Presidential hopeful, Prof. Bahebec harrases Anglophone journalist for asking ‘terrible’question
By Synthia Lateu
An on-air exchange between TV host Lasha Kingsly and presidential hopeful Prof. Jean Bahebeck turned sour last Saturday May 24, during a political program on My Media Prime TV.
The incident occurred less than 30 minutes into the bilingual show Tribune, when Bahebeck stormed off the set in reaction to a question he deemed “terrible.”
Tensions rose after Kingsly, an English-speaking journalist, posed a question that Bahebeck disagreed with. In an unexpected turn, the professor responded by interrogating Kingsly in French, reversing the roles and accusing the host of ignorance and poor reading habits. He went as far as demanding that Kingsly leave the studio and threatened to walk out if he didn’t. Despite efforts by Kingsly and co-host Sylvain Tchokoga to calm the situation, Bahebeck eventually exited the set.
In a follow-up interview with CNA, Kingsly said he realised Bahebeck was serious when he asked the technician or producer to stop the program.
“He reacted out of bad fate not because he didn’t understand my questions. The questions were sent to him ahead of time and I had a conversation with him 30 minutes to the program ,” Kingsly told CNA.
Kingsly further accused Bahebeck of acting intentionally and being “driven by intellectual dishonesty and anti-Anglophone sentiment.”
“‘Prof’ needs to apologise to Anglophones and the 30 million Cameroonians he disrespected last night,” he said.
During the incident, Professor Bahebec who is used to intimidating other panelists and shout at presenters during live Tv debates, intentionally made allusion to Anglophones saying, “…you come here and sit, balance yourself to ask me that type of question and you people say that Francophones are mistreating you people, is this an Anglophone, you…?
The presidential candidate took issue with Kingsly’s reference to Robert Bapooh Lipot as Secretary General of the UPC, claiming that a Supreme Court decision prohibits Bapooh Lipot from holding that title.
” I was in possession of the Supreme Court decision, and ‘Prof’ Bahebeck and I had jointly prepared the program. The interview protocol, sent to him 24 hours prior, clearly outlined the questions, including the one in question (screenshots available, but withheld for professional reasons).” Kingsly later posted on Facebook.
He emphasized that his duty as a journalist is to ask questions and provide a platform for diverse voices, without bias.
According to Kingsly, Bahebeck “is not fit to lead Cameroonians. He does not have the qualities of a leader.”
Prof. Jean Bahebeck has declared his candidacy for the 2025 presidential election in Cameroon under the UPC banner.
The altercation was widely shared on several social media accounts.
