Where is Archbishop Tonye Bakot?

(In July 2013 Mgr. Victor Tonye Bakot was replaced as Archbishop of the Yaounde archdiocese by the Pope. Since that happened, he has gone into silence and virtually out of the public eye.

Today I remember him because while I was a journalist at the Cameroon Radio Television, I used to cover his events for national television. The article that follows here is one I broadcast of FOUNDATION RADIO in Bamenda shortly after his removal, while Station Manager of the Radio. Wherever he is and whatever he may be doing now, I wish him a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.)

The Archbishop of the Yaounde Arch Diocese Mgr Simon-Victor Tonye Bakot has resigned. In Catholic jargon, he is said to have “renounced” the post. The noun formed from the verb, “to renounce”, being “renunciation”.

In a press statement from the Pope in Rome, The Catholic Apostolic Nuncio in charge of Cameroon based in Yaounde said Pope Francis had accepted the standing down of the six-year old Tony Bakot. The release also indicated that the Pope had appointed the arch bishop of Ebolowa – Jean Mbarga – as apostolic administrator, in replacement of Mgr Tonye Bakot.

A source close to the Vatican has précised that the pope accepted the renunciation in accordance with the Canon 402, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law. The same source held that the appointment of Bishop Jean Mbarga of Ebolowa as apostolic administrator is, in Latin “Sede vacante et ad nutum sanctae sedis”, another canonic provision. However, the Apostolic Nuncio’s statement did not give reasons for Tonye Bakot’s resignation.

Suffice is to say that he heads the catholic administrative unit which is not just headquartered in Cameroon`a capital, but is also the most impactful in terms of weight. The archdiocese comprises a surface area of 5000 square kilometres and three administrative divisions which are Mfoundi, Mefou and Akono, as well as Mefou and Afamba. It has a total population of some three million souls.

Furthermore, the Episcopal province of Yaounde is rich in landed property. It boasts an entire network of schools, colleges, high schools, bookshops and some thirty dispensaries and health centres.

Despite the absence of an official explanation for the archbishop’s renunciation, it is an open secret that in recent years, the authority of the man of God who was made archbishop of Yaounde in 2003, had come under frequent public scrutiny and questioning.

Archbishop Tonye Bakot has unofficially been accused of handling church property as if it was his personal possession. A case in point is the imposing Basilica at Mvolye in Yaounde, which he is said to have plunged into debts to the tune of around 5 billion francs CFA. He is also accused of having made the church through the archdiocese a partner in a transaction with an Estate property company which he is not said to have treated fairly.

Only a week prior to his resignation, the publication, “La Nouvelle” predicted that the archbishop’s allegedly unclean dealings with the company had been, I quote, “a series of dirty tricks worthy of the top feymen of the country”. The publication concluded that the matter was “an incredible affair which ran the risk of once more rocking the Catholic Church in Cameroon”.

Another problem the archbishop ran into was a scandal caused when an internal memo he wrote to one of his priests, Father Martin Brida, touched raw ethnic nerves. Brida was a member of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Management at the Catholic University of Central Africa. Following the revelation, the archbishop is said to have sacked another priest of the same Catholic University, Father Ludovic Lado, allegedly for having been the one who leaked the internal memo.

Unlike Pope Benedict the 16th, who stepped down for reasons of failing health and age, Bakot’s own reasons, whatever they may be, may not be connected to health. Firstly, at 66, he is still relatively young. Secondly, ever since he took over his functions in Yaounde, he has not been known to be dogged by ill health.

It is significant that Tonye Bakot is ceasing to be the archbishop of Yaounde while still alive. His two immediate predecessors, Archbishop André Wouking and Archbishop Jean Zoa, died in office. So, on a positive note, Tonye Bakot has broken the unwritten rule of spiritual leaders of the archdiocese to quit in active service.

To Mgr Tonye Bakot’s credit, he was a Bassa native appointed to Yaounde in the heartland of the Beti people. When his immediate predecessor, Wouking was appointed some sons and daughters of the soil protested to the effect that someone who was not one of them had been appointed to that position. If there was ever such a problem with Bakot’s appointment, then the pope has finally solved it because Tonye Bakot’s successor is Beti.

Even so, Tonye Bakot has left lasting landmarks in the archdiocese of Yaounde. He was twice President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon. He is a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication in Rome and a leading dignitary of the Catholic University of Central Africa.

During his homilies at mass, he charmed the congregation with his mastery of Ewondo. He started the mass by saying: ‘Ma sug nin-oh’ then would quote sections of the scriptures such as “Anga bone . . . nti Zambe ngul me se kar na, ma ne zen, ne enying, mo ne babela” which means something like “ I greet all of you. Once upon a time . . . God the Almighty said I am the way, the life and the truth”. He also speaks English and I used to interview him in English for the news.

Whether Tonye Bakot was pushed or he jumped on his own accord is now immaterial. What happens next to him is what everyone is waiting to hear and see.