Mamfe: The Capital of Manyu
Woven through the Great Plains; descending into the Ossidinge depression, and anchored by the pristine shores of two rivers peninsula – Badi and Manyu Rivers – the western river-port city of Mamfe; not only doubles as the administrative and commercial nerve center, but also, is arguably as multi-faceted and historical as only a handful of cities in Cameroon. The history of Mamfe is a jigsaw puzzle of sorts, the disparate and sometime turbulent epochs glued together to form a sumptuous historical artifact. It is the gradual confluence of these parts – economic, socio-cultural, political, historical and jurisprudential that feed the insatiable appetite for this strategic junction city.
Depending on the owner’s claim to status, a different type of house was built with a large living room called Acha Eket or Etambu, a “meeting house.” This type of house had a larger main room, with fewer or no couch-beds in it, and was expected properly to contain an Ekwap “pole-support” in the room’s center: this is a stout pole which runs from the floor to the roof-tree and at the base of which earth is packed into a conical shape with a flattened top; at a small hole scooped out in front of this construction (the “bottom of the pole-support” aka nerekwap) ritual offerings are made to the dead. The erection of an ekwap was a mark therefore of its owner’s wider leadership. Apparently, the Germans arrived just when the builders were about to lower the ekwap into the hole and asked for the name of their town in German. As they could not understand Deutsch, one of them urged his fellow builders to lower the ekwap into the hole saying: “Mamfeah” (let’s put it in) in Kenyang language. The Germans ostensibly misunderstood his command to mean an answer to their question, thus the origin of the name “Mamfe”
Divisional Headquarters
In the final decade of 19th century, German traders began to operate in Manyu and a series of military expeditions ensued it, but it was not until 1901-1902 that the first civil administrative headquarters was established, at Ossidinge (Agbokim) close to the Cross River in eastern Ejagham. In 1902 Count Puckler-Limburg became the first Civil administrator, assuming responsibility for Ossidinge district corresponding broadly to what later became Manyu Division. Manyu people traded numerous political and military salvos with the German colonial administration due to the latter’s lack of knowledge of the cultural cathedrals, norms, forced labor, heavy handedness, and brute force on the indigenous population. For Manyu people, their subjection to a strong and ruthless central authority, whose political power had simply to be accepted ran amok a peoples’ psychological make-up that hitherto, loathed central authority. Consequently, in 1904, Puckler-Limburg was killed while traveling in Anyang country on the “overside” of the Manyu River.
What’s in the name?
The first recorded entry into Manyu by a European was in July 1888, when Count Eugen von Zintgraff with his Monrovian followers traveled northwards from the station, he had opened at Lake Barombi in Kumba to carry out reconnaissance for future expeditions. It must be remembered that, before the West made forays into Manyu, the people had indigenous systems in place, many of which were well adjusted to the way of life at the time. The origin of the name “Mamfe” has as many versions as there are languages in Manyu Division. Popular legend has it that, when the Germans led by the station controller of the government station at Rio del Rey, Lieutenant V. Queis arrived here via the Grossfluss (Great River), they met some indigenes building a house. It must be noted that, the building of traditional houses is still a communal endeavor.
Nehnu Mpaw Manku
Puckler’s assassination sparked off a rebellion in which Anyang, Boki, Eastern Ejagham, and Lower Banyang villages took part. A number of trading stores were looted, and five traders on the Cross River were killed. Besongabang, Egbekaw and Mamfe looted the German factory and warehouses in John Holt in Mamfe. The German agent, Schmidt, attempted to protect his factory, but was forced to leave. He went to his house only to find that his staff had decamped with his firearms. Meanwhile the looters had found rum and gin, and maddened by the unaccustomed drink, hacked the unfortunate German to pieces with machetes as he was trying to escape by canoe. The subsequent orgy is still remembered. Some drank themselves to death; others reportedly died through mistaking kerosene for gin. A German expedition force from the south was dispatched to pacify the area. Martial law and forced labored were imposed as punishment. Warriors from frontline villages like Besongabang and Okoyong (Ayuk Etayak Clan) fled to the bushes, whence they only dared to emerge after some years. The fleeing villagers failed to harvest their cocoyams; as a result, most of it got rotten on their farms. Consequently, this sordid epoch was christened “Nehnu Mpaw Manku” (war of rotten cocoyams). Mamfe alone offered resistance, and was practically decimated. This rebellion vividly illustrates once again the extent to which Manyu people are not yet reconciled to the idea of an overarching central authority.
When Dr. Mansfeld arrived after the Mpaw Manku war, he found Mamfe almost deserted and in ruins. Undaunted, he not only performed his administrative duties but learned in detail how the local people lived, familiarizing himself with Manyu people and came to love and respect them on their own terms. His fascinating book, the result of his insatiable curiosity, is filled with careful, objective notes on architecture, trade, warfare, slavery, handwork, religion, marriage, birth, death, health, justice, music and dance, joke-telling, stories, and more. Dr. Mansfeld, not a trained ethnologist, credits his results to his two friends King Ogba, from Mbenjan in Ejagham land, and interpreter Odjong-Ofo, who, for three years, patiently explained the workings of Manyu culture to this congenial stranger. Mansfeld said he reported only what they told him. His book is profusely illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps. The people in the photographs appear more as anthropological specimens than as fellow humans who did not mind posing virtually naked for the camera. After succeeding Puckler as the second Civil Administrator, Dr. Mansfeld, changed the administrative headquarters to its present site in Mamfe in 1909. Mansfeld remained in charge of the district until the defeat of the Germans at Nsanakang and Otu during World War I (1914-1916); after which the British took over control of the area.
Plebiscite Question
The city of Mamfe was in the early 1950s, a hotbed of political activism, trade and social interaction at the front and center of the body politic of Anglophone Cameroon. Mamfe played host to a conference presided over by Sir Sydney Phillipson in August 1959. Granddad in his capacity of High Commissioner for the Cameroons appointed Sir Sydney Phillipson KBE, CMG, to report upon the financial, economic and administrative consequences to the Southern Cameroons of separation from the Federation of Nigeria. Representatives of the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), and the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) both attended, and it was hoped that the meeting would agree on the questions to be put at the forthcoming plebiscite on the future of then British Southern Cameroons.
After the Mamfe conference, at the UN General Assembly’s eighty-two-member Trusteeship Council in September – October 1959, Foncha (KNDP) and Endeley (KNC) agreed that one of the alternative questions for the plebiscite should be association with Nigeria. Endeley wanted a second alternative to be “separation from Nigeria and continued trusteeship until the Southern Cameroons was in a position to decide its future.” Foncha, on the other hand, wanted the second alternative to be “reunification with French Cameroons after the territory becomes independent on 1st January 1960.”
As neither party would move from these positions, the African delegation at the UN was asked to find common ground between the KNC and KNDP. Liberia finally submitted a draft resolution to the Trusteeship Council, which proposed that a plebiscite should be held not later than March 1961 and that the questions should be: Do you wish to achieve independence by joining an independent Federation of Nigeria? Or, Do you wish to achieve independence by joining the independent Republic of Cameroon? The result is history but the ongoing armed insurgency has seen Mamfe become a major flashpoint in the quest for the restoration of Ambazonia independence.
Climate: As Mamfe is in a peninsula, humidity can be over 90°F and temperatures can exceed 120°F during the dry season (February – April). During the rest of the year, temperatures remain in the 80-90s and fall only during the rainy season, sometimes to 60°F. The climate is very welcoming especially for western tourists escaping the ravages of winter. Tourist icons include the two German Suspension Bridges built in 1906, the Manyu River, German Architecture and Graves, Lake Ejagham, Mbio Hill, Agbokim Waterfalls, traditional art and crafts, the Mamfe Cathedral, cultural festivals, and ceremonies.