The Vice Chancellor, VC, of the University of Buea, UB, Dr. Nalova Lyonga and the Director of the Higher Technical Teachers Training College, HTTTC, Kumba Prof. Joyce Bayande Endeley, are reported to have recently disagreed on the occasion of the orientation of newly admitted students and on the date of the official start of lectures at the baby institution in Kumba, The Post learnt.
The disagreements are persisting after media reports last year claimed that both academicians were at loggerheads over the procedure and cost of translating the entrance examination questions into the school.
When the VC and her entourage visited Kumba a few weeks back to launch the orientation of students at the Kumba City Council Banquet Hall, university authorities explained that the absence of HTTTC Director at the meeting was due to her charged schedule, which had taken her out of the country.
But recently when the lectures effectively started in the presence of the VC and other HTTTC senior officials,The Post learnt that, the Director of the institution was in Kumba, but did not show up at the occasion.
Sources at the HTTTC recount that, the Director only got the information regarding the official commencement of lectures through a radio release and not an official correspondence from the VC's Office.
In the face of this conflict between the duo, observers hold that no matter how long the VC and the HTTTC Director pretend to work in an atmosphere of mistrust, the foundation of the institution will bear the consequences, given that, they are the two women charged with putting the school on the right path.
The situation has given rise to various interpretations with some alleging that, the conflict has been persistent because Dr. Nalova and Prof Endeley see each other as a threat, considering the academic discrepancy of Associate Professor and Professor respectively.
According to an academician who pleaded for anonymity, given that in Cameroon appointments are done based on political leaning rather than competence, the two women ought to put their personal interest aside and nurture HTTTC Kumba into a solid professional institution for technical education teachers.
Conflict Extended To Refreshments
The Post further gathered that, it is because of the unfriendly working relationship between the VC and the HTTTC Director that, after all official ceremonies at the HTTTC campus, receptions and entertainment are programmed in UB, instead of Kumba, which is hosting the institution.
It would be recalled that in one of the field trips to locate a permanent site for the school, the VC is alleged to have boycotted lunch offered by the Paramount ruler of the Bafaws, Senator Nfon V E Mukete.
In the face of the recent twist, some interest groups are already spreading information that the VC may suggest a location to the Minister of Higher Education, Jaques Fame Ndongo.
Nalova had told journalists during the orientation exercise in Kumba that it is the Minister of Higher Education who has the prerogative to choose a final location for the school for which FCFA 300million has been set aside to sponsor feasibility studies.
