Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong

CHILDHOOD His Royal Highness Chief Dr. Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong was born in BESONGABANG, a town in Cameroon in the South-West Province on March 22, 1934, to Abi Enonchong and Mama Manyi Enonchong. He is a direct descendant of the Ancestor CHIEF ABANE, Founder of the BESONGABANG Chiefdom whose father is AYUKTAYAK

EDUCATION He attended the Basel Mission School in BESONGABANG, his native town, from 1940 to 1949 where he obtained the First School Leaving Certificate.He was a pioneer of Bali College and obtained Excellent Distinction in Senior Cambridge School Certificate Examination in 1954.He was trained at the College of Hygiene and Sanitation at ABA, Nigeria for three years, in 1955 and got the Royal Society of Health Diploma for public health Inspectors.He obtained a Cameroon Government scholarship to study law in London University and the professional course in law in the Council of Legal Education, London. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree (L.L.B.) from London University and was called to the English Bar in Gray’s Inn, London, in 1962. He subsequently studied French and carried out legal research in Comparative Law at Grenoble University in France.He graduated with a Masters in law (L.L.M.) at Howard University.He later became the first Cameroonian to obtain a Doctorate Degree in Comparative Law with a distinction from Georgetown University, Washington D.G U.S.A. wherein he won the distinctive PRIZE in Constitutional Rights. He was elected president of the Georgetown University Law Centre Comparative Law Association in 1966.

WORK EXPERIENCE He worked in the CDC as a Clerk in the Banana Office, Bota, and taught in the CDC Middle Farm School in 1954. He worked as Government public Health Inspector from 1955 to 1960 in port-Harcourt Nigeria, Victoria (Limbe), Buea and finally in Tiko from where he later resigned to further his education. He was appointed a Cameroon Federal State Counsel i.e. Magistrate with effect from 1963 and worked in the Legal Department in Buea . He was later transferred from Buea to Yaounde in 1964 where he was appointed Director of Cabinet in the then Cameroon Federal Ministry of Justice. In 1967 he was seconded to the Federal University of Yaounde Faculty of law as a professor wherein he lectured in law and helped to establish the Department of English Law in the Faculty.

LAWYER He was registered as a member of the former West Cameroon Private Bar on December 22, 1967. In July 1970, he established his Permanent Law Chambers ENONCHONG CHAMBERS, one of Cameroon's oldest and most prestigious law firms in Cameroon after resigning from public service. The Firm has built its reputation on providing the highest quality representation to its clients. He led the Practicing Barristers in the former West Cameroon and former East Cameroon to form the present Cameroon Bar Association from the Federal Cameroon Bar Association which he founded and was the only Cameroonian in a committee of 3 members i.e. himself, Maitre Bonnard and Maitre Aubriet to draft the Internal Regulations of the Cameroon Bar Association which were made applicable by Ministerial Order Nº 05/SG/MJ of July 20, 1979 made under Law Nº 72/LF/5 of 1972, and amendments. He was a member on the Codification Committee of the present Cameroon Penal Code, 1965 and in his position as Director of Cabinet was coordinator of the Commission.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS He founded ENONCHONG MEMORIAL COLLEGE, BESONGABANG a Secondary Commercial College in 1974 for the education of the children of the poor or underprivileged parent. Most of the students who benefited from education at the College for many years were on his personal scholarship because, as he said, their parents could not pay the necessary school fees and they could not afford the finances essential to make them study. In 1995 he requested the Minister of National Education to suspend the operation of the EMC since the Cameroon. He initiated a new Rice Scheme which is called the Tonkorong-Manyu Upland Integrated Rice Project which he introduced in Manyu Division. He was a Militant of the CPDM and contributed large sums of money for the Party, especially during Municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections. But has now declared himself non-partisan in view of the fact that his subjects belong to different political parties. He is the founder and Patron of MECA, Douala and a member of the MECA,( Manyu Elements Cultural & Development Association) Doula and a Member of the MECA NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF ELDERS. He was the Patron of the Besongabang Elements Cultural and Development Association (BECDA). He was the founder of the Cameroon Anglophone Movement (CAM). He declared himself non-partisan to different political parties under a multi party system.

BIBLIOGRAPHY He is a Legal Writer and has written many Books and Articles in Law, including ‘’The Cameroon Constitutional Law: Federalism in a Mixed Common Law and Civil Law System’’ published in 1967; and <<Yaounde>>: The Cameroon Federal Capital’’ published by TORONTO University Press in 1972.

RULER AND CHIEF OF BESONGABANG TOWN His Royal Highness, as direct descendant of Chief ABANE, Founder of Besongabang was anointed paramount Chief of Besongabang Town on April 10, 1972 under the Southern Cameroons Chieftaincy Law Nº 7 of December 10, 1960 as amended and confirmed by Vice –Prime Ministerial Order Nº 0038/A/MINAT/DOT/SDOA/SCT, 20th February 1997 under the Chieftaincy Decree Nº77/245 of 15 July 1977. He was unanimously elected president of the Manyu Central Chiefs Conference in 1997. He is a member of the Extended Executive Committee of the South-West Chiefs Conference. He is the Winner of 2007 Traditional Authority in the Republic of Cameroon.

A KING IS GONE The transition to join his Ancestors occurred on Thursday 26th June 2008, at about 9:20pm at Polyclinic Muna in Bonanjo, Douala. He leaves behind a wife, 12 children, 9 grand children; the Besongabang community, the Ayuk-Tayak clan the entire Manyu people and his close friends to mourn for him.