Kumba Bamileke men, women at daggers drawn

The long crisis rocking the Bamena general meeting, Kumba, where the women want to secede from the men and hold an independent but regular meeting void of male intervention and control has grown sour as most avenues for mediation are said to have seemingly failed.

Following a crisis resolution gathering on Sunday, 26 October, 2014, summoned by the chief of the Bamena people in Kumba, Nana Philip, that flopped as a result of an approach styled dictatorial by the women and another intervention by the chief of Louoh-Bamena, Tahmeh Nzo’kenou, to bring peace into the house that equally flopped, the centre is said not to be holding.

From the aforementioned two approaches which ended in a near bout of muscles with the president of the women’s group, Nana Valerie, visibly offended to tearing point and the strong determination of the President General, Wemba Sandjong Richard, to pull the women on board by peace or pieces, the situation is being described as an irreparable tale of two cities at war.

Onlookers of the crisis that has gone to this deteriorating situation say the crisis germinated on the wheels of ‘loss of confidence’ as the women say their husbands were using them when it came to financial contributions and socials.

The men had opted for a statement of account and auditing, we learnt, which the women turned down after the audit report had been jointly prepared by both houses and was ready for public appreciation.

Behind the scene fuelling the crisis, we were told, are some men nicknamed ‘weak men’. The position of these so-called weak men is not clear but insiders say the present Wemba Sandjong regime is too rigorous for their liking and they could have a weaker leader they can easily manipulate.

With the present state of things that has pushed the women out of the meeting house following a sealed notice that blocked the doors from the chief, Bamilike elite in Kumba are suggesting that the Bamena chief in the village be invited to personally mediate in the crisis so as to restore the dignity of the Bamena group and the Bamilike people in general.