Reminiscences on the Dynastic History of Ndom Mwasundem, Cameroon

By S.N. Ejedepang-Koge

Reminiscences on THE DYNASTIC HISTORY OF NDOM MWASUNDEM, Cameroon by S. N. Ejedepang-Koge

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477137079

S.N. Ejedepang-Koge

Samuel Ngome Ejedepang-Koge loves his village Ndom very dearly. As such, he has fond memories of his childhood in the village. For three years, he served as President of his age group or set, The Star of Peace (Tintine a Nsang). Very close to his father, a man who was much steeped in the culture of his people, his father took him along to various meetings. Thus, from early in his childhood, young S. N. Ejedepang-Koge continually drew from this rich source until the death of his father in 1979. In this Way, he got acquainted with the administration of the village. In 1958, at the age of twenty he rallied his village friends to try to resolve peacefully the attempted secession of the so-called Essossong Ndom Two, which was provoked by the seduction of the wife of a villager by a royal. Because the village trusts him as a credible and honest broker, it submitted to his reconciliation efforts when in 2005, youths, elders and the Chief were logged in a long drawn quarrel. This is the history of the village as he heard and as he is living it. He is happily retired in Yaounde.

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Copyright © 2012 by S. N. Ejedepang-Koge.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I    THE ORIGINS

Ancestry: The Flood and Migration

Table 1: Best Known Children of Ngoe & Sumédiang

Chapter II    A DISTINCTIVE ARCHITECTURE

Evolution of Housing

Ndabéechum; To build and Repairt

Importance of firewood

Chapter III    ASOMENGOE, DESCENDANTS OF ASOME, SON OF NGOE

A Direct Descendant of Ngoe

Progeny of: Asoméngoe: Three wives, Five sons

Table 2: Clans of Asoméngoe.

Chapter IV    MWASUNDEM THE DESCENDANTS OF SUNDEME

Sundéme’s Wife, What is her Name? Two Lineages

The name Mwasundém

Table 3, Villages of SUNDEME (Mwasundem) in 1898

Table 4. Present day Villages of Mwasundém.

Chapter V    NDOM: A VILLAGE OF MWASUNDEM IN THE ASOMENGOE CLAN

lNo Mwasundem Relic Villages left in Northern Bakossi

Location of Ndom

Occupation of the People; Road Junction Village

The Market; Structure of Ndom; Eight Tumbé

The Evolution of the Population.

Table 5, Evolution of the Population of Ndom

Chapter VI    CHIEFS OR RULERS OF NDOM CHIEFDOM

Pre-Colonial Rulers

1. Koge, founder of Ndom Village

2. Chief Ngwane Atabe

Njéb its functions and the Advent of Ahon; Essam

Traditional Religion Ndie, Etom e Mwankum.

3. Chief Ngwané Nsioge.

Chapter VII    RULERS SINCE THE COLONIAL PERIOD

4. Nkéd mé Akwe (John Mukéte) succeeded his father,

Missionary Friedrich Autenrieth.

5. Chief Nsioge Ngwane.

6. Chief Nkéd mé Akwe (John Mukéte)

7. Chief Timothy Akwensioge (Akwenange)

Background a Relic of Slavery & Slave.

E’kalé, witchcraft Scare and its Combat.

Diverse Artistic Activity (Music and Dance)

The Economy: Robusta Coffee Economy, Motorable Road

Education and Christianity; Tradition

Chapter VIII    TRADITION AND CHRISTIANITY, STRANGE BED-FELLOWS?

Basel Mission Church Established in Ndom

Otto Ebomtene Eseh

Bakossi Tradition Clashes with Christianity

Elder Ferdinand Akwe; Benjamin Bwang

Transitional Period And Since Idependence.

Chapter IX    DIFFICULT TIMES

8. Chief Max Mukéte Nsioge: A Transition Chief.

Background and Euphoria that greeted new Reign

Difficulties of Chief Max Mukéte Nsioge’s Reign.

Internal Crisis due to Seduced wife by a Prince

Insecurity: External Threats, Struggle for Independence and Auto-Defence

Vaulting Ambition of Elite of the Village; His Background

Other Activities of the Elite.

Summary of the Contents of the Two Documents

9. Chief Fritz Ntoko Mukete: 1922-2009.

Conditions to be accepted so as to become the Chief.

Conditions for Reconciliation and and Chief ’s Return

Table 7 above: The Succession of Rulers in Ndom.

Chapter X    ROYAL SUCCESSION IS HEREDITARY IN BAKOSSILAND

Concern About Royal Succession in Bakossiland

Monologue with Chiefs

10. Chief Akwe Nkede (Mukete) William 1951-

Revived Dignity in Royal Succession.

Chapter XI    WHEN A BAKOSSI CHIEF DIES

Sources And Bibliography.

Map of Kupe-Mwanenguba showing NDOM

Mwasundem in Tombel Sub-Division by a star

new.jpg

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

While working on any topic, writers usually receive help from diverse sources, directly or indirectly. This has been the case with this writer. Not to acknowledge such help and sources is academic ingratitude and dishonesty.

Our friends Professor Heinrich Balz and Mr. Nepomuk Nitschke directed us to Websites of the Basel Mission / Mission 21 Archives and the University of Southern California Library, from which we got some of the pictures used in this work. Dr. Robert Hedinger of SIL Yaounde provided the picture of the eighth Chief of Ndom, Max Mukete Nsioge. Mr. Peter Ekiti Ngome secured for us pictures of the late Reverend Pastors Abel Ngom’Etuge of the Basel Mission-PCC and Paul Etuge Kolle of the Native Baptist Church.

Our brother Hans Ndobéde Ejedepang took the pains to travel to Ndom during a time when the roads were worst in Bakossiland, to photograph some of the edifices included herein. Finally, Regina Ménone Sénge Akwensioge offered very useful oral comments and suggestions after reading through the first edition of this study. These have been incorporated.

Our Informants and the authors whose works we used have amply received acknowledgement through Sources and Bibliography at the end of the book. To all of these people, written documents and institutions, we extend sincere thanks and deep appreciations.

The book traces the history of Ndom through acts of and events that took place during the successive reigns of Chiefs of Ndom. It is divided into eleven unequal chapters. Chapters 1-4 situate Ndom within Bakossiland, within Asomengoe, and within Mwasundem. Chapter 6 discuses Ndom before Europeans came. Chapters 7-8 treat Ndom since Europeans came. Chapters 9-11 discuss the Transitional Period and, since independence. In informing our children and the public, we hope to help children to love Ndom.

INTRODUCTION

The Chief of Ndom, His Majesty Fritz Ntoko Mukéte, died in September 2010. Drawing from past experiences of difficult successions in Ndom and elsewhere in Bakossiland, I thought it would be necessary to prepare this funeral with special attention and, directly tie to it the immediate enthronement of his successor. Given his difficult reign (he had had problems with almost every sector of the village); it was necessary to prepare the people carefully, lest new and unsuspected problems crop up and, complicate the eventual process of his succession.

A few months before his death, I visited Ndom and Chief Fritz. Expressing concern to the leading King-Maker and the Regent about his deteriorated health and the question of succession, they confided to me that the Chief had already willed the throne to his nephew, Akwe Nkede William, son of Chief Max Mukete Nsioge

To prepare with special care the Funeral and Succession of Chief Fritz Ntoko Mukete of Ndom. I invited villagers to my house, because they have no public meeting place. To rouse interest and fire them with patriotic feelings for the village, I began the meeting unconventionally. I asked them the following question, as though they were in a classroom environment. How many Chiefs have ruled Ndom since its creation? Every one was taken aback by the question. They sat up and began looking around; expecting someone to answer. After about three minutes of stone silence, Mr. Elias Koge Akwe ventured an answer, hesitatingly saying, "I have personally known only three Chiefs: Timothy Akwensioge or Akwenange, Max Nkéd m’Akwe (Mukéte) Nsioge and Fritz Ntoko Mukéte, I have also heard of another one: John Mukete, but I did not know him personally"

From this encounter, I confirmed my conclusion and belief, after many years of observation, that today, most Bakossi people are quite ignorant of their own past and present environment. They know little about their families, clans, villages and the tribe. The stone silence observed following my question embarrassed me. This is regrettable and, it contrasts starkly with children and people from other areas, especially Asian and European children. I am shocked by the ignorance of the people who are supposed to teach those from outside. This shock motivated me to begin the meeting with an ad-hoc lesson on the Rulers of Ndom since the creation of the village.

Furthermore, I asked, "What procedure do you follow in burying the Chief? There were many uncertainties, which I had to clear. I was happily surprised to observe how the people listened attentively and asked interesting questions which nourished a lively discussion. Through this exercise, I discovered a real desire and revived thirst of people, all ages together, to learn about their village. But who would teach them? The village contains mainly young people who have never taken any interest in these things. Their parents have not bothered to teach them, possibly they themselves are ignorant of these matters or because the children were away from home attending school from which they brought little or nothing or, just because the children were not interested.

After the funeral, this discovery of ignorance and a revived desire learn about their village and themselves provided motivation and the golden opportunity to produce this pamphlet. The present text is a completely revised and enlarged edition. In eleven unequal chapters, we trace the origin, migration and evolution of the people and a distinctive Bakossi architecture. Using the succession of Chiefs, we arrive at the Ndom village of today. We hope thus to preserve this memory for our children. With a little effort they can read it directly.

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Chapter I

THE ORIGINS

Ancestry: Ngoe is the great grand-father (ancestor) of the Bakossi and other peoples. Because all these people derive their names from him, he is called Eponymous Ngoe. Tradition or Legend says that he just appeared on the Mwanénguba Mountain. It is however likely that he came from the north. As he wandered on the mountain looking for food, he met a woman and exclaimed, "Ndibé mwaad"=I have found a wife. He married her, and named her Sumédiang, because he loved and protected her all the time. The couple had many children. Below we list some of them.

Tradition further reports that one day, a certain tall woman came to Ngoe’s house and asked Sumédiang to give her some water to drink. She gave her water but the woman did not leave. Sumédiang gave her food and she spent the night there. Late at night, she woke up Ngoe and Sumédiang to tell them that she was leaving. She advised them to leave their home because the people were wicked and the place would be covered by water and destroyed. They called the strange woman Ngoténkang, because she was very tall, and had scabies on her body. Her