By Francis Ekongang Nzante
Nkweti Patrick, the National President of the Fanji Development and Cultural Association has stated that the modus operandi he has used since taking over office has been the Bottom-Top Approach. This choice he said was participatory in nature and would be more effective in the present dispensation. He was speaking recently in a brush with the press in Douala.
Nkweti Patrick who is considered to be of the younger generation constituting a new breed of leaders for FADCA is one of the youngest that has occupied the position of National President of the Association. Considering the fact that he is young and still full of energy coupled with his rich educational background much is expected from him from the former and older cream of leaders. Mr Nkweti Patrick studied and got a Bachelor Degree in Biochemistry at the University of Illorine in Nigeria and proceeded to bag a Master Degree in Chemical Pathology from the University of Ibadan. Back home in Cameroon he worked with Guinness Cameroon for about eight years before leaving to work with the Mobile Telephone Company Orange Cameroun where he presently works.
He was the Branch President of FADCA, Bonaberi in Douala for ten years and during this period, the zeal for development in him was noticed. So when he put in his candidature for the post of FADCA National President, many welcomed the idea.
The young FADCA National President in a press chat with this reporter drew attention to the fact that in the past development ideas trickled mostly from top to bottom. The problems with the top-bottom approach he said were that people did not feel like they were part of the initiatives.
As a result, the present National Executive Committee has been using the bottom-top approach in place of the former approach. This method he said was more participatory in nature. It allows the people to tell you what they want and when this is done funds are much more easily collected and everyone gets this feeling of being part of everything that is being done.
“We want the people to get involved in Village activities and I think with this method it is going to work. They meet and decide what to do and all that we do is to guide them, manage their finances for them so that we attain our objectives and make Bafanji what we want it to be.”
When Nkweti Patrick stepped in some people thought there would be generational crisis since there was an influential impressive group of elite in FADCA. However, when they took over, they did a “meet the people tour” visiting the branches. When they arrived any given branch, they didn’t go straight to the people but visited the elite first and always took out time to explain their modus operandi to them.
“During such visits we usually also asked the elders to guide and advise us on the implementation of our projects. They were always very happy every time we approached them asking them to guide us with their wisdom and know-how. We were humble and simplistic in approach and I think that’s why we were able to carry them along. Sometimes elites actually call telling me ‘look Patrick, this is how I suggest things should be done'. I think there is complete collaboration.”
The National President emphasised that FADCA had brought a lot of development to Bafanji. In the field of Education he said at first back home only male children went to school adding that with the creation of FADCA that mentality was completely changed. The level of school attendance both in male and female children he intimated had risen sharply.
In the domain of health FADCA he said had built a Hospital for the village and had pushed things forward in the domain of culture.
Commenting on the challenging security situation he said development was a community affair and that once people as a community had decided to do something, no one could stop it. He said it simply entailed explaining to the boys in the bushes that development was for everyone. “We make them understand that in terms of development we are not a threat to them and they are not a threat to us. We are apolitical and we don’t get ourselves involved in anything political.”
Nkweti Patrick called on Development Stakeholders in the area to work towards restoring peace adding that without the necessary peace development initiatives would greatly be retarded.
He said an online forum had been created for all Branch Presidents and the National Executive adding that people who could influence the decisions of Branch Presidents were not found in this forum. Deliberations in the forum are therefore very constructive he said. “I decided not to put elites in this group because they have their ego and this will not be healthy in a group where we want free and constructive conversations. We consult the elites one on one but we don’t put them in the forum.”
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