Niat Njifenji Marcel and shrewd John Epee Mandengue

Mr Niat Njifenji Marcel was a native of the French-speaking Cameroonian grass field region of the West province. He was even accused by the regime of Paul Biya in 1984, to have supported a failed coup attempt, led in majority by members of the Cameroonians Armed Forces who were from the majority Muslim Greater North province. How he absolved himself from such accusation, while a majority of suspects, numbering about 4 thousand men, women and their children were slaughtered by the Biya regime, has remain a mystery. Another surprise remains that, in spited that Mr Niat Njifenji Marcel was suspected by the Biya regime of having sided with coup plotters, he was given the headship of the utility SONEL, a strategic government company. Back to John Epee Mandengue, with all the lucrative contracts that he secured with two important companies of Cameroon, courtesy strategies or connections already mentioned, he became rich and he also developed the appetite for politics that he had in Nigeria but was barred by his wife. But before anything, it must be noted and pointed out that, John Epee Mandengue was a brilliant manager.

Another thing worth pointing out is that, all his directors were Anglophone Cameroonians or were from Anglophone African countries. The head of the Broking Services International agency of the city of Douala was a Ghanaian. The practice by which successful English-speaking Cameroonians, in business or in politics, only trusted people who were from English-speaking Cameroon and the English-speaking world to handle their strategic operations, was another proof that, Cameroon’s song linguistic unity was a farce. Both Cameroonian linguistic communities did not only mistrust or suspected each other; they also mutually despised each other. And John was not different from most English-speaking Cameroonian. He never trusted any French-speaking Cameroonians and he also thought that, English-speaking Cameroonians were more intelligent than French-speaking Cameroonians. Concerning John’s new love, which was politics, he showed once again that, he was shrewd. Instead of building a house in his native Mongo village, located in the Tiko sub division of the South west province, he decided to erect a mansion in the heart of the Deido neighbourhood in Douala.