Synopsis of The Personality of The Year Ta Nformi Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh

 By Mokun Jouny Nelson

Ta Nformi Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh Flanked by Mr. Ngone Ndodemesape SDO for Donga Mantung

Dr Christopher Fomunyoh is one of the most respected voices speaking for democracy in Africa. He serves as the Senior Associate and Regional Director for Central and West Africa at the Washington based National Democratic Institute, NDI.

In this capacity, he has organized and advised international election observation missions in Benin, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar and many other countries.

Since 2000, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh launched The Fomunyoh Foundation (www.tffcam.org) to support humanitarian causes and democratization efforts in

Cameroon. To this effect the Foundation Charity caravan has this far been to seven of the country’s ten Regions including the Littoral, Center, West, Adamawa, North, Far North and the North West Regions. During these visits the Foundation either supported humanitarian and developmental initiatives or provided its modest support to the needy as was the case in March 2015 when it was in Maroua in the Far North Region where the Foundation provided both material and financial support to internally displaced children, victims of Boko Haram exactions. Foundation’s office is in Bamenda, North West Region.

In his primary school days, Dr Fomunyoh attended Catholic School Guzang, then Presbyterian Schools in Ambo and Guzang (both in Batibo Sub-Division) before proceeding to secondary school in Cameroon Protestant College, Bali, one of the oldest and most renowned academic institutions in Cameroon. He later studied in the

Cameroon College of Arts, Science and Technology (CCAST) Bambili, before matriculating in the University of Yaoundé, Faculty of Law and Economics. He holds a Licence en Droit from Yaounde University in Cameroon, a Masters Degree in International Law from Harvard Law School, and a Ph. D. in Political Science from Boston University. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Africa Center for

Strategic Studies and a former adjunct professor of African politics and government at Georgetown University. He also holds a professional certificate in Air Law from the Université d’Aix-en- Provence in France.

Prior to his career in the United States, Dr Fomunyoh worked in Douala, Cameroon;

Ta Nformi Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh: Personality of The Year

first for the Water Corporation, Societé Nationale des Eaux du Cameroun (SNEC), and later for the defunct Cameroon Airlines where he established and ran the Legal Department for close to seven years.

Born August 14, 1956, in Guzang-Batibo, Momo Division, North West Cameroon, Dr

Fomunyoh is married to Mary-Ann and father of three children; Frankline, Brian and Christina. He is perfectly bilingual as he speaks English and French.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)