A marriage between the CPDM and the SDF

Assuredly, politics is not only a level-playing field but also one that can be full of surprises. That was the case with a wedding that took place not so long ago between the son of a member of Cameroon`s ruling party, the CPDM on the one hand, and the daughter of a leading member of the opposition SDF party.

I caught the story while it was narrated on a national television station recently by the father of the bride, Barrister Sama Francis Asanga, who happens to be the current President of the Cameroon Bar Association.

As the story goes, one day Barrister Sama`s phone rang and when he picked it up, he realized the caller was the Hon. Ndongo Essomba, a high-ranking member of the CPDM party. Sama is also a high-ranking member of the SDF. So the call was something of a surprise to the lawyer.

The caller asked whether that was “Papa Sama”. Lawyer Sama is his father`s successor and therefore the Head of the Sama Family. He told the caller that he was the one. Then the caller introduced himself. Taken aback, the lawyer asked whether it was the Honourable Ndongo Essomba of the CPDM who was on the line and the latter confirmed that it was him. To be sure, the lawyer asked whether it was really “Honourable Ndongo Essomba, leader of the CPDM Parliamentary Group”, to which the caller still said it was.

Barrister Sama then asked him whether he was sure he knew who he was talking to and the parliamentarian said he was fully aware he was talking to “Papa Sama”. The Attorney next asked the Member of Parliament if he also knew that he, Sama, was a member of the SDF opposition party. The caller said he did. He asked the parliamentarian whether he also knew he, Sama, was not just a member of the SDF opposition party but actually a brother of the party`s Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi. Ndongo Essomba said he knew all of that very well.

“You know it, yet are calling me?”, Sama enquired.

“Yes, Papa Sama. It`s you I`ve called and it`s you I want to speak to”, came the firm reply.

When Sama asked him what was the purpose of the call, he said it was something important but not one that could be discussed over the phone. He recommended a meeting and indicated that he was prepared to travel and meet Pa Sama. An appointment was taken and the two men met.

During the get-together, Hon. Ndongo Essomba announced to Pa Sama that he had come to ask for the hand of his daughter for his son. Pa Sama wondered where the two young people might have met to the extent of wanting to spend their lives together. Somehow, he remembered that his daughter once introduced a French-speaking Cameroonian friend of hers to him. But she said nothing about them going out with each other, let alone getting married. So he Pa Sama thought nothing more of it.

Following the meeting between the two parents, the usual formalities preceding a wedding were taken and a date was chosen for the nuptials. In attendance was, of course, the CPDM Parliamentary Leader Ndongo Essomba (father of the bridegroom) and the SDF Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi, but also another CPDM baron, the minister Gregoire Owona.

When Barrister Sama expressed surprise at the presence of the minister, the latter told him that he was “duty-bound” to attend the ceremony because the bridegroom, the young Essomba was the District Officer (Sous Prefet) of his Sub Division of origin , Ngomedzap, and his bride (Barrister Sama`s daughter) was therefore “the First Lady of his Sub Division”. That was how it happened.

Today, both bride and bridegroom (Mr. and Mrs. Essomba) are not just happily married but are parents with a daughter of theirs spending a good time in the Bamenda residence of her grandfather, Pa Sama, much to the delight of both the visiting grand-daughter and the host grand parents (Sama and his wife).

What`s more, the union of the (young) couple has helped in bringing together as one family, members of two rival and opposing political parties who would normally not have been seen to be bed-fellows. Perhaps it is true that in politics, anything can happen.