While visiting the Northern Zone and making her stop at the Bafut chiefdom, Kah Walla on her Facebook page praised the ”wonderful opportunity” to bring her ”Mother of the Nation” pet project, an initiative to show solidarity and witness first-hand the crisis in that part of Ambazonia.
Ms. Walla took the chance to be appreciative of the Fon’s Palace, reiterating in her post how chiefdom is under the process to be earmarked as a UNESCO Heritage Site. ”The palace is beautifully maintained and the Fon has managed to mobilize resources from around the world to restore the original palace which has a foundation over 450 years old” wrote Walla, commending the efforts by the Fon to preserve a monument of historical importance.
Being a custodian of his tradition and customs, the Fon of Bafut represents his subjects. Walla describes him as ”a fountain of cultural and historical knowledge” and emphasized engaging in a lengthy conversation with the traditional ruler.
Having a penchant for observation and being the political firebrand that she is, the current conflict in Ambazonia and how it has affected the Bafut Chiefdom did not go unaddressed. She notes 2 schools with some 1400 pupils under the management of the Fon have been closed. Disturbed by prevailing insecurity, parents are scared to allow the children to the classrooms. The bold ones willing to defy the odds cannot afford tuition.
The more than 20 elementary schools across the Bafut community save the one ran by La Republique’s government is operational with armed security personnel safeguarding it.
In the 18 months of the ongoing crisis, 285 people employed by the Fon’s school have been laid off. Tourism which has sustained the Palace over the years, with a record 40,000 tourists in a good year, has seen a drastic drop. The hospitality industry encompassing restaurants, artisanal businesses, and hotels are bearing the brunt as the days go by.
The Fon like many others before him sees ”inclusive dialogue” as the way forward. The death toll keeps rising, antagonizing the local population, causing untold economic hardship and slowly degrading the communities or what’s left of it.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
1 comment
The way la republic is acting crazy. Let us not be surprised that these la republic criminals might one day burn some of the Ambazonia historic sights such as chiefs’ palaces.