Godfrey Tangwa AKA "Rotcod Gobata": POWER AND MADNESS

Tangwa at a glance

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Dr Bernard Fonlon was an extraordinary figure who left a large footprint in Cameroonian intellectual, social and political life.
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Tunduzi
A West African in Arusha at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the angst, contradictions and rewards of that process.
Dr Godfrey Tangwa (Gobata)
Renaissance man, philosophy professor, actor and newspaper columnist, Godfrey Tangwa aka Rotcod Gobata touches a wide array of subjects. Always entertaining and eminently readable. Visit for frequent updates.
Francis Nyamnjoh
Prolific writer, social and political commentator, he was a professor at University of Buea and University of Botswana. Currently he is Head of Publications and Dissemination at CODESRIA in Dakar, Senegal. His writings are socially relevant and engaging even to the non specialist.
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Bate Besong
Bate Besong, award-winning firebrand poet and playwright.
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A no holds barred group blog for all things Cameroonian. "Man no run!"
Bakwerirama
Spotlight on the Bakweri Society and Culture. The Bakweri are an indigenous African nation.
Fonlon-Nichols Award
Website of the Literary Award established to honor the memory of BERNARD FONLON, the great Cameroonian teacher, writer, poet, and philosopher, who passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere.
Bernard Fonlon
Dr Bernard Fonlon was an extraordinary figure who left a large footprint in Cameroonian intellectual, social and political life.
AFRICAphonie
AFRICAphonie is a Pan African Association which operates on the premise that AFRICA can only be what AFRICANS and their friends want AFRICA to be.
Canute - Chronicles from the Heartland
Professional translator, freelance writer and a regular contributor to THE POST newspaper. Lives in Douala, Cameroon

(INSIGHT NEWSMAGAZINE, No. 001, February 2003)

One unlearned lesson that the human history of all historical epochs teaches us is that power and madness are next-door neighbours. Frequently they end up as bed mates. Most human beings, whenever they have managed to gain unlimited power, that is, absolute or relatively absolute power, without any effective checks and balances, and sometimes even in spite of checks and balances, have ended being drunk with power, to the point of madness. I once visited the history museum of the pre-colonial ancient kingdom of Abomey in Benin Republic and was shown the grave of one of its most powerful autocratic-tyrant monarchs who pretended to be immortal and no one had the courage to contradict him. A young lady used to kneel in front of him permanently holding a little bowl into which he could spit, in case he happened to cough. If, by any chance, the sputum missed the bowl, the penalty was the immediate execution of the young lady!

When he finally went the way of all mortals, the way of all flesh, the way of all human beings, his spell persisted over his subjects and he was buried together with 42 ‘volunteers’ from among the younger members of his harem, so they could continue serving and ministering to him in the world beyond. Did that resurrect him? Courageous resistance to such power-induced madness led, in some parts of Africa, to power regulation and control institutions such as the Ngomba, Kwifon or Ngwerong societies of the grassfield regions of Cameroon. Such regulatory societies were charged with protecting the land and the people against the whims and caprices of the King and could control him to the extent of restraining/constraining some of his actions, restricting his physical movements, banishing him, or, in extreme cases, even executing him.

September 2021