Martin Jumbam

What is "Cameroon's Talk"?

One of the fall-outs of the World Press Freedom Day (May 03, 2021) in Cameroon is “Cameroon's Talk” which one its initiators, Franklin Bayen, describes as “a current affairs news magazine produced by a select group of journalists, most of them former presenters or contributors to Cameroon Report over Radio Cameroon in those days of Cameroon Calling over CRTV radio today. Cameroon's Talk is some kind of a revival of the old, engaging spirit of our radio broadcasting.”  Many of those who made Radio Cameroon what it was in those days, have either long gone silent, or have long been silenced. Some have drifted into other local ventures, while others have skipped boat to greener pastures, mainly to North America.

“Cameroon’s Talk” has the merit of having brought together “bush-fallers” and “home-stayers” in a production quite reminiscent of the glorious days of radio broadcasting in Cameroon. The first “bush-faller” under whose lips Franklin Bayen thrusts his microphone is Asonglefac Nkemleke, a one-time editor-in-chief of Radio Cameroon and Station Manager of CRTV, Maroua. True to form, Asonglefac resurrects his “Letter to Grandpa” in which he laments that gerontocrats have hijacked the land, climbed the wall and pulled up the ladder behind them, thus depriving the young of reaching the top as well.

The other “bush-faller” is Ben Bongang, another CRTV “dinosaur,” as Franklin Bayen calls them. He warns journalists to master the techniques of information technology, indispensable for any news coverage these days, but warns against the facile temptation of resorting to fake news instead of carrying out investigation before reporting.

From Bamenda, Tikum Mba Azonga, a lecturer at the University of Bamenda, wonders how Cameroonian journalists can accept funding from the State and protest when the latter exacts a pound of flesh from them; after all, does “he who pays the piper, not dictate the tune.”  For his part, Samson Websi decries the strict draconian laws shackling the press in Cameroon, while his colleague Gemda Buinda, laments the cankerworm of “gombo”, that is, corruption, that has sunk deep roots into the media profession in Cameroon.  In his usual humorous prose, Victor Epie Ngome, “The Rambler,” rambling from Victoria, picks up the same theme of “gombo”, wondering why journalists call themselves dogs, watch dogs, [that is, “ngong” in many northwestern languages, or “ngolle” in Bakossi]. Just as ill-treated dogs catch their prey and devour it where they catch it, so do journalists who tend to grab what they can, where they can and when they can before dancing to the tune of the purse owner.

Then comes the interview with Peter Esoka, the President of the National Communications Council. A combined trio of Franklin Bayen, Gemda Buinda and Samson Websi fire a barrage of questions from every angle. Understandably, Mr. Esoka refuses to be heard condemning the government for its Hitlerian press laws, preferring instead to accuse journalists of ‘irresponsibility’ in their profession.

One hopes that “Cameroon’s Talk” is not just another ‘flash in the pan’.  If it is truly here to stay, then it has come at the right moment. After all, it falls beyond the reach of the censor’s pair of scissors, being a virtual endeavour that reaches the four corners of the universe with a mere click of a computer mouse.

ENAM, Ethics and the Anglophone

 By Martin Jumbam

I believe it is last year that Cameroon’s Head of State, Mr. Paul Biya, presided over ceremonies marking the 50^th anniversary of Cameroon's School of Administration and Magistracy, commonly known by its French acronym ‘ENAM’. In one flowery speech after another, we heard how much the nation is, or should be, grateful to ENAM, being the institution that has, over the past fifty years, provided the ‘grease’ that has been oiling the Cameroonian state administration machinery.

Camerounais, n'ayez plus peur de la retraite!

Par Martin Jumbam

(Traduit de l'anglais par Moise Ateba Ngoa de l'ASTIC, Ecole de traduction et de l'interpretation de Buea) 

Ceux d’entre-nous qui avons fait nos études à l’Université de Yaoundé au cours des années 1970, avons eu le bonheur de nous abreuver à la source de l’illustre et vénérable Professeur Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, que le Seigneur a rappelé à Lui le 26 août 1986, au cours d’un séjour au Canada, pays qu’il avait toujours considéré comme sa « seconde patrie ». C’était également le pays de son ami, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, qui y a longtemps occupé le poste de Premier Ministre. Tous ceux qui ont bien connu le Professeur Fonlon peuvent témoigner de la grande considération qu'il avait pour ce grand homme politique avec qui il traitait d’égal à égal ! À l’heure qu’il est, les deux hommes doivent certainement partager bien des choses au Paradis ! 

Pourquoi je fais don de mon sang

Par Martin Jumbam

(Traduit de l'anglais par Moise Ateba Ngoa de l'ASTI, Buea)

Je me trouvais avec un ami l’autre jour au bureau lorsque mon téléphone a sonné. Au bout du fil, j’avais une infirmière en service à la banque de sang de l’hôpital Laquintinie. Elle m’annonçait qu’une femme qui devait subir une opération chirurgicale délicate cette après-midi-là, présentait une anémie sévère. Elle souhaitait par conséquent savoir si je pouvais me rendre à l’hôpital pour y faire un don de sang.

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. 

Why I donate my blood (part II).

In Part I of this reflection, I recalled how complete strangers gave generously of their blood to save my sister, Monica's life.  Several years later, it was my turn to receive the challenge to also give some of my blood to save complete strangers, people I would never meet or know. This was not even in our own land or among our people.

Why I am a blood donor (Part I)

By Martin Jumbam

A friend was over at my office the other day when my phone rang. It was a nurse from the blood bank of the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala. She told me of a woman scheduled for a delicate operation that afternoon who did not have enough blood. Could I come over and give her some blood? I told her I would be there within an hour.  

Retiring Gracefully

By Martin Jumbam

Some of us, who studied at the University of Yaoundé in the seventies, had the fortune to have sat at the feet of no greater a scholar than the venerable Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, whom the Lord called to his eternal reward on August 26, 1986 in Canada, the land Professor Fonlon always considered his ‘second home’. Canada was the home of his friend, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, for long Canada’s Prime Minister. Anyone close to Dr. Fonlon knew how proud he always was about his relationship with Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau with whom he was on first name basis!  Both men must now be exchanging notes in Paradise.

“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.

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.