Cameroon: Human Rights Expert Scandalizes Buea Mayor, Vows to Expose His "Corrupt Practices"

By Christopher Ambe

If the Mayor of Buea, Ekema Patrick Esunge, has skeletons in his cupboard, then he may now be living in fear following a serious threat in an official letter addressed to him and copied among others, the Prime Minister of  Cameroon, by Tambe Tiku Christopher, an out-spoken Human Rights Expert and Southwest Regional Secretary of Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF).

Mayor Ekema Patrick

Rights ActivistTambe Tiku

Tambe Tiku, who is also a law lecturer in the University of Buea, in the letter, a copy of which The Recorder has procured, promises: “I will provide a catalogue of all your corrupt practices.” He also faults the Mayor for the latter’s alleged numerous weaknesses.

 The letter is a sharp reaction to the mayor’s earlier riposte to Tambe Tiku’s official letter accusing Ekema Patrick of flagrantly violating the rights of Buea Council workers. The mayor’s riposte had carried damaging allegations about the Human rights activist Tiku Tambe who Recently Shot into Prominence.

Following is Tambe Tiku’s letter to the mayor, which is also published in some Cameroon’s English newspapers:

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Mr. Mayor,

Subject: Abuse of office Against Individuals in your Municipality.

Your letter of the 8^th instant with several grammatical flaws refers.

Mr. Mayor, the facts that are relevant for the purpose of the subject at hand are authoritatively set out in my previous correspondence to you. Instead of elucidating on the two issues evoked, you decided to embark on a seemingly scurrilous attack on my humble person, profession and social life.

The nub of the legal questions you raised is to discern whether your decision to suspend a staff’s salary for 11 months is legal or not? Of particular interest to the writer hereof is the preposterous manner in which your office has subjected staff to inhuman and degrading treatment. In mala fide, you escaped from the threat to demolish Madam Enow sally’s structure and the forceful removal of her firewood from her residence by the municipal police.

Mr. Mayor, may I remind you that your academic deficiencies have been demonstrated in the manner in which you address state institutions. It is sad to note that you copied the president of the Electoral Board and ELECAM and addressed him as “BOD Chair, ELECAM Yaoundé “. It gives one the impression that you lack the intellectual capacity to master the office you are called upon to manage. This situation is further exacerbated by your own ignorance to copy the Head of State.

 Mr. Mayor I would like to contend that you erred in the appreciation of my professional competence as a Regional Secretary. Suffice for now to say simply that my modest upbringing does not permit me to engage into such debate with social miscreants. My works are visible on the ground for verification.

  You reminded me on past comments I made against some corrupt officials in the region. I would like to reiterate without reservation that in as much as the land saga in which you are highly implicated is concerned, I owe no apology whatsoever to anyone. You shamelessly usurped land belonging to wonjuku, sold and built your girlfriend a house. You used council resources and proceeds from the land to buy furniture from OCAR, Douala. May I remind you that the said woman in question is engaged to my brother who is resident in South Africa. Her bride price was paid to Chief Banda of Lysoka Moliwe and till date no refunds have been made. Where is your conscience, Mr. Lord Mayor?

As pointed out earlier, the land grabbing which you masterminded was a conspiracy to defraud the indigenes of their ancestral lands. The whole conspiracy issue was pursued in the most immoderate, irresponsible, and scurrilous manner and fully deserved the description “vexatious”

Mr. Mayor I erroneously thought you were a faith-based mayor. On the contrary, you have lost your moral and religious compass and veers towards beliefs and practices that are religiously indefensible.  Based on the authority of the teachings of Paul in the book of Romans, Christians reason that the mission of Government is to serve Christ no matter whether a government is conscious or unconscious of this mission. That is why the bible urges Christians to yield to rulers. It therefore stands to reason that if a mayor (an agent of Government) ceases to serve Christ, if it ceases to be guided by Christian faith, values and principles, it may be subverted and a new one amenable to serving Christ instituted.

For as Martin Luther said Government is instituted in order to provide for the best interest of its subjects. And the bible says in proverbs 28:15 “like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people”

I have no doubt that I am merely throwing water on a duck’s back. Even the wet nose of a lawyer who happens to be your minder lacks the obvious intellectual capacity to guide you. You must have been informed of cobwebs in his academic drawer.

Interestingly, Mr. Mayor, you have accused your so-called “minor staff” for “disruptive misconduct”, a crime I am hearing for the first time. May I remind you that your disciplinary powers extend only to acts which constitute breaches of contract by the employee. You have no criminal jurisdiction over your employees. Although an employee’s misconduct may amount to both a breach of the employment contract and criminal offence, you have shown no evidence that a formal complaint was lodged at the legal department for “disruptive misconduct”.

 Mr. Mayor you amazed me in your usage of the Queens language. You talk of alcohol and spirits as if to say they are different concepts. I admit unequivocally that from time to time I socialize with responsible Cameroonian youths at TOTAL   and educate them on their fundamental human rights. That is why there is a lot of awareness in the area of human rights in the Buea municipality. We take the sensitization of human rights in the area of comfort of the stakeholders. TOTAL is a very convenient place for me because by all standards it is the cleanest Café in Buea. Mr. Mayor, you are dishonest to give the impression that you have never acquainted yourself with my so-called “drinking parlor”. It is on record that, you drank at TOTAL, got drunk and forgot your fire arm (illegally possessed) which you used in threatening innocent Cameroonians on the table.

Finally, Mr. Mayor, you erred in your definition of corruption by extrapolating from CONAC’s definition. I would like to take an exception regard being had to the fact that the meaning you purport to give to corruption is inexhaustive. I crave your indulgence to return to this subject at a later date. I will provide a catalogue of all your corrupt practices.

Accept Mr. Mayor the assurance of my High esteem,

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Tambe Tiku Christopher

CC:

·        The Prime minister and Head of Government

·        The minister of territorial Administration and Decentralization

·        The President of the Electoral Board and ELECAM

·        The Governor, SWR

·        The SDO, Fako

·        The Attorney General (PG) SWR

·        The State Counsel Buea

Above for your information and necessary action when and where need arises.