Elvis Nguemegni Hapi, 28, until then auxiliary in a bank in Douala, is the new superior chief of Balengou, a 2nd degree group that claims 15,000 nationals with its diaspora, in the Arrondissement of Bazou, department of Ndé. According to tradition, he was arrested and immediately taken to the initiation hut on Saturday, December 11, 2021, under the watchful eye of the administrative authorities and a large crowd of villagers, in the apotheosis of the grandiose funeral organized for his father. Died on September 11, 2021 in Paris as a result of an illness he had been dragging for some time, S. Mr. Marcelin Hapi Tchienkoua, 70, has been treated to lamentations at the height of his reign, which has lasted more than half a century.
The King's Cunning
In the midst of his 117 descendants, the choice was made on Elvis Nguemegni Hapi, who according to his brothers, came to the mourning of his father among the last. Not surprisingly because the stormy relations between his mother and the late chief were known to the regulars of the chiefdom. Even if it was a ruse for those who know the Bamileke tradition. To protect their successors, many traditional personalities have taken the habit of threatening their parents or exile children, to remove them from the attention of jealous people. In this royal court too, many potential successors have disqualified themselves by immoral or unsightly behavior, which makes the villagers say that "the princes are cursed". "Honestly, the late chief got it right. Apart from the current chief, his elder prison guard and his deputy to the throne who is a mathematics teacher in the East, who are reputed to be calm and courteous, there were no more than two other children able to happily command the village, "says an introducer of the court. Hence this unfeigned joy among populations who recall that "the mother of the current chief was chosen by the chief himself. Not these women sent by notables."
Business
Nevertheless, the superior chief Batcha, S. Mr. Joseph Kouekam, in charge of the execution of the deceased's will, had to fight hard to ward off the temptation to change his forecasts.
The Balengou descend from Baleng in the Mifi. Legend has it that "two Baleng princes, ousted from the succession, migrated south with part of the population. In Bandjoun, they created a kingdom. Nyandjo who ceded the throne to his brother feeling cramped, goes down to Bamena, then to Tchila which has a rich fauna and flora. After military conquests and annexations of neighboring territories, the king adopted him, took affection for him and named him Ta', "leader of the warriors". He uses cunning and annexes Tchila, which will become a district of Balengou."
As in the neighbouring villages, relations with the settlers left scars. If at the arrival of the Germans, the leader is cautious and limits contact with the white man, he comes into conflict with the French. Fe'e Tchienkoua will go to prison in Dschang. The maquisards burned his palace in 1959, during the war of independence. It is the current chief, who succeeded at 16 years old, who rebuilds it. Balengou, famous for its kaolin mines, has seen the birth of sons like Jean Vespa or Lieutenant General Nganso Sunji, who will be carried to the ground next weekend.
