By Christopher Ambe
Mention the name Bambuko (interchangeably called Bomboko) and someone knowledgeable
about the history of Fako Division of Cameroon will tell you that it is the
origin of Bakweri people.
Although the Bambuko clan is found in two administrative
units of the Southwest Region of Cameroon namely -Fako and Meme Divisions, the
Bambukos are said to be people of the same descent and tradition.
Bambuko used to be a first class
chiefdom until “something went wrong administratively” and for decades it was
not referred to as such.
In the past, “The Bambuko traditional
Community was organized into three classes of leadership stools ,and succession
to all was purely hereditary: from father to son. The First Class was kinghi .This
stool was held by the successor of the Bambuko Ancestor, Founder and Tribal
Chief,Namolombe whose area of jurisdiction was the ‘ Bambuko Country of
Victoria Division’. He was the Bambuko Chief Priest and occupant of the
ancestral abode, ISUMA’
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| Chief Kinghi Liwoto II |
“On the advent of the British, the occupant
of this stool became the Chairman of the Bambuko Native Authority and Customary
Court President”, according to Chief Kinghi Liwoto II of Efolofo,of the Bambuko
area.
It emerged during a recent
consultative talks that in the traditional Bambuko community, kinghi was first-class chiefdom, Ekwulu Mesangwu was second-class
chiefdom and Bewangi was the
third-class chiefdom.
Chief Kinghi Liwoto II of Efolofo, who now has
been fighting for 22 years- by way of petition-writing to the Cameroon
Government, for the restitution of the First Class chiefdom of Bambuko , is
said to have recently won the attention of Prime Minister Philemon Yang, who
reportedly instructed the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme to investigate the
situation and report his findings and recommendations back to the former’s
office.
It was on the strength of the PM’s
instruction that last February 6 the 2nd Assistant SDO for Meme,
Nelson Yongkuma,sitting in for the Senior Divisional Officer Koulbout Aman
David, visited Bambuko and met with chiefs of the area, in the Palace of Bokosso, to find out if actually Michael
Liwote,successor of Namolombe who founded Bambuko was a first class chief.
Chief Kinghi Liwoto II of Efolofo,who
succeeded late Chief Michael Liwote in 1994, made during the February 6 consultation talks,
a presentation justifying his clam to be recognized as a first-class chief and
provided some documentary evidence to Mr. Yongkuma for his appreciation and onward transmission
to hierarchy.
Talking to reporters after the talks,
the PM’s envoy Mr.Yongkuma noted, ‘It is possible that Bambuko clan can be
classified as a first class chiefdom in Meme Divison. Since the matter is at
hand and there is a correspondence from the Prime Minister’s Office, we will
prepare our report and send to the powers that be.”
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| Mr. Nelson Youngkuma |
Mr. Yongkuma said the holding of the meeting was
prompted by the fact that some chiefs of the clan argued that Chief Michael
Liwote was not first-class chief.
But at the February 6, 2016 meeting,
there was no public opposition to Chief Kinghi Liwoto’s request for restitution
as first-class chief.
According to Chief kinghi II, he was
not happy that the Meme Administration in 1995 classified him rather as a
third-class chief.
“ This was a grave administrative
mistake that… let usurpers continue on the throne of First Class Chief
of Bambuko Chiefdom Stool of Limbe ’’
noted Chief Kinghi Liwoto II in his address to the PM’s envoy last
February 6.
Chief Kinghi Liwoto II argued that
F.B Manga Williams who died in 2005 had only “usurped” the throne of First
Class Chief of Bambuko Chiefdom Stool of Limbe. He added that he (Chief Kinghi
Liwoto II) had opposed the “pre-consultation talks convened by the Senior
Divisional Officer (SDO) for Fako on January 1, 2007 meant to return usurpers
to the throne of the First Class Chief Bambuko Chiefdom of Limbe contrary to
the 1977 Decree.
“This ushered in an era of a vacancy
in the throne of the First Class Chief of Bambuko Chiefdom stool of Limbe which
has run for over ten years now”
Thus, the visit of the 2nd
Assistant SDO for Meme to Bambuko for consultative talks on the instruction of
the Prime Minister, is widely interpreted as the imminent assertion of Chief
Kinghi Liwoto II as First Class Chief of Bambuko Chiefdom Stool of Limbe”
The Bambuko Chiefdom, according to
Chief Kinghi Liwoto II,is “the land of history and origin of the bantu
Culture in Cameroon.
“The aborigines of this chiefdom are
Bambuko people and the language spoken is Bambuko
“The chiefdom stretches around the
lower slopes of the Cameroon Mountain on the North and East, from about
longitude 9o 15’ East, towards the West and South down to the coast of the
Atlantic Ocean at Sanje in latitude 4o15’ North, and 9oEast”
Chief Kinghi noted, “The Bambuko chiefdom
covers an area of 1198 square miles administratively shared into five
subdivisions namely:Mbonge,Muyuka,Limbe 1,Limbe 2 and West Coast, in line with
the Government Policy to bring the administration closer to the people”
He added that “all these people were
originally included in the administrative Division of Victoria in the German
and British Colonial eras as the ‘Bambuko country of the Victoria Division’.
Victoria Division was made up of five ethnic groups, namely:Bambuko,Bimbia.Moungo,Balong
and Bakweri.To these five was later included bakolle(Bamuso) now in Ndian
Division yo make six in 1930”
But today, the Bambuko Country of
former Victoria Division is administered under five administrative units called
subdivisions: Mbonge, Muyuka, Limbe 1, Limbe 2 and West Coast.
Chief kinghi stated that Efolofo
means the chieftaincy stool of Limbe. adding that the Efolofo palace has only
two graves-that our late father and mother.
“Here we are standing on the roof of the
ancestral abode, “Chief Kinghi Liwoto II, who has been fighting for 22 years
for the restitution of the First Class chiefdom of Bambuko, told reporters. In
1924, my father Michael Liwote was removed from Victoria and sent here to kumba
division …”
Chief kinghi II strongly considered the
consultative talks of February 6,2016 “
as a mile stone towards bringing to a close the vacancy in the throne of First
Class Chief of Bamabuko Chiefdom stool of Limbe as it assures the beginning of
the end of our restitution struggle for the ‘assertion of chief kinghi Liwoto
II as the First Class Chief of the Bambuko Chiefdom stool of Limbe”
Origin of Bakweri
In his expose to the
PM’s envoy, Chief Kinghi Liwoto II, who graduated with a law degree from the
University of Yaounde many years ago, pointed out that Bambuko is the origin of
Bakweri.
He stated: “History,
tradition and culture show that the Bakweris are the descendants of Bambuko. In
paragraph 12 of his Bakweri Intelligence Report of 1935, Mr. W. M Bridges, and
DO wrote that the name Bakweri means emigrants from Bambuko who settled to the
South of the Cameroon Mountain. In fact, Mr. Bridge’s explanation of the name
suggests the absence of any ethnological distinction between the descendants of
Bambuko and settlers from the original villages, a premise which holds that
every true Bakweri man or woman must have a relation in Bambuko”
The Chief used the meeting to launch an appeal to “our
bakweri brothers to lend their support to this restitution struggle, noting
that “No matter how fresh a branch of a tree is, the future of the tree depends
on the stem of the tree. If the stem dies, the branch too must die”
Chief kinghi Liwoto II expressed regrets that some so-called
3rd chiefs of the Bambuko area had on January 27, 2016 visited the
Office of the SDO for Meme to express doubt about his claim to be recognized as
First class chief.
As at now, the people of Bambuko are patiently for the
government to restitute Bambuko as a First Clas Chiefdom with Chief Kinghi
Liwoto as their Paramount ruler.
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