Ngoketunja Festival of Arts and Culture

Maiden Edition sets pace for an annual event

Dr. Asheri Kilo, the Mayor of Ndop and a cross section of personalities.

The one week long Ngoketunja Festival of Arts and Culture rounded up in Ndop on Saturday November 4 with a befitting ceremony that attracted participants from all over the National territory. Throughout the colourful series of events and message packed speeches that were read, one request kept resurfacing; that of the sustainability of this initiative organised by the National Youth Council and Stone FM Radio Ndop. The reassuring fact is that all the Ngoketunja elite and cultural stakeholders agreed to throw in their support and make the event an annual cultural rendezvous. 

Doctor Asheri Kilo, First Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Arts and Culture and representative of the Minister, Professor Narcisse Mouelle Koumbi described Ngoketunja as a melting pot of culture. She said the distance so far covered was good and the effect far reaching. Peace she said was a necessary factor for Social Harmony, accelerated economic growth and emergence.

She said His Excellency Prime Minister and Head of Government Philemon Yang had made several useful trips to the North West Region to restore peace preaching that a solid Cameroon could only be built in an environment of peace and unity.

Divisional Delegate Nkwenty Ngwei Sylvia(Lady in glasses)

 Dr. Asheri Kilo harped on the importance of upholding Tourist Sites since they contribute to economic growth adding that media institutions could play an important role in promoting culture. She advised that the people should not rely on their micro identity reminding that all cultures were related. “You can be receptive to other cultures and at the same time maintain originality. We are bound to promote such an important initiative and that’s why the Minister has supported it with a million FCFA.”

HRH Fon Shumetang of Bambalang

Honourable Njingum Moussa, an elite from Ngoketunja also supported the initiative with FCFA 600.000. Another highlight of the occasion was the award of prizes in the domains of Fashion, Gastronomy, Music, Language Interpretation, Traditional Dances amongst others.

Worthy of note is the important role that was played by the North West Regional Delegate for Arts and Culture Mr. Olinga Parfait and the host Divisional 

 Delegate for Ngoketunja Nkwenty Ngwei Sylvia. The appointment and subsequent installment of Nkwenti Ngwei Sylvia has heralded a new era for culture in Ngoketunja and has transformed the place into one of the cultural hubs in the Region. Now apart from rendezvous like the Ngonso Cultural Festival in Kumbo and the Leila Festival in Bali Nyonga among other cultural events, Ngoketunja will now enter the list of annual cultural events.

Reactions       

Ngangjoh Mama, President of the Ngoketunja Cultural and Development Association. 

Ngangjoh Mama

“My impressions here today are very positive. You see one of the main objectives of our association is to promote culture and as you see here today the culture of Ngoketunja was in full display. It’s not only Ngoketunja culture that we saw here today but also the cultures of all other Cameroonian communities that are settled here.

My message to students with regards to the reopening of schools is that you can neither contribute to development nor become developed yourself if you do not go to school to get yourself educated. Let they not permit themselves to be used.

Students should go to school and learn because if they don’t Ngoketunja will not move ahead in terms of development. If I didn’t go to school I wouldn’t be where I am today. I call on our children to go to school and prepare for their future.” 

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Security issues are resolved and GCE registrations will be on course at GBHS Atiela- Principal

 

Anang Joseph, Principal GBHS Atiela-Bamenda

Anang Joseph, the newly appointed principal of GBHS Atiela in the Bamenda III Municipality has stated that though school resumption on the 4^th of September was very timid security issues have been resolved and GCE registrations will be on course. He intimates that it was a big worry and to get things going, he and his team employed a number of tactics to get children to the classrooms. “We held a meeting with the Parents Teacher Association Executive Committee, the School Council, Staff, the Administrators and several times with the Chiefs of the area and all other stakeholders to make sure that children went back to school.”

He confirmed that his move paid off and that enrollment had risen to 1300 by the end of October when the Divisional Officer for Bamenda III, Sone Clement Ngoe was making his first Contact Tour of services in Bamenda III.

Another daunting task the principal said was that of getting students to pay their fees or register. “This remains a big worry because we cannot run the school without funds. With such a situation, the security of students is not guaranteed because when students are not registered and are attending classes, their security is not guaranteed. We are now planning to invite parents and convince them to get children registered.”

To combat the fear factor, the principal said he made it known that the problem affected them all equally. He said he told the teachers to begin by sending their own children to school. So when the parents saw their children in school they felt encouraged sending theirs. “Security has been beefed up in and around the school campus and I want to assure students of their security. The security so far provided is more than meets the eye because out of the visible security efforts, there is much more. We also have our own internal security in school that involves teachers and administrators and this is done discretely. This guarantees security and fear is less among students now.”

Concerning bringing back normalcy and respect to the GCE, he said children had been briefed on the registration process and on what had to be done and when these things had to be done. “A lot has happened with regards to the catch up classes and students have been told tell their parents that registrations would go on normally.”

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Bamenda Butchers Union President condemns uncontrolled slaughter and sale of meat.

Anye George, President of the Butchers Union in Bamenda has condemned the uncontrolled slaughter and sale of cow meat within the city. He was speaking recently during the maiden contact tour of the new Divisional Officer of Bamenda III Sone Clement Ngoe. 

D.O. Sone Clement Ngoe and Anye George

Speaking with the authority of a President for two years and a member of the union for 37 years now and a member of the executive for 15 years and as the former treasurer and adviser, Anye George said the main problem was the way meat for human consumption is being handled in the municipalities of the Bamenda City Council. He said the main cause of the problem was the City Council. “In the market we don’t have where they sell meat especially at the Nkwen Market. We have relayed this problem time and time again to the City Council and all they say is we are coming but nothing ever happens. The taxes paid by the slaughter house are very high. Now that we manage it with the Council, the city council makes more than a million FCFA monthly from the slaughter house monthly.”

The President further said despite the high earnings from the slaughter house, the City Council had failed to provide decent selling points for meat in the markets. The main structure at the slaughter house he said was begging for restructuring and updating to meet up with increasing needs but nothing was being done despite the huge sums of money the council earns from it.

Talking about the economic fallouts of the activities of the Bamenda Butchers Union, Anye George said there were more than seventy butchers and that more than two hundred butcher boys had been employed.

Anye George however reiterated the problems of the unhealthy handling of meat destined for human consumption in the following manner. “Many people still slaughter cows in their yards especially during festive end of year periods. One cow it should be known can send even fifty people to the hospital through ailments like tuberculosis which can be rampant in cows. With such things still possible, the dangerous activity of meat hawking which is a resulting effect of uncontrolled slaughter will be very difficult to control.”

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“It’s time for Youth to channel their energy in the right direction”

Jean Marc Afessi Mbafor

-President of the National Youth Council

Jean Marc Afessi Mbafor

Jean Marc Afessi Mbafor, President of the National Youth Council has cautioned youths to channel their energy and efforts in the right direction. According to him, for the last ten months youth especially those from the North West and South West Regions have done a lot to express their discontent but their energies and efforts have not been channeled in the right direction. Youths he said look for information from the wrong source and end up missing out on benefits that otherwise should have been theirs. He begins by stating that youths have been at the center of the crises rocking the country and that they have paid the greatest toll through sacrifices made.

  

“What has been going on in the North West and South West Regions is very preoccupying and the youths are at the center of it all. They are the ones paying the highest toll by not going to school and not following up their businesses. The message I and the elites of the Region have is that of peace and of renewed hope. It’s time for everyone to calm down, take stock of the situation and pave the way forward. We have said all we can say and we have beaten the drums and now it’s the time to pick up the pieces and move forward.”

There is the general impression that youths do not take part in decisions affecting their lives.

That has been a legitimate request not just for Anglophone kids but a request that cuts across the board. Youth have not been completely satisfied with the response but I think the government has been doing something towards attending to the problems of youths in the country. The National Youth Council is semi autonomous and elects its leaders. The leader who happens to be me sits on behalf of the youths in important decision making meetings. This is the first time I am being called in by the Prime Minister for this kind of meeting. The government is certainly becoming more aware of the fact that the participation of youths is important in decision making. I am the youngest one to have been appointed in the Musonge Commission. We have seen the Director General of Taxation who was appointed I think at the age of 37. These are signs that make me to be hopeful as a youth. Definitely I continue to write, I continue to lobby and I take what is given to us as a sign of better things to come and I think we just need some patience. It is time for youth to be taken as real partners. 

What has concretely been done by the Head of State the better the situation of youth?

During our golden jubilee celebrations of the youths in 2016, the President gave 1.2 Billion FCFA as a special fund to youths. Projects have already been funded though it has been slow but it is going towards somewhere. A number of projects have been funded in Agriculture. A lot of projects for the funding of youth projects are available. I remember once the Minister of Agriculture called me and asked a question that embarrassed me. He questioned why the youths weren’t coming for the money that had been kept for their projects.

Isn’t it a case of blockage in information flow?

 I realised our youth were not informed. We the youth have failed sometimes because we don’t seek for information from the right source. We should change the manner in which we get ourselves informed. There is also a lot the Government has to do to adapt its communication system. For example, we need a greater presence of the Government on Social Media to appeal to the youth. The Government cannot answer all our needs in one day and we should also learn to put to maximum use facilities at our disposal. For the past ten months many youths have channeled their efforts and energy in the wrong direction. It is time for their energy to be channeled in the right direction.  

Interviewed By Francis Ekongang Nzante Lenjo 

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CHAMECC steps up efforts in fight against Hate Speech.

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

                                                                         

The efforts of Charmers Media and Communication Consults Cameroon known by the acronym CHAMECC has stepped up efforts in combating Hate Speech in Cameroon by promoting decent language through Human Rights Education in the Media in the South West and North West Regions. This was evident in the two day Regional Workshop for Bloggers, Journalists and Social Media Managers from the South West and North West Regions. This activity which was programmed for the 25^th and 26^th of October succeeded to showcase CHAMECC’s determination to combat Hate Speech through the series of finely packaged activities that characterized the workshop.

The workshop was spiced by presentations that focused on the impact of Hate Speech on Social Media, question and answer sessions; experience sharing and group work on how bloggers and journalists can combat Hate Speech. This was followed by a presentation of reports of groups work in plenary. This resulted in recommendations on combating Hate Speech.

In a presentation which among other things focused on the cultural surrounding of Hate Speech, Gwain Colbert, one of the facilitators said there was a tendency for this to evolve making speech to mean different things in different contexts eliciting completely different emotions at different times. The sensitivity of the environment he said rendered new meaning to speech. 

Zooming in on the Cameroonian context, he said in the past hate speech was usually directed towards governing authorities and the system but with the evolution of the political situation the nature of such speech changed. Commenting on the qualities of Hate Speech he said it always poses danger and could lead to the escalation of violence since it usually preaches against a major component of society.

Combating Hate Speech has however encountered problems he said explaining that people who are against the fight to eradicate Hate Speech have referred to such efforts as the criminalisation of free speech or communication.

 Among the many recommendations that were arrived at to combat Hate Speech, some of them included knowing your audience and mastering the sociopolitical and cultural environment, developing factual counter narratives, carrying out frequent workshops on Hate Speech among others.   

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