German administration of the Bamenda area is best viewed against the backdrop of Bali Nyonga paramountcy and the treaty Zintgraff concluded with Galega in 1891. Galega formally surrendered powers of execution and war-making to the Germans and in return he was given suzerainty rights over the surrounding non-Bali - mostly Widekum - peoples. Galega was to collect taxes and tolls from those chiefdoms placed under him and he also became a major labour recruiter for the Germans. This constituted the principle policiy of administration in the Bamenda area, namely to prop up friendly chiefs wherever they could be found and to place as many smaller ones as possible under them as vassals. This was intended both to maintain order and to ensure a constant supply of labour for the plantations and government works and services.

The realisation of this policy for the rest of the Bamenda District was problematic since it required the complete subjugation of the area in order to unite people under chiefs other than their own. Right up until their expulsion from the region in 1915 the Germans maintained the Bamenda District as an emergency area and the military garrison was kept busy conquering new areas and quelling uprisings in supposedly pacified areas.

A further obstacle to the implementation of any administrative policy was the fact that German policy on colonial administration remained ill-defined. Colonial matters were for long handled by the Kolonialabteilung, the colonial office of the German Foreign Ministry. Commercial pressure groups had a large say in the formulation of colonial policy (Newbury 1967: 455-56). The apparent lack of effective control from the centre meant that abuses by local officials went on largely unchecked. The recall and disciplinary measures taken against Governor Jesko Von Puttkamer is a case in point that coincided with a change in policy. This culminated in the establishment in 1907 of a separate Kolonialamt, a Ministry for Colonial Affairs under Dr Bernhard Dernburg, the first Colonial Secretary reputed for his 'liberal and humane views' (Le Vine 1964: 28).

One apparent effect of this new 'liberal' policy was felt in Bafut following its military defeat in 1907. It was dealt with relatively leniently; it was not dismembered and its Fon was sent into exile for only one year. A report from the military commander of the Bamenda station had strongly urged the restoration of the Fon as 'orderly government in Bafut was impossible without him' (Kaberry and Chilver 1963: 7-8). The German authorities recognised the Fon as a convenient agent of administration and so long as he danced to their tune he went unmolested. Chilver observes that 'once the obedience of the Bafut to the station was established following the wars, their internal affairs were on the whole left alone'. Any default was met by armed intervention. This situation has been described by Chilver (pers. com.) as 'delegated administration and emergency intervention'.

In respect of justice it appears that no well-established system of courts was ever implemented in the area. Chilver (1963: 94) notes that the Station Commander sat as a judge in a court with native assessors, appointed for one year, to advise on custom. Informants in and around Bafut could give no details of such courts with native assessors, the common notion being that the Germans had no courts beyond the moots held by the Station Commander to settle disputes while on tour. As in other military districts, chiefs' courts were left undisturbed to deal with civil pleas and minor criminal matters. They were, however, prohibited from engaging in the poison ordeal, enslavement or brutal punishment.