Interviewed by Ernest Sumelong & Bouddih Adams

Following a recent strike action that started on March 29, leading to the detention of five members of the University of Buea Students Union, UBSU, the UBSU Council has been branded by the UB administration as a defunct body and its members as a bunch of vandals.

These allegations and other reports disseminated by the media, The Post inclusive, have angered the UBSU Council members who say they have been unfairly presented and their image sullied. In this exclusive interview with The Post, three of the UBSU Council members; Martin Arrey Besong, Chairman of UBSU Council, Kevin Adah Abachilluven, Chairman of UBSU Electoral Committee, and Junior Nambile Tamangwa, Communication Chief, tell their own side of the story and clarify on burning issues that border on their recent strike action.  They blame the UB Vice Chancellor, Prof. PK Titanji, for “interfering in students’ affairs”. Excerpts:

Five of your members were detained recently for spear- heading a strike action on campus on March 29. Why a strike?

What has been happening is that the Vice Chancellor has been interfering in students’ politics like conducting elections, which is against the students’ union constitution. And so many grievances led to the strike action. We were not just striking for a single point.

What were some of these grievances?

The holding of UBSU elections as enshrined in the constitution, which the administration has been violating. We wanted that the elections conducted by the Vice Chancellor be declared null and void; that the buying of sports hand out as a prerequisite to sit for test or exam be repealed. There is also something happening in the University; students who do not pass English 101 and French 101 are not allowed to take English 102 and French 102, which is causing a lot of problems.

So, what was the immediate cause of the strike?

It was the Vice Chancellor’s interference in students’ matters. A ministerial text No 28/249 of 11 September states that students have a right to carry out their activities, but the Vice Chancellor has deliberately misinterpreted this text and wants to hand-pick people who will support his views and not the views of the students. He is bent on appointing some people to conduct UBSU elections, which is usually done by universal suffrage. We have other causes like the non production of identity cards.

UBSU Council is said to be a defunct group and its members have been described as vandals who are wreaking havoc on campus. What is your take on this?

The Vice Chancellor is looking for a way to paint UBSU black if he says UBSU is a defunct group. There was a Chairman of UBSU Council last year and two years ago and there have been chairmen of UBSU in the past years. But the problem arose when there was leakage of the medical school exam and we pointed it out and the Minister investigated and found out that there was a leakage. Since then the Vice Chancellor has never been comfortable because we have been pointing out his vices. He is looking for a way to destroy a vibrant body so that it will not expose his vices. He prefers people that will defend his interest and not the interest of the students.

We know that the other arm of UBSU, the Executive, is enjoying the support of the administration. Why is it that it is only the Council that is blacklisted?

The Executive is what they call FEFA; Federation of Faculty Associations, hand-picked by the Vice Chancellor. He is sponsoring them and giving them what to do.  Those are the people supporting his views. It must be stated here that UBSU is not defunct; it is a vibrant and deliberative arm of the union which has been working. Over the times, it has been denouncing all forms of corruption and human and students’ rights abuses on campus.However the Presidential Election had not been done yet.

That is the more reason why it attracts hatred from the University administration, particularly the Vice Chancellor.  For instance, in September, the medical exams were leaked by the administration and the students’ union could not sit silent and so the students’ representative council voiced out this leakage. The University administration represented by one authority went to Equinox Radio and said “the exams have not leaked; it is those foolish UBSU guys”.

The Minister of Higher Education investigated the matter and it came out that the medical exams had leaked. That was the beginning of hatred towards the students’ representative council. Since then, the Vice Chancellor has been struggling to disrupt this union so as to create a situation where he gets his praise singers who will be a cosmetic cabinet and he the kitchen cabinet to control their activities.

The purported irresponsibility of the UBSU Council borders on financial mismanagement; what do you say?

We are not violent as they would want people to believe. You know when a man wants to hang a dog, any rope will do. But you do not just have to hang a dog because you have any kind of rope, it should be genuine. We stand to represent the interest of the students and no matter whatever bad name that is given to us, we want to attain the hopes and aspirations of students of the University of Buea.

You were said to have disrupted elections that were taking place on campus to choose Faculty representatives; what were your motives?

Before I come to that, let me give you a perspective of how elections are conducted in UBSU. We have conducted elections at various levels and departments to select those who will now represent the students’ council. So, when we did these elections, the Vice Chancellor went and hand-picked a few students from the faculties and organised elections. To make a bad situation worse, he organised elections during exams where he got these faculty executives to come and vote a 15-man executive that has to decide over the destiny of 15,000 students. He also militarised the campus on that day.

As student leaders, you are expected to articulate students’ concerns and other issues affecting the welfare of students, but you are said to have derailed and are only focused on issues concerning your personal well being.

We fight for the welfare of students. All the allegations levelled against us are just a way to undermine a just cause.

What are some of the things you have done to fight for the welfare of students?

When we talked about the leakage of the medical school exams, we believe students had a fair entrance into the school. We fought for the reduction of the penalty students pay for late registration.

At first it used to be FCFA 10,000. Post graduate students had to pay up to FCFA 850,000 but we fought hard and reached an agreement and it has been reduced to FCFA 50,000. Unfortunately, the Vice Chancellor has not been collaborating with us and has been posing us a lot of barriers in achieving students’ welfare. He doesn’t accept students’ problems we present to him and that is why there had to be the strike action.

Following the cat and mouse situation on campus, which is seen to be impeding studies; are you people not considering any form of dialogue with the administration?

Our craving has always been constructive dialogue with the University administration. On April 1, we had a prelude dialogue with the Vice Chancellor but the dialogue was not as it was supposed to be because some of our members were still under detention. We will continue to pursue dialogue with the University administration and I hope our efforts will bear fruits.

UB is one of the youngest universities in the country, but it has had more unrest than the others. Why is it that you people cannot study quietly without grounding the campus at every little instance; either fighting among yourselves or fighting with the administration?

The fact is that we are very conscious of the ills taking place on campus and as a vocal body, we cannot stay quiet in the face of injustice and corruption. That is the more reason why every now and then you must hear us. It is not only the students of UB that are not happy with the tyrannical and antagonist administrative approach of the Vice Chancellor, Prof Titanji.

Within this academic year, four strike actions have been staged on campus; the support staff went on strike twice, the academic staff also went on strike and now the students have followed. This is to tell the world that there is general discomfort in the University of Buea. We, the students, are very vulnerable in the face of this. Each time a student voices out one wrong, the Vice Chancellor publishes his name and summons him for a disciplinary council. Victimisation in the University is getting too much. We must not sit quiet; we are poised to continue to fight against these vices.

There are allegations that you people do not just go on strike on your own volition; but that there are unseen hands poking the fire and getting you to agitate in order to bring down the Vice Chancellor. Could you tell us who are those instigating you?

I want to tell you one thing; the VC blames everybody for all the problems that have occurred in the University except himself. As a rational intellectual, I don’t think somebody can manipulate us. It is even some sort of intellectual dishonesty to say that a fellow intellectual is being manipulated. We are not being manipulated. We do not have any external influence. We operate on our own accord.

Your group is also said to be working with people who have no business with the university. Why do you hire mercenaries for your activities?

I have mentioned here that we are students and we do not rely on any external persons. There is nobody in our midst who is not a registered student. All these allegations are intended to give a dog a bad name and hang it.

Do you foresee a time when the University can go for three academic years without unrest on campus?

Yes, the University can go even for 20 years without any trouble if the administration recognises UBSU and works in line with it. We are not there to fight against the administration; we are there to work with them for the betterment of the students and the entire university community.