Ama Tutu Muna (born 17 July 1960) is a Cameroonian politician who was the

Minister of Arts and Culture The Minister of Arts and Culture is a Minister of the Cabinet of South Africa who is responsible for overseeing the Department of Arts and Culture. The portfolio was created on 29 April 2004 on the appointment of the second Cabinet of President ...

from 2007 to 2015.

Early life and education

Muna was born in Limbe in

Southwest Province The Southwest Region or South-West Region () is a region in Cameroon. Its capital is Buea. , its population was 1,553,320. Along with the Northwest Region, it is one of the two Anglophone (English-speaking) regions of Cameroon. Various Ambazonia ...

on 17 July 1960. She is the youngest of eight children born to

Salomon Tandeng Muna Salomon Tandeng Muna (27 March 1912 – January 22, 2002) was a Cameroonian politician of the Cameroonian National Union. He served as the first Prime Minister of the federated state of West Cameroon from January 11, 1968 to June 2, 1972. Additio ...

, formerly Prime Minister of West Cameroon and then Vice President of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, and Elizabeth Fri Ndingsa. Her brothers include

Bernard Muna Bernard Muna (27 May 1940 – 6 October 2019) was a Cameroonian lawyer, magistrate and politician. He served as Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 1997 to 2002. He was a candidate for the 2011 Presidential ele ...

, Chairman of the Alliance of Progressive Forces, and

Akere Muna Akere Tabeng Muna (born 18 August 1952) is a Cameroonian lawyer who is currently the Chairman of the International Anti-Corruption Conference Council. He is also the Sanctions Commissioner of the African Development Bank Group and a Member of th ...

, President of the

International Anti-Corruption Conference The International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) is a series of international conferences organised by the IACC Council, in association with local governments and organisations, with Transparency International as its secretariat. The conference ...

Council. Muna studied

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, graduating in 1983.

Career

Muna was Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy in Limbe from December 2004. She was appointed Minister of Arts and Culture in 2007. Muna initiated the

Mbengwi Mbengwi is the headquarters of Momo Department in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located some 22 km from Bamenda. Information The indigenous people are Meta people, to whom a few settlers from neighboring tribes like Ngie and Oshie ha ...

Women Cooperative to combat the plight of the rural woman and founded the North West Women’s Forum. In 2014, Muna was criticised for transferring

cultural artifact A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information ...

s from the Northwest Region to Yaounde. On May 22, 2015, Prime Minister

Philemon Yang Philemon may refer to: In the Bible * Epistle to Philemon, a book in the New Testament * Philemon (biblical figure), recipient of Saint Paul's Epistle to Philemon Arts and entertainment * Philémon (comics), ''Philémon'' (comics), a Franco-Bel ...

gave Muna forty-eight hours to dissolve a new authors' rights structure (SOCACIM) she had created. She was removed from her ministerial position in a government reshuffle by President

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

on 2 October 2015, amid reports that she had mismanaged billions of francs in authors royalties. In February 2016, staff sought to remove from her state-owned ministerial villa at

Bastos Bastos is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 mi ...

, but she refused and claimed she had made arrangements to buy it. As of September 2016, she had not moved.

Personal life

Muna had one son, Efemi Nkweti Muna, who was born in 1987. He was killed in a car accident on 8 February 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muna, Ama Tutu 1960 births Living people 21st-century Cameroonian women politicians 21st-century Cameroonian politicians Cameroon People's Democratic Movement politicians Culture ministers of Cameroon Women government ministers of Cameroon People from Southwest Region (Cameroon)