Tax Burden, Conflict and Political Wrangles in Bafut, Cameroon in the Late 1940s

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue I, January 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Tax Burden, Conflict and Political Wrangles in Bafut, Cameroon in the Late 1940s

 Divine Fuhnwi Ngwa
Department of History, FALSH, University of Ngaoundere Cameroon

Abstract
The politics of taxation reveals that people are obliged to contribute financially towards their social welfare and economic development. Government adopts strategies to ensure tax collection from the people and also harnesses the socio-economic development projects for the benefit of the people or communities contributing the tax. In Bafut, since colonial rule, the Germans and the British levied taxes on the people. At the end of British colonial rule in 1961, the socio-economic development of Southern Cameroons was far from satisfactory. The post independent government continued to levy taxes on the people for their own development. By 2016, the socio-economic development of English speaking Cameroon was fundamentally not different from the colonial situation. Questions were raised concerning the payment of taxes and service delivery to the local people. Embittered by the pain of tax payment and inadequate development of the English speaking regions, the Anglophone crisis ensued. Bafut served as an epicentre of this crisis and the anger of the people could be traced to the colonial period. Some sub chiefdoms in Bafut evaded taxes. The bone of contention was the payment of taxes for which the people benefited very little or nothing in return. Since the Fon of Bafut was the sole tax agent (collector) for the government, the people vented their agony and venom on him thus destabilising the Bafut political system and the community as a whole. From our sources, we conclude that taxation without representation, remuneration or fallouts to the people concerned, is a serious vector for conflict in communities. For any meaningful peace to reign, stake holders must review strategies or useful policies towards taxation.

Keywords: Taxation, Burden, Conflict, Political wrangles, Bafut, Cameroon

Background

Bafut is a kingdom with two types of settlements. First we have the semi-autonomous villages each with its own chief (atangchuo – war planner). The villages were linked to the centre under various conditions governing their relationship. According to Hook (1934), seventeen villages fell in this category. They were: Bawum, Mambu, Mankaa, Mankwi, Banji, Akofunguba (south in the ntare area); Beno, Buwi, Manta, Tingo, Mbekong, Butang, Bugiri, Aba, and Bukabunano (Obang).Most of them were located north in the upper Mentchum valley. There was Bukari and Buwe, being among the oldest villages in Bafut located to the northeast of the capital(Intelligence Report, 1934).

Read More