SDF Launches Campaign For Enthronement Of Limbe Paramount Ruler Before AFCON

 By Aminateh Nkemngu in Limbe 

Godden Zama: SDF District chairman

About two months to the Female African Cup of nation, to be hosted in part by the seaside resort town of Limbe, the Limbe I electoral district of the SDF has launched a campaign to for a chief to be enthroned before the continental jamboree.

In a letter dated 13 August 2016, signed by the electoral District Chairman,Ndenge Godden Zama and addressed to the Prime Minister, the SDF notes that “ It has been more than a decade since the passing away of HRH Chief Ferguson .Billa  Manga Williams. Ever since then the great city of Limbe has suffered due to the lack of a traditional and cultural leadership.  Now, the city of Limbe is on the verge of hosting a major football competition and it would be a sacrilege to the good people of limbe if an event of such magnitude comes to town without a traditional ruler”.

The letter continues that “it is not new to you that the vacancy in the 1^st Class Chiefdom of Limbe has led to numerous problems and conflicts of interest. It is improper for administrative procedures to hold hostage the traditional needs of an entire peoples that is why we recommend that you use your high office to make the dreams of the people of Limbe come to reality. This move would awaken the gods and bring about an outburst of joy of momentous proportions that would give the African nations cup the colour, pomp, gusto and pageantry it deserves.”

It should be recalled that ever since the death of Chief Ferguson Billa Manga Williams in 2005,Limbe has not had a traditional ruler. Prolonged consultative talks between and among the ruling families of Limbe have not yielded fruits. Internal wrangling have continued to crop up ,leaving the 1s class chieftaincy stool vancant.

During the official opening of the Limbe Omnisport stadium by the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Pierre Ismael BidoungMkpatt,it is the 3^rd class chiefs of the many small villages in Limbe that took part in the pouring of libations  for the opening of the stadium. This absence of a chief has left many of the city’s denizens worried that it would be an abomination for the city of Limbe to host the continental soccer dance without a chief  The  SDF goes further to say “ that is why we are initiating a people’s campaign to have a new Paramount Chief of Limbe before the start of the Female African Nations Cup”.

In July 2016,one of the contenders to the throne, Prince Jerry Manga Williams in a correspondence addressed to the administration  sought the authority incharge of 1^st class Chieftaincy in Fako to commission warrant kingmakers.

In his correspondence, he intimated that the commissioning of warrant kingmakers and a Chieftaincy Advisory Committee will ‘demise the long and lingering stalemate regarding the succession of the last Paramount Chief of Limbe’ and shall be ‘in accordance with the Bakweri tradition of Chieftaincy succession and in recognition of the Cameroon Chieftaincy Law’

The SDF letter which comes to add to these earlier calls is also addressed to the administrative authorities of Limbe in particular and Fako in general as well as elite and politicians in different political parties.

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