Power-thirsty Tubah elite should leave Edokat alone

Benjamin Disraeli, the 18th century British prime minister and novelist once said: “a university should be a place of light, of liberty and of learning”. He could not have said it better and his thoughts remain as valid and refreshing today.

The Guardian Post has found out, despite media reports, including even those that have been run by this authoritative daily newspaper, that Tubah elite who think UBa must be headed by “a son of the soil” are those fanning tension in the institution and spreading the news about an imaginary conflict between the vice chancellor and students.

And so like is typical of any successful administrator, Edokat now has to pay the price. The man who hails from far away Oshie in Momo division has been swirled in a storm of intrigues, blackmail and speculative allegations to back the tribalistic instincts of the so co-called Tubah elite.

The vice chancellor might have, like any human being who is not infallible, erred in the manner he replied to press inquiries regarding some of the accusations against him. The Guardian Post did not fail to scold him on that point, but that is a side issue, considering the broader responsibility he carries in managing the institution to academic excellence where he should truly be judged.

On that preponderant issue, we do not find him wanting especially in an environment made unfriendly by people who crawl to give the impression that the post of vice chancellor is their birthright. No way.

From creation in 2010, it was clear that the seat of the University in Bambili was already congested. Some North Westerners have argued that some faculties of the university should be spread to other parts of the region. In that way, the present site will be decongested and cost of hostel rental reduced to ease the burden students face with exorbitant rents.

To oppose that argument, Tubah elements drawn from Bambili, Bambui, Small Babanki and Big Babanki villages formed an association named the Tubah Union for Peace, Progress and Prosperity (TUP4). Some reports say one of its objectives was “to combat UBa’s vice chancellor, Edokat Edward Tafah, whom they view as working against their interests”.

That is the crux of the matter. The question then is what are the interests of these four villages when that of the university is concerned? How many students are in the institutions from these villages? Isn’t the university for the students of the entire nation and even foreigners? Do the Tubah elite not know that there are more North Westerners in the University of Buea than their South West peers, yet nobody is grumbling? Why do the elite want only one of theirs to head the university? Why must everything be concentrated in tiny Bambili even to the inconvenience of a learning environment?

Shouldn’t the leader of the association, Peter Abety who is chairman of the GCE Board and for many years special duties minister at the presidency know better? The fons of Tubah have claimed that the sub division has enough land so faculties should not move out of the area.

In a veil opposition to the expansion of the university faculties to other divisions, Abety said at the launch of their association that if the authorities of UBa were not ready to use the land in Bambui and Bambili to expand, it should be returned to the villagers for farming and construction. He later said on CRTV that the land allocated is valued at 50 billion francs! It elevated the issue that in future they could be asking for compensation.

Those who have been following the agitations of Tubah elite since the university was created in 2010 need no crystal ball to see that their claims centre on greed and selfishness. No one is talking about the academic excellence of learning and the liberty of positive thought which, as Disraeli says, are attributes a university should be associated with.

Their interest is, let the university “be only in our land. With limited space, we can build few hostels, create more, demand and take rents and prices of other services and commodities linked to a university environment to the sky and reap windfall profits.”

They perceive the “University of Bamenda strategic development plan 2014 - 2028," which recommends how the institution will be expanded to other divisions from 2014 to 2028 as hindrance to their policy of greed.” The reason why they are crying foul; shouting at the top of their voices that decentralizing the institution would terminate work on ongoing hostel projects and render some 3000 bricklayers, brick molders, plumbers, painters, carpenters et al in the area jobless! They also claim about 500 students’ hostels would be left unoccupied if the university expands out of Tubah. Some of the landlords have even made the weird threat that they would commit suicide because they took loans to build the hostels and that if there are no tenants to occupy the rooms, they will have no means to pay back the debt they have contracted.

They should tell that to the marines. Even if the hostels are left vacant, is it Edokat who advised the landlords to build them? Don’t they understand that every business venture has an element of risk?

Edokat is not a son of Tubah so what? If Tubah elite truly have the interest of UBa at heart, would they be concerned about the qualities and competence of a vice chancellor or where he was born and comes from? Edokat, as we have said before is not perfect. Perfection is reserved for the Creator. But as an academic and administrator, his performance has been impressive. Not many professors will start a university from scratch and take it to the high academic standards the University of Bamenda is today in less than five years.

What the Tubah elite should do is to support him to continue to improve on the academic standards of the institution. If that means expanding faculties even to Furawah, let it be. With a university in Bambili, shouldn’t the so-called Tubah elite borrow a leaf from Bakwerians and pursue the pleasures that go with learning and leave Edokat alone to work for the interest of all Cameroonians and in the pursuit of knowledge?