2018 buea wrestling final

Leadership & Organisational Failures mar Buea

Traditional Wrestling Finals

By Moki S. Mokondo in Buea for Fako UK/Fako News Centre

Close to a thousand spectators who swarmed the Wokwaongo (Bokwaongo) village square to witness the finals of the Fako Zone A (Buea Zone) Traditional wrestling competition left with frustration. This year’s final that was scheduled to take place on Sunday June 3, 2018, failed to hold due to leadership and organisational failures.

The President of Fako Zone A (Buea Zone) traditional wrestlers association, H.R.H Chief Mofako Lyonga Andrew cum traditional ruler of Wonya Mavio village, was nowhere to be found during the finals. His secretary, Mola Francis Elinge, made several calls in the presence of this reporter and other members of the wrestling association but the president ignored the calls.

After beating the wrestling drums for close to four hours, some of the athletes decided to occupy the wrestling ring preventing the event from kicking off. The athletes demanded the presence of their president to give them a statement as to how the organisation has been managed since he took office.

Pointing at a few prizes displayed during the finals, one of the athletes wept bitterly and said “are these the items they intend to share to us after all the injuries we sustained during the preliminaries for this tournament?” He went further to explain that each athlete used to go home with at least a prize worth FCFA 5,000 at the finals in past years. But with what was displayed, they were not even sure the champions of different categories would get a prize worth the trouble. They stated that the wrestling ring was also not prepared as wrestlers could sustain injuries in the cause of the event.

The athletes also complained that this year’s final was the first without a trophy for the village that scored the highest number of points. They accused the president of being corrupt as he failed to provide a statement of all the pledges they received in cash and in items.

One of those who were lobbying for sponsorship to support the finals of this wrestling competition, Mola Mbua Emmanuel, had hinted Fako News Centre on the eve to this event that he sensed failure. According to Mola Mbua, he had contacted Mola Dr, Fred Kema of London who was willing to support the wrestling competition with FCFA 500,000.

For transparency, Mola Mbua Emmanuel disclosed that he asked the organising committee of the wrestling to produce a document explaining how they intended to spend the money but they never did. For that reason, he boycotted being the middleman between the wrestling organisation and any sponsor.

For the continuity of wrestling activities, members of the association are now calling on the President of the Fako Division Traditional Wrestling Association, Mola Njie Ewome, to dissolve the existing executive so that another one can be elected.