Background
John Ngu Foncha was born on June 21, 1916, at Bamenda, capital of the now North-western Province
John Ngu Foncha was born on June 21, 1916, at Bamenda, capital of the now North-western Province
He went to the Bamenda Government School, the St Michel School at Buguma and the St Charles Training College at Onitsha.
Fourteen years as a school-teacher did not dull Foncha’s appetite for politics and this tireless advocate of the union between the British Cameroons and French Cameroon was elected Vice-President of his country seven years after being a headmaster. The end of the Cameroon Federation in June 1972, and the forging of a unitary state, marked the beginning of the decline of most of those politicians originating from the former British Cameroons, who had climbed to positions of power in federal politics.
He taught at various Catholic schools in the Bamenda area. Founder (in 1942) and president of the Bamenda Catholic Teachers’ union. He was, from 1942 to 1945, the secretary of the Bamenda branch of the Cameroons Youth League (CYL), a small but very effective group, founded in 1939.
In 1951 he left the CNF together with Nerius Mbile to form the Kamerun United National Congress (KUNC). One year later the KUNC had merged with the CNF to form the Kamerun National Congress (KNC) and the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDF) which advocated unity of the British West and French East Cameroons.
The KNDP won official recognition as the opposition party in the House of Assembly when it won at the 1957 elections, getting five seats to KNC’s six. But as a result of the 1958 reforms new elections for an enlarged House were held in January 1959 and the KNDP gained a slender 14-12 majority. Foncha then flew to New York in the company of Dr Endeley in order to present his views to the Trusteeship Council and to the Fourth Committee of the United Nations.
In November 1960 he went to London to sound out the British government's intentions on the plebiscite. He came back reassured and arrived at an understanding with Ahidjo on eventual reunification. He entered the campaign for the February 1961 referendum with his customary gusto and won a resounding victory for reunification in the southern and more populous part of the West Cameroons.
In July 1961, Foncha met Ahidjo at Foumban. Having stood his ground against Ahidjo’s wish to have a unitary state, he succeeded in keeping federal status for the former Southern Cameroons. He was made Federal Vice-President in October 1961 under Ahidjo’s Presidency and kept his position of Prime Minister of West Cameroon which he held from 1959. In March 1965, running again on Ahidjo’s ticket, he was re-elected Federal Vice-President but he resigned his premiership of West Cameroon two months later. His old K.NDP was absorbed into Ahidjo’s Union Camerounaise to form the Union Nationale Camerounaise (UNC).
The office of Federal Vice-President had ceased to exist by the time the June 1970 elections took place and Foncha, who still remained a powerful figure in the west of the country, became vice¬president at the Political Bureau of the UNC.
In 1994, he led a delegation of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) to the United Nations to request its backing of the movement's drive for greater autonomy in Cameroon's two English-speaking provinces. His grandson is Jean-Christian Foncha.
He died in Bamenda on 10 April 1999 at the age of 82.