Sammy Mbgatta: Looking to the Stars As the Limit

 Speaking People (Meet Sammy Mbgatta) 
By F C Ndi

Sammy Mbgatta

Great people have come to their standing not simply by vision, pragmatism, charisma, trust, and consensus building, but also by lucky circumstances that favoured their goals. No one should put too much stock in circumstances, though. The most accomplished people have been their own best ally in achieving their high standing because they do common things that command respect and admiration.

The CPDM Section President for Misaje cum Municipal treasurer for Nkambe Council is one of the young visionary and charismatic leaders who never put too much stock in circumstances to rise to prominence. His spectacular success in life from a humble background underscores the point. From a council cashier to a municipal treasury while at the same time having served as 1st Deputy Mayor at a very young age, Sammy Mbgatta rose up the ladder as a technician in Council systems. He has served in Belo as municipal treasurer before being transferred to Nkambe in the same capacity. Sammy Mbgatta could be likened to Farfre in the Mayor of Casterbridge who is clutched with the God given charm that everything he “touches is bound to prosper”.

When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: “Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time” he was talking about the likes of Sammy Mbgatta. Thomas Carlyle complemented Wadsworth when he said that ‘Man is only truly great when he acts from his passions’. The name Sammy Mbgatta has become a household name not only among the hard-to-reach and underserved segments of our population but also within political circles for his passion to add value to the value of life. This treasury worker from very humble beginnings can be said to have done what Napoleon left undone especially in the domain of social change and social transformation

Sammy Mbgatta has toiled  labourously for the past two decades to transform lives and build common frontiers for all segments of society in the Bebe Community especially Bebekette where he hails. In doing this, he followed the principle outlined by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that ‘heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight but, while their companies slept, they were toiling upward in the night’ burning the midnight candle of work before making the difference in life. Sammy Mbgatta could have decided like others to do the simple things, but because he believes like Lance Armstrong that ‘Greatness is not a measure of how great you are but of how great others came to be because of you’, he decided to work for the decentralized struture and lowly in our society. Like Bill Copeland he believes that ‘the trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score’. Today, he is scoring because of that firm believe and hard work.

In all what he does, he believes like Harry S. Truman that ‘we must build a world, a far better world - one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected’. In trying to build this world of respect and dignity, a people who are not only made in the image of God but people who are only differently able. His input in the social domain and politics seeks to bring back human dignity into all of God’s creation.

Unlike many  Cameroonians who spend time today asking what Cameroon has done to them, Mr. Sammy Mbgatta rather advise Cameroons like J.F Kennedy that ‘Ask not what your country has done for you, ask what you can do for your country’. It is in this light that for quite sometime now, Sammy Mbgatta has not only been seen a role model in Misaje Sub Division but has been supporting the education of youths.

He is one of the few Cameroonians who think it does not take the masses to change the world. Like Rosa Park, Sammy Mbgatta believes that his actions, though modest they maybe, can change the world. And he is so crazy about it. Today others think he had effectively removed the mountain of poverty in the lives of most poor and disabled persons. Of course, the might have done that but as the Chinese proverb holds ‘A man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones’. Sammy Mbgatta started small, and those who know him insist he has come a long way as he began from very humble beginnings. He only believed in the beauty of his dreams and had the courage to pursue them as Walt Disney put it: ‘All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them’. Sammy Mbgatta has that courage and much more. He is also a man of vision and action. Vision and action are two cardinal ingredients for success and as the Japanese proverb hold: ‘vision without action is daydream; Action without vision is nightmare’. He neither daydreams nor entertains nightmares. This is because of his zeal to recreate the world and knowing like Abraham Lincoln that ‘the best way to predict the future is to create it’, he put into his vision the necessary ingredients that make for social change.

Sammy Mbgatta: The Role Model

Mr. Sammy Mbgatta is an authentic role mode. As Aristotle demonstrated, role models are people whose examples can be emulated. To say that Sammy is a role model is to say that many a Cameroonian youth can look up to him. With the prevailing situation of moral decadence and bad behaviour from the elders, youths hardly have anyone to look up to. What makes Sammy Mbgatta different from others is that he is young and dynamic reasons why the few remaining good examples like Sammy Mbgatta need to be commended and recommended. He has proven that the real opportunity for success is found within the person not the job. As a role model he has laid a foundation for a stronger and healthier society. By all standards, he is a successful young man whose deeds and actions continue to change lives.

As Sidney Greenburg puts it: ‘A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him’ thus making the difference people need in society. In trying to build a healthier society, he has not given in to detractors. As a veritable role model, he has used all the bricks that have been thrown at him to build rather than destroy. Having grown up from a humble beginning to the high ladders of life, Sammy’s story is one of those interesting tales that would always attract public attention.

Sammy Mbgatta remains a man of great spirits. As a man of great spirits, he has always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Animated by the fact that life has two primary choices, which is accepting conditions as they exist, or accepting the responsibility for changing them, Sammy chose to change the conditions of all across Misaje Sub Division and Donga Mantung as a whole.

Sammy Mbgatta: The Politician 

One of the characteristics of Sammy Mbgatta is that he is a public speak and clutches with the magnesium that attracts people. It is not by error that he was elected CDPM Section President for Misaje. Meet him in the field talking politics and we would agree with me that every step and move he takes attract people. Sammy Mbgatta entered politics at a very tender age. In 1996, young Sammy Mbgatta was elected as the 1st Deputy Mayor for Misaje Council while (present mayor) Nkenda Simon Sunde was elected 2nd Deputy. He served the council with a lot of dexterity and later worked hard to becoming an expert in council management after graduating from CEFAM in flying colours. At the age of maturity, he was voted CPDM Section President for Misaje. The moment he was elected Section President, Sammy started transforming politics into a game for development and not false promises. If the political landscape in Misaje is what it is, greater appreciations go to Minister Fuh Calistus and Sammy Mbgatta for the unique touches they are giving politics.

Even though a busy man, he is constantly in the field refreshing memories and winning more militants.

When two or more are gathered to talk positively about the CPDM in order to galvanize more support for President Paul Biya, he is always present. As a genuine politician, he has demystified the long established notion that politics is a systematic organization of hatred. As perfect as he is, he has made politics and development bedmates. He does not only preach politics of development but puts it in practice himself.  Sammy Mbgatta one of the pillars on which the CPDM can lean in Donga Mantung Division. The history of politics in Donga Mantung can never be completed if Sammy’s name is not mentioned. To conclude, he is a force to reckon with and a heavy weight in the field of politics.

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