TRIBUTE TO A MENTOR IN JOURNALISM:KAYE WHITEMAN

TRIBUTE TO A MENTOR IN JOURNALISM

 

The death has been reported of longstanding journalist Kaye Whiteman under whom I worked as a journalist at WEST AFRICA magazine in London. The following is my appreciation of the man as I knew him.
By Tikum Mbah Azonga

When I made the hop over from Chief Raph Uwechue’s AFRICA JOURNAL - at Kirkman House, Tottenham Court Road – to WEST AFRICA magazine London in the mid 1980s, Kaye Whiteman was the latter’s General Manager. Onyema Ugochukwu was Editor.

 I moved over to WEST AFRICA to replace the Veteran Mark Doyle who after years of loyal service had found another job elsewhere. I was interviewed for the job by Kaye and Onyema, with Kaye being the main interviewer.  Right there and then, Kaye impressed me with his deep knowledge of Africa including my own country, Cameroon, and his knowledge of French which I spoke. I was later to understand that he acquired his bilingualism while working for the European Union in Brussels.

As General Manager, Kaye did not unduly interfere with the day-to-day running of the magazine. He left that to the Editor, Onyema, who was assisted by Nii k. Bentsi Enchill. I was happy to get a job at WEST AFRICA because it was the most popular foreign English language magazine on which readers in Cameroon relied to get the “truth” about their country. It was in the days when the country was still under President Ahmadou Ahidjo with the one-party system. In fact, at the time, there was only the English Language WEST AFRICA produced in London and JEUNE AFRIQUE produced in Paris and in French which quenched the news thirst of Cameroonians. The plethora of newspapers and magazines we have in the country today were unknown at the time.

Kaye and I shared a minor attribute which was that we were both born under the astrological sign of Pisces – so was Moira Stewart, the magazine’s secretary when I was recruited. On a more serious note, because of his knowledge of French, Kaye wrote on Francophone issues and Francophone countries. Being Mark Doyle’s successor, I took over the French Desk, so to speak. So, Kaye’s and my paths crossed often – but without any clash.  I remember that at the height of the Chadian crisis, he used to tell me to ensure that each issue of the magazine updated readers on what was going on in the country. Very often, Kaye and I spoke to each other in French, rather than English.

With Kaye as our boss, we had a joly good time at WEST AFRICA. There were a lot of fun moments and conviviality. In the newsroom, we were Eddie Momoh, Akwe Amosu, Carol Robinson, Alison Perry and Paul Tagbo Egbunike. Tunde Agbabiaka came in once in a while.

We had such a good time at the magazine that sometimes one would return to the office at the weekend just to finish something that was left unfinished. And that was out of sheer love for the job.

But of course, our job would not have amounted to much had we not the many devoted external correspondents doted here and there in the US, France, Brussels, The Soviet Union (at the time), and a good number of African countries. We also had “Friends of the House”, who although not employees of WEST AFRICA as such, were nevertheless often with us and we shared a lot with them. Occasionally too, they wrote for us. These include Literature Prize Winner Ben Okri, Dr. Herbert Ekwe Ekwe, Dr. Yao Graham, Dr. Kole Omotoso and many others. A’dobe Obe, Maxwell Nwagboso and Kwasi Djan Apenteng were Friends of the House who later became editors of the magazine after Onyema was given a higher position in Lagos.

Kaye cared for his staff members. Once when the then President of Senegal and Current Chairman of the OAU, Abdou Diouf, came to London and gave a press conference, I attended it with Kaye. As journalists settled down to wait for the president to emerge from his suite, Kaye who had got a seat said to me: “What are you waiting for. Ask them to give you a seat before the conference begins”. He was right because when the president appeared and the conference began, there were clearly more journalists in the room than seats available to accommodate them. Embarrassed, the president paused and said: “Comment on va s’organiser, alors?”

Kaye knew Africa and African affairs very well – which is not surprising because when the Nigerian civil war broke out in 1967, he was there to cover it already as a reporter. He knew a lot of Africa’s leaders personally and was known by them. For that reason, he was a useful resource person on African affairs for the British government. But he also loved Africa profoundly. Someone once remarked that although Kaye was a Whiteman, he was more “African” than some Africans. His knowledge of the continent was so advanced that I once heard him speaking a Togolese language with a Togolese minister.

Surely, with the disappearance of Kaye Whiteman from the scene, Africa has lost a great man.

DEATH AND WHAT WE CAN LEAVE BEHIND

THE LEGACY OF DEATH

This article is an adaptation of an earlier one I broadcast on the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) National Radio Station on the 26th of November 2004. The paper was motivated by the death of Archbishop André Wouking of Yaounde and Statesman Sadou Daoudou of Ngaoundere. It is one of many political chronicles I broadcast on the same channel between 2002 and 2005, on the early morning prime time national and world news broadcast.

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There is a saying that when an aged person passes away it is a library that has been consumed by what one might call voracious flames. That theory is lent credence by the many aphorisms that make elderly people, let alone elderly statesmen, temples of knowledge or wisdom, for is it not said that what an old man can see sitting down, a young person cannot see standing on the top of a tree?

And so it is that today, in Cameroon, we are mourning the demise of two libraries, namely Archbishop André Wouking and the Politician Alhadji Sadou Daoudou. Yet, the two men are not the only ones who have departed from this world. We all remember others who preceded them such as the other archbishop of Yaounde, Jean Zoa and the politicians Solomon Tandeng Muna, John Ngu Foncha and Dr E.M.L Endeley. Death, in any case, is everyone’s final act here on earth.

The question is, when these public figures die and are mourned, and time passes, to what extent are they still remembered, if not only occasionally and sporadically, more or less, as an after thought? Yet, they could have helped us to remember them on a longer term. How this can be done is through memoirs which the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, defines as “an account written usually by somebody in public life of their life and experiences’’.

Famous world people who have had such records published include Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela, General De Gaulle and Winston Churchill, to name those. Back here in Cameroon, memoirs have been written by people such as Garga Haman Adji, Ndeh Ntumazah, Nemerius N. Mbile, Christian Tobie Kuo and Samuel Eboua. Even so, the written legacy does not necessarily have to be in the form of memoirs. In fact any publication whatsoever is still useful. That is why today, we still avidly read the books “To Every Son of Nso’’ and “The Genuine Intellectual’’ by the late Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon. It is in that same category that we would place, the books “Communal Liberalism’’ by Paul Biya and “Politics a Call to Serve” by Paul Enyi Atogho. Incidentally, an article published in a journal many years ago by the literary man and educationist Patrick Sam Kubam has made its mark so indelibly that today and in years to come, hardly can any scholar talk about the history of Anglophone literature in Cameroon without citing that article.

 So, as we can see, it is important to write and share experiences. That is why today, many centuries after Shakespeare died, we still read his books and act his plays as if they were written recently.

Even so, one cannot help wondering why most of our public leaders still do not write. One possible reason could be that some people view writing as a daunting experience. But it does not have to be so. In fact many people think they need to be fully prepared before they write, but they could in fact start by just making random jottings. Besides, help could be sought from others in the writing process. People who have something to write but for some reason can not do so they can always seek the services of the ghost writer or a writer who will publish the work as his or her own.

Whatever is the case, it must be remembered that the longest journey begins with the first step. Over and above everything, our leaders owe it to posterity to leave something behind. They must not create a vacuum as they leave us.

THE ROAD TO NGAOUNDERE

Travelling to Ngaoundere, headquarters of the Adamawa Region, has taken a turn for the better. This is the case whether you are approaching the city from the north or the south, but especially the south. Gone are the days when the major means of public transportation between Ngaoundere and the south of the country was mainly by train – with all the inconveniences involved.

Today, taking a trip to Ngaoundere can be a veritable delight. Firstly, the number of modes of transportation has increased and offered the traveler alternatives such as the inter-city bus and the plane. What is more, these two additional means of transportation are fairly frequent and so can be relied on, more or less.

Ngaoundere is the gateway not only to the North Regional headquarters, Garoua and further north, the Far North regional headquarters of Maroua, but also an essential link to the landlocked neighbouring country of Chad. The road network also serves feeder towns of Cameroon such as Guider, Kaélé, Touboro and Yagoua.

Passengers travelling between Ngaoundere and Yaounde – the national capital – have a choice between the traditional train, taking a flight with Cameroon’s national carrier, CamairCo, or choosing from one of several professionally manned bus companies. The journey is direct from Yaounde to Ngaoundere without any need for change of vehicles in transit. The buses are modern, attractive and competitive.

From a single bus company – Super Narral - that used to ply the road prior to this new era, Yaounde and Ngaoundere now have additional transporters such as ‘Alliance’, ‘Global’, ‘National’ and ‘Touristique Express’.

The bus journey from Yaounde to Ngaoundere costs 12 000 FCFA, although it must be stated that ‘Touristique Express’ initiated a VIP service that cost 15 000 FCFA but later had to suspend it because it was not cost effective. Travelling by train costs 10 000 FCFA Second Class and 17 000 FCFA First Class. Travellers who want a coach for four are charged 25 000 FCFA and those who want it for two are charged 28 000 FCFA. Air travel costs between 77 000 FCFA and 161 000 FCFA. However, the company grants rebates to customers who reserve their seats early.

THE WRONG MOVE

You didn`t have to hoot
We`re not deaf, you know
 Nobody is covered with soot here
So why did you have to deal the blow?

WARNING TO THOSE IN POWER

We didn`t shout

We just groaned

If we had shouted

The entire country would have been set ablaze.

A GAP FOR THE CHAIRMAN

The gap is too large

And the hands too few

Even if our chairman were here

He would not change much.

ELECTION DAY WATSE

We made it, but just about

Had we wasted a second

The messenger birds would have flown away

And we would have been marooned

Stranded with our voters cards with no ballot boxes.