Where are the Oroko men?

Without being sarcastic, I know the Oroko land, its people, its dialects and its cultures to my fingertips as well as nails.  Notwithstanding all our problems and challenges, Orokoland is arguably the best place on earth to live and die. Many of you out there, will accept with me that, we need to fight to make our Oroko Kingdom a better place for the survival of the Oroko tribe!

But one of the greatest questions that I often ask myself and which continuously pops into my mind is, what is happening to the Oroko Men? Where are the Oroko Men?

I have spent most of my life immersed in the life of ordinary people, eating with them, dancing with them, working with them, walking the same paths as they do and taking the same okada, clando and hilux as they do, passionately engaged in understanding things. What is obvious and continuously baffles me is that, in all productive activities one only mainly sees Oroko women. From the farms to the markets, it seems like only women are working, doing something or producing something. Where are the men?

Almost all the food produced in Orokoland is done by women including all the agricultural workforce or small farmers, are mostly rural Oroko women.  Oroko women comprise the largest percentage of the workforce in the agricultural sector, almost all the traders in Fabe, Ibemi, Illoani, Ekombe Bonji, Sambalimba, Issangele, Mbonge, right up to Mokango infact, just visit any store or market and you’ll confirm that observation. It is very obvious that, agriculture and trade are in the hands of women, they still give birth to our kids through life while performing all household duties of the Oroko man from the kitchen to the bedroom.

In the Orokoland, women earn less than men while performing the same job sometimes more than 25% less than what their men folk would earn. Property wise, (lands, house, shares, stocks) women in the Orokoland own less than 5% though the government of Cameroon has been preaching the emancipation gospel. The issues of inheritance and marriage, remain an illusion for the Oroko woman. As a result of cultural norms related to gender and social inequality, Oroko women are sparingly allowed to get less involved in political and household decision-making processes which affect their lives. Oroko women have very limited access to land, possess no assets thus are economically poorer than the Oroko men folk. Also, the Oroko woman does most of the agricultural work and she also bears the unequal responsibility to feed her entire family.

The Oroko man’s belief in Polygamy, also makes the Oroko woman unlikely to get any wealth transfer because of marriage. Their condition is further worsen by the fact that in almost all the tribes, only men inherit lands and family assets. The impossibility for the Oroko man to enforce marriage and inheritance laws due to weak government laws, make the Oroko woman’s ability to acquire assets very unlikely. The Orokoman simply and quietly seizes the family assets and goes away without bothering about what becomes of his women family members.

One would be a fool to believe that the Oroko woman is poor because she is lazy or incompetent whereas over 90% of businesses and 80% of agricultural activities are carried-out by Oroko women. What about the proportion of Oroko women who die each day trying to give birth to Oroko kids? Oroko women most often are unable to sleep or sometimes sleep only for two hours a night because they have to nurture their new born which goes on for several months’ even years.

In Orokoland, the two major economic activities are agriculture and trade but how come the Oroko woman owns nothing? How come all the houses, cars and lands are owned by Orokomen? Is it because of unpaid labour, patriarchal connotation and child bearing responsibilities?

What baffles me most is why should an Orokoman own or accumulate so much wealth while contributing so little to economic emancipation of the Oroko? Oroko men run the Orokoland from 6pm to 7am sleeping almost 10hours per day. The Orokoman has or owns no industries, there is no manufacturing, no mining and the rate of unemployment is massive with almost 85% roaming our streets. The Orokoman shows no compassion for neither his kids nor his women, they have stolen their future, their lands, food and resources.

The Orokoman, still suffers from the pride of “am the master” and “you’re the slave” towards the Orokowoman reflecting his enclosure in the damned colonial society. The Orokoman rejoicefully locks-up himself in secret societies, witchcraft, cults, sects and strives to fight the rest of the Oroko. This rest of the Oroko society is offcourse made of the hardworking women folk, his kids and those poorer than him.The Orokoman never fights those above or richer than him less of all foreigners., he is a gate without a fence.

Orokomen are counter and unproductive usually acting as paper pushers in offices, touts for migrants and traders or if they’ve tried GTTC Mundemba! They don’t work in offices because all Oroko administrations are nonexistent; in politics the Orokoman is the worst politician in Cameroon or maybe on earth; in the armed forces, the Orokoman makes-up maybe 0.0001%; in the sciences and technology, these require special skills which the Orokoman is not yet prepared to acquire even if the training lasts for just a single day.

So of what use was, is and will be the Orokoman with respect to the emancipation of the Orokoland? It is time for the Oroko man to join forces with the Oroko woman for the development of the Oroko.

I will be back!