“There Is Absolute Harmony And Living Together In Kumba”

As the first Magistrate of Kumba City, a cosmopolitan city with Cameroonians from different cultural backgrounds, how are you managing this cosmopolitanism as far as national unity and living together are concerned? I think we are actually talking about a topic which is part of the tradition of Kumba. Kumba is that town that has been designed to be receptive to people of all calibre. I am saying this because geography has made Kumba the centre of the South West Region. Geographically, we are located at the heart of the South West Region with six divisions. Just from the perspective of the South West Region and Kumba being at the centre, people will always converge in the middle. That is why I said we are ‘doomed’ to receive people from different cultures. By its nature, Kumba has been receiving from time immemorial different cultural groups. Not to forget the Nigerians. So, it is not only other tribes of Cameroon but also internationally like our Nigerian brothers. Do not also forget that we have the “Yaounde quarter. Our brothers from Yaounde, the Betis, Bulus all came and lived in Kumba. Kumba has always been that city that attracts knowing it is in the heart of rainforest with fertile soil, lots of water etc which are the attractions that bring people to Kumba. Even those coming here for professional reasons, most of them buy a piece of land and build their homes. In its most harmonious nature, the Bafaws, Bakundus, Balongs and the Barombis (four tribes of Kumba) are very stranger-loving people. Their hands are very open on the cross like Christ, ready to receive others. That explains the vast growing nature of Kumba that as people come and stay, the city grows. So, we have people of all cultures in Kumba. We also have Hausa quarter which signifies that there are lots of Muslims who actually live here. We have about 13-15 mosques already. So, you see even Muslims are coming from the grand north, North West and Nigeria. We are a peace-loving people and we live in absolute harmony with whosoever no matter where you came from. You will never even know who is the native of Kumba. We even call our Bamileke brothers whose grandparents were born in Kumba as autotune. That explains how harmoniously we live in this cosmopolitan city of Kumba with our brothers and sisters from Cameroon and Nigeria. There is absolute harmony and living together in Kumba. How is National Unity reflected in the council management for instance? Just like I said, national u...