Mr Manteur, the name of the White French biology teacher at Lycee du General Leclerc was treated like a king and he was adored by female students. He was loved not only because he was a white man, it was also because of all the electronic appliances that he had at his home and the easy way of life that he led. Mr Manteur, who was 40 years old and still a bachelor, went to bed with all the girls of Lycee bilingual and even with some of his female colleagues who were married as well as those who were unmarried. Mr Manteur did not succeed to have sexual intercourse with all his female students simply because, he was White or because he had many electronic appliances at his house , but more because, he promised them all that, he was to get married to them and also take them to France at the end of his contract. But amongst all the female students that Manteur was practising his reproductive biology lessons on, one unluckily fell pregnant.
But Manteur did not know and in his usual fashion after a stint, he jilted the girl (Melima) and his new trophy was Risdoh. But by the time, the end of year exams were approaching, news started making rounds that, one of the many girls that Manteur was going out with was pregnant. It was like an atomic bomb. It ran riot in Lycee du General Leclerc. Even though there were no proves that, Manteur was the one who made Melima pregnant, some members of teaching Corp, in chief, the males, who never liked or were jealous of the familiarity that Manteur, had with students, especially those of the female sex, started accusing him. Though they did not only suspect him to be the father of the child that Melima was carrying, they had already made up their minds, but without providing evidence.
The battle lines were now drawn within the teaching Corp of Lycee du General Leclerc. On one hand were those who were neck deep sure that, Manteur was the one who had made Melima pregnant and wanted him arrested and send to jail and on the other hand ,there were those who were in support of Mr Manteur and amongst them, many Female member of the teaching Corp. There was a third Camp, which was neither for the first nor for the second. This last camp said the reason why Melima became pregnant was because of the advent of television, which has been of assistance in the break down of moral order. They wanted that television broadcast, if not suspended, it must be thoroughly supervised and they also advocated the reintroduction of religious knowledge in schools. And there was a fourth group. They were mostly anti-colonialists or sons of those who fought France via the Union of the Population of Cameroon (UPC) in a bid to gain the independence of French-speaking Cameroon between 1958 and 1970.
They were always looking for an opportunity to make political capital. They wanted an investigation and took the matter to the principal of the college with their proposal. But the Principal of Lycee du General Leclerc, a devoted Roman catholic Christian, refused the proposals made by the nationalist fringe of the teaching Corp and said: “how on earth can they even think that, a teacher will stoop so low to have an affair with a student?” And he added: “remember Mr Manteur is a French man and French people have etiquettes”. But as nothing under the sun can be hidden for too long, the parents of Melima also got waves (news) that, their daughter was pregnant and their informant told them that, the author was Mr Manteur, the French White biology teacher. The Parents of Melima brought the accusation to the Principal Mr Rene Timay, who rejected it again as he had done when the nationalist teachers of his school made similar accusations.
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