The rush in Kumba to host the new Higher Technical Teachers’ Training College, HTTTC, continues to escalate as various chiefs and elite try to persuade the University of Buea, UB, authorities and the administration that they are the best hosts.

Tuesday, March 25, some Southwest chiefs and elite practically dangled hundreds of hectares of land in the faces of officials, in and around Kumba. There is no doubt that the higher authorities will have a difficult choice to make for the area that will finally accommodate the institution.

The inspection trip led by the DO began at Mambanda where Chief Paul Aduma baited the authorities with some 190 hectares. The DO, however, disregarded the yo-yo kind of tour that took the academic and administrative entourage first to a Government school off the Kumba-Mamfe road, then back to the highway some three hundred meters, still along the Kumba-Mamfe highway. Chief Aduma then boarded a bendskin with the intention of leading the convoy to the Tombel road end of the boundary of the land he intends to offer HTTC.

The DO simply drove past after Chief Dr. Ebanja, followed by the rest of the convoy. At the Fiango 3 Corners, Chief Ebanja showed the officials the beginning of his chiefdom as he reiterated his offer of a hundred hectares for the HTTC. The UB Vice Chancellor, Dr. Nalova Lyonga told Chief Ebanja that they were impressed by the offer. “The higher authorities, however, will have to iron out the propositions before reaching a final decision,” she said, adding, “Can you give us more land?” to which Ebanja said he would have to consult his traditional council. “That is no problem Madam VC, but I work with my councillors and they would have to give me the go-ahead to grant your wish,” said Ebanja.

Mukonje seems to have added advantages over the other offers; the chiefdom is electrified, has pipe-borne water, is close to the railway station, has access roads and is linked to the CDC Rubber Estate, which borders the River Mungo. “It is an ideal area to practise integrated agriculture; fisheries, farming and animal husbandry and a possibility of irrigation,” said a UB official.

Meanwhile, further offers are said to have come from Nfon V.E. Mukete, Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws and the Chief of Kake II in Mbonge Subdivision.