Dibussi Tande
Andze Tsoungui, one time Vice Prime Minister and one of the longest serving cabinet Ministers in both the Ahidjo and Biya governments died early last week in Brussels, Belgium. Andze’s career spanned close to half a century, beginning in 1958 when he was appointed assistant to the sub-divisional officer of Nanga Eboko. That same year, he was transferred to Douala as assistant to the head of the Wouri region. This was at the height of the UPC insurgency of which Wouri, along with the Sanaga maritime was a hotbed. After a brief stint in the East, he was appointed the Divisional officer for Mungo in 1961.By this time, the UPC insurgency had ended in the Sanaga Maritime, and the area of operations moved further west to the Mungo and Bamileke regions.
Andze Tsoungui’s primary mission was to crush the UPC rebellion by any means necessary. He carried out his mission “without concession” until 1963 when he was promoted to the position of Federal Inspector for the entire Littoral region (which included Mungo and Wouri). In 1965 he was transferred to the Western region still as the Federal Inspector (During the days of the federal republic, Cameroon was divided into six regions, each headed by a Federal Inspector whose job was similar to that of today’s provincial Governor). It was under his watch that Ernest Ouandié, the last historic leader of the UPC was arrested in 1970 alongside Bishop Ndogmo, and executed in January 1971 thus ending the decade-long UPC rebellion.
With the dissolution of the federation in 1972, Tsoungui became a Minister in Ahidjo’s first cabinet under the new “United Republic”. He subsequently held a series of key cabinet positions in both the Ahidjo and Biya region, including the position of Vice Prime Minister under Biya – a position he held until 1997 when he left Government for good...
As Paul Biya’s Minister of Territorial Administration (interior) in the early 1991 and 1992, he played a central role in crushing the nationwide opposition insurrection and the Ghost-town. Even more critical, he was the brains behind infamous October 1992 presidential elections, which President Paul Biya won thanks to what observers unanimously agree was a massive and well-oiled rigging machinery controlled by officials of MINAT. As the National Democratic Institute (NDI) stated in its 1992 interim report:
“The election system provided civil administration officials responsible to President Biya - including the Minister of Territorial Administration, divisional officers and sub-divisional officers — with excessive discretion in matters of voter registration and ballot tabulation, which many officials abused to further the political interests of the incumbent president.”
Without doubt, Père Andze, as the French-language media dubbed him back then, was one of the last survivors from that generation with an intimate knowledge of the unknown details of pre and post colonial history, from the bloody decolonization, the crushing of the UPC rebellion, the reign of terror under Ahidjo, to the emasculation of the Cameroon opposition in the 1990s.
Alas! The world will never get to know Andze Tsoungui’s version of these landmark events. Like the majority of key players in Cameroon’s pre- and post-independence history, he died without writing his memoirs or an autobiography. He therefore joins a long list of prominent Cameroonians on both sides of the Mungo who never bothered to write their memoirs thereby depriving future generations of Cameroonians of the right to know and understand their past. It was Francis Wache who once wrote in Cameroon Tribune (February 16, 1990) that “our historical heritage would be compromised if not jeopardized if those who are participating in the hurly-burly of our national life were to leave the stage without a written legacy.” Time is proving him right.
Beginning with the former British Southern Cameroons, neither EML Endeley nor John Ngu Foncha who served as Prime Ministers of the territory wrote their memoirs before their death. Similarly, Augustine Ngom Jua and S.T. Muna who all later served as Prime Ministers when the territory became known as the federated State of West Cameroon wrote their memoirs.
Similarly, of the original 13 Southern Cameroons representatives who sat in Nigeria’s Eastern House of Assembly in Enugu in 1952 (the Cameroon bloc), only one, Nerius Namaso Mbile, wrote his memoirs which were published in 1999. In this regard, Bate Besong was on target when he lamented some two decades ago (Cameroon Post, July 29, 1988) about the “paucity of Anglophone Cameroon autobiography, i.e., for its first generation politicians”. [As a side note of the original 13, only Pa Lainjo is still alive today. [Click here to read his interview in l’effort camerounais ].
As Dr. Julius Ngoh pointed out in the case of Dr. EML Endeley (Cameroon Tribune, August 5, 1988):
“There is no perfect human being – and this failure to leave behind an autobiography or memoirs may likely play into the hands of his detractors”.
It was the same song heard 17 years later when George Ngwane lamented in his eulogy to former OAU Secretary-General, Nzo Ekhah-Ngaky, that in the three decades after his resignation from the OUA and until his death in 2005, Nzo "became as politically silent as [his] Nguti grave… chose the path of retreat and reticence". As Ngwane rightly points out, the absence of a memoir from Eka-Ngaky has been a great disservice to disservice to Cameroon and Africa as a whole. This lament was also echoed by Xavier Luc Deutchoua (Mutations, June 18, 2005) who regretted that:
Nzo Ekangaki died in Yaounde without talking or writing, just like Charles Assale, Théodore Mayi Matip, Samuel Kame, Dooh Kinguè, Paul Soppo Priso, John Ngu Foncha and other personalities who guided the newly independent Cameroon. He has gone to the afterworld without writing his memoirs. (My translation).
Today, it is most likely that second and third generation political personalities from the former trust territory of British Southern Cameroons – former Prime Ministers Achidi Achu and Mafany Musonge immediately come to mind – will keep up this disheartening tradition as there is no indication that they are working on their memoirs or have commissioned anyone to write their biographies.
Praise must therefore be given to rare gems like Albert Mukong who published two tomes of his memoirs (Prisoner Without a Crime and My Stewardship in the Cameroon Struggle) both of which shed light on some of the dark practices of the Ahidjo regimes and Biya regimes and covered a 30-year period.
Although the situation is only slightly better in the French Cameroons, especially in recent years, it is still the same sad story. The territory’s first Prime Minister Andre Marie Mbida died without writing his memoirs; the same with former president Ahmadou Ahidjo. Others who played critical roles in Cameroon’s post independence history such as the notorious Jean Fochive who was the head of the secret police from 1960 until his dismissal in 1996 (save for a few years) also died without memoirs.
To date, none of the prominent actors of the new multiparty era have written a personal account of their roles in the major events of this period – the Ghost town campaign, the controversial elections of 1992, 1997, 2002, etc, numerous attempts at establishing viable opposition coalitions, student activism in the multiparty era, rebirth of Anglophone nationalism, etc.
To their credit, some players such as journalists Boh Herbert and Ntemfac Ofege (Prison Graduate) and Rtd. Justice Nyo Wakai (Behind the Fence) wrote about their experiences behind bars in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Cho Ayaba, a student leader in the mid-1990s and a founder of the Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL) has also published an account of his clandestine departure from Cameroon to Germany. Similarly, Ebale Angounou who was instrumental in the 1991 arrest of University of Yaounde student leader Senfo Tonkam also published his memoirs regarding his alleged ties to the Biya regime.
The Broader problem
The absence of memoirs, autobiographies and biographies in Cameroon is merely one facet of a much broader problem, i.e., the collective inability (or unwillingness) of Cameroonians to keep historical records for posterity or to even consider these records as important contributions to the national collective memory. For example, there are very few publications containing key political speeches, landmark declarations and documents of our times (save those of Presidents, Ahidjo and Biya).
How many of us can still remember the content of the document that sent Yondo Black, Albert Mukong and others to jail, and opened the political floodgates in 1990? Who still remembers Jean Jacques Ekindi’s famous “the single party is dead” speech that silenced the multiparty holdouts within the then single party the CPDM Or Celestin Monga’s open letter to Paul Biya in 1991?
How many Cameroonian scholars ever mention the speech made by Ben Muna, then President of the Cameroon Bar Association on March 27, 1990 at the Meridien Hotel in Douala which brought the Yondo affair to the public attention, transformed the bar association in a pro-democracy organization and served as a catalyst to public dissent to one-party rule in the country?
“I am convinced that the time has come for lawyers to take a stance… We are not behind bars but we are prisoners of our fear… Barrister Yondo might be behind bars, but here we are, the real prisoners, tiptoeing in order not to awaken our conscience… I call on the Cameroonian Bar to express in one clear voice, the problems of human rights in our country. I hope they will have the courage to do it.”
How many people are even aware that John Fru Ndi made a speech at the launching of the SDF on May 26, 1990? And what about all those historic speeches made at the All Anglophone Conference in Buea in 1993, including the mea culpa from Muna and Foncha? Did the AAC ever bother to publish a compilation for posterity?
The result has been collective memory which borders on collective amnesia. To borrow from Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, our collective memory is like “a chessboard of colored and blank patches” – blank patches that will never be filled up.
It should be pointed out, however, that the responsibility for this state of affairs is not solely that of politicians. The fact that someone is a leading public or political personality does not automatically make him or her a writer. Hence, historians, writers, journalists and other scholars also have a responsibility to assist key political figures in documenting their individual memories – memories which in their aggregate help build collective memory. Did anyone, for example, ever approach Nzoh Ekangaki to co-author a memoir about the Lonrho scandal that led to his resignation as OAU Secretary-General, or about his prominent role in the pre-plebiscite unification debates as President of NUKS-UK? Or has anyone bothered in these last few years to get 96 year-old Pa Lainjo to finally tell his Cameroon story? I doubt it.
For decades Cameroonians could end up in Tchollire, Mantoum or other political prisons if they dared – even in private – to articulate ideas that were contrary to the official discourse. This partially explains why entire generations of Cameroonians died without putting anything on paper, especially when their narratives of key events conflicted with the official line. People rarely kept incriminating documents that the Secret Police could stumble upon. Today, however, that excuse is no longer tenable. Even people still in active service such as General Pierre Semengue have written memoirs that not only talk about their role in key national events, but also give their personal take on the ongoing political process.
It is our hope therefore that the current crop Cameroonian politicians and other public figures will break from the past and start writing for posterity. Wishful thinking?
Thanks for another thought-provoking article. Someone once argued that African oral tradition may be the reason behind the absence of written narratives, although that argument is weakened by what happens in neighbouring Nigeria which is noted for a strong oral tradition.
Note also that Cardinal Tumi has just published a memoir on his tumultous relationship with the Ahidjo and Biya regimes titled "The political regimes of Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya, and Christian Tumi, Priest". (Macacos - Maison Catholique de la Communication Sociale).
Posted by: Celestin | April 15, 2007 at 10:38 PM
Andze Tsoungui's career of massive bloodletting, if truthfully written would have made very interesting reading. Now he is a bunkmate in hell with Hitler, de Gaulle, Pol Pot, Mao, Idi Amin and other killers.
Posted by: Ma Mary | April 16, 2007 at 04:02 AM
This is simply a master piece as you have always produced. However, I suspect, you have either forgotten or omitted to mention the memoir of Ndeh Winston Ntumazah. His memoir is also an eye opener on the UPC and France's role in Cameroon and he seems to be the only surviving founding member of the UPC.
The title of his memoir is: "Ndeh Ntumazah: A conversational autobiography". It was published in July 2001 in Bamenda by Patron Publishing House. I had reviewed and published it in a France based pan-African French language satirical newspaper called Gri-gri International and also in my blog.
Posted by: Smith Elie | April 16, 2007 at 04:04 AM
The Politics of Collective Memory in Cameroon
Dear Dibussi,
Once again you have raised an interesting issue for discussion: the poverty of collective memomery and the politics involved in its absence. I wish to make a few observatory and hopefully salient comments below.
First, we must note that 'collective memory' is an important repository and marker of state-society relations, that exposes the logic of identifying what is worth remembering for the posterity of future generations and that which is deemed worthless. Among many such forms could be cited national monuments, official archives designed for specific concerns as for example war, and most notably participant observatory accounts of protagonists connected to important historical events marking a group. And so we understand why historians think memory is usually measured by the yardstick of the Nation (memory is said to be “collective” because it is national). What this observation wishes to make explicit is the fact that there is a person or group that makes a conscious decision to select what is worth retaining or what should be 'forgotten'. It is only when we bear this in mind that we proceed to attempt an understand of why there is a poverty of 'memoirs', which is what you choose to focus on.
The second note worth taking is the nature of the people you bemoan have failed to leave memory for the posterity of Cameroon. Free from any political or ideological inclinations, I dare venture that in as much as our past and present leaders are very much products of the politics and economics of their time (narrow, sectarian, nepotistic, self-serving and self-aggrandising and quite simply too corrupt to be honourable), these leaders have assessed their individual contributions to the present 'collective trauma' that torments Cameroonians. As a result, whether by ommission or commission, their choice or inability to pass-on accounts of their roles in the making of a nation simultaneously conceals and reveals one fact with certainty: a conscious recognition of their treachery while acting within the state apparatus vis-a-vis the people.
Third and last observation I will draw our attention to is the fact that whether we have this selected memory from the transiting elite or not, Cameroonians surely have one memory that haunts them as a people (in the failure of being a nation): a strong memory of collective trauma that unsettles all ordianry citizenry, when these are constantly jolted in to a present reality of lack, precarity,exclusion.
Thus, there is for sure a strong sense of collective memory which the citizens hold of the tenure of both first and third generation political elites ( for me the difference between the generations is still to be establised) and neither failure to produce memoirs or production of selected fragments of such tenures could erase this memory of betrayal in cameroonians.
Rogers Tabe Egbe Orock
Graduate student
Dept. Social Anthropology
Posted by: Rogers Tabe Egbe Orock | April 16, 2007 at 04:03 PM
Dear Dibussi,we shouldn't also forget women in the propagation of our collective memory.I think women also have a stake in bringing to the limelight the part played by their husbands at various episodes of our history.While placing the responsibility on journalists,writers and scholars to assist these public figures in documenting their their memories,I think the spouses of these people and close relatives have a stake in writing their memoirs.This may partly be due to the fact that the passage of time may have eroded pertinent details.
However,we have a notable exception in the person of Marthe Moumie in her book:"Victime du Colonialisme Français".Where she vividly describes her life in the UPC struggle and the assassination of her husband Dr Felix Roland Moumie in Switzerland.
Nga Adolph,
Leuven(Belgim).
Posted by: Madiba | April 17, 2007 at 09:21 AM
Hello Mr. Rogers,
I beg to differ with the view that politicians don't write their memoirs because they are ashamed of their ignominous or their paltry contribution to national political life. What exactly did EML Endeley or Jua have to be ashamed of? If General Pierre Semengue can proudly write about his role in crushing the UPC insurgency, or if AUgustin Koddock who was kicked out of the UPC in the late 50s for unpatriotic acts can commission two biogrpahies highlighting his "immense contributions" to national life, then what more of Foncha and Muna?
I also disagree with you that Cameroonians have any sort of collective memory. They might share a common or collective reality today (the poverty, lack of opportunities, rampant corruption, etc.) but this does not translate into collective memory. Collective memory is when the German people, for example, move towards a common analysis of the past which confirms that their country was in fact responsible for the holocaust. In Cameroon we can't even agree if the vanguard nationalist were heroes or common criminals, we can't even agree on the concept of nationhood. These divisions stem from the simple fact that we have a "collective amnesia" over our history and historical figures. Cameroonians don't have a collective memory.
finally, I find it weird that you don't see the generational difference between Cameroonian politicians; Ahidjo, Foncha and Endeley, are not from the same generation as Inoni, Fame Ndongo and Pierre Mokoko. Just as the Anyangwes, Elads and Munzus are not from the same generation as the Cho Ayabas and the Akwangas....
Posted by: Bongwa | April 17, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Tande,writing history is the domain of historians and not politicians.True they can write their memoires and sing their praises all they want for example N N Mbile did a good job with his book.Historians like Ngoh and Njuema have have done some comendable job on Cameroon history but there is a lot more work to be done.The university of Buea should at least begin the process of archiving the history of cameroon by encouraging students to write a minimum a research paper before they graduate on Cameroon history.These students can interview these politicians and who can provide them with a whole wealth of information. I say this from personal experience.These people are ready to talk if questions are asked.I wish i was a historian but i am not but i have left Buea Mountain club on several occasions at one and two o'clock in the morning listening to cameroon history from Chief Endeley,Mola Njoh Litumbe,Oliver Inglis and few others.My challenge therefore is to those intrested in writing the history of Cameroon to seek these people out and talk to them with a note pad or tape recorder for it will definately be worthwhile.
Posted by: emilio | April 17, 2007 at 03:54 PM
Emilio,
Those things are called "memoirs" and "autobiographies" for a reason; they are not "history" per se, but are the personal narratives of actors who took part in events - personal narratives that add to the "formal" history that you are talking about. Example: The historian will say in December 1991, political parties, civil society actors and the government met at the tripartite summit in Yaounde to end the Ghost town. The historian will usually give a public view of what transpired. However, Fru Ndi, Bello Bouba, Njoh Litumbe, Ekontang Elad and other key actors will write in their memoirs about the behind-the-scenes intrigues, the negotiation, the compromises and betrayals. Both add up to give a full story of the event. Of course, there will be embelishments here and there. That will be for historians to figure that out eventually. But those embelishments are worth the trouble.
Whatever the case, the prime responsibility for memoirs rests with the actors.
Posted by: Ayala | April 17, 2007 at 08:51 PM
Emilio,
Those things are called "memoirs" and "autobiographies" for a reason; they are not "history" per se, but are the personal narratives of actors who took part in events - personal narratives that add to the "formal" history that you are talking about. Example: The historian will say in December 1991, political parties, civil society actors and the government met at the tripartite summit in Yaounde to end the Ghost town. The historian will usually give a public view of what transpired. However, Fru Ndi, Bello Bouba, Njoh Litumbe, Ekontang Elad and other key actors will write in their memoirs about the behind-the-scenes intrigues, the negotiation, the compromises and betrayals. Both add up to give a full story of the event. Of course, there will be embelishments here and there. That will be for historians to figure that out eventually. But those embelishments are worth the trouble.
Whatever the case, the prime responsibility for memoirs rests with the actors.
Posted by: Ayala | April 17, 2007 at 08:52 PM
Dear Tande
Yours was a wonderful piece.
Autobiography is a personal rendition, of ones stewardship for a given period. It means describing yourself as you will find it reflected the mirror or your stewardship in such a way that it reflects what others know about you. The other people who know you will be the first to debunk your work and bring you to ridicule should it contain things that ar not real. That is why most autobiographies have to do with the heroic past of the authors.
So if all these people never wrote anything, it is just because of the shame they had for their stewardship. Marshall Petain did not publish his memoirs because there was nothing heroic in his stewardship. One could not expect some one like the late S.T. Muna, for example, to publish his meomoir without stating how, with out elections, he replaced John Ngu Foncha in the Federal Republic of Cameroon set up?. Pa Ndeh Ntumazah discussed this in his memoirs. Imagine the late Muna telling a fire eating Cameroon Report, of radio Cameroon, crew one Sunday morning that "I am not here to sign my death warrant", in response to a qustion relating to his stewardship.
I agree with an earlier blogger that our political class stinks in moral decadence that ends up mostly in the grave. YOU EXPECT AN ARMED ROBBBR TO WRITE. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF HIS STEWARDSHIP? That can be a very big joke. Not even in a free thinking society like the U.S
Posted by: Aaron Agien Nyangkwe | April 20, 2007 at 10:31 AM
Dear listmates:
I guess short of asking the same sentiments echoed above what is the purpose of wanting to delve into the minds of men who have in my opinion accomplished nothing with the exception of Cardinal Tumi. Some of these men literally rolled over allowed Ahidjo and Biya to continue with their egregious conduct. What lessons do we want to learn from these men through their writings. Be careful what you ask for. No milestones were achieved by the majority of those scallped shells.
On a more interesting note is the author of this article MR. DIBUSSI single or attached. He is HOTTTTT assuming that's the actual photo above.
Posted by: Chica Fabulous | April 23, 2007 at 06:27 PM
I almost forget with regards to my personal question about your marital status I would rather you respond on this blog than I email you personally that way if you fib then others with access to your privy data can respond.
Posted by: Chica Fabulous | April 23, 2007 at 06:34 PM
Has someone been to what passes for the national archives in Buea? The problem of documentation is actually a canker in our flesh.
Posted by: Awung Mbecha | June 15, 2007 at 11:06 PM