By Ngede Metuge Samuel.
Created in 1992, Kupe-Muanenguba Division (KMD), which comprises Bangem, Nguti and Tombel subdivisions and 189 villages spread over a surface area of 3,951 square kilometers, has never seen a tarmacked road on the 400-kilometer road network (regardless of claims to the contrary in some quarters).
Its few seasonal earth roads that link it to the rest of the country through Manyu, Meme, and Mungo Divisions are mainly impassable (muddy and slippery) in the eight-month-long rainy season, sometimes even with a four-wheel drive vehicle.
The surface runoff from the usually heavy
rainfall at the height of the rainy season generally creates gullies on earth roads, rendering them non-motorable. In the dry season, they become very dusty.
Within the Division itself, the road network is poor, and many villages are only accessible even in the dry season on foot or, at best, by motorcycle.
Admittedly, the difficult, undulating terrain in large swathes of the division makes vehicular access impossible to numerous villages. The occasional efforts deployed by villagers or village/clan development associations or other interest groups to rehabilitate roads in specific areas and make them motorable in the dry season, while laudable, are only stop-gap measures as the roads quickly deteriorate with the advent of heavy rains.
Currently, no motorable road links Nguti Subdivision with the other two subdivisions, in particular the divisional headquarters, Bangem, a situation that compels inhabitants of Nguti Subdivision to travel across other divisions to access administrative services. Similarly, commuting from Tombel to Kumba, the regional economic headquarters, requires transiting through the Littoral Region for 3 to 4 hours due to the lack of a road link that would have needed a travel time of no more than 50 minutes.
There is no denying that the absence of roads also adversely impacts other sectors such as education (as teachers posted to schools in these areas loathe the eventuality of trekking, for example), health (no personnel even when a health centre is available, and cases of death are reported in the absence of healthcare),
telecommunication (impossibility of staying in touch or keeping abreast of developments), or energy (continued dependence on kerosene lamps and
(1Balgah Sounders N. and Nfor Frederick. (2017).An Assessment of Ecotourism Potentials of Kupe-Muanenguba Division, South West Region, Cameroon. International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science, Vol. 2, Issue 3.)
generators in the absence of electricity). If we must go by the adage that “wherever a road passes development follows, ” Kupe-Muanenguba Division cannot lay claim to development. Yet, the division boasts a lot of resources which, if harnessed, should spur development following the establishment of a suitable asphalt road network.
The vegetation of KMD transitions from the thick evergreen equatorial rainforest along the fringes of the division through shrubs and grassland. Home to a large variety of rare animal, bird, and plant species (some of which, such as the African giant or “Goliath” frog are unique to this highland area), two of the forests are protected areas or forest reserves, namely the Bakossi National Park and the Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary.
Together with the Mount Kupe forest, these forests provide a habitat for a large number of animals such as elephants, chimpanzees, several monkey species, leopards, buffalos, antelopes, crocodiles, the highly endangered drills,pangolins, over 300 bird species (of which Mount Kupe forest alone has 329 species), and over 200 plant species (including many that are used for the production of traditional and modern medicines, such as annickia korupensis, which scientists tried preliminarily for AIDS and cancer treatment).3 Over the years, the forests have been attracting tourists, researchers, nature lovers,bird watchers, as well as poachers, especially during the dry season when movement is much easier.
Equally attractive are the Muanenguba Twin “male” and “female” Lakes in Bangem Subdivision and Lake Bermin in Nguti Subdivision. Located at an altitude of approximately 1,900 meters above sea level, the Muanenguba Twin Lakes are separated by a ridge, with a steep slope that makes the greenish water of the “male” lake difficult to access as opposed to the blue water of the larger, less deep, and more accessible “female” lake. The lowlying Lake Bermin, which is much smaller than the twin lakes, pulls fewer visitors due to the deplorable road leading to its bluish water that is home to nine endemic tilapia species. These natural features are complemented by anumber of waterfalls in Nguti and Tombel subdivisions, and the bubbling hotspring in Ndibsi,4 some 3 kilometers from Bangem town, which has
(Rainforest Foundation UK. (2016). Nguti Council South-West Reion, Republic of Cameroon: Forest Communities and their Traditional Way of Life. 3Sounders & Nfor, above. 4Mesmin Tchindjang, Eric Tsagou, and Martin Fotso. (2011). Les sources thermominérales de Bangem au nord-ouest des Monts Manengouba : Des ressources non-exploitées. Revue des Hautes Terres, vol. 1 no. 12)
Bangem-Nguti road in Progress ( with the Elah Stretch)
continued to attract researchers, geologists, and archeologists over the years.
The mainstay of Kupe-Muanenguba Division is agriculture, with coffee and cocoa primarily produced for export. The division is also the country’s leading producer of plantains which are principally supplied to markets in the nearby Littoral Region—an asset that has been recognized by the government which has decided to establish a plantain processing factory in Bangem.
Palm oil is produced mainly in Nguti Subdivision following the establishment of a major oil palm company in the area. Subsistence farming involves the production of food-crops like cassava, cocoyams, maize, beans,sweet yams, sweet potatoes, ‘Irish’ potatoes, and bananas.
Livestock rearing concerns primarily pigs, goats, sheep, and free-range chicken, while fishing occupies a proportion of the population principally in Nguti Subdivision.
Cattle rearing is exclusively carried out by Fulani (Bororo) herders on the Muanenguba Mountain for local consumption. Though in decline, hunting is practised in parts of KMD, which also produces timber. There are no industries or banks in the division and a few fledgling cooperatives which aim to provide financial services are yet to cover the entire Division, a situation that has encouraged the practice of hoarding across the board.
In the absence of data to determine the percentage contribution of the Kupe Muanenguba economy to either the regional or national total, an assessment of the Division’s economic potential can only be anecdotal.
While it may not be expedient to expect an all-season road network covering the whole division overnight, it can be expected that the construction of anasphalt road linking the three subdivisions of Kupe-Muanenguba Division and connecting the division to nearby divisions will be beneficial in many respects: it will, among other things, open up the division, boost social and economic development, including through investment and structured tourism, improve the movement of people, goods and services in general, contribute to poverty alleviation by facilitating the transportation of agricultural produce to the market, thereby increasing farmers’ incomes, enhance trade, and curtail rural to urban migration through the creation of gainful employment especially among the youth. Whereas the construction of such a road is beyond the combined financial capacity of the three councils of the division and can only be carried out by the government or a partner and the government jointly, the councils can individually allocate resources annually to the establishment and repair of all-season earth roads to provide access to the remotest parts of the division.
A recent joint effort between the Ministry of Public Works and the South-West Development Authority (SOWEDA) to reconnect the Kupe-Muanenguba Division to the rest of the South-West Region through the rehabilitation of the 33-kilometer-long Tombel-Kumba highway could herald such a way forward.
Against this backdrop, it is understandable that the bulk of the KupeMuanenguba population, including its elites,enthusiastically welcomed the start of work on the 53-kilometer Bangem-Nguti road5 in August 2024.
This also explains the people’s accolades and show of unreserved support for their son, H.E. Elung Paul Che, Assistant Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic when, on 3 May 2025, he held a groundbreaking event in Bangem to thank the President of the Republic for awarding to KMD what he characterized as the most critical development project that the division has ever seen since its creation and to visit the project site to confirm that implementation was ongoing.
According to the project foreman of the military engineering corps (Rapid Intervention Battalion), the contractor, approximately 8 kilometers of the road had been bulldozed by 3 May 2025, already enabling farmers in some hitherto cut-off villages to convey their produce on motorcycles to Bangem where they were bought at competitive prices.
In a division with an endless list of development needs, should the Bangem Nguti road be tarred, it will feel like a drop in the ocean for pessimists but, paradoxically, like an oasis in a desert for positive and forward-looking people.
Its sustainability, like that of secondary roads, would require regular maintenance by public works authorities as well as disciplined usage by motorists and pedestrians.
Considering the national competition for the scarce road resources allocated to the Ministry of Public Works and any other state institutions dealing with roads at any level, the elites of KMD in Cameroon and in the Diaspora would have to hone their political and negotiation skills, including by joining hands with their kith and kin possessing relevant expertise in political and resource mobilization, to source for more road funds.
The Assistant Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic has set the pace. More action in the same direction will foster the growth of the division: complaints, finger-pointing, mudslinging and the like won’t. ————————
References
5Communication Unit, Ministry of Public Works (CELCOM MINTP), 15 May 2025.
- Reports of 4-5 May 2025 on the Thank-You Rally in Honour of President
Biya held in Bangem on 3 May 2025 and on the Bangem-Nguti road by
Cameroon Radio-Television (CRTV), Equinoxe TV, and HiTV.
- Journal RDPCPDM. (2025). Kupe-Muanenguba Thanks Paul Biya for
Bangem-Nguti Road: Declares Unwavering Support. Available at https://
journal.rdpcpdm.cm/2025/05/kupe-muanenguba-thanks-paul-biya-for
bangem-nguti-road-declares-unwavering-support/
- Cameroon Tribune. (2024). State Budget: Priority on Development Projects, 29 January 2024. Available at https://www.cameroon
tribune.cm/article.html/62815/fr.html/state-budget-priority-on development-projects.
- CELCOM MINTP. (2025). Construction en régie de la RO702 : Bangem Nguti (53 km), dans le département du Kupe-Muanenguba, région du
Sud-Ouest : le BIR poursuit ses interventions, 15 mai 2025. Available at https://www.canalinfos24.net/article/construction-en-regie-de-la-ro702
bangem-nguti-53-km-dans-le-departement-du-kupe-muanenguba region-du-sud-ouest-le-bir-poursuit-ses-interventions.
- Balgah Sounders N. and Nfor Frederick. (2017). An Assessment of Ecotourism Potentials of Kupe-Muanenguba Division, South West Region, Cameroon. International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science, Vol. 2, https://www.academia.edu/87588867/ Issue3. Available at
- Rainforest Foundation UK. (2016). Nguti Council South-West Reion,Republic of Cameroon: Forest Communities and their Traditional Way of Life. Available at https://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/media.ashx/nguti-council south-west-region-republic-of-cameroon-forest-communities-and-their traditional-way-of-life.pdf
- Mesmin Tchindjang, Eric Tsagou, and Martin Fotso. (2011). Les sources thermominérales de Bangem au nord-ouest des Monts Manengouba :Des ressources non-exploitées. Revue des Hautes Terres, vol. 1 no. 1. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307639297
- Ultimate Media Group. (2024). FODEC Extends Inputs Distribution to Bangem Farmers at Last. Available athttps://ultimatemediacameroon.com/2024/05/27/fodec-extends-inputsdistribution-to-bangem-farmers-at-last/
- South-West Development Authority (SOWEDA). SOWEDA reconnects Kupe-Muanenguba to the rest of the SW Region. Available at https://www.soweda.cm/articles/soweda-reconnects-kupe muanenguba-to-the-rest-of-the-sw-region1702306533 5
- Paul Acha Anyi blog. (2020). Kupe Muanenguba Division,
Southwest Region of Cameroon: A case of Underexploited Eco-TourismPotentials. https://achassafariafrica.com/2020/11/05/kupe muanenguba-divisionsouthwest-region-of-cameroon-a-case-of-underexploited-potentials/