Nkambe explosion: Ngala Gerard denies bribing students to march

By Tata Mbunwe

The Member of Parliament for Nkambe Central Constituency, Hon Ngala Gerard, has refuted claims that he offered students money to participate at the 11th February National Youth Day celebration in Nkambe, where an explosion marred the celebrations.

The MP admitted he distributed money to people in villages out of Nkambe town, but said that the gesture was out of his generosity and it had nothing to do with 11 February celebrations.

The debate about Hon Ngala allegedly paying people to turn out at Youth Day in Nkambe surfaced after videos appeared online showing him sharing cash to the population, most of them women and children.

This was on the same day that the locally made bomb exploded near the Nkambe grandstand, killing a student and injuring over 70 who had turned out for the celebration.

“For someone to say that I’m luring people to go to school… to Youth Day activities with cash is just blackmail or call it trying to tarnish somebody’s image because first of all when we talk about sharing money we were attacked in Nkambe by terrorists on the 11th of February,” Hon Ngala said in an interview with Equinoxe TV.

He added: “I went to Nkambe, I went to other villages and while discussing with people I decided to give them small financial assistance in the form of cash and that wasn’t in Nkambe. I was in Tabenken. I had given them cash at the market on Tabenken and Tabenken does not attend 11 February in Nkambe. So how do you want to turn it that people who turned out on Nkambe were lured with cash?”

The allegations about Hon Ngala Gerard paying people to march on Your Day were not strange.

Anglophone politicians have usually been accused of luring people with money and gifts to defy separatist lockdowns and participate at national events.

The presumption is that these English-speaking politicians use population turnouts at events to show the government how much they are working for peace amid the ongoing conflict.

This would, in turn, fetch them promotion, special favours and protection from the regime against any perceived threat.

On Youth Day, Nkambe witnessed one of the highest population turnouts in the English-speaking Regions of Cameroon, where separatists had banned celebrations and imposed a lockdown on the eve and after the national event.

Amid the lockdown and separatists’ threats, which marred celebrations in other towns in the Anglophone Regions, Nkambe was exceptional.

Hundreds of people turned out for the occasion in Nkambe and insecurity was seemingly of lesser concern, since the area had been relatively peaceful for years now.

But when disaster struck, people started looking for who to blame, and many pointed fingers, at Ngala Gerard, accusing him of leading children to their doom.

“…So it is just crazy for someone to think that you have to lure somebody in Nkambe or in Nkambe Central Subdivision to go for 11 February because that hasn’t been the case. I wasn’t in Nkambe for Youth Day last year but there was massive attendance. I was not there,” the MP said in his defence.

The attack in Nkambe was claimed by separatists, who said it was a “warning” to the Nkambe people for usually snubbing their calls for lockdown.

It was widely condemned for targeting civilians, an unfortunate trend that has unfolded for the past seven years of the Anglophone Crisis.

The US, UK and French Embassies all condemned the attack and President Paul Biya termed it a heinous attack orchestrated by cowards.

Hon Ngala Gerard termed the attack absurd, alleging that “there are people who are happy” that his fief had been struck.

“The incident that happened in Nkambe is just an eyeopener for us. We’ve been having threats for the past seven years but we stand for our peace. And I believe that will not change anything in Nkambe because the parents are more determined than ever before to get their children to school. But I feel sorry for the families that were affected; I feel sorry for Lenyuy’s family from Bui, whose daughter was killed just because she was seeking education,” the MP said.

The aftermath of the Nkambe attack will be felt for generations. There are women and children whose limbs were amputated due to the explosion.

A family lost their daughter, Cherish Lemnyuy, a 15-year-old student who died in the attack.

Mimi Mefo Info