By Nfor Macbright
 |
| Abanda Marcel CNYC President |
Members of the Cameroon National Youth Council-CNYC were
angered by the fact that the Donga Mantung Divisional and Nkambe Council
Presidents were not allocated seats at the grandstand during their own event.
Tempers flared when the over 400 CNYC members noticed that their executives
were not seated. It is alleged that when a delegation of CNYC members contacted the
protocol officer of the Senior Divisional Officer for Donga Mantung, he said
CNYC was not on his list. Angered by the reply, the youths resolved to call for
an immediate strike action to express their grievances. after agitating for
over 45 minutes, Abanda Marcel, the Divisional President argued them that
violence is the weapon of the weak and not the strong. He said they should go for the march-pass and
that the issue will be taken to the public court, the Press. Allegations are
rife at that Abanda Marcel took over 28 minutes to convince the youths not to
demonstrate or boycott given that majority wanted that they should stage a
protest march. Speaking at a Press briefing in Nkambe, the Divisional President
said that it is really pathetic that they should be sidelined in their own
event. He said Youth Day is purely day reserve for them and not administrators.
Abanda Marcel also told journalists for over four years, the Cameroon National
Youth Council has always played a primordial role during youth days. He revealed
that “we have worked with two Senior Divisional Officers and one Divisional
Delegate for youth affairs without hitches” yet the present SDO, Ngone
Ndodemesape Bernard and the Divisional Delegate for Youth Affairs Nfor Mary,
believe that we have barely nothing to offer”. He continued that CNYC was part
of the organization Committee and was not part of the management committee of
the event. “In the past, we use to receive a token from the SDO’s office or say
Committee to mobilize youths and youth groups to take active part, but this
year, we were ignored”. Abanda Marcel also lamented that even the Junior
Parliamentarian for Nkambe had no seat at the Grandstand. “Why is it that the
administration is making thing difficult for us?” Some of the youths we
gathered had vowed that they would prefer to join the Southern Cameroons
National Youth Council-SCNC than the Cameroon National Youth Council to be
tormented. “Why is this neglect only taking place in Nkambe” he wondered.
Echoes from Nwa, Misaje, Ako and Ndu indicated that CNYC executives were given
seats at the grandstand. At the level of the region, our sources also confirmed
that the regional President for North West represented the interest of the
youth at the grandstand. It should be recalled that in the days of Nseki
Theophile, the Divisional President of CNYC Donga Mantung Division was part of
his entourage. However, dark clouds loom large as to whether CNYC Donga Mantung
Division will not go incomatoes given that majority of the youths have vowed to
quit and seek solace somewhere else. “Youth day is our day and we will not
continue to fold our arms to watch how every time the little privileges we have
a taken away from us. We do not understand why on women day, leaders of women networks are given the pride of place and on Youth Day, we cannot also have the same treatment. In fact I realized that we were being treated like outsiders during our own event but as a leader i had to ensure that there was no boycott or strike action as many of our members preferred”, one member told this reporter after the briefing.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa
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