University of Buea: Dismissed Associate Professor says he was betrayed

By Christopher Ambe

 Dr. Sango Martin Ndeh, Associate Professor of history, in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Buea was Monday June 22, dismissed by President Paul Biya from the corps of Higher Education for attempting to obstruct the smooth running of the   varsity’s 2018/2019 re-sit examinations.

 President Biya dismissed the associate professor based, among other grounds, on the recommendations of the Minister of Higher Education and the Disciplinary Committee of UB.

But the dismissed associate professor, who is an ex-student of the University of Buea and had taught there for fifteen years, has blamed his removal on regional favoritism and betrayal.

Dr. Sango, feeling betrayed by some officials of the Higher Education Teachers’ Syndicate (SYNES) University of Buea Chapter, told this reporter, Tuesday June 23 that he was surprised that Dr. James Abangma, SYNES UB president who had signed that teachers should not participate in the re-sit exams citing insecurity, was not summoned to face the UB disciplinary committee.

Dr. Sango who was Vice President of SYNES UB and reportedly in Yaounde when his President called for the boycott of resit exams,regetted that, while others respected the SYNES president’s instruction, Dr. Abangma instead went behind, set his exams and marked their scripts without issuing a communiqué revoking his decision.

 “That was open betrayal… the President of SYNES UB ought to have issued another decision revoking the previous one. But he did not!”

As Vice-President of SYNES UB,Dr. Sango reportedly told the UB Disciplinary Committee when he was summoned for not participating in the re-sit, that he was in Yaounde when SYNES UB took the decision for teachers not to get involved in the resit,and as an official of the teachers’ syndicate he could not violate the boycott order.  

In addition, he said where he was living during the lockdown period is Bolifamba (Mile 16, Buea), a risky neighborhood, widely considered to be a hideout for separatist fighters.

“How could I leave Mile 16 during the lockdown and go for the re-sit with the insecurity?” he asked rhetorically.

Dr. Sango, who faced the disciplinary committee for the second time since he became UB lecturer before his dismissal, disclosed: “The first time I was falsely accused but was set free-no sanctions meted on me.”

Dr. Sango, being a North westerner, revealed, “During the trial I made it abundantly clear to the Vice-Chancellor of University of Buea Prof Horace  Ngomo Manga ( South westerner) that he was acting on regional sentiments. “Why was Dr. Abangma (a Southwesterner) not summoned to face the Disciplinary Committee for derailing lecturers by issuing the communiqué in the first place? I see the whole thing in the [light of] the Northwest/Southwest divide issue.”

Asked if he would initiate legal action for his possible re-instatement in to the Higher Education Corps in Cameroon, a disappointed Dr.Sango said he won’t waste his precious time on that, since there many other universities in the world.

The said lecturer said participation in re-sit exams is optional and wondered why his non-participation should be treated with such extreme sanction. Resit, he said, is optional reason why they pay teachers extra-for the number of scripts assessed.

He added, “Since they had been looking for a means to nail me on the head, they saw that as an opportunity.”