Frankly Speaking

Peter Mafany Musonge believes he is the new political leader and patriarch of Fako Division and wanted the fact acknowleged and established, so he crafted a gathering of all five Fako CPDM sections on 26 September in Limbe.

Musonge, former prime minister, now grand chancellor of National Orders, invited other political heavyweights of his generation – among them former archrivals John Ebong Ngole and Peter Agbor Tabi – including his most potential rival for Fako leadership, fellow ex-prime minister, Ephraim Inoni. Musonge apparently wanted to show that even in the presence of Inoni, Musonge is king.

That “Extraordinary Joint Section Conference of CPDM, Fako” was thus a “corronation ceremony” for Musonge as political godfather of Fako Division.

Every act of the Limbe show had the strappings of a Musonge corronation. Speaker after speaker gave him credit for masterminding the event. Although he holds no local party position, Musonge was initiator and chairman of the organizing committee.

“This conference was planned at the impulse of our elder brother and statesman, the Right Honourable PM Musonge,” said Andrew Monjimba Motanga, Fako I CPDM section president, who spoke on behalf of all five section presidents.

Yet, had no one sung his praise, Musonge was set to blow his own trumpet. He opened his scripted speech by reminding all that he – and no one else – was at the origin of the grandiose event. “The idea of this extraordinary joint sections conference was hatched […] at a meeting called by your humble servant,” Musonge boasted.

In enumerating who else were involved in organizing the show, Musonge gave the public to tacitly understand that Ephraim Inoni was not one of them. He went on to avoid mentioning Inoni even in acknowledging personalities who honoured the event. Neither was there any provision on the programme for Inoni to speak, even if only as a local elite, and throughout the show, he looked like a stranger in his own homeland.

Another potential Musonge rival, the very eloquent Henry Njalla Quan, former Limbe government delegate and Musonge’s successor as CDC general manager, might have shown some non-chalance in the face of that “cold war”, by quitting his seat in the honours tribune to join his orchestra across the street at the Limbe marchpast venue, in performing a song that lavished praises on both Musonge and Inoni as worthy sons of Fako.

Political watchers believe Musonge was just making smart to hoist his flag of conquest over territory he knows Inoni equally lays claims to. And the timing could not have been better calculated.

Dorothy Limunga Njeuma, erstwhile Fako leader if only in her capacity as the lone CPDM Politbureau member from the division, is now out of the way. She officially lost her party political status with her resignation from the party, following her appointment last year into ELECAM.

If Fako must retain Njeuma’s sit in any future reorganisation of that high organ of the CPDM, the two former PMs would be seriously considered. And there is the Senate expected to be set up soon, which would largely be the assembly of former statesmen. If nothing else, a statement by Laurent Charles Etoundi Ngoa, representing the CPDM scribe, gave room for speculation over what big trophy would next come to Fako and to whom. Said he: “Fako has received and Fako will receive again.”

If Musonge’s longstanding intentions to occupy the territory were held at bay while Inoni was in power until 30 June, his restraint clearly lasted only until then. There were words from Musonge himself to prove that. He said the Limbe CPDM rally “was hatched only a month ago, precisely on 26 August 2009.”

Without having to check on a calendar, that was less than two months after Inoni was replaced as prime minister and only one month after he effectively returned home and announced he was still available for service. That implied Inoni’s continued involvement in active politics and – he might have hoped – as a local political godfather.

Although Musonge has not quite been seen in overt political gesticulations even as prime minister, it now looks like Fako is beginning to get too small for the two retired PMs. Both men have not been particular fond of each other as politicians though, so Musonge’s stage-managed show on 26 September appears to have been a way of denying Inoni soft landing in Fako after he was booted out of the Star Building on 30 June.

This analytic report was first published in Standard Tribune N° 054 of 05 October 2009 (page 1) as my Guest Contribution under the title: CPDM: Musonge, Inoni in ‘coldwar’ over Fako