When you dine and wine with the Yaoundé government, you must be very careful, as the government is a crime syndicate made out of the same mould as the Sicilian Mafia that sometimes carries out some internal cleansing.

For many years, the Yaoundé government has been conducting some purges and those purges have resulted in the imprisonment of many members of the ruling CPDM.

Prime Ministers, ministers and directors are all languishing in jail, proof that the Yaoundé crime syndicate does not spare anybody.

Today, it is the turn of the Fon of Balikumbat, a respected traditional ruler whose word is usually law to his people.

The game he is used to playing has finally become too dangerous even for his Yaoundé financiers who are now questioning his role in the ongoing armed conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The current Fon of Balikimbat in the Ngoketunjia Division of the North West Region was arrested on Tuesday, January 13, 2020 in Yaoundé.

He is being charged with many crimes and sins which could leave him in the dungeons of East Cameroon for a long time.

It is alleged that when the present Fon succeeded his father, he acquired a lot of arms under the watchful eyes of the Yaoundé government.

The newly minted Fon kept some of the sophisticated and dangerous arms for his personal security.

At the onset of the present crisis, the current Fon of Balikumbat selectively furnished some of his disgruntled youths with sophisticated weapons which are being used today to wreak havoc on army soldiers deployed to the North West Region.

Recently, the Minister of Territorial Administration and ex-convict, Paul Atanga Nji, forced the Fon to declare his allegiance to the Yaoundé crime syndicate.

This led to the Fon denouncing some of the the Amba fighters. The Fon sheepishly embarked on this mission which led to the arrest of some Amba fighters in the Ngoketunjia Division.

Under arrest and severe torture by the poorly trained armed forces, the Amba boys (brave Southern Cameroonian fighters) decided to provide proof of the Fon’s role in the struggle.

The boys revealed that most of the weapons had been handed to them during the early days of the struggle by the present Fon of Balikumbat.

The Yaoundé government conducted a so-called independent investigation, at the end of which, there was probable cause to arrest the Fon of Balikumbat.

He was arrested in Yaoundé on Tuesday and he is being accused of sponsoring and abetting armed groups in Southern Cameroons with the objective of destabilizing the country.

Sources close to the Fon have indicated that they do not know where the Fon is being held.

He has not yet been visited by a lawyer or human rights groups, but what is certain is that the Fon will not be going home anytime soon.

The Yaoundé government, which he flirted with for a long time, has suddenly become a millstone around his neck.

In trying to give up well trained Southern Cameroonian fighters to his Yaoundé master, he has ended up being hoisted with his own petals.

The knife has turned inwards and it is clear that the people of Balikumbat will have to look for a new Fon, as the current one will be with the thousands of Southern Cameroonian fighters languishing in the notorious Yaoundé maximum prison known by the population as Kondengui.

By Kingsley Betek in Cameroon