Scores of Cameroons Cultural Icons raised to Knighthood.

Scores of Cameroons Cultural Icons have been raised to Knighthood by the Head of State. The decoration of these illustrious Cameroonians took place at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel on Tuesday April 5, 2017.

They were raised to the status of Knights of the National Order of Valour for their contribution towards the preservation and promotion of the Cameroonian Culture.

Ministers Narcisse Mwelle Kombi and Jaques Famme Ndongo with Professor Paul Kwi at the extreme right with red and black traditional wear.

These prestigious medals were placed by the hands of the Cameroonian Minister of Arts and Culture, Professor Narcisse Mwelle Kombi accompanied by the Minister of Higher Education Professor Jaques Famme Ndongo.

Fon Lekunze AN III with Minister of Arts and Culture 

Considering the cultural nature of the event, the minister, Professor Narcisse Mwelle Kombi congratulated the recipients and all cultural stakeholders present. With an intention of making the participants to better understand the cultural colour of Yaounde, the town which was hosting the event, the minister traced the origin of the metropolis to some Agricultural Villages around Nsam Efoulan, Mvolea among others. From these villages he said, Yaounde and the culture had grown and evolved to be what it was today. He further said the putting in place of a Commission for Bilingualism and Multi-culturalism was timely at this time when emphases was being put on the richness of Cameroons cultural heritage adding that there was a strong need to preserve what had been modeled by our imaginations and creativity over time. The Minister grouped Cameroon into four cultural zones namely the Beti-Fang, the Grass field, the Sawa, and the Sahelo-Sudan.

Among the many recipients was His Royal Highness Fon Lekunze Andreas N. III of the First Class Chiefdom of Bamumbu in Wabane Sub Division. He expressed his feelings in the following manner; “to me it was a very great honour. Just the fact that I was recognised by  the powers that be especially the Head of State for working well in the field of culture. It is a great motivation. I think the Head of States policy as far as culture is concerned is very clear and as a local stakeholder he has told me what to do and the road map is clear. I know what I have done already to merit this medal and I am going to triple it. Qualities that can push you to do what we are doing include love because you must love your country first since you can’t love your country without loving your locality. I love my people, Bamumbu, Wabane, Lebialem, I love southwest and I love Cameroon. That is why to realise some of my projects, I dig my hands into my pockets while waiting on elites to come in and while waiting on government to come in.”

Fon Lekunze AN III further talked of a master plan for the new palace that has already been drawn that will renovate the old palace. The palace he said is very large and an antiquity that equally needed to be preserved for the culture of Cameroon. “That is the next major project we have which is that of renovating the ancient and mythical palace of Bamumbu.”

Professor Lisa Aubrey of the Arizona State University in the United States of America and the University of Yaounde I was also another illustrious recipient of the award of the Knight of the National Order of Valour. A recognition from the Head of State and received in the form of a medal at the hands of Professor Narcise Mouelle Kombi, the Minister of Arts and Culture.

“It’s absolutely amazing and it just reoccurred to me that I cannot leave Cameroon. There are so many people doing such incredible work and the Minister is absolutely fantastic in the way that he has conceptualized and also implemented the valorization of not only one Cameroonian Culture but many cultures that make one beautiful whole.

Minister of Higher Education; Professor Jaques Famme Ndongo placing Medal on Professor Lisa Aubrey

Such an event constitutes a huge opening for matters that we did not  know… we did not know how much Cameroon was victimized by Trans-Atlantic Slavery and how people who were free were enslaved by Europeans and taken to over 30 countries that we know of now. They were taken out of Cameroon and Africa to be used by other countries to enrich themselves. Coming to Bimbia and seeing it all was painful but I think it is a blessing to be doing this work. I am so thankful to the Cameroonian government and so many people who have helped and supported me and I ask them to continue because right now we have just touched the tip of the iceberg and there is yet so much to be done. I am looking forward to staying here and working with so many good people.”

The third recipient this reporter caught up with was Professor Paul Kwi a learned personality heavily involved in the cultural issues of his country Cameroon. Commenting on a paper he presented on the cultural inventory of Cameroon he said “what I did in my 15 minutes presentation was the value given to those objects and the need to protect those objects.  And who should be protecting those objects. I think the first people are the owners, the people who created them. The second protector is the Government since they must design a policy that assists those who have them to preserve them and be able to create a market for those cultural objects. For example if you visit museums in…Leipzig, New York Metropolitan Museum where I happen to have visited I saw many artistic particles from Cameroon which were collected many years ago maybe at a time that we did not have the capacity, the skill and the resources to be able to keep them for posterity..I however think that these artifacts should not be brought back into the country if they cannot be taken care of. Take for example the Afoakom which returned to this country afterhuge sums of money had been paid to recover to recover but now the conditions of preservation are not appropriate. Only the Ministry has the capacity to help the owners preserve them.” In such a situation the professor explained, objects should be left where they are since they can be well preserved provided they are labeled to indicate that they are Cameroonian objects.

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