Bamenda Culture and Heritage Trade Fair hits a snag with controversies

An atmosphere of animosity, bitterness, resentment and uncertainty now reigns amongst organizers and exhibitors of the maiden edition of the Bamenda Culture and Heritage Trade Fair, that was scheduled for the Bamenda municipal stadium from 7th to 14th February, 2015.

Though the Minister of Arts and Culture, Ama Tutu Muna officially launched the fair on Saturday 7th February 2015, expectations of exhibitors and Bamenda residents were not met on the day of the launch of the event.

When The SUN, visited the Cultural and Heritage Trade Fair village on the launching day, the population expressed disgust that no Fon from the entire region was present. Only one mayor, Caroline Bi Bongwa of Bamenda I council, was spotted to have made a brief stop over at the place.

Unconfirmed sources disclosed to The SUN that ever since the Minister of Arts and Culture, Ama Muna, carted away traditional artifacts of the North West Region to Yaounde, she has fallen out with traditional rulers of the region.

This, The SUN learnt, partly accounted for the low turnout and poor patronage of the inhabitant in the event. Though the allegation could not be immediately confirmed, the visible and highly remarkable absence of traditional rulers and their institutions was noticed throughout the celebration.

On the 9th to 10th February 2015, hundreds of school children aged 16 and below flooded the place and were playing various games given that the Bamenda ceremonial grandstand is located less than 100 metres from the stadium.

Some exhibitors disclosed that the turnout of the population was far below expectation, leaving them with no option than to contemplate quitting the place after youth day.

Gate fee collectors selling entry tickets at FCFA 200 express regret at the fact that they were ignored by commuters and those going into the fair village were not paying anything.

On 12th February, the frustration of several exhibitors reached crescendo with many of them threatening even to take the Bamenda City Council to court for dumping them.

One of the exhibitors, Dr Richard Fru, of the Garden of Eden Natural Clinic described the fair as a “scamming mafia” given that there was no way he and his enterprise could even realize the money they spent to hire a stand. The stands, it was revealed ranged from FCFA 50,000 to about FCFA 200,000.

Also, several North West artists that The SUN met at the Cultural village on 12th February, were fuming with anger at what they termed ill-treatment by the organizers of the event.

According to some of the artists who spoke on grounds of anonymity, they were shocked and taken aback by the fact that Longue Longue was hired from Douala and paid whooping amounts of money for the opening ceremony, allegedly between FCFA 1.5 million and FCFA 2 million when the local artist did not even have the opportunity to play their CD recordings.

The greater settled the controversy amongst the artists remained on whether it was the Ministry of Arts and Culture or the Bamenda City Council that hired Longue Longue for the first evening of the fair.

The anger of the North West artists was further provoked by the fact that Longue Longue did only playbacks, not a live performance for a very short period and grabbed huge sums of money.

By Friday 13th February, the exhibition ground had been deserted except for a few drinking spots.

The CBC Health Services which also hired a stand for the event packed out of the village on 12th February in bitterness due to the lack of visitors, though hundreds of youth were screened of HIV/AIDS before and during youth day.

A lady, who allegedly provided chairs to the fair alleged that she also left with her goods and services, on grounds that the City Council refused to pay her fee of 8,000 frs.

Meantime there was another imbroglio between the City council, the electricity distribution company and subcontractors.

Though a fee of FCFA 300,000 is said to have been agreed for the connection of electricity in the village, the nonpayment of the fee led to another fracas.

It took the intervention of the North West Governor, The SUN learnt, for the fairground to remain lighted.

Meantime in the evening of Thursday 12th February, the SUN spotted the Secretary General to the Bamenda City Council, Victor Fromefret at the cultural village, accompanied by some members of the organizing committee.

It emerged that the discussions he was holding with officials of the Ministry of Arts and Culture was over the animation equipment that the ministry had sent for the event.

Fresh instructions, The SUN learnt, had come from Yaounde for the equipment to be carted back for a more important event in the nation’s capital at the weekend.

Some members of the organizing committee however remained hopeful that despite the glaring organizational lapses of the first edition, the Bamenda Culture and Heritage Trade fair would gain steam in the coming years given that it is a project that will need time to mature.

After showing up at the opening ceremony, the Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, Vincent Ndumu Nji went into oblivion while the second part of the fair allocated for commercial activities also went unnoticed.

This oblivious behavior of the Government delegate has continued to provoke the raging controversies and threats of legal action against the Bamenda City council.