In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

165 Appendix II Academic Honours for Dr Temngah Joseph Nyambo of the University Of Douala The Representative of the Minister of Higher Education The Rector of the University of Douala Colleagues Dear mourners It is painful to stand here today to bear testimony to the works of a friend who was everything to me. He was a brother in every true sense of the word to the extent that everybody that knew him associated me with him or him with me. It is not painful that he died because he died. It is rather painful that he died so young. Dying so young for a talented man like Joe – as he was fondly called by everybody – is painful because the world will surely miss his best qualities that I am here to present. I would have wished that when two of us would have given the best of ourselves to the world we would have died in natural succession and he would have been the one to talk about my own works, he being slightly younger than me. Unfortunately for me that is not the way of the law of death. If I stand here today to give a testimony of my bosom friend’s life works it is precisely because we have gone a long way as friends. Two of us had learnt to be true apostles of the academia and had learnt to live to that culture although coming from two different paths, namely Law for him and Sociology for me. I met Joe through a common friend in the 1980s when he was an undergraduate student and I was a post graduate student at the then University of Yaoundé. By sharing our common problems as students and having an exciting time as youngsters we came to know and respect each other. Above all we came to be real pals because we shared the same intellectual dispositions. That is what came to seal our bonds to the extent that we became soul brothers. What everybody should know is that these bonds were strengthened by a certain extreme form of mutual respect that I have not found in the friends that I have made before or that rarely exists in the intellectual community. In the process of our friendship I tried as much as possible to play the elder brother role. For example, when everybody was affirming that the Doctorat de Troisième cycle was a lengthy 166 waste of time or impossible, I proved to him that it was possible by going through it in 1991. After that I advised him to continue which he did defend in 1995. In that regard he followed my lead and became a university lecturer like myself after he defended that degree. In his professional life he tried as much as possible to follow my advice and as God would have it his fortunes were similar to mine. He was called to build the new Department of Common Law tradition in the University of Douala from the year 2000 in the same year as I was made Head of Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the University of Buea. We shared in our intellectual pursuits and learnt from each other. I learnt a lot of Law and Jurisprudence from Dr Temngah as he learnt a lot of Sociology and Anthropology from me. One can see that Sociology and Anthropology running through his works as the Law and Jurisprudence in my analysis. Although he pursued his independent career I tried to involve him in anything that could have a relation to his research interests. I will come back to that later. We shared the same political interests and tried to find a place for ourselves in the evolving political landscape throughout the shaky transition process in the country. When we became too immersed in our academic pursuits this political interests became less intense but shifted in the same direction: career. I have very few true friends. I have lost one. I have to pay him the homage that is befitting. Dr Temngah Joseph Nyamboh was born on 10 May 1966 at Mumfu in Menchum Division. He studied in the Presbyterian Boy’s School Victoria (to later become Limbe) from 1974 to 1976 and Government School Abar – Misong Menchum Division from 1976 to 1979 when he terminated his primary education. His had his secondary education at the New Era Institute from 1980 to 1984 (for the First Cycle) and Government High School, Limbe from...

Share