Nkwenti Simon (CATTU SG) is Dead

 

Nkwenti Simon: The True-born Civil Society leader

It started like a joke and no one believed it. But just within few seconds, the news took Bamenda like storm and then the darkest side of history finally revealed itself that Simon Nkwenti is gone. In less than five minutes Bamenda suddenly turned murky as people started crying along the streets. Students, parents, guardians, civil society activists, okada riders, taxi men, buyam-sellams, civil servants, teachers, in fact everyone was down including this reporter. It was as if the world has come to a stand-still and that the Simon Nkwenti which is dead is not the man I know. The man who could in a matter of minutes move from people of high standards to people who have nothing just to make everyone happy. Dead, Dead has dealt with the Bamenda man again. And truly, Simon Nkwenti is no more. He died at the Bamenda General Hospital after a protracted illness. Many continue to wonder aloud whether Simon Nkwenti’s dead today August 21, 2012 is natural or not. Bamenda is presently a paralyzed city and Chomba village is like a desert of silence by grief, there is total upset and shock in every home. The Bamenda General Hospital was today morning a beehive as thousand gathered to get a glimpse of the departed true-born civil society activist. Hundreds could still be seen trekking towards the hospital even though his corps has been kept at the mortuary.

The city of Bamenda, and the entire North West Region is in a state of shock following the dead of Simon Nkwenti. An atmosphere of stale familiarity now reins in Bamenda, the capital city of the Northwest Region where everyone is skeptical about the future of the Bamenda man without the vocal and agrarian civil society activist.

The word on everyone’s lip today in Bamenda is Simon Nkwenti. The tears on every eye is for Simon Nkwenti. Those who have known him and even those who have only heard of his actions were broken down like pieces metals.
In fact, Simon Nkwenti was a man of extra abilities, a teacher, an advocate, lobbyist and civil society leader. A man who has spent his entire life to right the wrongs of society and a man who stood for the down trodden. As Cameroonians continue to mount his departure, Simon Nkwenti would be remembered as the Executive Secretary of Cameroon Teachers Trade Union who rescued the Anglophone sub system of education from collapsing and he equally took out the teachers from the doldrums to give them a voice. He not only a teacher advocates, but was one of the most dynamic civil society leaders in the Cameroon. With Dynamic Citoyen, Simon Nkwenti became not just a town crier to blue whistles in places where there was high level of corruption but he was the country’s crier who could denounce any malpractices and any time without fear.

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