Hon. PC Fonso's Speech that Created Commotion at the National Assembly

SPEECH PRESENTED BY THE ELDEST MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT HONOURABLE P.C FONSO, ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE FIRST ORDINARY SESSION OF THE 2012 LEGISLATIVE YEAR

-Mr Prime Minister, Head of Government

-The procurer General of the Supreme Court

-Honourable Members of Parliament,

-Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

-Ladies and Gentlemen

Before I proceed, I will like to bid you a warm welcome to the National Assembly of Cameroon.

I am pleased to mount this rostrum today, in my capacity as the eldest member of this august house to open the first ordinary session for the 2012 legislative year, in compliance with the statutory legal provisions.

I thank the Almighty God who continues to keep us alive while we lament the passing of some of our fellow countrymen. In this wise, since we parted company last December, the National Assembly of Cameroon has lost one of its prominent members in the person of Hon. NGALE ADOLF NAMME, Member of Parliament from FAKO in Buea Centre constituency. Born on 15 June 1961 in Buea, he got to parliament as Alternate Member during the 2002/2007 legislative year when he replaced the substantive member, Hon. MEOTO PAUL NJEI, appointed Director of cabinet in the prime Minister’s Office. Hon. NGALE ADOLF NAMME was elected for the current mandate, which he will unfortunately not finish. This session is therefore opening against a mournful backdrop with the demise of our colleague whose funeral is still being prepared. May he be happily welcomed in the land of our ancestors

Your Excellencies,

Honourable Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I now pray you to rise for a minute of silence in honour of our departed colleague

(Minute of silence)

Mr Prime Minister,

You are no stranger in this chamber but today you are entering this hall for the first time after your re-appointment at the helm of the Government of the Republic following the presidential decrees reorganizing and appointing the government on 9 December 2011.

N my capacity as the eldest Member of Parliament here present and on my behalf, I am pleased to extend to you our sincere and heartfelt congratulations on the confidence the Head of state has renewed in you.

We are also pleased to have in our midst Mr AMADOU ALI, former Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and keeper of the seals, now Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Relations with Parliament.

To the other compatriots who have joined the Government, to those who have been maintained I their portfolios or have changed portfolios, I extend to them the same congratulations and the total encouragement of the august house. Nevertherless, I would like to tell especially the new comers who will be rubbing shoulders with the elected People’s Representatives for the first time that there shall be no favour. As representatives of the sovereign people, we would as usual dispassionately continue to ensure the interest of Cameroonians with the same foresight, without resentment but always in a bid to oversee the full development of all and sundry.

Of the major overarching projects and the implementation of the new agricultural policy. The materialization of these projects shall undoubtedly be the main focus of the seven year term of the President of the Republic. Has he not taken a commitment to lead Cameroon to  growth and prosperity and to put the country back on track so that it will be an emerging country by 2035? The success of such an endeavour shall largely depend on Government’s resolve and willingness.

Practically, the successful execution of all these projects arouses hope in the population which is foreseeing a fertile ground for individual and collective development.

Already, the Nation’s Representatives through the eldest member that I am hereby commend the new government of the republic for initial actions undertaken since it assumed office notably, the institution of a roadmap for each Ministry. These are reassuring actions because they herald that the era of evoidance of duty and inertia is over. Congratulations especially for the urgent work that is ongoing at the nine road construction sites amounting to 100 billion CFA Francs. The award of these contracts through mutual agreement clearly shows that it is really time for action.

The Nation’s Representatives wish that the same diligence should be shown to the other projects geared towards improving the supply of energy, water, health services and the training of youths.

With regards to the training of youths, members of parliament hail the rapid development of the university of Bamenda and the preservation of the achievements of the University of Maroua- these recently created state universities in Cameroon.

We also acclaim the presidential decree which was made public last Friday fixing amounts and mode of paying documentation and research allowances to staff of primary and secondary Education. This proves beyond doubts that the authorities are attentive to the needs and complaints of teachers. Obviously, these new allowances shall upgrade the livelihood of our compatriots of he primary and secondary Education.

Excellencies,

Honourable Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Even the highest state authority has acknowledged that the functioning of ELECAM during the last presidential election in Cameroun was flawed in the discharge of its duties.

In fact, ELECAM was entrusted with the organization of the electoral process so as to ensure transparency and sincerity of votes cast. However, there were some organizational lapses which although did not impact so much on the outcome of the polls, raised concerns on the ability of ELECAM to play its full role. I am therefore pleased to observe that following the instructions of the Head of State, the public authorities and ELECAM are called upon to take the bull by the horns in a bid to correct these flaws through the recompilation of voters’ lists. Moreover, they have been requested to embark on biomentric registration which is a state of the art technique of identification so as to check the phenomenon of multiple voting.

We highly commend this bold and wise decision by the authorities. At last, we are convinced that henceforth the repeated commitments to enhance the electoral process were not a hoax.

The eldest member and all the members of parliament praise the historic move. I am therefore appealing to all the stakeholders concerned to be fully committed because it s believed that all misunderstandings and fears have  been dispelled through the consultations between the Government and ELECAM. We now hope that future elections shall be free, fair and transparent during the registration, conduct and proclamation of the results.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would not conclude my speech without mentioning the forthcoming celebration in Buea of the fiftieth anniversary of the reunification of Cameroon. Twelve months ago from this same rostrum, I expressed the wish to see this event actually take place. My wish was that this event should be guided by historical considerations and not politics nor politicking so that our offsprings and the international community can really be imbued today. From the bottom of my heart as eldest Member of Parliament would say: “thank you president Paul Biya”. While waiting to be part of this event, by God’s grace, I would like to tell Cameroonians that the announced celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the reunification of Cameroon, just as was the case with the fiftieth anniversary of independence, should not be construed as a favour to Anglophones. The event concerns all compatriots from North to South, East to West, Moslems, Christians, Animists, Anglophones and Francophones. Inspite of our differences and political leanings, posterity shall hold that 1^st October 1961 was the beginning of reconciliation and national unity which today are the most obvious values in the building of our country. If I were to use a slogan, I would say: Together let’s go in for the fiftieth anniversary of reunification!!! Buea is the place to be come that day.

As regards the continuation of our proceedings during this session, we will in the days ahead elect the Bureau of our House for the new legislative year. These elections are in line with our vibrant democracy and also showcases the vitality of our house.

I know many of us may not be enthusiastic as the legislative period is already coming to an end. But as patriots, we need to overcome such feelings for, with or without us, the republic will continue to forge ahead. Like young Athenans, it is incumbent on us to bequeath this fatherland better than we met it

May I also over emphasize the need for you to uphold the dignity of our work and status. Be it the impending elections of the Bureau, or all the other issues that will be tabled before you for scrutiny, you would have to show maturity, objectivity and seriousness. In other words, the common weal must prevail in all that you will have to do.

With these pieces of advice from the eldest member, I once more welcome you to the National Assembly and wish us total success in our deliberations. I now declare open the proceedings of the first ordinary session of the National Assembly for the 2012 legislative year.

Long live the National assembly!

Long live Cameroon!

Thank you.

SDO Slams Ban on Kwifon, others

Following the bloody confrontation that took place in Ndu sub Division in Donga Mantung Division of the Northwest region of Cameroon, the Senior Divisional Officer has slammed a ban on public manifestation of the two traditional secret groups(kwifon and Mbsoh). According to well-placed sources, the SDO has said these two groups have been banned from all public manifestations until further notice. The musical album that ignited the bloody confrontation between members of the two secret groups and members of the Cameroon Baptist Convention-CBC has also been banned from circulation for infringing into the  Mbum tradition. Yet, traditionalists are of the opinion that the decision by the SDO was one-sided and that the provocation came from the Christians musical album. There is tension in Mbumland, even though the SDO for Donga Mantung Division is quoted to have aired that a commission will be put in place to study the situation. Sources say three people are reported arrested and more than five reported hospitalized. However, the situation critical minds say could easily go out of hand if the situation is not handled with alot of care and tactfulness. It should be remembered that the Kwifon (nwarong) is the supreme  traditional secret society in the grassfeild and is never tampered with. "Never in the history of our tradition has the kwifon been banned" one elderly person told me on phone. Notwithstanding when contacted on phone, the SDO said he took the decision to calm flaring tempers because if it continues many people will to prison.

Mayhem Between Traditional Secret Societies and Baptist Church at Ndu

By Faison Jr  in Ndu

An atmosphere of insecurity now looms in Ndu, Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region of Cameroon following hostilities between some Christians of the Cameroon Baptist Convention-CBC and members of some traditional secret groups. According to information gathered, the tension in the air is as thick as nimbus clouds.  Sources say the car of the field pastor was destroyed yesterday night and that it was thanks to the timely intervention of the administration of Donga Mantung Division and some elite that flaring tempers shrink back.

Yet, eyewitnesses’ account that as late as 10 pm; there was serious confrontation between members of two traditional secret groups and some young CBC Christians. The church according to information gathered is accused of plagiarizing kwifon and Bsoh sounds into church songs. Members of the secret traditional groups according to information gathered have vowed that they will not allow Christians of the CBC to destroy the traditional institutions. A school of thought holds that traditional practices have been so rampant to the point that do not respect human rights while another school of thought holds that the CBC church has exaggerated its attack on traditional setups to the point that every time a masquerade is passing, some Christian always challenge its authority by standing while everyone is expected to bow down. More so, traditionalists are aghast that the CBC church has gone as far banning Christians from attending village development meetings, funeral celebrations and even participate in community works. Besides, the church is also accused of trying to destroy traditional norms such as refusing Christians to sell the local liquors like sha, white mimbo and even beer. The truth is that the long accumulated grievances between the CBC and traditionalists have finally found a crack to explode to violence level. Happening ahead of the upcoming CBC national convention expected to take place in Ndu, there is doubt as to whether the stalemate would not jeopardize the smooth running of church activities. What is however very annoying steams from the fact that traditionalists have time and again argued that when the first missionaries arrived in Mbum land, the very traditional societies that they want to destroy stood for them. “Our tradition is part of our identity and we will not accept the church to ruin it” one old man is quoted to have exclaimed yesterday night.

There is this story that the “ngiri secret society” in one of the villages in Donga Mantung Division has intensified a manhunt for a young CBC Christian who is alleged to have disappeared from the village. Members of the occultic group according to what we gathered are accusing the Church pastor for masterminding the plans for him to escape and also providing funding for him to go to school contrary to their wish that he should remain in the village to serve the village secret society.

According to a close family member who preferred not to be named, Ngeh Emile Molar disappeared from the village after his family got a hint that plans were underway for him to succeed his late grandfather. His family was placed under strict surveillance by members of the sect. However, a member of the family earlier hinted this reporter that Emile Ngeh was raised in a typical Baptist church tradition reasons why his family doesn’t understand why their son should be forced into a sect because one of their grandparents was a member.Yet, they cannot openly challenge the decision of the 'ngiri secret society", for fear of being victimized or chased out of the village.

The very dreaded leader of the group "Shey Tobby" is quoted to have said that if found Ngeh Emile Molar must be initiated to take the seat of the grandfather because no-one is above the decision of the members of the sect. And since the young man disappeared from the village, there have been threats of very high magnitude from some members of the occultic group to the point that his parents were fined to pay seven calabashes of wine, seven fowls and seven goats. Even with the payment effected, a close family member hinted that they are not at peace since ever-since information started circulating that the young man was studying at the Yaounde II University. The family is regretting that their son who loved to be an agriculturalist and was always ready to work on their farm and or supervises work after school has left a vacancy in the family. But the father hinted this reporter that he would prefer his son out of the village than to serve a sect.

Ngeh Emile Molar, Victim of obnoxious traditional practices

The most pathetic thing is that if Ngeh Emile accepts to be enthroned, he will be kept in an isolated secret house for seven years which implies that his eucation will be frustrated. After seven years, he would then be presented to the public and will be honoured with the title of “Shey Ngiri”. During the seven years, according to traditional norms, he will have no contact with any other person, visits the parents only at night and is forced to wear only one dress. Being a student, Ngeh Emile’s future is on a scale giving that if he accepts, the next seven years will be wasted. However, youths have been expressing their anger on some of these traditional practices that deprive them of their rights. It is considered as an abuse of human Rights.

It is also alleged that a young man, whose name we got as Nfue Richard is reported to have been beaten to the point of near death by members of the sect who was a housemate to Ngeh Emile at Yaounde II Soa. According to what we gathered, members of the secret society got wing of the information that Emile was studying at the Yaounde II University and decided to send for his arrest. Fortunately for the young man, when the gurus arrived his small house, he was not at home. When the members of the so-called ngiri sect stormed the suspected house that night, they fell on the wrong person and gave her the beating of her life before realizing that it was the wrong person. The population that gathered as well as forces of law and order could not intervene due to the very spiritual nature of the young men. According to a village source, if anyone dared to intervene, he or she may lose his or her life in very mysterious circumstances.
A story is told how a uniform officer lost his manhood after detaining one the children of a village elder caught in petit theft. As of date, the whereabout of the young Emile is unknown even to members of the family. The fact that elders continue to impose certain traditional practices on young boys and girls is creating a lot of conflict like was the case in Ndu where another secret societies clashed with young Christians.

Gerard Ngala Coroneted “Ta Nformi”

There is a common saying that great men are known by their actions. Those who took the pains to travel to Bamenda to attend the fundraising organized by the Nkambe Cultural and Development Association-NKACUDA would agree with me that HRH Fon brahim JAPBFU of Nkambe is a great ruler. It never took the fon of Nkambe much to acknowledge and recognize Gerard Ngala’s development prowess.

Flanked by his notables and elites, the fon of Nkambe during the groundbreaking colourful ceremony recognized the contributions of Gerard Ngala in fostering development efforts. He said that the support Gerard Ngala has given to communities in Nkambe Central especially the education sector merits recognition. There was fanfare and seventh heaven when he placed the red feather on Gerard’s cap and named him “TA Nformi Education”. It should be noted that it is thanks to Gerard Ngala that over 3500 pupils in 90 schools in Nkambe Central can now study freely giving that he recently donated tons of volumes of books to examination classes. The fon of Nkambe explained that with support from people of value like Gerard Ngala, the Mbum community will no more experience brain drain. Ta Nformi Gerard as he is popularly called now donated over 1 million FCFA as his personal contribution during the fundraising exercise to support NKACUDA activities. Speaking earlier during the fundraising, the National President of NKACUDA, Captain Chuye Mbonkur expressed gratitude to all and sundry for support the timely support. He said NKACUDA as a cultural and development association will continue to support individual and collective efforts that will foster unity and progress in Mbum land. He also thanked Mbum elite and others for the timely support and promised that the funds raised will be used judiciously for the purpose it is intended. It should be noted that over 3 million FCFA was raised during the occasion that took place under the patronage of the fon of Nkambe. In appreciating the generous contribution by Gerard Ngala, NKACUDA National President said Ta Nformi Gerard Ngala is a role model. 

Coming at the heels of the 2012 legislative and parliamentary elections, the elite who many of them stand for Gerard have expressed their support to see that Gerard leads the change that is badly needed in Donga Mantung Division. Gerard Ngala who is presently distributing maize seeds to farmers in all the villages of the municipality through his organization known as the Organization for the Improvement of Standard of Living many say they would start galvanizing to see that he emerges MP for Nkambe Central. With current reforms being carried out by ELECAM, the elections may spring a lot of surprises observers say.

Kah Walla: The Woman with Presidential Ambitions

The most comfortable act on earth they say is to fulfill ones dream. Mss Kah Walla, the Coordinator of Cameroon O’Bosso and founder of Strategy cum is not a woman to pigeon hole with. Even though some people are of the opinion that far away hills always look very green, female Presidential candidate for 2011 Presidential Elections when looked closer she is as green as green pepper. To begin with, Kah Walla is a very brilliant woman. The chair lady of CCP is not someone to pigeon-hole with.

With Strategy, a not for profit organization she was able to move mountains reasons why the World Bank selected her among the most brilliant enterprising African women. In fact, Kah Walla has an International reputation that makes a great difference with her peers. The truth about Kah Walla is that she is first of all very courageous and result-oriented. While in the Social Democratic Front where she occupied the privileged position of head of the Strategic Committee she was as excellent and accurate as a mathematic teacher. Being a woman did not hinder her from performing the most demanding and strategic role for the SDF party. Yet, Kah Walla decided to quit the SDF to be record holder as the ever first Cameroonian woman to declare her ambitions to rule Cameroon. Waoo, a woman with Presidential ambitions is not just any Jack, Dick or Harry but someone who knows she has the potentials. However, Kah has become a force to reckon with in Cameroon and one of the few politicians that creates panic when she addresses burning issues.

Kah Walla is a good orator and a perfect public speaker from the agglomeration of her education. As a graduate from Howard, she is not just a product of fineness but also she is smart and proactive.  She has the God-given knack that she is clicked by the charm that easily convinces people. When she launched her Presidential race to the Unity Palace, the Kahwallamania syndrome took Cameroonians like the hike in the prices of coffee and cocoa took farmers unaware last February.

As a trainer, Kah Walla holds record for setting up a structure that is recognized worldwide. In Cameroon, she has empowered hundreds of youths. From Europe to America, she has left a mark of greatness as a leader. Get her from sleep and challenge her to a debate and you would realize that she is all Cameroon need to effect change. To any body who wants to enjoy Kah Walla do not go to challenge her, go to discuss with her and you will not regret for having met such a super intelligent woman. She is of the school of thought that holds the conviction that Africa is rich but the problem is with it leadership. The range of her level headedness has attracted the world not just because she is a woman for that matter rather because she appears to come from a rare breed of woman

Madame Achidi Achu Judith Yaah Sunde: Pictogram of Fame

Madame Achidi Achu Judith Yaah Sunde is a woman of additional qualities. This is a woman who unlike others is busy round the clock. As a seasoned administrator, she believes like Immanuel Kant that “the more we are busy, the more we feel we are alive and contributing for the welfare of others”. Her educational background coupled with her devotion to be perfect has made her to transform the principle of education for work into the principle of education through work. Reasons why she puts youths ahead in all her actions and also believes that by empowering the rural women and youths she would be an avenue par excellence to change lives through work. As a Christian, she believes like Martin Luther King that “working is praying”. One prelate once said that every human natured person is made up of the human and the divine and that when the divine overrides, the human one becomes closer to God. Yet, Madame Achidi Achu Judith goes beyond that by making work the divine with the human as a pairs.

Last year, she donated a football trophy worth a million FCFA for youths in Donga Mantung Division to celebrate the 50 Anniversary of Cameroon’s independence in grand style with over 20.000 man crowds in attendance during the finals reasons why couple with all what had done for the welfare of rural women, Donga Mantung Fons honoured and coroneted her Senior Ma-Yaah of Donga Mantung division.

Accompanying rural women through support has been her line of action in fostering women empowerment. What makes her dissimilar from others is that she does uncommon things in a very common manner. 

In the Littoral and South West regions where she served as Regional Director of CAMTEL, she left an indelible mark of greatness that speaks positively and confirms the aptitude of women in leadership positions. In the Southwest Region she succeeded in putting in place the optic fiber. In the North West, she is also noted to have transformed the entire service into a bee hive of activities. Notwithstanding, Madame Achidi Achu Judith Yaah Sunde is also a great supporter of the CPDM. In the political arena her presence in Donga Mantung Division is often described as a booster to youths and the woman folk. If you have never met a cheese full of prominence, get closer to Sr Ma Yaah Achidi Achu Judith to rediscover her role as a woman emancipator.

Hon. Rose Abunaw: Symbol of Hard Work

Hon. Rose Abunaw is CPDM Member of Parliament for Manyu in the Southwest region. Her rise to fame in the field of politics can easily be justified by the statement that life is a journey. In fact, John Bungam’s pilgrim progress is a classical expression of this truth that clearly portrays her as a political genius. To start with, she is a multi talented woman and describing her as a genius is to use one of the weakest dictions to illustrate a genius. She is smart and has the thoroughness that is hard to come by.  Anyone who comes across her for the first time is attracted by her cultured manners which have made her a career politician.

She is always exceptional everywhere she goes. She started her political progress in the UNDP party where she got her first ticket to Parliament. Pregnant with political maturity and strategies, her desire to express her political ideas freely and pragmatically made her to move to the CPDM party from the UNDP. Prophets of doom who were quick to predict her down-fall but were shocked when she trashed canned her opponents’ majority of them men to emerge victorious in her new garment. It is that mastery in grassroot politics and doing little things that matter in a common way that has raised her to be cherished by all and sundry in Manyu. She later became the 3rd Vice President at the National Assembly and a pragmatic climate change campaigner. To understand that she has the God given magnet that attracts people and that she is a career politician, meet her in the field and you would agree with me that she is a celebrity.

While she has been transforming lives through micro projects, and doing the same like Mother Teresa, Hon. Mafor Rose Abunaw is also an advocate against female genital mutilation. She has always been apt to stand up against people in society that keep others in abject poverty for the sake of a few who have wealth and power. To her, the door of success only opens those who value hard work. Hon. Rose Abunaw is on record for having opened the road that links Batibo to Manyu, reasons why where she is succeeding some men have tried and failed woefully.

Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje: The Role Model

Prof. UPHIE: The Role Model

Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje is a frontline researcher, like other result oriented researchers, she is transforming theory into practice. Moving research results from the laboratory into the field of production has been one of her major achievements. In the past, accusations have been more compounded by the fact that research results never go beyond the laboratory. Reasons being that majority of the research results never tie with local realities because most of the researchers prefer to think globally and act globally. Welcome Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje who is a mark departure from the madding crowd because she thinks globally and act locally. As a woman she has shown proof of being a systematically thought out of the box. As a researcher and a woman for that matter, she has always been worried why there are practical problems to be solved in society and researchers spend time in abstract things. She is one of those rare researchers who believe in the value of work. Far from being an academic exercise, she is of the school of thought of Beacon who saw research and the acquisition of knowledge as planned work. Knowing that everything in the world is purchased by labour, Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje put herself to education and learning that would make her useful in the field of work. And being a God fearing person, her inspiration has often come from Genesis 1:28 which states that: “replenish and subdue it”.  It is therefore a noble sentiment that she has not only replenished the earth but has been subduing it.

As General Manager of the Local Material Production Authority-MIPROMALO, she has been redefining the use of the earth especially it soil. Through her meritorious research work, she demonstrated that local materials are more resistant and she succeeded in putting local construction materials at the front stage in Cameron. That is how she is transforming President Biya’s greater ambition program.

While others in her position will certainly wear arrogance and snobbishness, she remains down to earth and accommodative. Back in her Constituency, Prof. Uphie Melo initiated and established the Creative Women Center, which is a model in empowering the rural woman. Yet Prof. Melo still goes beyond that to make work the divine with humanity as she believes God makes Himself in all the things. Her successes in politics, development work, research and empowerment has earned her countless awards and merits. She is therefore one of those celebrities that Cameroonians continue to admire during the Month of the woman and look up to as a role model. Meet her in the field discussing politics and you understand she is perfect.

Pochi Tamba Nsoh: The Young Genius

What keeps the world going is trust but it is not a given to have trustworthy people. Rudyard Kipling, one of the finest English writers once said that “if you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat the two the same, yours is earth and everything that is in it”. This is a simple fact and it is referred to one person, Pochi Tamba Nsoh.

She is a journalist by profession and vocation. What is important about this young and talented journalist is that she is innovative, down to earth and fertile in expedients. So when we talk of a vocation, it simply implies that Pochi is not just working as a journalist for money but on the contrary she works as a journalist to serve people. Pochi Tamba Nsoh is a golden voice on CRTV Morning Safari program. She falls within the ranks of the new breed of leaders born with extra abilities to lead. If we go by Albert Einstein who declared that genius is 1/10 inspiration and 9/10 perspiration, Pochi is a genius. This means that for somebody to be termed a genius that person must be a workaholic. In this light, Pochi Tamba merits to be cited among women celebrities if not the story of women who acts as role model to young girls will remain incomplete. What is so interesting about Pochi Tamba Nsoh is that she has leadership qualities that are very rare in women.

As initiator of Africa’s most vibrant youth organization, Pochi believes in group dynamism. What people do not know about Pochi is that she introduced the notion of youth renaissance, dynamism and mobilization when she initiated the Network of African Youths for Development-. If youths in Cameroon could today be talking proudly about the Cameroon National Youth Council, Pochi saw that vision long ago.  If Mother Teresa became a celebrity it is because she did extraordinary things and Pochi at her age is not far from Mother Teresa. Meet her for a discussion then you will discover you have met a genius. When Pochi is on the microphone, the courage and the frankness she expresses tells you that only a person without skeletons in the cupboard can attempt. It is this frankness that has made her the most admired woman among women. She is a lady of a specific class. Cameroon they say is Africa in miniature and it is indicative that role models are bound to be in Cameroon in all walks of life. What obtains today is that Pochi is making the Anglophone community proud at CRTV. On face book with her group Pochi and friends, she is a motivator.

Hon. Esther Ngala Ntala: Self Motivated Sparkling Politician

Lone SDF Female MP

To be a female political giant in is just like driving along the Bamenda Ring Road where you need to withstand all the odds against you. And trying to change the mentality of a society that was purely male dominated is also an up hill task that only dynamic women can overcome.

Yet, Hon. Esther Ngala Ntala, SDF Member of Parliament for Ndu in Donga Mantung Division of the Northwest region is one of those exemplary female politicians who have dismantled these barriers. Before becoming a career politician, her hard work, determination and involvement in community work and sound education shaped and influenced her life to where she is today.

This good natured, self-motivated and sparkling political icon has had a distinguished career as a teacher before a jump-start in politics where she is going into records in great names. Conscientiously speaking she has been rated as the agrarian political messiah who continues to stimulate the woman that “what a man can do in politics, a woman can likely do it twice”. This is great motivation because she is and continues to make a difference in the lives of the rural woman. From Taku to Ntundip through Ndu, Ntumbaw, right down to Luh, Ngarum, Talla, Mbipgo, she moves from women of little and no education to learned ones. Her success story as a politician is the beginning of a new page for women. Skilled with political strategies, Hon. Esther Ngala Ntala remains a force to reckon with in Mbumland. Despite her prestigious position as MP, Hon. Esther Ngala still believes in the African root concept because she remains a mother and a home maker. As an educationist, she has a soft spot for the education of the girl child. Before going to Parliament, she was the President of the (Wimbum) Mbum Women in Bamenda with a membership of over 7.000. She helped set up a micro credit for woen in Ndu where more than 500 women have changed their lives.  

Besides, she was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Grassfeild Participatory and Decentralized Rural Development Project-GP DERUDEP. All these positions were not handed to her on a platter of gold but were as a result of hard work and merit. At the National Assembly, she is the Chairperson of the Social Committee. Yet, Hon. Esther Ngala moves along with innovation, meet her on her political trips and you would have met a politician of great magnitude. Furthermore, she is also one of those MPs that have continued to caution farmers and grazers on the phenomenon of climate change.

H.E Ama Tutu Muna: The Woman Emancipator

If there is any area in Cameroon where the Beijing platform can be assessed, it is the Ministry of Culture headed by Mafor Ama Tutu Muna. This woman has shown that women in leadership could mean a lot to Cameroon. Ever since this daughter of the great statesman, late Solomon Tandeng Muna became the Minister of Culture, the ever first woman to lead that Ministry, she has become a symbol that women in leadership position could mean a lot to Cameroon. Hitherto considered a no go zone for women, Ama Tutu has not only dismantled the male barriers constructed round that Ministry but has more importantly handed some key positions to women. Another key innovation has been the transfer of authority from the tortuous and rugged CMC to SOCAM with a woman at the head. Since her appointment, Ama Tutu Muna had helped a great deal in transforming President Biya’s policy of greater ambitions to greater achievements. Even though a cabinet minister, Ama Tutu remains approachable. She talks and acts with untiring sociability.

Yet, it is this quality which immensely complements her multifarious roles. That she now occupies that seat of culture Minister is not fortuitous. Before her appointment as Minister of Culture, she had already learned to cope with the cultural demands of such positions. Hard work and efficiency have continued to be the qualities that define her. When you call at her office, you are taken to a waiting room where you need to be patient as she is on an important or some of those critical files that demands a lot of concentration. Take it as arrogance and you are right for this is positive arrogance that enables that job for which she was appointed to be done effectively. It is this positive arrogance that always determines the quality of ideas and projects that comes out of that ministry and which tells you that she is not a woman who takes task lightly.

Notwithstanding, she has the drive and dedication that defies any facile explanations. Born into a politician’s family, Mafor Ama Tutu Muna was brought up in close knit family where as the only girl she was never allowed to idle while others work. In later life she could not escape to be a workaholic or become a politician par excellence reasons why she formed the Abi Fall Sub Section of the CPDM and is continuing from where the father left with a lot of dexterity. Mafor Ama Tutu is also on record to have initiated the Mbengwi Women Cooperative to combat the plight of the rural woman and besides, she is also the brain behind the creation North West Women’s Forum.



Ama Muna: Minister of Culture



For the Mess, Vote Them Out!!!

When I was a child and just waking up to the world, my father told me that politicians are good liars and they also think that they have the prerogative to lie whenever they want.  And that they always promise to help the middle class and the poor but after all is said, the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow larger and poverty levels have remained essentially unchanged.

Now I have also discovered that instead, for the majority of us, living of Mbum land the situation is precarious. The specie of politicians we have right now are increasingly exclusive, increasingly thorny and increasingly annoying. I have observed that government has already proven itself to be out of control and virtually unmanageable as it’s secrete agents spy for heavy pay packages from politician. In fact, Donga Mantung voters don't need to make lives worse by giving failed politicians even more power and resources to waste.  I mean the votes.

What can be done?

Whether we are of the ruling party, opposition, presidential majority, proposing opposition or others, every voter should vote against every incumbent every time until those elected to office understand they must deliver on campaign promises. This is the only way to re-inject integrity back into the heads of these professional liars called politician.

Politics as Ronald Reagan once said: is supposed to be the second oldest profession. But I have come to realize that it bears a very close similarity to the first. Recently, I saw some of them who behave like people of the first oldest profession back in the field with the same hawks in Mbum (Wimbum) land in Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region. I pity them because they can never learn. Their new strive is governed by the concept of “kill man pay” with money embezzled. Although I still carry in me the picture postcard my father told me, today I have seen that in addition to what my father told me, politics in Donga Mantung especially Mbum land has transformed human beings to a more confuse set of people ready to act upon and unwrap. In fact, politics in Nkambe Central where it is rumoured the reconciliation between two SDF giants rigged lives is completely a different version dispensable to anybody building a fuller perception of the psychosomatic effects and causes of the transformation that has made human beings to continuously behave like fools. In Nkambe, the political scene has created kings without kingdoms. Some sort of a story that reveals the effects of gluttonous politicians caught between new ideologies and old identity crisis. And worst of all, I saw how power-drunken elitist conservationists have transformed selves into weapons of mass destruction because they are blinded by the conflict of self-interest and war of words.

Even though politics have turned some politicians to wolves, lions and leopards, the intrigues, conflicts, backstabbing and underdevelopment had really never meant anything to me until that day. I mean the day I became a topic in a secret political meeting in Nkambe for criticizing a politician (Hon. Awudu Mbaya). From this stand point, I have learned two important things. That first when it comes to politics, people go temporarily insane and that if any politician sees you as a challenge, you should watch out for unorthodox practices because they send people behind you with pocketed fine particles to pin you down. As Richard Day once put it “people would only discover something special about their inner strength when they are tested like a metal that can only achieve its real hardness at the highest temperature”. That is the strength I have gotten just like a frog that when tested in a heating tube and I adapted to the temperature. But the most serious threat to those who think and make-believe that they are the political kings in Mbum land is that they are not so perfect in the adapting game at varied goals, on the contrary, they have stupefied the Mbum man in a way that their problems and solutions have become one and the same. They have agreements that are never respected, sentence their party colleagues, backstab and use them like toys. I am seeing some people being fooled again.

I do not know whether the present intrigues, attacks and threats by politicians on free opinioned critics makes Donga Mantung a perfect Hobbesian state of nature but it is to me probably the closest description to it that exist in Cameroon. I am very happy that every Tom, Dick and Harry (politicians) would spare no efforts to dish out lessons to practicing journalists on ethics in defiance of the fact in society, the best are found in journalism and the dullest in politics. Though apocryphal, the Mbum political kingmakers like Hitler who sprout the minds of the unkempt frequenters of the kitchen soup would sooner or later discover the political shrewdness, amazing limitations and the weaknesses of the contemporary political lights as it matures to a monster rhythm. Oh yes, the hostilities between Hon. Awudu Mbaya and Mangoh may soon resurface as he told Mangoh never to give money to corrupt administrators because he (Mangoh) will quit in 5 or 6 months. We na fight again, we know you!!! Behind the curtain I hear the Nkambe kingmaker has already crowned journalists next mayors. Good news for me, bros welcome to the club. Sincerely speaking I support one and the other to hell.

Even though some say I am invisible and so on, above all, what I know is that God is my keeper and no one born of a woman would take-off my life. But what if I die today? My own blood brother will be happy. Yes, I will not be the calamity of the politician because my life now is just like that of an audience watching a live play on stage where the spectators at anytime could move up to the theater and interrogate the actors at their will because there are no pull-backs. Luckily God provided the pull-backs.

Eventually I have discovered that the life of a politician is like in a scene where you are searching elements of truth in a dark cave with a candle in hand and just when you think that you have spotted the white light of truth, you intensify the chase just to discover that it is someone also holding a candle and looking for the light of truth. Many things are so constant in Life, and among them is Change. Just like a wise man that having gone through such an experience described Life as what happens while you are busy planning other things. I remember my father told me on May 26, 1994 that change has no forecast because Changes happen just like marital status do change immediately a young man gets marry, separate, divorce, or remarried. Change in Mbum land is now or never.

If not of the fact that dubious money has made politicians super human beings just like (fools) nowadays command respect more than an ambitious young man who work with his brain, I doubt whether those who mistakenly found themselves on the upper stairs because of the state of nature of politics and of man, would have a say in society. I mean people whose homes should be prison yards because societies in which journalists are found-can never coincide with its political representation. Journalism which is my choice and where I stand to die today is; the province of selfless servants of the truth. As someone once put it “for journalism to thrive and play its role as the fourth Estate, politicians must always remain a news subject, not news partner! Otherwise we may be manipulated into confusing freedom of talking with freedom of speech”. Forget!!! Who ever told you that we are blinded and what about you who was tricked by these monster politicians? It would be remembered that journalists were the “enemies” list of Nixon, unearth during the Watergate scandal in the USA; Nixon’s aim was to use government machinery to screw political enemies. Since it is clear that politicians are the same and like Nixon, they all consider everyone as opponent, adversary and rival enemy, the question that has not yet got an answer is whether the security services always do their job perfectly in Nkambe. In the case of Nkambe, I doubt, because what I know is that in Nkambe security officers are allegedly on the pay roll of a particular politician. They twist information and facts in his favour to camouflage facts and realities to the detriment of the man in the street and in favour of the politicians whose daily activities is made 99% of lies (falsehood).

Leadership in the SDF which is the ruling party in Nkambe for example has become a major traffic jam or “go-slow” to development.  That is why those are crying for a change in leadership should know that it is time for voters to invest their votes in leaders who see urgent need to change, economically, socially and politically. “We need a leader with good understanding of human nature such as needs, emotions and motivation. In fact, we no more need politicians that will recruit green horns on excuse of the party allegiance or family ties in the winning team. Above all, we need someone that will inspire teamwork motivation to achieve realistic targets which is development”. Vote them out; some of them have made the positions of mayor, MP and councilor, a family estate. What counts for now is that we need new faces everywhere even if it is from the same party. If the same people come again, sanction them. Do not stay out and tomorrow you come and talk about underdevelopment, you the youths and elite of Donga Mantung when ELECAM says registration has started; be homeward bound. Be part of the new beginning and the change in leadership.