Kumba
| Kumba K-Town | |
|---|---|
  Kumba Location in Cameroon | |
| Coordinates: 4°38′N 9°27′E / 4.633°N 9.450°E | |
| Country |
 Cameroon |
| Provincekind | Southwest Region |
| Elevation | 240 m (790 ft) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 400,000 |
Kumba is a city in Southwest Region, Western Cameroon also known as K town. Kumba has an estimated population of about 400.000 inhabitants with about ¾ of this population falling within the youthful age group. The increase in population is as a result of increase in birth rate and a fall in infant mortality rate as a result of improvement in Infant health care and migrations (Rural – Urban). The N8 and N16 highways meet at Kumba.
Economy
The city is a trade centre for Cocoa and Palm Oil, and has a timber industry as well. Kumba is a local road junction, making it the main commercial town in anglophone Cameroon. Trading in Kumba has attracted the interest of foreigners, mostly Nigerians (The Igbos), who have always controlled a greater percentage of the Kumba main market. (culled from a personal survey, January 2011)
Geography
Although it is the largest city in the southwest province of Cameroon, it is not the provincial capital; which is located in Buea, the former German colonial capital. Because of its size, most major roads to the provincial interior radiate from Kumba, running to the Nigerian border at Mamfe, the Korup National Park at Mundemba, and Mount Koupe to the east. The premier geographical attraction in Kumba is Barombi Mbo, the largest volcanic lake in Cameroon's volcanic chain.
Transport
Kumba is the terminus of a branch railway of the western system of Camrail.
Government
Kumba is the headquarter of Meme division of the Southwest Region. It has three sub-divisional councils; Kumba 1(Kumba Town-Kake, a part of Buea Road), Kumba 2(Kosala, Hausa-quarters and a Fiango) and Kumba 3(3 corners, Mambanda and a part of Buea-road) with three local mayors. The town also run by a government appointed Senior Divisional Officer(SDO) and a government Delegate.
People
Most people in Kumba speak English and Pidgin, and at least one of a variety of indigenous languages, most dominantly Bafaw, Bakossi and Mbonge.
The indigenes of Kumba are the Bafaw, an ethnic group who speak the Bafaw language, a language similar to Duala, Mboh and Bakossi, and certainly Southern Bantoid. The Bafaw people are ruled by their Paramount chief HRH Fon Victor Esemisongo Mukete who is the current chairman of Camtel, Cameroon's own Telecommunication company and also the founder and CEO of Mukete Plantations Limited, a plantation measuring over 200 square kilometers in different localities in Meme division. Due to its cosmopolitan nature, the Bafaw now form just a percentage of the general population of the city, and have lost many aspects of their culture, except for their language which is spoken mostly by the elderly and some of the younger generation.
Kumba is the birthplace of French international rugby union player Serge Betsen and footballer Eyong Enoh.
See also
References
Coordinates: 4°38′N 9°27′E / 4.633°N 9.450°E