Planning under wayThe Meta festival of return
Michi Ebeng 2027
- Dates
- 19–20 March 2027
- Venue
- Mile 4, Limbe Handicraft Centre
Cultural heritage. Tradition. Community.
No opening hour has been announced. The countdown runs to the start of 19 March 2027, Cameroon time.
Photograph: the maiden edition at the Guneku Palace, April 2023.
Planning under way. Dates and venue are agreed and the committees are being formed. The programme is not final: everything listed as proposed is still under discussion.
About Michi Ebeng
A festival of return
Mɨchi Əbeŋ is the Meta festival initiated by HRH Fon Fomuki Walters Ticha IX of Guneku: a day of return to the arts and crafts, the food, the mother tongue and the dress of the Meta people. It was revived in April 2023, after six years in which the armed conflict in the region had put the culture “in the cold”, and it has grown around a competition between dance groups.
Its first edition set the tone. Speaking was in the Meta language. Entry to the ground was in traditional dress. Food was traditional, eaten from wooden bowls or plantain leaves, and the only drink was palm wine from calabashes and horns.
The festival’s full record holds every edition, the 2023 committee and the dance groups.
The 2027 celebration
Two days in Limbe
Two days celebrating Meta heritage — the Kem dance competition, traditional dances, food and community — at the Handicraft Centre, Mile 4, Limbe, on 19 and 20 March 2027.
The editions recorded on this site were held at the Guneku Palace. For 2027 the festival moves to Limbe, and the planning meeting of 8 October 2026 gave three reasons:
- The Guneku Palace is being renovated.
- No village in Meta offered to host the festival.
- Some of the dance groups that came to the village for earlier editions travelled from Buea and Limbe.
Programme and activities
What is agreed, and what is proposed
The committee has agreed a few things and is discussing many more. They are kept apart here so that nothing proposed reads as promised.
Agreed
- Agreed
19 and 20 March 2027
Two days, at the Handicraft Centre, Mile 4, Limbe.
- Agreed
The Kem dance competition
This edition's competition is the Kem dance.
- Agreed
Other dances on the first day
Room is to be given on the first day for other dances and animation.
- Agreed
Nine committees
Formed at the first planning meeting to divide the work of preparation.
- Agreed
Permit and protocol
The organising committee is to obtain the permit. The cultural committee is to call on the traditional authority of the area — in the South West, a chief rather than a Fon, as a member corrected after the meeting.
Proposed
- Proposed
Mister and Miss Michi Ebeng
A Mister and a Miss Michi Ebeng to be elected.
- Proposed
Traditional dishes
Traditional dishes made available for sale by registered members.
- Proposed
A Meta marriage sketch
A fifteen-minute drama showing how a Meta marriage is traditionally contracted.
- Proposed
Documentary on giant screens
Photographs and film of earlier editions, of the 31 villages of Meta, and of places such as the Caves of Guneku, Guneku's health institution and its CIG, Acha hospital and Abi Fall Resort.
- Proposed
SAWA cultural participation
SAWA musical artists or traditional dancers taking part, as a gesture of cultural integration with the host region.
- Proposed
Traditional wear competition
Participants to register with a token, with prizes awarded.
- Proposed
Inter-village tug of war
Village teams compete, with the finalists then facing a SAWA team.
Proposed at the first planning meeting by Mr Ticha Elias Mbekwa, Vice President of GUDECA. The minutes first attributed these proposals to another member; they were corrected on 9 and 10 October 2026. The draft minutes also mentioned a fashion parade, a special photograph and every village being represented.
The competition
The Kem dance
The 2027 festival is built around a competition between Kem dance groups. Kem was the competition at the festival's second edition too, and Guneku has its own Kem group.
Earlier records on this site write the name Kwem, and a Buea group's film calls it Nkwem. The planning minutes write Kem, which is the form used for 2027.
No rules for the 2027 competition have been published. The rules recorded for the 2023 Mukonge competition — fifteen to twenty dancers per group, at most seven minutes per performance, every group on the ground by 10 a.m. — are not a guide to 2027 unless the committee adopts them.
A film from Guneku TV: a Kem group from Buea performing at the Guneku Palace. Not a film of the 2027 competition.
Festival history
The editions so far
15 April 2023
The maiden edition
Guneku Palace
The revival after six years of conflict. Six Mukonge dance groups competed — Barakwe, Sang, Mbemi, Kai, Bome and Mbengwi — and the day was kept in the mother tongue, in traditional dress, with traditional food in wooden bowls and on plantain leaves, and palm wine from calabashes and horns.
March 2024
The second edition
Guneku Palace
Built around the Kem — then written Kwem — dance groups. The announcement gave Saturday 23 March 2024 in its text and April in its headline; the Palace has not yet confirmed which.
Date not recorded
The third edition
The Mukonge dance again, according to the minutes of the 2027 planning meeting, which look back on three editions. They do not give its date.
28 March 2026
In the diaspora
Bonn, Germany
GUDECA Europe marked a Bonn edition at the Fon’s Palace in Bonn, deliberately on the day Michi Ebeng was celebrated in Guneku village.
19–20 March 2027
Michi Ebeng 2027
Handicraft Centre, Mile 4, Limbe
Two days, with the Kem dance competition. In planning.
Films of earlier editions
From Guneku TV. The full film library →
Planning and organisation
Nine committees
At the first planning meeting, held online on 8 October 2026, the work of preparing the festival was divided between nine committees.
- OrganisingIncluding the permit for the venue.
- Transport and logistics
- Entertainment, food and beverages
- Decorations
- Health
- Fundraising
- Cultural activities and protocolIncluding the call on the traditional authority of the area.
- Communication and advertising
- Finance, evaluation and prizes
Terms of reference
Five people were asked to draw up the committees' terms of reference.
- Tah Eric Teke
- Moris Forkam
- Ni Samba Jonathan
- Mbakwa Bernard, Regent of Guneku
- Fah Elvis Tayong, Ngamfon
Names as corrected on 9 October 2026. Committee memberships have not been announced.
Still to be decided
- The date of the physical planning meeting at the Palace (18 October 2026 was proposed; a member asked for it to be moved).
- Committee memberships and chairs.
- Opening hours, the order of the two days, and entry arrangements.
- How Kem dance groups enter, and the competition rules.
- Which proposed activities are adopted.
Latest updates
The preparations, dated
Newest first. Each announcement is also in the Village Square.
How the planning has gone
Minutes corrected
The terms-of-reference names and the attribution of the proposed activities are corrected.
First planning meeting
Held online with sixteen members. Venue, dates, the Kem competition and nine committees are agreed.
Funding to begin
The committee thanks the Fon for laying the financial foundation for the start of preparations.
Planning begins
Members begin proposing dates for a physical meeting at home, and propose that GUDECA Limbe members join the planning as the hosts.
A date is given
The Fon gives 20 March 2027 as the date of Michi Ebeng 2027. The first planning meeting later set the festival across 19 and 20 March.
Cultural gallery
From earlier editions
Photographs from the Fondom’s own albums. None is of the 2027 festival, which has not happened yet; each caption says where it is from.
Dancing on the palace ground at the maiden edition, Guneku, 15 April 2023. 
The arena at the Guneku Palace during the 2023 Mukonge competition. 
Celebration at the maiden edition, Guneku Palace, 2023. 
Barakwe Mukonge Dance Group, one of the six groups that competed in 2023. 
The exhibition of traditional crafts and produce, 2023. 
In 2023 only traditional food was served — on plantain leaves or in wooden bowls. 
Traditional dress was required to enter the ground in 2023. 
Notables in Meta regalia at the maiden edition, 2023. 
A Mukonge dance group in Meta, from the 2023 Mukonge Dance Groups album.
All 39 photographs from 2023 → Mukonge dance groups in Meta →
Location
Mile 4, Limbe
Handicraft Centre, Mile 4
Limbe · South West Region · Cameroon
This is the venue as the planning minutes give it. No street address, map position or travel arrangements have been published, and none are given here.
The cultural committee is to call on the traditional authority of the area. In the South West that is a chief, the host region’s own custom.
Community participation
How to take part
Only what the planning record supports. There is no ticketing, registration or payment arrangement yet, and this page will not imply one.
Join the preparations
The work is divided between nine committees, and a member suggested volunteers for protocol and ushering. Gunekuans who want to help can write to the Palace through the contact page.
Hosts in Limbe
Members proposed that GUDECA Limbe take part in the planning and in decisions, since they will be the hosts.
Dance groups
The competition is for Kem dance groups. How groups enter has not yet been announced.
Proposed competitions
If adopted, the traditional wear competition would take registrations, and the tug of war would be between villages. Neither is open yet.
Questions
What is known so far
When is Michi Ebeng 2027?
Friday 19 and Saturday 20 March 2027. No opening hour has been announced yet.
Where is it?
At the Handicraft Centre, Mile 4, Limbe, in the South West Region of Cameroon. The earlier editions recorded on this site were held at the Guneku Palace.
Why Limbe and not the village?
The planning meeting gave three reasons: the Guneku Palace is being renovated, no village in Meta offered to host, and some of the dance groups that came to the village for earlier editions travelled from Buea and Limbe.
What is the main competition?
The Kem dance. The first day will also make room for other dances and animation.
Is the programme final?
No. The dates, the venue and the Kem competition are agreed. Everything else on this page that is marked proposed is still being discussed by the committees.
Do I need a ticket, or to register?
Nothing about tickets, entry or registration has been announced. This page will say so when it is.
How can I help?
Write to the Palace through the contact page. The committees are being formed now.
Sources
The Michi Ebeng planning committee's own record: the minutes of the first planning meeting, held online on 8 October 2026 and taken by the committee’s secretary, with the corrections circulated on 9 and 10 October 2026. Only the written record was used; the voice messages, images and the attached document in that record were not available and are not reflected here.
Earlier editions are drawn from the Fondom's own news archive and photograph albums.