Rivalry between Henry Njalla Quang and Peter Mafany Musonge

Henry Njalla Quang is an Anglophone from the coastal region of Anglophone Cameroon known as the South West province. He is an ethnic Bakweri, precisely from the town of Victoria (Limbe), whereas the former Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge was/is a native of Buea, former capital of British Southern Cameroon’s and currently, provincial capital of the South West. Another twist is that, there is an internecine rivalry between elites of the South west province. But there is also another more intriguing one. It is that which teams up elites from other parts of the South west province against elites, who are natives of the town of Buea. Once again, it is important to point out that, Buea is the provincial capital of the South west and it is therefore weird to discover that, elites from the same province will be scheming against those from Buea. But for every positive or negative reaction, there must be an action that has sparked the positive or negative reaction. The reason why, elites from the entire South west province are ganging up against those from Buea is not difficult to fathom. For it seem as though, elites from Buea have always enjoyed privileges in political appointments in Cameroon, since the unification of 1961. And the feeling that elites from Buea have been given preferential treatment by the Francophone ruling elites in Yaoundé has created jealousy amongst elites from other regions within the South West province.

This intra south west rivalry could be considered as a vertical one. For there is another form of rivalry within elites of Anglophone Cameroon in general and this one could be classified as horizontal. This horizontal rivalry, pits elites of the coastal part of Anglophone Cameroon known as the South west against elites of the north of Anglophone Cameroon, otherwise known as the North West province. And the root cause of the rivalry is the same as those pitting the entire south west province against elites from the provincial capital, Buea. The intra south western elites’ rivalry may explain why Mr Henry Njalla Quang, who was/is a native of Victoria, and also the new person in charge of CDC, did not want in anyway, to have any kind of sympathies or allegiance toward his predecessor, who was at the time Prime minister. Hence, Thomas Tobbo Eyoum, who was at war with John Epee Mandengue and even though the former was not English-speaking and also not a native of the South west province, was aware of the rivalry between Henry Njalla Quang and Peter Mafany Musonge, hence he ( Thomas) dashed into the rivalry and exploited it to his advantage. He (Thomas) was equally aware that, the appointment of Njalla Quang as new manager of CDC was not achieved through pressure; lobbying or recommendation of Peter Mafany Musonge, but through the discretions of the head of state, Paul Biya and Mr Biya enjoys creating rivalries between elites of the same region.