288. Ekambi and A Fake Money Printing Machine.

288.  Ekambi  and  A Fake Money Printing Machine.

Source: Oral narrations. 

1n 1937 in the month of September two men visited Ekambi at his residence in Tiko and showed him a machine that they said prints in one hour twenty five genuine brand new British pound notes.  The men said they were fishermen from an island called Kita in the Gold Coast and that they acquired their machine from a British sailor. They proposed that Ekambi should buy the machine for 200 pounds. 

A tiny British Flag and a small printed label “Made in England” were glued on the machine.
Ekambi was a successful business man in Tiko.  He owned an impressive residence and two big canoes for commercial fishing in the creeks. 

In the course of the discussions the strangers operated the machine and it ejected two genuine brand new British pound notes.  Ekambi was excited and decided to buy the machine.   His first wife, Elange, intervened and pleaded:

“Sango,  Vanga  vato  vango  vasa  lo-lemise  ! –osi  keka  landa  enge  eeke  yawu, evanja  enge  eeke  eveeya  te  ya  joke, vasa  ya-vise, ve  gbweyana  ndi  woviti”.

(“Your newly acquired friends are trying to sell to you a fake machine or a machine that prints counterfeit money.  Please don’t buy it.  If that their machine really prints genuine money the traders will certainly keep it for their personal use”). 

Nonetheless, Ekambi bought the machine.  In the evening when he operated the machine it ejected two more genuine brand new notes.  Thereafter the machine ejected blank papers only.  Ekambi had been tricked.  The visitors had inserted the genuine notes in the machine before presenting the machine to Ekambi.

That night Elange suggested that the so called fishermen may curry favour with the Police and inform the Police that Ekambi had in his possession a machine that prints money.  She proposed that they should get rid of the machine immediately. Ekambi accepted and in heavy rainfall Elange and Ekambi dumped the machine in a garbage heap that was situated far away from their residence.

Five days later seven Police men with a search warrant visited Ekambi’s residence at eight o’clock in the morning.  The Police alleged that Ekambi had a money printing machine in his residence.  The machine was not found. 

The Police interrogated Ekambi for eight days, and when they did not succeed to collect evidence to warrant arrest the matter was closed.
Ekambi escaped Police arrest but the neighbourhood was aware of what had transpired in his home.

Oma  nanu. 

Imba  Mbua  Ndoko.
 
Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa
Tel/Fax: 33-32-25-35
Mobile/Cell:79-73-47-14 
Website: http://www.mbuandoko.com

Comments

[Edwin Ndoko]

Mola Mbua Ndoko,

Very interesting. This reminds me of a song I heard my late mother and other women in Sofa Mokongo sing. It was about a lazy, man who knew it all. They used the expression Srang’a Viya to refer to a lazy, know-it-all man. The nice little tune went something like this:

Niphe jambambo jami
Jambambo Jami (response)
(Repeat)

Szi nendo’ Wonya Liketi
Koko whiya oh (response)
Szi Sranga’ viya ji leli
Koko whiya oh.
(Repeat)

Literal translation:

I prepared my nice tasty morsel of food (jambambo)
Then I travelled to Wonya Liketi (I am not quite sure what that means but it looks like she went somewhere for a brief period of time)
Let us hear about it!
Then Mr. Know-it-all ate it!
Tell us about it!

Mola are you familiar with this little tune? I would like to know what Wonya Liketi means. I presume it is a metaphor for a short absence. I also presume koko whiya oh is just a poetic device to echo the first line.

Thanks, Mola for doing such a fantastic job recording our culture.

Lyombe Eko
Iowa City, Iowa

[Susan Mazen]

Hello Mola Ndoko,

How do we say "blessing" in the bakweri dialect?

Thanks for your lovely posts, I have learnt alot about the bakweri people cause my husband and kids are Bakwerians.

Susan Mazen
France