What Manner of Member of Parliament is Hon. Emilia Monjowa Lifaka(1)?

Not many in her homeland appear to know about her unique story.  But in other lands, especially Europe and America, Nike Okundaye is a ‘goddess’ whose works are cherished by kings and presidents. Without a doubt, the story of Nike Okundaye, the face behind the huge success story of Nike Arts Gallery is as compelling as it is inspiring. She had no formal education yet lectures at Harvard. Nike’s rise from the status of an unknown village girl born into a seeming insignificant family in a rustic village to a globally celebrated icon shows that does who do the things they do, and do it well always bring surprises.

Closer to Nike in Cameroon is Hon. Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, Member of Parliament for Fako in the South West Region. The dissimilarity is that the two are completely the opposite of each other. Hon. Emilia Monjowa is a politician and she is 2nd Vice Speaker at the National Assembly. As “Representative” of the people, she is not barred from public scrutiny given that politics is not a license to commit offense freely. In the past few months some members of the political class in her constituency (especially Mayor Ekema) have decried that she (Hob. Lifaka) had besieged the political arena in Buea. The truth is that these series of allegations do not only make a mockery of what she is; in a very pathetic sense, they also degrade and humiliate the political class in the eyes of the civilized and educated Fako people. For some inexplicable Hon. Lifaka is one of the self proclaimed political kingpins who always think themselves best suited to do what they think is good and not for others. Such misplaced political arrogance seems to follow those for whom politics adds value to an otherwise unsung progeny of dubious antecedents. Perhaps this false sense of heightened value may explain the herd which now flocks CPDM Fako III Section.

The mayor of Buea, Patrick Esunge Ekema opened the can of worms when he exploded that “little-minded” CPDM party bigwigs are trying to harvest where they did not sow.    

Mayor Ekema accused Hon. Lifaka of appropriating and truncating the party cards distribution exercise in the Buea municipality. “Some people are trying to fragment the party to satisfy their selfish interests: I do not understand how Hon. Emilia Lifaka will organize such an important political meeting in my municipality without informing me….. I find that strange.…. I am not only a senior official of the CPDM in Buea but the one who shoulders the responsibility for all party activities here.” Mayor Ekema is quoted to have told journalists. “It is very strange that a meeting to talk on the distribution of party cards should be held in a private residence”.

Tongues are still waging in the South West as to what can a self-proclaimed vuvuzela likes Hon. Monjowa Lifaka can perform to engage people from a wide spectrum of values in order to open a vistas of growth and solidarity for all. In other words, the losing winner becomes champion overnight many have openly declared. Many people are of the opinion that it is her vaulting ambition to take over from Hon. Cavaye Yengue as House Speaker that pushes her to continuously seek for notice. 

As 2nd Vice Speaker, Hon. Lifaka merely stages her political strength by bragging local CPDM party officials. Besides she does the good work of getting lifesaving Bills rejected in Parliament. Seemingly she relies on Belinga Eboutou who allegedly gave her the green light that he will influence President Paul Biya to support her replacement of Cavaye Yegue Djbril as House Speaker after her exploits in coordinating the Commonwealth Parliamentary Summit in Yaounde. Since human beings are extremely hungry when it comes to power, Lifaka is letting no stone untouched to ensure that the physiological and safety needs kept in one piece (human desires are met). Anyway, food and power are part of the physiological needs in man’s hierarchy of needs, according to psychologist Abraham Maslow. However, in the midst of it all, we should not be carried away and turn a blind eye to other things that really matter.

Since there is no smoke without fire, it is aired that Hon. Lifaka submitted pieces of papers to Commission Members of Trade in Parliament to reject the Private Members’ Bill Submitted by Hon. Awudu for the protection of water catchments, watersheds and wetland. A critical judgment analysis clearly portrays that Hon. Lifaka’s interest is paramount while that of the people she represents is secondary. Even though newspaper reports claimed she washed her hands off these allegations, the claim is indubitably sine qua non. There are two things that have been noticed about those who wear CPDM the way she does. The first thing is that either she is after something or something is after her.  Jonathan Swift happens to be one of the most composite personalities in English letters given that the kind of a man Swift was and the kind of a man Gulliver is in Gulliver’s Travels are antithetical to one another. The Hon. Lifaka who parades self in corridors for power is the same character that is tearing the CPDM apart in Buea. As Lord Bryce once put it, Hon. Lifaka’s party system is based upon a paradoxical ideology which breeds factional elements of disunity, sowing the seeds of diversity, while at the same time it strengthens. 
(To be Continued)

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)