Mysterious deaths of Catholic Clergy goes viral as conspiracy theories multiply

-Three Prelates dead in less than a month!
 

The circumstances surrounding the demise of Mgr Jean Marie Balla Benoit, Bishop of Bafia and the subsequent reports that he committed suicide  unleashed an unprecedented avalanche of conspiracy theories showing that Cameroonians completely rejected the idea that the Monsignor Balla Benoit committed suicide. Then another Bombshell again hit the Church as Rev. Father Augustine Ndi of the Nguti Parish in the Southwest Region was also found dead in his aparthment in the moring of Wednesday June 8, 2017. His death has been attributed to respiratory insufficiency due to Cardiac problems.

The conspiracy theories point at a number of possibilities ranging from that of a political killing, to an attempt to hide the truth. The present political situation in Cameroon and the fact that Bishops of The Roman Catholic Church are being tried in Bamenda and Buea have only given another ingredient to the conspiracy theories. Is the Catholic Church under attack in Cameroon? If yes then who is attacking the Church?  It has equally sparked off one of the greatest emotional overflow in Cameroon compared only to that which accompanied the sudden death of Cameroons soccer Icon Marc Vivien Foe some years back during the semi finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup game against Colombia at Lyon in France.

According to the Face book Page of Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai, a Cameroonian journalist with a respectable and trusted online presence, a Catholic priest and long time confidante of the Bishop of Bafia, Mgr. Jean Marie Benoit Bala, has taken exception to reports that the Bishop committed suicide. Bishop Bala reportedly left Bafia at 11:00 pm on Wednesday May 31st.

 His car was found parked on the River Sanaga Bridge on Thursday. His ID card alongside the car documents were found in the back seat with a suicide note stating that he was in the river. (Je suis dans l'eau). But Rev. Father Constant Amombo who has worked with Mgr Bala for over 17 years has challenged the "suicide" hypothesis and wants answers to the following questions
1-Mgr Balla was widely known to oppose night travel and barred priests in his diocese from travelling at night. Isn't it strange that he woke the night watchman at 11:00 pm to open him the gate for him to travel at night?
2- Mgr Balla like all Bishops had a gun permit and reportedly carried a pistol for his personal safety. If he had decided to take his own life; why drive over 60 km whereas, he could have just shot himself in the confines of his bedroom?
3- Mgr Balla, from all accounts dating back to his days as a seminarian was an expert swimmer and swimming was one of his main hobbies. Is it possible for an expert swimmer to willfully drown?
4- Mgr Balla's car was parked on the River Sanaga Bridge a couple of yards from the gendarmerie brigade. How come the gendarmes were not aware that a car was parked on the bridge until after mid-day?
5- Is the mysterious "suicide" of Mgr Balla somehow connected to the mysterious death of the Rector of the Bafia seminary, who was found dead in his bedroom on May 10; three weeks earlier?
Other questions that could be added to these include: where was the Bishop's driver and why did the night watchman not raise the alarm once the Bishop failed to return in the morning? Have the police interrogated the night watchman? Mgr Samuel Kleda arch-Bishop of Douala and President of the National Episcopal Council added fuel to the conspiracy theories by issuing a statement declaring Mgr Balla "missing" instead of dead. Cameroonians need answers to these questions.

While the funeral service for Mgr Balla has been scheduled for June 14 and burial on June 15, Cameroonians have been wondering why the Apostolic Nuncio in Yaounde, Mgr Piero Pioppo who should be an integral part of the investigation into Mgr Balla's death has been transferred to far away Indonesia. Mgr Balla is reported to have written an explosive letter to the Nuncio following the mysterious death of Fr. Armel Djama, rector of the minor seminary in Bafia; who died on May 10. The letter is said to have attributed the death of Fr. Djama to unseen hands at the Presidency.

According to Ekinneh Agbaw Ebai’s face book page, “The grapevine is quoting eye-witnesses from the village of Tsang recalling the sound of an helicopter in the wee hours of Thursday, breaking Friday morning, "dropping a package" in the area of the Sanaga River where Mgr Balla's corpse was spotted and eventually recovered. With all these conspiracy theories, Cameroonians need to read Mgr Balla's letter, especially as the case is now being investigated as homicide.

 The night watchman has given contradictory information to the police about what Mgr Balla told him when he opened the gate. But it is obvious Mgr Balla could not have left his residence at 11:00 pm, unless to honor a request made by some very important personality. Was he responding to a call from the Nuncio or the Presidency?”

Meantime Michael Ndimancho, of the Catholic University of Central Africa with Campus in Yaounde, Cameroon brought to light on his face book page attempts that were made in the News room of Cameroon private TV channel  Canal 2  on Saturday at midday to clear the mystery sorrounding the dead of  Bishop of Bafia, Monseigneur Balla Benoit. Panelists like Fr. Antoine de Padua of the Archdiocese of Douala and other panelists including Michael Ndimancho tried to provide answers to the mysterious deaths  of prelates of the Catholic Church in Cameroon.

The track record of the killings of Catholic clergy in Cameroon looks very grim. Starting from Bishop Ndongmo, Bishop Yves Plumy, the two Reverend  sisters at Djoum ,Reverend  Father Engelbert Mveng, Rev Father  Fontegh,Reverend Father Patrick Adeso among others.

At the time of publishing this story,the conspiracy theories were on the rise due to speculations over the possible contents of the letter that the late Bishop had written to the Apoistolic Nuncio. While commentaries on the possible content of the letter are taking center stage, the hard facts have not changed. The Church in Cameroon is under attack from forces that will stop at nothing to reduce its moral grip over the people. Who is threatened by the overwhelming power of the Catholic Church? Who stands to gain in a society with the complete absence of any moral institution or body to look up to? In that answer may be found the answer to the present chaos in the Church in Cameroon.  

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Cameroon risks losing Southern Cameroons due to bad governance.

Felix Teche Nyamusa, SDF Presidential Hopeful.

Among other things, the Presidential Hopeful of the leading opposition party the SDF has declared in an exclusive interview that just like Northern Cameroons were lost to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so too does Cameroon risks losing Southern Cameroons due to bad governance. He in this revealing interview also puts forth his concept of an ideal state for Cameroon. He doesn’t equally lose sight of the fact that he has the task of beating Ni John Fru Ndi within the Bamenda Electoral District before hoping for anything. He was interviewed by EDEV’s Francis Ekongang Nzante.

Felix Teche Nyamusa

How far do you think the resolutions that were arrived at during the most recent Executive meeting of the SDF touched on issues disturbing the party at the moment?

I think that the Commission put in place by my party to investigate the atrocities of the government in the ongoing Anglophone Crises is laudable. It now depends on how this wonderful idea will be pushed through. The party has a National Executive at the Head of which is the National Chairman but it now depends on how the commission out its activities. Cameroon is part of the Community of Nations and we have ratified a couple of international chatters like those on Human Rights and the UN Chatters which talk of Good Governance. The government cannot just clamp down on people simply because they want to be better governed.

You are known to have complained about the postponement of the Elective Convention. It has finally been scheduled for October. What do you say about this?

Yes it has though a specific date has not yet been given. A specific date should be given because there are stakeholders involved in the preparations. We should not be as arbitral as the CPDM that gives unspecific rendezvous for important elective exercises.

How appropriate do you think October is for the National Elective Convention?

Well when it was earlier postponed, reasons were given for the postponement but now I don’t even see the reasons why it was postponed because nothing has changed to justify the choosing of October as the time for the exercise. The Anglophone problem has not yet been solved and we don’t think that by October the problems would have been solved. I don’t still see why a reorganizational exercise that was started at te level of the basic organs progressively to the regional level was stopped at the National level. The Democratic Process is like a crusade and should be continuous. When you stop, converts may fall on the way. We should not allow the Democratic process in the hands of the ruling party alone. It is now a one-man-show with the ruling party doing things the way it wants using State funds to manipulate people. They get into the Cameroonian purse and make it difficult to distinguish between the ruling party and the State. The Constitution allows for the President to call for elections when he chooses so if we don’t  have enough time to make the population understand our stance, then we will be going in for a lost battle as has been the case in the last couple of years with the incumbent already sure of winning.  

What is your plan of action as a presidential aspirant?

I am proposing a two state federation for Cameroon. Ni John Fru Ndi is proposing a Four State Federation which is not acceptable to Anglophone Cameroonians. The original intention of the plebiscite was for a two state federation with equal status; Bijural and Bilingual. After so many years, you cannot insist in going against it. The two-state federation is most rational. It simply means that in a bijural system, if you have a problem as an Anglophone Cameroonian you will be treated under the Common Law system. Same with any French speaking citizen whose issues will be handled using the French civil Law System. It doesn’t mean that more powers will be given to the Anglophone Cameroonian. It was the idea of the founding fathers of the unification. They did not plan for the marginalization of either the Anglophones or the Francophones. Due to bad governance, we lost Northern Cameroons to Nigeria. We should always talk well to the people and woe them to understand us and come to our side. Cameroon risks losing Southern Cameroons due to bad governance.

How receptive has the French Speaking Cameroonian been to your Ideal State?

In my ideal state, neither the English nor the French Speaking Cameroonian will be marginalised. Everything will be based on competence. I have been talking to Francophones and they have been listening. According to my manifesto there will be the payment of reparations to all marginalized groups in society be they francophones or Anglophones. We have enough money to do that on the entire Cameroonian territory. Reparation will be paid to marginalised groups.

There is the absence of a fair and level play ground with ELECAM running the show.

We plan to carry out a national programme convincing Cameroonians that ELECAM is not the competent body to carry out elections in Cameroon.     I think that the Lawyers and the teachers are taking their stand and that stand we are going to take it nationwide to show that ELECAM is not a legitimate body to supervise elections in Cameroon. We want to create an acceptable electoral body. But if they insist to continue with ELECAM then that will push us to the last resort like the teachers and the Lawyers have done which is that when the government refuses to listen to the demands of the people like is the case in Cameroon, that government should be sent away using whatever means. We have ratified agreements with the international Human right bodies and what the Lawyers and the Teachers are doing is constitutional.

Looking at the build up to this election, what are those aces that you have put in place to make sure that you are well understood within the Social Democratic Front?

In the SDF I have to first of all be voted as Chairman of the party before going in as the Presidential candidate. To go in as the Chairman I will have to first of all go through the primaries. I am of the Bamenda Electoral District and it seems John Fru Ndi is also of the Bamenda Electoral District. I think that I have sensitised the people and I will still go to the field before the October rendezvous to further sensitise them. Some people especially fans of Ni John Fru Ndi because of lack of understanding of the true situation say I am trying to distabilise the party but this is not true. In pure Democracy, we will go into the field and I will present my manifesto. He is talking of a 4 State Federation while I am talking of a two state Federation. I will also be talking of the party having its own Secretariat. We’ve been having meetings at Fru Ndi’s residence. Yes it helps but we cannot remain there. If we don’t yet have a place then we should rent one. We should also have an elected Secretary General and not somebody who’s is handpicked and who seems to be somebody’s private secretary. We want a Secretary General who masters his own role like any other person in the party. I will meet John Fru Ndi in the field and I think that I have what it takes.

Any message?

The message is that Anglophone Children have lost one school year and I think that we should develop alternate education. The children from the nursery to the University cannot continue to stay away from school. Being at home for a year is proof that the people have rejected what the system has been doing. We should think of plan B like was the case in South Africa where Bantu Education was introduced for the blacks and a more progressive Educational system for the whites. The Blacks after one year rejected Bantu Education and came up with Cultural Education which is their own Education that would make their children to be like the children of other people studying elsewhere. In those days in South Africa, there were no private schools but today we have private schools. We create an educational system based on the system of self help. The Anglophones cannot be talking of self governing of self governing when you don’t think of self reliance. People can volunteer and take a lower pay. We can also reach out to international NGOs. In September we should create something that suites our needs and make our children go to school. We should register on the electoral lists and vote so that we will be ready to fight the regime sustainably.

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Double standards: Court inclined to provisional release of Balla and Fontem!

 But hostile to freedom of Mancho and 23 others!

What then was the raison d’etre of fusing the cases?

The fusion of the case of the detained leaders of the banned Consortium and that of Mancho Bibixy who led what has become known as the “Coffin Revolution” together with 25 others by the Yaounde Military Court gave hope that these leaders of the Anglophone struggle would be given a joint pardon or release should the need arise.

 

Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla

But the proceedings of the last trial in Yaounde last Wednesday appeared to have dashed that hope.

In what was seen as double standards, the Yaounde Military Tribunal announced it was going to look only into the issue of bail for Agbor Balla and Fontem during the next hearing billed for 7 June, but declined bail for Mancho Bibixy and the others.

At the start of the hearing, Colonel Abega Mbezoa,  the government commissioner (prosecutor) said he was not “hostile” to a provisional release for Balla and Fontem that is accompanied by placement under judicial supervision. “The Public Prosecutor is not opposed to the putting under judicial supervision” of Felix Agbor Nkongho and Neba Fontem Aforteka’a, said the government commissioner, media reports noted.

The same prosecutor rejected same bail terms for the other 25 accused.

Dr. Fontem Neba

Observers questioned the raison d’etre behind fusing the two cases then turn round to give ‘preferential treatment’ only to the Consortium duo. But government apologists said it made sense, given that the duo had identifiable residences and so could turn up when needed. It was not the same case for the 25 others, they argued.

Judicial supervision means that the two leaders are released from prison but are “bound by a number of obligations that the court will determine,” Claude Assira, one of the lawyers, told AFP.

The prosecution argued that any decision to release the duo on bail should be accompanied by measures that prohibit them from leaving the country including a monetary deposit. The judges then adjourned the trial until June 7, when they will rule on the request for bail.

Agbor Balla, a lawyer, and Neba Fontem, a university professor, are the main protagonists of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society consortium (CACSC), banned in January by the authorities after they called for strikes in English-speaking areas of the country against marginalization charges.

The case which first came up for hearing February 13 was later adjourned to March 23rd and after that was again adjourned to April 27th and later to May 24th. The latest adjournment is for June 7, making it the 5th time it is consecutively being adjourned.

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At celebration of Dr Boniface Forbin’s life:

 Government accused of ‘killing’ The Herald

Had government ministries paid the astronomical bills owed The Herald, Cameroon’s leading English Language trio-weekly newspaper, it would have survived and continued to set the pace of journalism in the country.

But failure to pay for the services rendered by the paper created by the late Dr Boniface Forbin in 1992 forced it out of business in 2009 when workers downed tools in protest against non-payment of their salaries.

The indictment on government was made by Nkemayim Walter, a relation of the deceased, last Saturday, in Yaounde during the celebration of the life of the journalism juggernaut.

In his tribute, Nkemayim who was manager of The Herald before its collapse, disclosed that he had documents of the unrecovered debts which if collected could help resuscitate the newspaper even after the death of its publisher.

He also used the opportunity to portray Forbin as a man of the people. Dr Forbin, he said, carried out so many acts of philanthropy and development which remained unreported because he was publicity-shy.

The event witnessed many moving tributes which portrayed the larger-than-life nature of Forbin and the values he stood for.

His wife, Dorothy Forbin, described the event as an extraordinary one giving tribute to a man of extraordinary character and qualities.

For his part, Gerald Ndikum, The publisher of The Horizon who worked so close to the deceased for some 15 years, described him as the “epitome of correctness”.

Meanwhile, “The Herald Boys” groomed by Forbin regretted that none of them would emulate their teacher. Another regret expressed by Franklin Sone Bayen, initiator of the concept, was the fact that none of them got married to any of Forbin’s beautiful daughters. They unveiled a special newspaper printed in honour of their role-model.

Ojong Steven, impresario for the event, expressed regret that The Herald collapsed when he had not got his fill of Forbin’s experience. He said he was chanced to always rush to the deceased for inspiration when he created his own newspaper, The Median.

Other tributes came from Ebokem Fomenky, another household name in print journalism; the daughters of the deceased; the Ikome Family; and the elder sister of the deceased.

The event which took place at the Pharmacam residence of the deceased was graced with gospel music from a renowned choir, scintillating sermons and humour. Traditional dances, mostly from his native Lebialem, were on hand for animation.

Participants went home with a souvenir of a printed calendar for 2018 with the effigy of the deceased engraved on it and a holder to car keys, probably printed in the US by one of his daughters. There was enough refreshment for everybody present.

A thanksgiving service by the family at the Yaounde Mission of Evangelical Church in Cameroon (MEEC), The Church of Patmos, on 28 May, crowned the celebration of the life of the Publisher of The Herald.

Culled from The Horizon Newspaper

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