Martin Jumbam

The day Cardinal Tumi was very angry

By Martin Jumbam

Chapter 8 of Christian Cardinal Tumi’s very readable book, The Political Regimes of Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya, and Christian Tumi, Priest, is the shortest of the 9 chapters that constitute this book. It is tugged in just before the conclusion more like an afterthought than as an integral part of what had informed the writer’s original thinking. And he admits it himself that this chapter was inspired by an incident that occurred just as he was rounding up his book. 

The Chirping of a Lonely Bird

By Martin Jumbam

(For Felix Nsom Bongjoh, August 25, 1978, Washington DC)

Friend, in moments of solitude, the lapping tongue of my mind keeps licking the juicy, creamy edges of receding memories. Memories of past dreams. Dreams that budded and flowered. Those that withered in the stifling grips of passing time. Memories of those days together along the sunny seashore in Man O’War Bay in Victoria where we toyed with youthful dreams as numerous as the sand on the beaches.

Why I am a blood donor (Part III)

In the final part of my reflection on blood donation, I bow to the memory of the victims of the Kenya Airways tragedy that struck our land a few years ago. I was on that plane a few hours earlier and the thought that I would now be history had it happened earlier in the day, still paralyzes me with fright. But, what has this got to do with blood donation? A lot.