The student body issued a clarion call
yesterday January 21, 2013 calling on the Head of State, President Paul Biya to
rescue the University of Bamenda from collapsing. The body known as Movement
for peace, unity and against the Decentralization of UBa in their clarion call
condemned the Prefectoral Order signed by the Senior Divisional Officer for
Mezam, Ngele Nguele setting up a commission to move the Chancellery of the
University from the main campus to Bamendakwe. In the release, the student body
also stated that “we say no to the
destruction move of the Vice Chancellor which is out to partition and
destabilize the smooth function of the university”. They are accusing Prof. Tafah Edward of
masterminding the moves and manipulating the Minister of Higher Education. More
so, they also decried tribalism and corruption as well as occultism and witch
craft practices in the university. They
warned that if their grievances are not addressed with immediate effect, they
shall all move to the street calling on the sacking of the Vice Chancellor
Prof. Tafah Edward.
It is not surprising that since Monday,
January 08, 2013 most of the University workers have been gathering in groups
discussing these developments. All efforts by this reporter to get to Prof.
Educat Tafah Edward could not yield any fruits. However, as it is, a fragile
peace exists in the University as many of the academics and other affiliated staff
are worried about the level of injustice and ethnic chauvinism either manipulated or not.
It should be recalled that in a speech presented by Fon Awemo 11 of
Bambili to the SDO for Mezam during his maiden tour in which he did not hide
his emotions, he told the SDO, Nguele Nguele Felix, that the Head of State
President Paul Biya, created the University of Bamenda with Bambili as its
legitimate seat. He questioned why the Chancellery of the University of Bamenda
(UBa) is planned to be set up rather at Bamendankwe, Bamenda 1 Sub-Division, as
he has been reliably intimated.
According to Fon Awemo, the Chancellery is the
heart of any University and must be located at the seat of the University.
Beside, he disclosed that his Fondom, Bambili, and other neighbouring villages
of Tubah have already allocated over 1000 hectares of land for the extension of
the University. The said land is far more than the land owned by any of the
state universities of Cameroon. Moreover, the fons of Tubah said they were
ready to add more land if came to that.
Confirming the rumour, the SDO disclosed that
he saw a file to that effect on his table two days after his installation as
the new SDO for Mezam. He promised to go through the file before deciding on
what to do.
In spite of the SDO’s response, the Tubah elite
were overheard cursing the Vice Chancellor of UBa, Professor Educat Edward
Tafa, as the architect of the plans to locate the University’s chancellery at
Bamendankwe. Some of the elite including the Fons of Tubah intimated this
reporter how the Vice Chancellor openly hates Tubah elite including the fons.
They cited the case where Tubah Fons wrote to
Prof. Educat Tafa indicating their plans to accord him a reception when he was
just appointed as the pioneer Vice Chancellor to UBa. Hear them; “Professor
Educat snubbed our request saying that he had no time for such an occasion
because of his busy schedule”. They regretted that a week after, the same Educat
received his Momo fons in his residence in Bamenda III during which his fons
gave him a traditional title.
Visibly incensed, the Tubah elite said all the
support staff of UBa hail from Educat’s village, Oshie, in Ngie, Momo Division,
even though the youths of Tubah applied long ago before his appointment.
It was because of the show of hatred to their
land that the Tubah elite intimated that they had no choice than to form a
union dubbed, Tubah Union for Peace, Progress and Prosperity (TUP3)
to fight for their rights shortly after the installation of Prof Educat. Former Minister Abety has also been accused of masterminding the problems at the University of Bamenda yet many have asked whether students are so dull that Abety could manipulate them to the point that they go down the street?
However,
if the chancellery is
constructed some 20km away, it won’t be within the trekking distance and
it
would be difficult for students to use some of the services attached to
the
chancellery. The University they say is like a one-stop shop and
transferring
the chancellery away from the main campus will defeat that notion. But
what are
the reasons of transferring the university chancellery. Notwithstanding
confidential sources hinted that the SDO for Mezam recently signed a
Prefectoral Order appointing members of the committee for the inspection
of the
site to construct the Chancellery and the Vice Chancellor’s Residence at
Bamendankwe.
Prefectoral Order No 03 o/E.29/712/S2 of January 8, 2013 setting a site
Board Commission for the selection of a parcel of land for the
construction of the Chancellery and Residence of the Vice Chancellor of
the University of Bamenda appoints the SDO of Mezam or his
representative as Chairman. it also appoints the Divisional Chief of
state lands as secretary, while other members include: The Divisional
Officer for Bamenda I, The Divisional Delegate of state property,
Divisional Delegate of Housing and Urban Development, Vice Chancellor,
Divisional Chief of Service for Surveys, the Mayor of Bamenda I, the Fon
of Bamendakwe and two notables
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment