Cameroonians and Titles, Necessity or Pride?

 I do not understand why this mad rush and frenzy about titles and attachments to names in Cameroon. From the foot of mount Fako to the banks of lake Oku; from the pigmies of Lobeke to the safari hunters of the waza; from Ngoaekele to Buea; from churches to mosques; from political parties to njangis; from driver unions to association des ressortissants du??????, just name the titles if you can! Presi, chef terre, grand, ton ton, la mere, chef, tantine, mon colonel, honorable, son excellence, father, prophet, dokta,  manager, prof, proviseur!

These names vary from titles that people give themselves or those that people call them. Infact in Cameroon, if you don't have any title at all, at least you find others calling you sister, aunty, brother, uncle, mummy or daddy. Never you try call someone especially an elderly person by name, maybe you end up in a police cell because you failed to call a commissaire, commissaire or you called a captain lieutenant, na die that!

What utterly baffles me is the fact that, some Cameroonians never introduce themselves without adding their titles. You always hear people introduce themselves as I am Dr, Chief, Justice, Prince, Pastor, Mr or sister this and that, na wa oh Cameroonians! The irony in all this is that, you do not find these titles on their birth certificate, so why insist that your name must be prefixed with a title? It has even reached a point where people who no longer hold posts cannot let go off their former titles even when retired. They claim that the title remains for life, that once a principal or mayor M. le Maire, always M. le Maire till you die! Cameroon, you too strong!

Even at work or school, people carry titles such as chef de service or directeur adjoint, dare you call a Prof, Dr in Buea University, scandal or you do not introduce someone as a master or PhD student, lecturer or try and refer to a DO as DO and not chef terre, you have violated and disrespected hierarchy.

Go to CDC, Delmonte and do not call Mr M or Mr B as supervisor, manager, field assistant or Dokta, you risk being suspended. Go to the ministries, banks, DO's office, hospital and don’t call those women as madame, tu ne sera pas servir.

It is also very common with the judiciary, just try and call Mr M instead of Maitre or Maitre M or Mr B instead of justice, president or procureur, commissaire, commandant or chef, you risk spending a night at the brigade, try and don’t greet a policeman or gendarme at control ‘chef’, you will pay 1000 instead of 500frscfa. Try and refer to Mr M without using M le comptable, M. le doyen, M le vice doyen, M le recteur or M l’ingenieur, M le Senateur.

It is the same phenomenon even in our churches, mami elder, papa elder, man of God, sister B, brother M, Reverend ministers, Prophets and Prophetess, Messiahs, Deacons, Elders, Fathers and combinations of two or more of these titles. You would have committed the greatest sin if you forget to add the title(s) of a person when addressing them.

Something I find amusing is an accumulation of titles, like M le maire maître, chief Dr, Chief Professor, Dr Mrs, Reverend Mrs or Reverend Dr, chief justice, His excellency, Honorable Doctor, Chief Mayor, Honorable Lamido, Honorable Fon, Honorable chief Dr.

Honestly, all these titles amuse me and I don’t quite understand the importance. Is it for necessity or mere pride? The actual value or importance in possessing several titles within the life of an individual beats my imagination and comprehension. I think either it is to increase the societal gap between the privileged and the underprivileged or just a means for them to force respect from other people. 

I find that imposing such titles on oneself sometimes creates a bridge between you and others. It does not make you very approachable and sometimes instills some fear in others.

What do you think?