TOMBEL SUB-DIVISION AND COUNCIL

About the Book

The foundation of Tombel Town has influenced the rapid evolution of Bakossiland in terms of the growth, distribution and diversity of the population and, the diversity of economic activities. Though peripheral in location, Tombel Town and its environs (Tombel Sub-Division) have become the centre of attraction, the pull-centre of internal and external migration and, the economic pull centre within Kupe Mwanenguba. This migratory trend continues unabated, except for close to ten years after the violent explosion or Crisis of 31st December 1966. The rapid growth in the diversity of population has promoted the cosmopolitan nature of the Town and the Tombel Sub-Division and given rise to the creation many small economic self-employing activities as well as diverse needs that have to be satisfied. This has enabled Tombel to become the economic engine of Bakossiland, and indeed, of the whole Kupe-Mwanenguba Division. Agriculture is the heart of the economic life Tombel Sub-Division and Kupe-Mwanenguba. Both cash and food crops do very well, But. The lack of good roads, difficulty to acquire inputs such as relevant chemicals for protecting growing plants and developing fruits from disease, and the lack of adapted tools, impede increased productivity and the preservability of harvested agricultural crops. Secondly, the lack of easy and affordable means of transport impedes both production and, the transport of agricultural products from farm to market. Transportation is prohibitive because the roads are in very bad condition through most of the year in this very rainy area. Delicate crops are difficult to preserve and undergo fast degradation and much loss while waiting to be transported and, during transportation from farms to the markets. As a result, peasants do not receive the full value and price of their produce. Lack of roads and transportation breed poverty.

About the Author

Samuel Ngome Ejedepang-Koge loves his village Ndom very dearly. As such, he has fond memories of his childhood in the village. For three years, he served as President of his age group or set, The Star of Peace (Tintine a Nsang). Very close to his father, a man who was much steeped in the culture of his people, his father took him along to various meetings. Thus, from early in his childhood, young S. N. Ejedepang-Koge continually drew from this rich source until the death of his father in 1979. In this Way, he got acquainted with the administration of the village. In 1958, at the age of twenty he rallied his village friends to try to resolve peacefully the attempted secession of the so-called Essossong Ndom Two, which was provoked by the seduction of the wife of a villager by a royal. Because the village trusts him as a credible and honest broker, it submitted to his reconciliation efforts when in 2005, youths, elders and the Chief were logged in a long drawn quarrel. This is the history of the village as he heard and as he is living it. He is happily retired in Yaounde.