For a long time now, Cameroonians have been watching a very unsettling movie wherein the key actors are the country’s sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi; the Indomitable Lions coach Marc Brys and the President of the football federation (FECAFOOT), Samuel Eto’o.

The movie has gone round the globe and many people are very unhappy with what is happening to Cameroon’s football. Many people around the world see Cameroon as a great footballing nation but this image seems to belong to the past.

The fighting has reduced Cameroon’s image abroad and many think that the country’s days as a football giant in Africa now belong to the past. But that past was characterized by corruption at the football federation.

Since taking charge of football affairs, the global icon, Samuel Eto’o has been shutting down all the loopholes which have helped many involved in Cameroon’s football management to become illicitly rich.

This decision has hurt many, especially the sports and physical education minister, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, who holds that this is the time for him to feather his nest.

He has woven a team comprising journalists, influencers, former players who were enjoying benefits they did not deserve and other enemies of the FECAFOOT president for them to fight and send Samuel Eto’o out of the federation. Samuel Eto’o is bad news to Mouelle Kombi and his cronies.

Initially, Mouelle Kombi thought it was going to be an easy battle. He did not know that he had a tough cookie in front of him. As the fighting continues so do Mouelle Kombi and his friends in crime get deeper into desperation and poverty.

Mouelle Kombi has children abroad and many are studying in expensive universities and this bruising conflict with Samuel Eto’o, a man with a huge war chest, is destroying the Biya acolyte both financially and psychologically, especially as the calls for school fees are incessant and threatening.

It is not just the business of school fees that is keeping the 62-year-old Mouelle Kombi awake. A massive multi-apartment structure he has been erecting in Yaoundé has come to a screeching halt. Money from FECAFOOT has vanished with the arrival of Samuel Eto’o who does not admire corruption in any way, shape or form.

Professor Mouelle Kombi’s phone is permanently off the hook as his numerous girlfriends, many of whom are living in Europe and Canada, keep on calling to report that their rents are due. Mouelle Kombi is in trouble right up to his eyeballs.

Minister Kombi knows that without money, those girlfriends of his will be gone. Money is to women what honey is to bees. Mouelle Kombi does not want to lose them, but with Eto’o at the helm in FECAFOOT, it is clear that Mouelle Kombi will be financially emasculated.  The fighting is costing him his reputation, health and peace of mind.

A source close to the learned professor who is also a practicing lawyer but who has also morphed into a practicing liar says that Mouelle Kombi is losing his mind.

Before boarding the flight to Garoua where the match against the Brave Warriors of Namibia has to be played, the learned professor could be heard screaming over the phone after a call came through. It was a lady in Paris who was mounting pressure on Mouelle Kombi for him to send money.

Her rents were due and from every indication, Mouelle Kombi is cash-strapped. Despite his attempts to explain to the lady that things would be fine, the lady kept on pressurizing him, cautioning that she could be homeless in the coming weeks if Mouelle Kombi did not send money. Mouelle Kombi is in trouble and he knows with an enemy like Eto’o, the future will only continue to be bleak.

The source added that the professor who was considered to be taciturn is today talking but unfortunately to himself. Eto’o’s poison has hit the minister where it hurts the most. To douse his pain, the professor now drinks and it was surprising that last week he lost control of himself and started asking Marc Brys for a cigarette.

The source furthered that some people are advising the minister to negotiate with Eto’o. The minister does not want to swallow his pride but if he does not change his mind, he will be pushed to the edge of a financial precipice.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai