By Akaba James
As preparations intensify to receive Pope Leo in Bamenda, images of the Christian faithfuls, state authorities, local leaders and traditional leaders working together to welcome the sovereign pontiff are heartening. Hospitality at this scale is no small feat, and the collective effort reflects a city eager to present its best to the papacy. Cameroon enjoys a special place each time the Holy See is programming visits to Africa.
Yet one image raises a troubling question about the boundaries between public office and religious vocation. In a widely circulated photo, the Bamenda City Mayor, Paul Achobang, appears in a clerical collar. While individuals may hold personal convictions or even ministerial roles as he does, the symbolism of clerical dress, especially at official civic events, risks blurring lines that ought to remain distinctively clear. Public authority emerges from the mandate of citizens – though we know he entered through the window and is trying to use the same window to stand on the same front line with priests who have several years in spiritual formation. We know priests may not be perfect but his acts are akin to impersonation or false pretense. There is no formal invitation to him to be part of the program in his capacity as the pastor of a church. There are doubts if he has any formal theological certification of spiritual formation to act as a man of God, though the head of state granted his church authority – it was more political than spiritual. Some people hold the belief that the church is a hiding place for criminals. A case like this is one of interest.
Pastoral authority emerges from spiritual formation, consecration, and service within a recognized faith community. When these identities are conflated in the public square, confusion follows. Moreover, civic leadership must be exercised on behalf of all residents, irrespective of creed, not that which you are giving favors to employees and young people because they choose to worship in your church. Put another way, you are using your public office as a bait to attract people to your church. Across the country, many professionals, doctors, teachers, civil servants of good standing are also pastors. Examples include Ewane Roland, the DO of Idabato who was kidnapped by Delta Boys, and Oswald Baboke of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency who is a Pastor and owns a vibrant church that was also authorized: they do not typically perform official duties in clerical attire – they do not assume spiritual titles in civic ceremonies. Members of Oswald Baboke’s church did not march on Youth Day to thank the head of state. The actions of the may of Bamenda are an aberaton.
In the Catholic Church, Presbyterian and Baptist Church in Cameroon, ministry is treated as a vocation requiring formation, accountability, and discipline – it also requires full dedication and a shunning of wordly pleasures and attractions. The distinction is not merely aesthetic; it is spiritual, institutional and ethical.
The concern here is not faith. A mayor’s personal devotion is a private matter and, for many, a source of strength, when it is genuine. The concern is the use of religious symbols in ways that may invite undue reverence or suggest ecclesial authority where none has been publicly established. The Pope may take him too seriously as a spiritual leader, when he is a man that shows up at a polling station and creates chaos because the polling agents and the people are not collaborating with him in massive rigging. Of all the mayors that Bamenda has had, none has been as dramatic as Paul Achombong, that many do not quite know where he suddenly emerged from to that high office.
When political office borrows the language or vesture of ministry, it risks sentimentalizing religion for civic legitimacy and in doing so, diminishes both. The USA is licking its wounds right now under Trump, while celebrating the rise of spiritual when human cruelty is dominating the headlines.
Citizens know where to seek prayer (the cathedral) and where to seek policy actions (the city council). They expect their mayor to be focused on policy actions, development drives and to govern impartially, not to merge public duty with ecclesial representation to masque collosal failure in project executions.
If a spiritual calling is paramount, the honorable path is clear: Mr. City Mayor, embrace it fully and serve within the structures of the church as a resident Pastor, and allow another more dedicated person like the former Government Delegate, Tazong Abel Nde or more contemporary people like the likes of Fonguh Clement of Bamenda 3 to do the job.
Thus, if public office is the present charge, then the responsibility is to lead as a civic steward without conflation, without spectacle that makes the city mayor appear as a comedian or impostor of sort some.
In moments of national and spiritual significance, integrity of roles matters – and Catholics have a strict doctrine and discipline. You do not jump inside the community in a clerical collar and start acting up, and bringing disrepute to church customs and tradition, in a ceremony that will feature international reporters.
Commandment Number
