The Anglophone problem is the challenge of the decade

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Life Magazine Vol III, No 6, July 1992.

In Part 2 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga discusses what has come to be known in this country as the “Anglophone problem”. To him, even though this problem is “the challenge of the decade”, it is just one among many such problems Cameroon is facing today. Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part One): Biya is an embezzler.

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Life Magazine Vol III No 6 July 1992.

In the 1990s, when Cameroon was almost going up in flames in that popular uprising that has come to be known as “Ghost Towns”, Celestin Monga quickly established himself as “a radical voice of defiance” to the Biya regime. He began by publishing an open letter to President Biya in the tabloid, Le Messager.

The Biya regime’s panicky response was to hurl both Monga and that tabloid’s publisher, Pius Njawe, before a muzzled court and to jail. The political dust raised by the Monga-Njawe case had barely settled when Monga again published an interview with a former SCB bank manager, Messi Messi, in which the latter openly and directly accused President Biya and his wife, Irene, of being responsible for the collapse of the SCB bank.

“Government failed to save ACT,” says Professor Stephen H. Arnold.

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Life Magazine of January 1991.

Recently, I conducted a series of interviews with Professor Abioseh Michael Porter, Head of the Department of English and Philosophy at the University of Drexel in Philadelphia, USA, on Cameroonian and African literatures. One name that came up in our conversation is that of Professor Stephen H. Arnold, retired professor of Comparative Literature, and one time Vice Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Professor Arnold was one of the founding members of the African Literature Association and was instrumental in that organization creating the Fonlon-Nichols Award.

Fifteen years ago, I conducted an interview with Professor Arnold, for the January 1991 issue of Cameroon Life Magazine, which I think is worth revisiting. In it, Professor Arnold talks lengthily about the Association of Creative Teaching (ACT), a once vibrant joint project of the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada), under Professor Douglas Killam and Mrs. Elizabeth Cockburn, and the Yaoundé University Comparative African Literatures Department, under Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, of blessed memory. Unfortunately, that worthy project seems to have followed Dr. Fonlon to his grave! How sad!

Greying Dutch volunteers help in the fight against poverty.

By Martin Jumbam

Many retired Dutch men and women, experts in various fields, have joined an association called PUM, with a challenging objective: defeat poverty through work. It is “geared towards fighting poverty and encouraging sustainable development in social free-market economies around the world,” especially the struggling economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Aart Jan van Ginkel is one such Dutchman. He worked in Holland for thirty nine years before joining PUM and has travelled to Indonesia, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon and will soon be heading for Panama, in Central America. I met him in Bamenda recently. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation.

Prof. Abioseh Porter on the State of African Literature: The Complete Interview

After numerous requests from readers, I have compiled  my seven-part interview with Professor Abioseh Porter of Drexel University into a single downloadable document.

Martin.

Click here for a printable/downloadable version of the Porter interview in PDF format

“There has been a Nobel Laureate in literature from just about every part of Africa,” says Professor Abioseh Michael Porter.

By Martin Jumbam

In this final part of his interview on African creative writing, Professor Porter talks, among other things, about the contribution of African writers to world literature and what it takes to be a good teacher of African literatures as well as the place of African literatures, in particular, and African studies, as a whole, in most North American universities.

“The Internet is becoming a burgeoning forum for African creative writing worth watching,” says Professor Abioseh Porter in Part Six of his interview.

By Martin Jumbam

In this last but one part of his interview on Cameroonian and African creative writing, Professor Abioseh Michael Porter talks, among other things, about the different generations of African writers and points to the Internet as a forum that can foster creative writing in Africa.

Part Five of Professor Abioseh Porter’s thoughts on Cameroonian and African writing. The ALA created the Fonlon Nichols Award

By Martin Jumbam

In the fifth part of his interview, Professor Porter talks about the Fonlon-Nichols Prize, which the African Literature Association (ALA) created to reward excellence in African creative writing. He tells us why the ALA decided to jointly honour Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon and retired VOA journalist, Lee Nichols, by naming this literary award after them.

Professor Porter on Cameroonian literature (Part Four). The ALA speaks out in defence of human rights

By Martin Jumbam

In the Fourth Part of his interview, Professor Porter talks about the role non-Cameroonian critics, like himself, have played in the promotion of Cameroonian literature. The North American-based African Literature Association (ALA) and its Bulletin, the ALA Bulletin, of which Professor Porter is the Editor, have been very instrumental, not only in promoting Cameroonian, and other African literatures, but also in their outspoken defence of human rights in Africa, wherever such rights are trampled upon. Their voice was heard loud and clear, for example, when the Abacha dictatorship in Nigeria murdered the human rights activist and playwright Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995. Excerpts.

Professor Abioseh Michael Porter on Cameroonian literature (Part Three): Abbia was a wonderful magazine

By Martin Jumbam

In Part Three of his interview on Cameroonian literature, Professor Abioseh Michael Porter, laments the demise of one of Dr. Fonlon’s literary legacies: the internationally renowned magazine Abbia, whose motto, which was so dear to Dr. Fonlon, was “Not merely to recount what has been, but to share in moulding what should be”. Fonlon himself once wrote that “for one reason or another, by an inexorable law of nature, the present team of Abbia must cede place, by and by, to another and younger.”

Professor Porter on Cameroonian literature (Part Two): Fonlon was an outstanding human being

By Martin Jumbam.

In Part Two of this interview, Professor Abioseh Porter talks about his encounters in Cameroon, focusing particular attention on Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, an outstanding intellectual, who dominated the Cameroonian intellectual and political scenes for several decades. Even though he had political and material power within easy reach, Fonlon emerged from it totally unstained by waves of corruption scandals that have been the hallmark of our country from its inception. Cameroon recently earned for itself, on two successive occasions, the unenviable title of the “most corrupt country in the world.” That came several decades after Fonlon, who passed on in 1986. Excerpts.

Interview with Professor Abioseh Michael Porter (Part One): Give Pidgin a chance.

By Martin Jumbam

Professor Abioseh Michael Porter is the present head of English and Philosophy Department at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Born and bred in Sierra Leone, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and English and a Diploma in Education from Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He later gained admission into the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, graduating with a Master of Arts Degree and a  Doctorate in Comparative Literature with his research focusing on African literature.

He has, for the past well over twenty years, been teaching comparative literature in various North American universities. He is also the Editor of the North American-based African Literature Association (ALA) Bulletin, soon to be renamed JALA--The Journal of the African Literature Association. The ALA Bulletin has done much to promote African literatures, not only in North America, but throughout the world. One of the ALA’s outstanding achievements has been the creation of the Fonlon-Nichols Award to honour African writers.

The criticism of Anglophone literature in a deep slumber

Appeared for the first time in Cameroon Tribune of Wednesday, November 27, 1985.

Sankie Maimo’s much assaulted article, which appeared in the Cameroon Tribune issues of Wednesday, September 19, 1979 and of Wednesday, September 26, 1979, respectively, under the rather lengthy and pedantic title of “Literary Lag in English-speaking Cameroon – June 1979 Abbia Editorialist unwittingly Lost His Spear at First Cast”, marks, in my opinion, a decisive turning-point in the critical appreciation of Anglophone literature in this country.

“A Luta Continua!”: A brief review of the poetry of Lusophone Africa.

First carried by Cameroon Tribune of Friday, February 13, 1987.

Mention the name Agostinho Neto to any sober Cameroonian and he or she would likely tell you, and rightly so, that he was the first President of the People’s Republic of Angola, whose untimely death in 1979 came as a shock to the progressive world – and to the other world as well. Mention Marcelino dos Santos and those who followed the recent events in Mozambique would likely tell you that he is the hefty-looking, eloquent, middle-aged man, with a snow-white goatee, who was in charge of organizing the funeral services of the late Mozambican President Samora Machel, whose plane was shot down killed in enemy territory late last year (1986).

But tell those same Cameroonians that both Agostinho Neto and Marcelino dos Santos are two outstanding Lusophone (i.e. Portuguese-speaking) poets and you would either have eye-brows raised in amazement, or shoulders shrugged in indifference because Lusophone literature is still to a large extent an uncharted territory to many English-speaking Africans.

Retirement: why the panic at the university?

By Martin Jumbam

First carried by Cameroon Tribune of Friday, July 22, 1988.

On Thursday June 30, 1988, the French edition of Cameroon Tribune tackled what is fast becoming to some people a sensitive, heart-breaking topic of conversation these days in this country: retirement from the civil service. What I found most interesting was the near-frantic reaction from the University of Yaoundé where age seems to have caught some members of the teaching staff completely off-guard.

The translator as a tourism booster

This was a letter to the editor of Cameroon Tribune of Tuesday, July 4, 1989.

Dear Sir,

Many knowledgeable Cameroonians, who had long regretted the neglect of our tourism industry, gave a standing ovation to the decision to raise the industry into a Ministry in its own right. One of Cameroon’s trump cards which, if used diligently, can stand us in good stead with tourists, is our status as a bilingual nation.

Our use of French and English as official languages puts us in a class of our own in Africa. Our position in the eyes of the world has just been further enhanced by our wise decision to make our presence felt in the assembly of French-speaking nations, “La “Francophonie”, and in the Commonwealth of Nations. To make ourselves understood in such international bodies requires, of course, that we present our case in both English and French. Hence the importance of translation and the translator in our tourism industry.

Some well-meaning Cameroonians have expressed amazement that Cameroon’s embassies and diplomatic missions abroad, notably in English-speaking countries, have been presenting material about touristic sites in Cameroon in one language only – French!! The new Ministry must steer clear of such short-sightedness if we are to make any noticeable inroads into the highly competitive tourism industry in Africa.

Tourism brochures or pamphlets issued by the new Ministry of Tourism must not only be in English and French, but also in German and, if possible, Japanese and Chinese. This means that the new Ministry must give serious thought to setting up a powerful translation pool to be run by at least six competent, well-qualified, experienced Cameroonian translators.

Since the bulk of the translator’s work in this country is usually from French into English, I’ll suggest that four of the six translators in question be those with English as an active or target language, i.e., those translating from French into English. The translator has a crucial role to play in promoting tourism in this country. Officials of the new Ministry must recognize this fact and not bow to that widespread, narrow-minded tendency to consider the translator as an expendable maverick with nothing useful to contribute to national development. Were they to ignore the translator, the tourist would ignore our country.

Martin Jumbam

The Cameroonian intelligentsia caught off-guard

By Martin Jumbam

First appeared in Cameroon Tribune of Friday, February 6, 1987.

President Paul Biya’s call to the Cameroonian intellectual community to reflect and advise him on just what future we intend to bequeath to our children, was as unexpected and surprising as it was totally unprecedented. Never before in the history of this nation has a ruler ever so openly stretched out a hand of friendship and recognition to the intellectual community, or thought of inviting it to the table of ideas. Suspicion and at times outright hostility had become the hallmark of relations between our intellectual community and our rulers prior to Biya’s accession to power on November 6, 1982. You’ll no doubt recall the famous reminder to recalcitrant intellectuals: “Vous avez vos diplômes, nous, on a le travail – mangez vos diplomes, alors!” (you have your diplomas, we have the jobs. Go ahead and eat your diplomas!).

Handshaking: A Dying Practice Among the Nso People

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Tribune of Friday, January 15, 1988.

When this innocent, comical piece first appeared in the English edition of Cameroon Tribune of Friday, January 15, 1988, it did not win me many friends in the Nso community in this country. I was accused, among other abominations, of being an ungrateful son of Nso, who had lived outside his community for too long and was now totally alienated from the daily realities of life among his people. What a strange accusation!

When Gobata decides to hang up his boots

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Post # 0214 of April 20-17, 1994.

When my desk phone suddenly buzzed to life and the receptionist announced the noisy arrival of Mola J., I immediately braced myself for another long argument with him. For several weeks following Gobata’s decision to “crucify” – the word is Mola J’s – his column, “No Trifling Matter,” in Cameroon Post, Mola J. has literally been haunting the corridors of my office, loudly complaining about people who are already chickening out and abandoning the struggle for Anglophone liberation from what he likes to call "our new colonizers – the Frogs. "

Polygamist holds up traffic in Douala

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Tribune of Tuesday, May 3, 1988.

Ask any one of the over one million inhabitants of the city of Douala to give you in a nutshell the causes of the rush-hour traffic jams that have become part and parcel of the daily life here and you will likely hear, among others, answers such as dangerously offensive and aggressive driving, especially by taxi drivers, who totally disregard the rudimentary principles of the highway code in their rush for passengers. You’ll also hear of unauthorized parking along narrow, pothole-laden streets, etc. It is, however, highly unlikely that anyone is going to think of adding a polygamist to that list of irritating causes of traffic backup in our city. But that is precisely what I intend to do right now.

Agostinho Antonio Neto (1922-1979): A tribute to a committed writer.

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Tribune of Tuesday, November 18, 1986, p. 16.

Agostinho Antonio Neto, the first President of the People’s Republic of Angola, died in September of 1979 at the relatively young age of 57 (1922-1979). He was felled, not by an assassin’s bullet, but that implacable enemy of man, blood cancer. His sudden and surprising death cruelly robbed progressive humanity of one of its most articulate spokesmen, a man of action whose tragically short life was in itself an embodiment of the struggles of his people for their freedom, first from Portuguese colonialism and, at the moment of his demise, from South African aggressors.

The Apostolate of Divine Mercy comes knocking

By Martin Jumbam

First carried in L'Effort camerounais # 373, April 2006

The Douala and Buea chapters of the Apostolate of Divine Mercies, a relatively new apostolate in the religious landscape in Cameroon, held a joint meeting on Sunday, February 19, 2006, at the Our Lady of Annunciation Parish in Bonamoussadi, Douala. The nearly fifty delegates from the two branches reflected on the message of Saint Faustina and how to spread this message to the whole country. L’Effort camerounais met the President of the Buea Chapter, Dr. Mrs. Theresa Elad, for a chat after their meeting. Excerpts.

Stand up in the presence of one with grey hair.

By Martin Jumbam

First carried as an editorial in L'Effort camerounais # 378, May 2006.

“Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty if we are strong,” sings the Psalmist, before lamenting that many of these years constitute “fruitless toil, for they pass quickly and we drift away” (Ps 90:10). The United Nations Organisation, as if guided by this Psalmist’s lament over the brevity and harshness of life, challenged humanity by declaring 1999 as “The International Year of Older Persons.”

Cameroonian artists and painters obtain international audience

Martin Jumbam

First carried in L'Effort camerounais #376, April 2006

Professor Till Forster, a German-born Swiss resident, who teaches at the Institute for Social Anthropology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, is no stranger to Cameroon. He has been in and out of this country for a good part of the last decade, fishing out artists, painters, musicians and creative writers, and exposing their works to international acclaim. In one of his recent visits to Cameroon, he spoke to L’Effort camerounais in Bamenda about his experiences with men and women of the artistic world in Cameroon. Excerpts.

CAMWREAD Celebrates the Life and Works of Kenjo Jumbam

On January 26, 2006, CAMWREAD (Association of Cameroon Writers and Readers) organized a celebration of the life and Works of Kenjo wan Jumbam at the Marriott Hotel in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.

The event started at 7:00 pm with attendance peaking at about 150 people. Poems were read in memory of Pa Kenjo Jumbam. Excepts from Pa Kenjo Jumbams books were read and analyzed by Camread members.

A panel discussed Pa Jumbam's works and situated him in Anglophone Cameroon, Cameroon as a whole and Africa. These presentations were interspersed with traditional dances.

the Bui Family Union was associated to the event and performed two traditional dances (Toh [women's dance] and Kikum).

The event ended at 10:30 with a word of appreciation from Amosa Jumbam on behalf of the family and an auction of 4 copies of The Whiteman of God."

The next three postings are a sample of the presentations made during the celebration.

Kenjo Jumbam - The father we knew, but did not know

By JK Bannavti

[Paper presented at the CAMWREAD (Association of Cameroon Writers and Readers) Celebration of the Life and Works of Kenjo wan Jumbam at the Marriott Hotel in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, on January 26, 2006]

This is not an easy task for me because I have to comment about someone so renowned, someone whose birthplace is so close to mine, and someone I have always had great respect for. As a boy growing up in Sob, just about three and a half miles from Nkar, the birthplace of Kenjo wan Jumbam, I always looked at Baáh Jumbam (that is how we called him) with admiration and awe, first because of his feat of numerous writings, and second because he was a well educated baáh (father).

Kenjo Jumbam: Promoter of Nso Identity

By Dr. Elias Wirba

Introduction: an incident!

We had a Bui Family Union meeting in New Jersey some 5 or so years ago. I was still single at the time and had come to the meeting feeling very good about myself.  As a single man I was always on the lookout for a potential life-long partner.  That evening, I was particularly pleased when I realized that there were quite a few single women at the meeting. I walked into the room and immediately went round the room, greeting everybody with a handshake and doing my best to make an impression.  After this, I sat down, and proceeded to comment on points raised in the previous meetings minutes, doing my best to smile whenever the opportunity arose.