Michael Timneng was born in 1898 at Wombong in what used to be Western Grassfields of Cameroon. At age ten, the Kom Royal Palace conscripted him to serve in the royal court at Laikom as a retainer (chindo). Retainers were members of the ruling elite known as Kwifoin—the legislative arm of the traditional Kom administration—and they managed the royal household and acted as administrators and diplomats.
Nkwi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.