Commercial activities were going on normally within the Mbengwi municipality and its peripheries on Thursday June 20th 2019 when at about midday, a fleet of armoured cars, fully filled with armed to the teeth combat ready soldiers could be seen trooping into the town. It wasn't for any attack or intervention but for the installation of Captain Thimba Jean Pierre as new Company Commander for Momo Division. Their entry and subsequent exit had no interference on the smooth daily functioning of the divisional headquarters. Residents who saw the fleet went about their routine activities unperturbed. Gone are those days when just at the sight of a military jeep, an alarm will be blown in the quarters for inhabitants to flee for their dear lives.
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| Armoured Cars at Etat Major de Compagnie, G.R.A Mbengwi |
The installation ceremony took place on the Mbengwi ceremonial grand stand in the presence of the Legion Commander of the Gendarmerie for the North West, the Senior Divisional Officer of Momo and his Etat Major, service heads and forces of law and order. Welcoming the personalities, the mayor of the Mbengwi Council voiced out the wish of the common man. Hear her, "In this very peculiar era, it is common to hear people expressing fears of uncertainty... CoCom (Company Commander), we pray that you will find ways to soothe rather than escalate the situation... We the people of Mbengwi are peace loving and we pray that the peace we seek, we will receive it."
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| Captain Thimba Jean Pierre, Newly Installed Company Commander, Momo |
After the mayor's welcome address, Ministerial Order No. 1900 01 30/AM/MINDEF of 6th March 2019 appointing Captain Thimba Jean Pierre as Company Commander of Mbengwi by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Assomo Beti Joseph was read out. The concerned was then handed over powers by the Legion Commander after which he commenced work immediately by reviewing the troops.
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| Drone hovering the ceremonial grand stand |
As the military honours went on, a disturbing sound like that produced by a swamp of bees could be heard. Heads turned left and right as eyes went zooming the skies to see the producer of the strange sound and behold it was a drone. To some, it was their first time of seeing such a flying device and one could read wonder on their minds. A drone, otherwise known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft or flying device which does not have a human pilot onboard. They are mostly used by the military and videographers to capture images of a scene. Thus the one that hovered the skies of the Mbengwi ceremonial grandstand was brought by the military probably to capture images for their reports.
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| Absalom Monono Woloa, Momo's S.D.O |
Responding to the press on challenges that await the new commander, Momo's Senior Divisional Officer, Absalom Monono Woloa said "We know we are having a lot of challenges because of the crisis plaguing the North West and the South West Regions but we are also happy that with his coming, he's been working in synergy with the administrative authorities and others so that calm is brought to the division." According to Monono, for a very long while, they've been able to reestablish confidence amongst the population and forces of law and order, reason why Mbengwi has been relatively calm. He used the opportunity to continue "singing the song" of non state armed fighters should drop their guns.
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