Fon of Nkwen Goes Partisan, Declares For the CPDM

“I hope we shall all join the National Chairman on November 6^th to celebrate …… remember that the CPDM party is a party of development, a party of peace, a party of hope and the only party that will lead us through in the program of H.E Paul Biya for Cameroon’s Emergence by 2035. I will continue to rally my people to stand behind him whenever need arises.  We will not lay down the back of the CPDM in Nkwen in particular and Mezam I section in general.”

These are the declarations of the King of Nkwen, Fon Azehfor III who is barely a year on the Father’s throne who passed on some months back.  To many it was strange to hear the Fon talk like this knowing that Nkwen is no longer a village but part of the cosmopolitan city of Bamenda. To others, it was sweet talk and music to the political ears and soul.

Though this public declaration for the CPDM by the Fon of Nkwen was strange and nauseating to those who hold him in high esteem as the paramount Fon of Nkwen, for those who knew him before he became Fon understood that this was just a reaffirmation of someone who has militated and made his political stand for the party long ago.

To his critics, Fon Azehfor III has incautiously made the declarations at a moment many people are against palaces getting into partisan politics. According to them, palaces ought not to be used as political arenas else the respect due palaces would be bound to fade away. They claim that many elite today distance themselves from some palaces because a good number of Fon’s in the region has been unable to make the difference between the palaces and their own personal ambitions.

Prior to the declaration by the Fon for the CPDM, the 2nd Deputy to His Majesty, Muma Azehfor who also doubles as YCPDM section President for Ntoh section said “we were born CPDM, we will live as CPDM and we shall die CPDM.” These pronouncements devoid of doubt merely unveiled what obviously is deep down the deputy heart. But one question many inhabitants would have loved him to answer would have been whether he was talking as a deputy to the traditional throne of Nkwen.

 Those who showed up for this political drama included Madam Regina Mundi Polit bureau member of the CPDM, Senator Fon Teche cum President Northwest Fon’s Union, and over seven Fons from across the Northwest. To them, this was a big political breakthrough with the hope that the CPDM would give the SDF a run for the money in the future political exercises.

Many observers think that this move might boomerang, and many people who have always advocated for palaces to be apolitical would distance themselves from the palace. The end result would be that the SDF which now commands Nkwen would whip up more sentiments and as such, this move by the CPDM bigwigs  would become more expensive to them as thought.