Society and Change in Bali Nyonga: Critical Perspectives

8. Chieftaincy at the Crossroads: Politics, Society and Customary Reform in Bali Nyonga

148 Chapter Eight Chieftaincy at the Crossroads: Politics, Society and Customary Reform in Bali Nyonga Jude Fokwang On 28 January 2002, the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) for Mezam Division visited the town of Bali Nyonga on an official tour of his jurisdiction. Judging by the massive turn out and the prestige enjoyed by Fon44 Ganyonga III during the occasion, one could be easily driven to guess that he was in sound harmony with his subjects. The visit of a government official such as the SDO’s is often accompanied with the full display of state paraphernalia and its symbols of violence. Such visits afford agents of the postcolony to ‘improvise’ and indulge in the display of ‘excess’ so characteristic of the postcolony’s ‘political machinery’ (Mbembe 2001). In the case of Bali, the SDO’s official visit was enforced by the temporary closure of government and private offices, shops and schools leading to a sort of unofficial public holiday. Pupils and students from both government and private schools all flocked to the parade grounds (popularly known as the Grandstand) where the SDO was scheduled to address the masses. Members of various political parties had put aside their ideological differences, albeit momentarily and emerged in their numbers, ostensibly to show off their relative worth in terms of political supremacy. This scenario captures in a vivid way, the totality of local socio-political relations in Bali – evidenced by the presence of all prominent local actors - the chief and his notables, the mayor, political parties and their local leaders, party militants and ordinary subjects as well as local civil servants. The visit was hailed as a major success and reported in the local press and the governmentcontrolled Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) Bamenda. 44 This is the popular grassfields term for chief although there are slight regional variations. In Kom, it is known as foyn, in Bafut and Mankon as fo’ and in Nso’ as nfor. 149 Despite this semblance of harmony, the people were displeased that the SDO’s visit had been scheduled on the same day as their customary market day, thereby disrupting the normal order of things – namely the complex trading system that derives its time-honoured support from inter-chiefdom commerce.45 Owing to the SDO’s scheduled visit, the Traditional Council, headed by the chief resolved to bring forward the market date a day earlier. Although the population complied with this rule, they resented the fact that the chief and the Traditional Council were unable to stand up to the SDO in order to protect their interests. Apparently, the market day was poorly attended due to the sudden changes. Many persons I interviewed maintained that the chief and his council should have defended the customary calendar instead of disrupting the people’s socio-economic activities. Others blamed the chief for allowing himself to be dictated to by petty government administrators such as the SDO, in contrast to his predecessor, the late Fon Galega II, who had commanded tremendous respect in the entire region – a claim substantiated by an official visit to his palace by the former state president, Ahmadou Ahidjo in May 1971. Although the above incident may appear trivial to an outsider, it should be emphasised that two specific issues were of paramount concern to the people. First, the chief’s perceived inability to control the tide of events in his chiefdom which was interpreted by his subjects as a weakness on his part and secondly, it also confirmed the view among the masses that the chief could not protect them from state predation – perhaps, if anything, he was perceived by many as a facilitator of predatory acts by state agents whose interests were at variance with those of ordinary citizens. The above anecdote reveals profoundly what many scholars have pointed out before – namely, the intercalary position of the African chief, first during the colonial period (Gluckman 1940; Fallers 1960; 45 Most chiefdoms in the Bamenda grasslands devote a day during an 8-day week calendar for its market-day. This day tends to rotate according to the traditional calendar of the chiefdom. In many chiefdoms, the day preceding the market day is considered a sacred day or ‘kontri Sunday’ in common parlance. A successful market day counts on the participation of the local population and to a large extent, on traders from neighbouring towns and villages. 150 Schapera 1970) as well as in the contemporary...