By Noela EBOB BISONG
In response to the prohibition of the holding of the Bimbia Cultural and Development Association meeting which was previewed last April 26 but which did not hold due to the outing of Fako Senior Divisional Officer SDO, Henry Njalla Quan Junior, has in a May 1 letter addressed to the SDO, positioned that the civil administrator was misled by his collaborators in Limbe III Subdivision.
Presenting a clear case for himself and his brethren, Njalla Quan says he was able to stop the ‘simple family gathering’ from taking place, though he received the SDO’s correspondence barely few hours to the start of the event.
Nonetheless, he points out that, “Given the misleading and errorneous contents of the letter, I am of the opinion that you may have been induced into error by some of your collaborators, particularly the Divisional Officer of Limbe III Subdivision”, he tells the Fako boss, Engelbert Viang Mekala.
Citing the strained relations which currently exists between the Subdivisional Office of Limbe III and some traditional authorities, elites and indigenes of Bimbia in line with the ‘ceding of the Bimbia Slave Trade site’, Njalla Quan regrets that it is no doubt the reason behind the cancellation of the holding of their family gathering and even the legalisation of their cultural development association which has nothing other than to push the development of their subdivision, said to be the most enclave in Fako.
“Sir, in your capacity as the SDO for Fako, you would agree with me that Bimbia is the least developed community in Fako. This reality is our sole reason for coming together in order to pull our resources for the benefit of our community and country as a whole. The Head of State regularly preaches Unity and National Integration. This starts from our communities. We cannot have a united country without having united villages. Peace and unity must start from our grass root communities. No government in the world has the capacity to equitably and efficiently develop every single square meter of its national territory. That is where elites and indigenes come into play”, Njalla Quan details.
The letter further reads that, “Unlike other Communities within Fako such as Muyuka, Great Soppo, Botaland just to name a few, Bimbia has no active functional association dedicated towards promoting its culture and contributing towards its local development… It is very discouraging that an attempt to copy positive similar actions, which has yielded fruits in other communities across the country is being frustrated out of bias and the need to settle personal scores.”
On a personal note, Njalla Quan further reacts to the SDO terming him as one with the ‘attitude of wanting to trample on the laws and regulations of the Republic.’
“Permit me inform you that I have never been charged or convicted of any crime in Cameroon or any other country… Despite being relatively young, I have committed the most part of my life towards serving the Republic of Cameroon in all truth, love and honesty, putting the little resources I may have at my diaposal to serve the state, risking my life and that of my family in certain circumstances, just to preserve the interests of the state”, he says.
Njalla also maintained that while minimising life threats, he went ahead to provide free accommodation to among others, the Divisional Office of Limbe III (since 2018), the National Gendarmerie Brigade (for nine years), space for the celebration of national and international events, seminars, CPDM activities etc, all taking place at the premises of the privately-owned Njalla Quan Sports Academy in Man O’ War Bay, Limbe III.
The six-paged document which urges Fako SDO to give a careful look into the happenings in Limbe III subdivision, is copied among others the PM/Head of Government, the SGPR, MINAT, MINESEC, MINAC, Head of NCPBM, South West Governor etc.