BY ATIA TILARIOUS AZOHNWI
Peter Mafany Musonge, President of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Friday, April 27, 2018, wept for one of the victims of Government Bilingualism High School (GBHS) Kosala gun attack that left the Discipline Master of the school in a pool of his own blood.
The former Prime Minister was at the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) Hospital Mutengene to visit one of the students whose hand was perforated by bullets as he attempted to defend his Discipline Master from the gunmen.
When the erstwhile Senator was led into the room where the Upper Sixth Arts student, Titamama Useni, is admitted to, Musonge could not hold back his tears as he saw the young man battling for his life.
Briefing the Grand Chancellor of National Order about the condition of Titamama, the Medic, who has been attending to the student since he was ferried into the hospital from Kumba, said they have stabilised the student and that he was recuperating.
Speaking to reporters after his visit, Musonge said he came to sympathise with the student and to encourage him after the tragedy.
“I also came here to find out about his condition and to encourage the doctors to do everything within their powers to save his life and from what I have seen; the doctors are doing a great job.”
The President of Cameroon’s National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism frowned at those who use violence to express their grievances. According to him, there are better ways in which people can bring their plights to the fore without necessarily using violence.
“We have other ways of expressing our grievances and we should also see what the Government is doing or has done and what it plans to do. Though it requires a bit of patience, we don’t need to be violent. We don’t also need to stop our children from going to school because when you have a good education, life will better for them tomorrow,” he said.
Before leaving Useni, Musonge handed over an envelope to him, to help him settle his medical bills.
It will be recalled that on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, gunmen stormed GHBS Kosala in Kumba II Subdivision of the South West Region and shot the Discipline Master of the school, Thomas Ashu Nkongho, to death and wounded Useni.
Mother of twin battles with bullet wounds
A mother of twins who had received a stray bullet in Konye was also visited by the former Prime Minister.
From information gathered, the 23-year-old was ferried in from Konye Sub-division, Meme Division of the South West Region to the CBC Hospital Muntengene, on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, after she was allegedly shot by security officers, few hours after she gave birth to the set of twins.
The husband of the 23-year-old and her mother in-law were so frightened to open up to the press given the ordeal they have gone through this week. They duo only accepted to speak to the press on condition of anonymity. They even snubbed the plea of a Government official, who requested them to tell him their story.
Recounting their ordeal, the father of twin said: “I am a motor bike rider and a famer in Konye. I am resident there with my family, but for the past two months, I and my pregnant wife have been living in the forest for fear of the military crackdown in the area,” he said.
The bike rider further asserted that when her wife started feeling labour pains, they decided to go back home. “I didn’t want my wife to give birth in the forest, so we sneaked back to our home. The next morning I left the house to go and look for something for my wife and my mother to eat, since we are no longer riding our bikes because of the ban placed by Government and we can no longer go to the farm because our farms have become battle grounds between Ambazonia Defence Forces and the Cameroon military. Few hours after, my mother called me, informing me that my wife has given birth to a set of twin. when she left her to go and warm water to clean her up in the kitchen; she heard a loud sound of the gun from behind, when she rushed back into the house, my wife’s arm was completely shattered by bullets, she saw an army hilux driving off after the incident. I also bypassed the military vehicles on my way home,” he recounted.
The biker said when he got home, he saw his wife bleeding profusely and he had to use the money he has borrowed from his friend to transport his wife from Konye to Mutengene for medical attention, given that even hospitals in Kumba are not safe.
When this reporter visited the ward in which the mother of the twin was admitted into, she could not even breastfeed her children because her arm was cemented and placed on support. The medic who was attending to her said the two children will be introduced to milk to keep them alive, since their mother cannot breastfeed them.
Musonge left Buea urging parents to conquer fear and send their children to school.