Cameroon literature giant Nsanda Eba dies ⁰

Nsanda Eba who has died was a strong personality of Cameroonian literature – a storyteller who’s book The Good Foot painted Cameroon during colonialism.

His publications including essays spanned roughly five decades, primarily documenting the transformation of Cameroon – from a colonial subject to a ruthless dictatorship.

He will be remembered for his 1977 novel The Good Foot where he recounted with touching humanity the ordeals of a plantation laborer’s family as they reach for social advancement through back-breaking work, unrelenting hope, and an undying belief in the power of education, laying bare in the process the exploitative nature of plantation agriculture and its role in shaping population dynamics as well as xenophobia-tinged politics in modern-day Cameroonian towns like Mutengene and Tiko.

Mbamu, the novel’s teenage character, his childhood and his relationship with his father will continue to strike a human chord with thousands of Southern Cameroonians as it mirrored their own relationship with their dads.

By Miriam Metchane Ewang