In a Friendly Football Match, CAMASEJ Yaoundé Bows to N.W Chapter

In a Friendly Football Match, CAMASEJ Yaoundé Bows  to N.W Chapter

Tongues are still wagging within the Anglophone media corp in Cameroon following the recent humiliation imposed on CAMASEJ Yaounde chapter by their peers of the North West Region during a friendly football encounter that was played on the green turf of the G.P Stadium, Melen, Yaounde on Saturday July 27 2019. Members of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) N.W chapter were in the nation's political capital  upon invitation from their colleagues of the Centre region for a safari come together.  

The socio-sporting and fun filled safari visit had football on the agenda. It was at 2:30pm that the second division central referee Ismael Ngandifon blew his whistle for kick off. He was assisted by Daniel Meli and Danny Meli with a medical staff on standby from Unite for Health Foundation. The two nurses that got most of the players suspiciously falling just to have their attention were Florence Njang and Lydia Banseka

The two contenders 

Prior to the encounter, Angu Lesly, a renowned sports reporter and analyst had made startling revelations that showed that CAMASEJ N.W was going to win Yaounde, this after the host chapter published her line up. To Lesly, administrator of the online sports site www.kick422.com, Viban Jude (CAMASEJ Yaounde chapter president) will lack pace since the shambolic center half pairing of the  North West squad was going to use long range passes into the final channels, then Amindeh and Viban were going to be in all sorts of trouble.

Lesly expressed worries in his pre-match analysis. "I can't equally understand the coach's decision to play Mua Patrick (Yaounde city reporter of The Guardian Post Newspaper) as a wing back because he lacks match fitness and has never put in an inch perfect cross" He went on to say "Randy Joe Sa'ah (Publisher of The Voice Newspaper & BBC Reporter) and Ndi Eugene may have a good game but not sure about Mbom Sixtus because I feel he will be exposed."

Me and my team mate, the lone queen

And like a seer, so did it come to pass that just within 10 minutes into the first half, Neba Jerome of the North West chapter netted the first goal to begin the confirmation of Angu Lesly's prophesy. Action will continue and before first half recess, the boys from the North West were up by two goals to zero. Upon resumption for the second half, team captain for the Bamenda Boys, Nji Nelson Chefor alias Mr. Rush collected a beautiful pass from his team mate around the penalty ring of his side and embarked on a do or die mission to shaken the net of his opponents again. Like lightening, before the centre regional boys could decode his mission statement, he had dribbled five of them like a primary school mathematical equation and the Yaounde goalkeeper only came to his senses that he again failed to safe his team from humiliation when he saw the net behind him shaking.

At full time, it was 3 goals for CAMASEJ N.W and one for Yaounde with the biggest surprise being that of the lone lady on the pitch, Mbuh Stella, Equinoxe TV reporter from the N.W who played full time. Talking to the media after the encounter, Ndi Eugene, Chairman of the organising committee on behalf of the host chapter commended the exceptional performance of the "Ground Zero Boys" as the team from Bamenda was nicknamed. He said, "Considering that we are a family and the purpose of this encounter was for camaraderie, I think CAMASEJ won but Bamenda took home the medal"

Warm Up

The victory of CAMASEJ N.W to some pundits, is as a result of the numerous runnings exercises compulsorily carried out each time they are gunshots on the ground. To them, this makes anybody from Bamenda to be automatically sportive.

From Light to Darkness A Reporter's Experience

From Light to Darkness
A Reporter's Experience

Of recent I was in Douala and Yaounde. My journalism profession took me to these two big cities of the country. In the former, I was invited for a 3-day workshop on Fact Checking, Fake News and Data Journalism by ADISI-Cameroon. In the latter, I joined my colleagues of the North West Region to answer to a call from the Yaounde chapter of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) that we pay them an exchange visit.

It was on Sunday July 21st 2019 that I left Mbengwi for the North West Regional Headquarters from where I boarded a bus to Douala. By 7:30pm I was in my hotel room in Yassa. For three days, we underwent the training. It was very enriching, intellectually. By Thursday, I left for Yaounde to wait on my CAMASEJ N.W colleagues who travelled in on Friday night. Again we were lodged in our hotel rooms in Obili. 

The Food Combination that Erupted a Crisis in my Tummy

That Friday night, our hosts welcomed us with drinks. It seems in the cities, the first question visitors are always asked is "What will you drink?" Next day we had sports, a friendly football encounter on the Presidential Guard's Stadium in Melen. I heard myself soliloquizing, "Look at me this small Mbengwi boy now playing football on such a playground in such a strategic and sensitive location."  

At the end, we of the North West Chapter won the match. By nightfall, we were catching fun till dawn. By 10am on Sunday July 28th 2019, I was in a bus herding back to where I came from. By 7pm, I arrived Hospital Roundabout, Bamenda and there stood a bike ridder beckoning on me to mount his bike for a ride to Mbengwi. Cab drivers were also hunting for my money but I went for the bike rider. 

I took him because we are friends. He leaves Mbengwi to work in Bamenda everyday and by evening, he goes back to Mbengwi because the money he makes in Bamenda triples what he makes in Mbengwi per day. As we speed off, along the way he got three different passengers. The first was an elderly man who pleaded to be carried from Nitop 1 Park to U.B Relax for 100Frs. After alighting, we met the second, an average woman who also pleaded to be carried to Nchoualang for 100Frs. Then the last we came across was a young girl who pleaded too that she has only 100Frs for Alabukam.

At every stop, my rider tried hard to convince his passengers to pay more but sorrowfully they pleaded that that was all they had. He too will contemplate and ended up carrying them. This is how poverty stricken inhabitants in the two warring English speaking regions of Cameroon are now. There's little circulation of money in the economy. Buyers can't offer stipulated prices for goods and servicers. Sellers and service providers too can't refuse the little amounts they are being offered because as you refuse, some other person is collecting and your goods will remain in your keeping.

Drinking Spree in Yaounde

That evening, as I stepped foot in Bamenda, everywhere was dark, no lights. Incessant power cuts are now a trend in the entire region for more than three months and still counting. The electricity utility company, Eneo has never offered any official public statement on the issue. Being at night, the roads were empty. It takes only the courageous to travel during such a time. Since Bamenda-Mbengwi is my road, I wasn't scared of anything. 

From time to time, my rider kept jumping in and out of potholes. He will tell me "Sorry", apologising for something he isn't responsible for, the bumpy nature of the road, but he feels compelled to say it so as to keep his client comfortable.

Before 8pm, I arrived my final destination, Mbon Motor Park, Mile 18 Mbengwi. I noticed some shops and bars were still open, bikes and taxis still steaming around the park. I heard music, I saw people and almost everywhere was lighted. It's not that electricity supply had been reinstated but because Mile 18 is the economic hub of the Momo Divisional Headquarters, Mbengwi, many business persons here had long  resorted to generators. 

Catching Fun at a Classmate's Business Place in Y'de

I will then trek home and as I opened my room with the aide of light from my phone, rats and cockroaches ran helter skelter. Within my one week stay away from home, they became the tenants. As I laid on my bed exhausted, the brief experiences I had in Douala and Yaounde kept march passing on my mind. I slept in good hotels with A.C and WiFi, water system toilet and shower but here I am, back to my one room whose rents I'm even owing for many months. I ate good food. In fact till date I still don't know some of the things I ate, some actually caused a crisis in my stomach whose lone solution was to completely empty the content of my bowels.  

Hundreds of thousands were spent on me for my lodging and feeding by the organisers, an amount that can house and feed me here in Mbengwi for years not days but I'm back to soon start playing hide and seek with my landlord. I felt uncomfortable with the flopping sound produced when using the water system toilet in the hotels but back home, oh how comforting it is when I hear the "toum" sound when using my pit toilet with which I'm accustomed. Talking about shower, that's for Yaounde and Douala. Here, you carry water in a bucket, take it to the bathroom (I don't want to describe how some bathrooms here look like) and use your palms to bathe.

Reporter Set for Friendly Football Encounter 

After sleeping like a corpse, I finally woke up to a Monday morning, ghost town day. Every Monday here in what's now termed "Ground Zero", we stay indoors. The practice was imposed on the two English speaking regions by proponents of secession and has since then, more than two years today been unofficially adopted as a normal way of life. As a bachelor, last week I was eating food I don't even know and abandoning some but today, here I am back to reality. Hunger is looking at me and I'm looking at him too. In Yaounde, with colleagues, we drank from one place to another; beer, whisky, wine, shots, ice. The music was deafening, the DJs mastered their consoles and their "Atalakus" could make you say "To hell with Amba."

In Yaoundé, I was taken to Washing Point where I enjoyed live music. I was taken to Cubana where I saw rogues, prostitutes, urban criminals. Boys and girls here smoke cigarettes and "shisha" alike competitively. Their dressing and dancing styles could provoke one shout "Blood of Jesus" if not familiar with such environment. As an adventurer, I was ready for anything, ready to experience any new thing worth experiencing so that I'll have stories to share.

Catching Fun with Colleagues

One may be tempted to ask me, "With all these enjoyments, why hurry back to Mbengwi?" The answer is simple, no place like home. When I go North, South, East and West, I will always come back home. Such experiences give one a false perspective of life. It's not a bed of roses reason why such moments are often short lived. Like Shakespeare said in one of his literary pieces, "Happiness is an occasional episode in a general drama of pain."

I'm certain any moment soon, I'll hear gunshots and start running for safety. I'll hear my landlord whistling around my room. I will read text messages from those I owe threatening I pay their money else... I will certainly have to let go some of "them" whose basic needs I can't provide. She will soon be asking me "I di chop love?" 

C'est la vie. That's life.

Yaoundé for Beginners

Yaoundé for Beginners

Yaounde is Cameroon's political capital. Almost every Cameroonian whether educated or not knows of Yaoundé either by name or physically. To a few, Yaounde is Cameroon. No doubt stories are recounted daily of first experiences and thoughts of Yaounde.

I recall the 80s and 90s back in the hinterlands of  Mbengwi, Momo Division, N.W region of Cameroon. We grew up imagining Yaounde to be Paradise. Some of the elders that left the village in those days to Yaoundé for greener pastures upon return were automatically nicknamed "Nini reu Yaoundé", " Mama, Aunty, Uncle etc reu Yaounde" meaning Uncle from Yaoundé.

We grew up with the impression that grass does not grow in Yaounde, that all the roads are tarred, streets lighted, storeyed buildings everywhere and simply put, Yaounde in our minds was an Eldorado where money circulates like rainfall and life is just so full of merriment.

We dreamt of the day one family relative will come and take us to Yaounde. The few fortunate kids that successfully went probably for Sumner holidays and came back became stars in the village. We will gather around them to listen to stories about Yaounde. They told us about street lights, tarred roads, storeyed buildings, many cars, spaghetti etc. The attention we paid listening to such could be mistaken for a TV watching session in an uncivilised village. 

Street life in Yaounde

The apex was when these kids spoke French. We will giggle and laugh out loud hearing strange words like "Bonjour", " Ca Va" "Merci". Some of us excitingly ran back home to repeat the words to the hearing of our parents before they slipped of our minds.

That was then. As time went on, things changed so too our impressions. Yaounde soon became a mirage. The Yaounde we had in mind was far from the Yaounde on the ground. In fact, many who later had their own opportunity to also visit Yaounde had their hopes dashed to the wall.

Travelling to Yaoundé, the first worry is with communication. You leave the village thinking French is the lone language in Yaounde. In the bus you take every passenger for a Francophone especially when the lone language of communication you hear is French. You seat there deaf and dumb. Then suddenly somebody answers a phone call and you hear pidgin. Automatically a breeze of relief flows over your body. Anxiety and curiosity grows in you as a feeling of wanting to also be identified as an anglophone grips you. You want to start a conversation. Sooner you realise those who had been speaking French are now speaking English and Pidgin. You now feel confident that you can't get missing in Yaoundé as God has made available for you those to help you find your way out.

Life in Yaounde runs on the fast lane. You greet people and they don't even answer. They don't have the culture of greeting like you will get up in the village and greet the whole quarter. If you don't know how to trace your way, sorry you will be stranded there. In Bamenda for example, a taxi driver upon sensing that you are lost can quench his engine, come out to give you his listening attention and help you find your way. In Yaoundé, a cab driver has at most 5 seconds to listen to you.

Recently I boarded a public transport mini bus from Yassa in Douala to Yaounde. First, passengers are packed in the worn out mini bus like rice in a pot. There are shabby looking boys at the road junction whose daily job is to hunt for passengers to load  buses or private cars and from every passenger, they have a financial commission to gain. For this reason, the scramble for passengers is often more than that which the colonial masters had for Africa. You hear them persuasively convincing you "Yaounde deux place" meaning two seats left but when you get in, you find yourself being the first passenger.

Here, it's like morals are for those who schooled in boarding schools. Both driver and passengers plus park boys are rude. You abuse me, I abuse you. You see a toddler telling an elder "Va la bas" meaning "Get away". Speed too is another issue. One is compelled to quietly seat in the bus and be making his last prayers as the driver speeds off like lightening. The worst is along the way, you come across accident scenes that would've pricked the driver's mind, far from that.

Upon arrival, the park boys are always quick to identify who is new. They quickly rush to assist you  get a taxi to your next destination but sorry, they are out for business not charity. That's how my journey ended at Mvan and I had to take a taxi to Arcacias. The guy was quick to help me saying it'll cost 1000frs which I accepted to pay, after all when there's money on you, your interest becomes reaching your destination. From the fare, you have the impression that its a long distance. Being always vigilant, I read all what transpired with my eyes. He stopped a taxi, discussed with the driver, took 500 from him and I still added him 100 to thank him for helping me. Not up to 15 minutes drive, I arrived my destination. My fare was to be at most 500 but since its their game, they gained from my ignorance.

From Arcadias, I trekked to Biyemassi. Take note this was neither my first nor second time of being to Yaounde. I've been here severally. Biyemassi is more of Bamenda/Buea than Yaounde. Don't bother speaking French. From roadside vendors to hawkers, bike riders etc, almost everybody speaks pidgin. So, it's an Anglophone inhabited community. If you leave your village to Yaounde and pick up residence in Biyemassi, sorry you may return to the village after ten years and still not be able to speak French, to the surprise of all, like one that goes to America and comes back after ten years with no change in accent.

As night fell, I moved round looking for where to lodge. Having done initial findings, I went straight to a motel that had been recommended to me for its affordable price.

At the reception, as I was booking my room to pass the night, a man (highly suspected to be married with children) entered with a young girl. The girl, looking like a ram that was going to be sacrificed wass directed by show of hand to stand at an obscured corner, away from public view. Then the man asked for a room for one hour and was told it'll cost 2500Frs. He protested with the justification that he's a regular customer and has been taking the rooms for 2000Frs. The receptionist told him all the rooms for the price he wanted are occupied. The man asked, how much time is left for one to be free? The receptionist opened her record books for verification and gave the reply, 30 minutes.

Stop. Curious now to continue reading, MoMo 677 44 11 82😂🤣😂🤣

Fact Checking & Fake News Lessons Dished Out to Journalists in Douala

Fact Checking & Fake News Lessons Dished Out to Journalists in Douala

"Fake news is intended to manipulate public opinion." These were the words of Senegalese born Samba Dialimpa Badji, Editor in Chief of Africa Check, Francophone, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Africa Check is Africa's first independent fact-checking organisation launched in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and keep politicians honest.

Fact Checking and Data  Journalism lessons were recently dished out to some 18 media men and women drawn from the North West, South West, Littoral and Centre regions of Cameroon. This was during a 3-day  Training Workshop for Anglophone and Francophone Journalists on Data Usage Techniques for Fact Checking in Times of Crisis dubbed Fact and DataCamp that was organised by ADISI-Cameroon in Douala from July 22nd to 24th 2019 as part of the implementation of its project, Access to Information in the English Speaking Areas in Times of Crisis with financial support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWAS) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Workshop Participants & Speakers

ADISI-Cameroon is an organization working on issues of access to information and freedom of expression plus the  promotion of Open Data and Data Journalism through its Citizen Access to Information platform and DataCameroun.

Fake news is information that's untruthful after verification. Often in the form of audios, videos, pictures, documents, applications etc, fake news is mostly spread through social media with the intention to mislead and manipulate the public, damage a person or institution and make financial gains through dishonestly fabricated headlines that pull readership to the fake news site. It has been observed that states, political figures and institutions often tend to refute any circulated information that doesn't please them as fake news. However, not every fake news is fake reason why fact checking must always be implored to authenticate or refute the claims.

Within the three days of the training workshop, attendees consumed lessons on the context and justification of the ADISI-Cameroon project on Access to Information in the Crisis Hit Two English Speaking Regions of Cameroon. Ever since the escalation of the ongoing Anglophone Crisis that started in November 2016 with lawyers and teachers in Buea and Bamenda peacefully marching on the streets, calling for immediate reforms in the educational and legal systems of the country, the abusive gathering, packaging and dissemination of information has reached its peak.

Samba Dialimpa Badji, Africa Check, Francophone, Main Workshop Facilitator

Paul-Joel Kamtchang of ADISI-Cameroon opines that if all reports on the Anglophone crisis are fact checked, much will be found wanting. Government and the secessionists have fortified the bad practice of countering reports from the other side through propaganda with fake news being their highly used tool for this exercise and as such the crisis persist, in the midst of which innocent civilians pay the price as their basic right of access to information is being trampled upon. He thinks that if journalists fact check their stories thereby doing away with fake news, it'll go a long way to deescalate the crisis.

There are over 150 organizations globally involved in fact checking, a practice born in the U.S in 1920 and by 1923, Time Magazine constituted the first ever fact checking team. Annually, every April 3nd is commemorated as International Fact Checking Day.

Attestation of Participation Handed to this Reporter

Attendees have thus returned to their various regions of origins with firm instructions to implement the knowledge acquired by determining some of the fake news that has remained unverified in their areas and whose verification and clarification remains important to the population. Their findings shall be submitted to Africa Check for eventual publication if validated.

Meta Refugees in Nigeria Smile

Meta Refugees in Nigeria Smile

Ever since the current Anglophone crisis escalated into an armed conflict in 2017 causing many deaths and an increase in the number of internally displaced persons and refugees, hundreds of Meta tribesmen and women are reported to have escaped to seek refuge in Nigeria. Their undesired presence on foreign land coupled with the hard living conditions in the camps spurred well wishers together with constituted bodies to begin visiting these refugees with humanitarian aide. 

In the month of May 2019, some Meta sons and daughters drawn from around the globe virtually merged themselves together to pursue cultural and developmental issues in the Meta clan, Mbengwi. They named themselves MECUDA International. MECUDA stands for Meta Cultural and Development Association. Mr. Walters Chamfor Ndi, former President  General of MECUDA U.S.A and brain behind the formation of MECUDA International then created a WhatsApp forum for the group. Days went by, more and more members were being added to the virtual space and discussions ensued on missions to be accomplished. 

During this period of sociopolitical turmoil in Anglophone Cameroon, the group saw need to reach out to Meta refugees in Nigeria. To achieve this, the mission was divided into two phases. The first phase saw the creation of a commission that was dispatched to Nigeria for their needs assessment and statistics gathering on their numerical strength. This, under the  sponsorship of MECUDA South Africa whose president is Madam Tembon Fayez.

A grinding mill, a generator & a push truck being donated to the Meta refugee community in Nigeria by MECUDA International

Upon returning from mission with their findings, the second phase was then engaged, this time around to offer material assistance to the beneficiaries based on the needs they had expressed, mostly the quest to run a sustainable business . MECUDA U.K under the leadership of Dr. Sabi Humphrey championed this course.

Demographically, there are over four different refugee camps in Nigeria harbouring refugees from across Cameroon. The Ogoja Refugee Camp contains a big community of 10.000 refugees from the North West Region and Momo Division in particular. Amongst them are close to a hundred Meta people with over 90 percent previously living in areas around the South West Region like Ekona, Munyenge, Ekata, Kwakwa and Mbonge. 

From this number, over 60% are mostly females. The adult age ranges between 22 and 65. The oldest male is 57 years of age and the oldest female is 65 years. The statistics gathering mission registered close to 17 adults and 18 young people both males and females. From findings, there are over 80 children in the camp and from this number about 60% live in the camps while 40% are with close relatives out of the camp. The suffering population of the Meta community both in Ogoja Refugee Camp and within the confines of Ikom, the main town is above a hundred and twenty including the young  and the old.

Items being donated by MECUDA International for individual businesses

The refugees at Ogoja Camp are barely living and are at the mercy of God. They are more than dependent. They have small rooms constructed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) of about 2x2.5m squares which is just sufficient to host a single person yet over 3 to 5 persons whose daily activity is to seat and narrate their past ordeals live in a single room. With the explosion in population, the UNHCR can barely feed this number and as a result offers a monthly stipend of 7200 Naira, an equivalent of 13000 Frs monthly for their up keep with little or no medical attention to the sick. With this number, small scale businesses have sprung up around the camp from where those who can't travel to Ikom which is over 70 kilometers from the camp would bear the brunt of the high prices for goods and services within the camp.

  

Amongst the registered number, 90% have nothing doing at all while a few are just keeping themselves busy in what they may call a job. Common jobs around the camp include hawking, marketing, animal husbandry, bike riding, farming, building, carpentry and security guarding. There are seemingly no educational activities going on within the camp  as compared to the multitude of prayer cells and churches. There are a good number of businesses such as beer parlors, retail shops, restaurants as well as hair dressing saloons. There is no electricity but some solar poles planted provide light within the camps during the evening hours. There is no regular water supply but water is transported from a nearby river in drums of thousands of litres and supplied twice within a week by the UNHCR. 

Commission Members at Ogoja Refugee Camp to Execute Mission. L-R: Mayaba William, Amboh Gordon, Ndi Cletus

Going by findings, over 70% of business persons within the camp have migrated from nearby towns and decided to settle around the peripheries located around the camp to hijack the main commercial center  within the camp to supply goods to the refugees. That is why according to reports, the stipend offered as monthly assistance from UNHCR to the refugees, a majority  of them invest it into petty trading by buying items and hawking within the camp.  Some of these items include boiled eggs, pap and puff puff, fried corn and groundnuts, chips, fried fish and chicken etc. Others are involved in fresh vegetables business, second hand wears, electronic gadgets and table market. With the absence of electricity, a very common form of business is the charging of mobile phones which is done with the use of a generator. 

Socially, living standards in the camp are regrettably poor. Due to idleness, prostitution and sexual promiscuity is very alarming and very high rate of pregnancy.  One anonymous source narrated how promiscuity goes on around the camp and why some, especially ladies engage in very unhealthy relationships just for survival.

However, there is security within the camp provided by UNHCR even though crime wave is at a very controllable rate.  From time to time, there are sporting competitions organised within the place to keep them happy. Death rate is also alarming and hardly does a week go by without recording atleast 5 deaths, a proportion we learnt has greatly reduced as compared to 2017 and 2018 where at least two or three deaths were registered per day. A well secured graveyard is just a few hundred of meters to the camp. 

About 70% of the Meta refugees want to come back home and wish the crisis could be over within the next minute while some have vowed to remain in the camp as much as they could except the crisis end with  separation.

Commission members with elderly mother

These findings were presented to Mbengwi Online by Ndi Cletus, member of the commission that visited Nigeria for findings and for donations. Having presented all this data to MECUDA International, a financial support worth over a million was then disbursed for the engagement of phase two of the project. The items bought and distributed were a grinding mill, a generator and a push truck. These were handed to the entire  Meta refugee community to set up a business from which the income raised shall then be used to take care of their basic needs. This because MECUDA won't have time, resources and man power to be visiting always with food aide. The best thing therefore was to provide them a sustainable business. Items were also bought for individual businesses like saloon, table market, building construction, restaurants etc. This donation exercise was carried out on the 7th of July 2019.

"All in all I want to think that it was a very successful journey though the day we took off, it was all hell as we met the Amba guys along the way, some of them committing atrocities on passengers and when we were coming back, it was equally the same scenario but thank God we arrived safely, hoping for better days." These were the concluding words of Mr. Ndi Cletus, a community development facilitator, native of Meta who narrated to Mbengwi Online the A to Z of the Nigerian trip.

At press time, MECUDA is again raising funds in preparation to reach out to Meta IDPs and affected persons in the South West Region. 

Military Burn Material for Renovation of Njikwa D.O's Office, "Amba" Hijack Workers Constructing Cattle Market in Acha-Tugi, Revelations from PIB Follow-up Meeting

Military Burn Material for Renovation of Njikwa D.O's Office, "Amba" Hijack Workers Constructing Cattle Market in Acha-Tugi, Revelations from PIB Follow-up Meeting

Members of the Momo Divisional Performance Follow-up Committee for the evaluation of projects executed from the public investment budget have again met to take stock of what's been done, what's being done and what's still to be done.

This was last Friday July 12th 2019 in the conference hall of the S.D.Os office during which attendees brainstormed on the successes and failures hindering field work.   

Construction of Cattle Market at Acha-Tugi

From reports, it was revealed that both separatist fighters and the military are a hindrance to progress in the execution of a good number of contracts in Momo Division. For example, in Njikwa, materials that had been dumped at the site meant for the execution of a contract to rehabilitate the office of the Divisional Officer were all either destroyed or misused by the military. According to an internally displaced source from the Njikwa Council that attended the follow-up meeting, 600 purlins and 150 rafters that had been deposited at the site were all burnt by the military for wood. Two trips of sand that had also been deposited, they filled in bags and placed round the walls in  their camp for protection. A septic tank that had been dug, they converted it into their pit toilet. As a result, the contractor for his safety, had to abandon the project despite having invested into it.

Likewise an ongoing Mbengwi council project to construct a cattle market at Acha-Tugi is progressing at snail pace because severally, the contractor and his workers have been taken hostage by separatist fighters commonly known as Amba Boys in the area and when money changes hands, they are freed. A worker executing the contract narrated to Mbengwi Online the ordeals they've been going through in the hands of the boys, that each time they want money from the contractor, they just arrest them, the workers and engage into financial negotiations and the requested amounts are never meager. This has caused many contractors to dread executing projects in areas infested by the fighters. The few who bear the risk end up spending hundreds of thousands and at times millions on the fighters.

Earmarked projects for the various sub divisions in Momo Division, that is Mbengwi, Batibo, Widikum, Ngie and Njikwa involve rehabilitation of roads and buildings, construction of  structures, supplies of materials, equipping of offices, electrification, water provision etc for schools, markets, hospitals, libraries, public offices and town halls. Unfortunately, security challenges as a result of the ongoing armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon have caused many of such projects to remain on paper at the detriment of the beneficiaries.

While closing the meeting, the Senior Divisional Officer of Momo Division, represented by Mr. Marceliout Djunang, Chief of Service for Economic and Financial Affairs at the S.D.Os office thanked all for braving the odds to be at the meeting he termed fruitful as deliberations were centred on the development of Momo Division. He also appreciated efforts made by some councils in the realisation of their 2018/2019 projects, particularly the Mbengwi, Njikwa and Andek Council. However, he expressed worries with some councils like Batibo and Widikum whose mayors he encouraged to at least award their projects before looking forth to how they can be realised.

Almost everything for Batibo for the year 2018/2019 is seemingly at 0% and the council wasn't represented at the follow-up meeting. The S.D.Os representative also appreciated contract engineers like MINTPP, MINMAP, Water & Energy for doing a great job on the field while calling on them to be more technical in the execution of their duties. 

Lastly, he disclosed that most projects at the divisional level have been awarded, which is good and to make it better, vote holders with projects below five million francs must do all to realise such.

Outstanding Youths in Bamenda Awarded

Outstanding Youths in Bamenda Awarded

Twenty five youths in Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon have been awarded for their outstanding contributions in various societal domains. This was on Sunday June 31st 2019 at Mansfield Plaza Hotel, Ayaba Street during the 3rd edition of the yearly Youth Motivational Award organised by Young Citizens Contributing Positively (YOCICOPO), a subsidiary of FOMBILLION, a vertically integrated creativity company, creating and providing diversified cultural solutions that add value to brands, minds and lifestyles.

Ndasi Gilbert, Laureate

As a company involved in the media business, Fombillion has been very observant on who is doing what within the Bamenda metropolis. To come out with the final laureates, a judging panel was put in place to investigate through a close and confidential background checks. "We take time to know who is who and see how well they fit into our criteria before choosing a winner for a particular thing they're doing" said Armstrong Fombi, Founder and Group CEO of Fombillion. The award ceremony should have involved youths from the other divisions within the region if not of the ongoing Anglophone crisis that's greatly hindering the smooth functioning of life with the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. "The name YOCICOPO means Young Citizens Contributing Positively. So, it's about citizens of the country and not only Banenda but  because of the warring situation, it's difficult to go beyond Bamenda and we have to sustain the event" added Armstrong Fombi. 

Armstrong Fombi, C.E.O & Group Founder, Fombillion

The laureates were awarded for their good works in fields like agriculture, photography, ICT, motivational speaking, choreography, activism, civil service and many other spheres. Ndasi Gilbert Nyongamsen, a reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Service, CBS Radio Bamenda was recognised for his good works in Peace Journalism. In his acceptance speech, he said; "In my profession, I kept asking myself, what can I do to be different? And so I carved a niche in the concept of peace journalism which is reporting to construct".

He went on to address his colleagues in the profession by saying, "The day you report and two people start quarreling, fighting, stop journalism. The day you report and people pick up  machetes or burn houses, stop journalism. All this because you must be able to protect and preserve the spaces in which you practice  whatever activity." He ended by thanking the awarding body for recognising his efforts in reporting to construct by giving another narrative to the people to understand that the best way to survive is not by taking up arms, insults and hate speech but understanding, tolerance and respect for humanity.

Cross Section of Laureates 

Other awardees were:

Cynthia Wakuna - Motivational Speaker & Human Rights Activist

Oliver Nshom - Motivational Speaker & Leadership Coach

Melvin Songwe Shuye - Youth Trainer & Talent Promoter

Kingsley Sumba Mbanwei - Entertainment & Marketing

Akoh Bruce Ebiko - Agriculture

Ambe Standley Chenwi - Agriculture 

The ceremony ended with a call on the laureates not to sleep on their laurels and be full of themselves but rather take the recognition as a motivation to do better.