38th Anniversary of President Paul Biya

 

Advantages of Special Status for the NW and SW Showcased

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

One of the highlights of the 38th Anniversary celebrations of  the ascension of President Paul Biya to power was the revisiting of the benefits of the Special Status accorded to the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. Speaking during the anniversary celebrations in Bamenda, Minister Mbayu Felix said the Special  Status was going to take into consideration Language Specificity and Historical Heritage of the two English Speaking Regions. 

He also said following the Regional Elections on the 6th of December, the Regional Assembly will be made up of a House of Chiefs with 20 members and a House of Representatives made up of 70 members. This he said will enhance governance since decision making will be more collegial and more Democratic. Under these circumstances people will be more empowered to create development opportunities in the English Speaking Regions.

In the domain of education he said there will be the preservation of the specificities of Anglosaxon Education such as Curriculum Development, number of years in school amongst many other issues.

In the domain of Law he said the issue of language will be ironed out since hearings would strictly be carried out in the Language that locals could understand.

Importantly, Minister Felix Mbayu talked about the creation of a Public Independent Conciliator with the role of independently examining and solving conflicts that may exist between people and the system. Special Status minister Felix Mbayu said  “confirms our belonging to a nation.”

Talking about Decentralisation, an issue which ran through most of the speeches during the anniversary celebrations, Mbayu Felix said Cameroon was in the last Phase of the Decentralisation process which he said was it’s implementation.

Decentralisation was an effort to bring the Administration closer to the people he said adding that rules applicable to Councils had already been applied but not at the level of regions. This he said would take place after the Regional Elections in December.

Meantime, the message of the Chairman of the CPDM Central Committee Mr Jean Kwete akso focused on Decentralisation and it’s advantages. The message quintessentially presented Decentralisation as being synonymous to Local Development.

Though only a CPDM List will be present during the Regional elective exercise every militant was urged come to come out on voting day.

All voting it was explained would be done in Divisional Head Quarters. It was as such advised that preparations should begin immediately so  that there should be atleast a 90% participation rate.

Mayor Mbigha N Felix who is also YCDM President for Mezam I and Vice President of UCCC talking on behalf of the North West Mayors lauded the achievements of the party in the Northwest Region. He said out of the 35 councils in the region CPDM controlled 34. 

The NW he said had three key positions in the UCCC national body. His central message was that emphases should be laid on unity and that attention should be drawn to the fact that everything came only through elections.

The erstwhile Prime Minister Philemon Yang said the 38th Anniversary was a celebration of the past, present and future. “Our future can only be shaped by us. Despite the difficult circumstances successes were registered. Schools are going on and the Regional Elections are around the corner. We should never respect an institution that is not a product of our constitution” the PM further said.

Cameroon he said remained one and focused on the future. Stating that Cameroon like any other country in the world was not perfect, he said the nation building process was going on. 

The Special Status provision he said “will make us better governed. We will become more economically viable.”

Decentralisation he said meant that there was a government at the Municipal ,Regional and National levels. Everyone in this way participates in governing he said adding that this was a product of the 1996 constitution. He described it as “a rich constitution which gives us an opportunity to decentralise.”

He pleaded with militants to go out on the sixth of December to elect their fellow militants into the Regional Assembly. “Do not focus on the difficulties of the past. Focus on the future” he urged.

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CBC Education Secretary Receives Award for Good Performance, Hard work

The Education Secretary of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Education Department, Mr Nyanganji Job Indi has been recognized by the Cameroon Performance Award CPA as deserving of an award in recognition of his hardwork since he took office as Education Secretary. The Award Giving Authorities also took cognizance of the immeasurable contributions of the Cameroon Baptist Convention CBC towards the education of countless Cameroonians and the immense impact this has had on the development of Cameroon as a nation. 

  Presenting  Mr. Nyanganji Job Indi as a performer and a hard working individual, the National Coordinator of the Cameroon Performance Awards Mr Francis Nzante took the attentive audience through the years the deserving laureate served as principal in some Secondary Schools before eventually getting into the Adminstrative aspect of Baptist Education in Cameroon. 

Throughout his career, indelible signs of hardwork have been left in his wake as he moved on majestically the National Coordinator explained adding that Mr Nyanganji Job Indi took the office of CBC Education Secretary at the most challenging and turbulent moments in the History of the CBC Education Department.

In the heart of the Anglophone Crisis he sailed on putting in place the much acclaimed Sustainable Inclusive Education Programme SIEP. This unprecedented move saw the construction of a structure at the CBC School premises in Nkwen that took into consideration those people living with physical disabilities amongst other issues. 

Difficulties notwithstanding, the CBC Education Department under the stewardship of Nyanganji Job Indi built a state of the art primary school at Ndamukong Street in Bamenda.

While the Secondary Education Sector has seen the implantation of colleges in French Speaking Regions of the country, the indefatigable Nyanganji Job Indi is now eyeing the Higher Educational Sector, a domain hitherto untouched by the CBC Education Department.

Retrospectively, the National Coordinator of the Cameroon Performance Awards catalogued the top quality Secondary Schools that CBC Education Department had created in Cameroon from the earliest years of the existence of Cameroon as a nation. Some of the elite institutions mentioned included Saker Baptist College Victoria (now Limbe), Baptist Boys Secondary School BBSS Buea (now Baptist High School), Baptist High School Barombikang in Kumba, Joseph Merrick Baptist College Ndu, Baptist Teachers Training College Ndu amongst others.

On reception of the Award, the self effacing Nyanganji Job Indi dedicated it to his wife and colleagues who had supported him all through.

Conclusively, while Nyanganji Job Indi is a true symbol of Performance, hard work and results, the CBC Education Department which he heads has been the vehicle propulsing his ideas into concrete realizations.

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New President Insists AZICCUL Needs Changes to maintain its leading Position

 

By Francis E Nzante

Barrister Divine Nde Momulluh, the newly elected President of the Azire Cooperative Credit Union has declared that changes have to be made in the modus operandi of the institution if the structure has to maintain its leading position in the Credit Union Landscape in Cameroon. He was speaking during the Annual General Meeting AGM on Saturday the 31st of October at the Ntamulung Presbyterian Church Hall in Bamenda shortly after a landslide victory that saw him being elected as the youngest President ever of the huge Cooperative Credit Union. 

Speaking to the media after the elective exercise he said “I feel fulfilled. It’s been a long journey. It’s a dream come true and I want to say history has been made today the in Azire Cooperative Credit Union. I want to thank everyone that actually put their hands behind me to see that this dream actually comes true. I want to thank even those who did not vote for me. You know that’s democracy.”

Questioned on whether he was going to bring in revolutionary changes he answered in the negative stating that changes were going to come but that these changes could not be described as revolutionary. Hear him, “I don’t want to say revolution for it’s a very hard word to use but there are going to be changes. Laws are changing everyday and so we are supposed to adapt to the system. You should look 20 years down the road so that you should not become  trapped in a circle that will put you in difficulties. We will make changes but we can’t describe them as a revolutionary.”

Insisting that change was unavoidable he said from the beginning people may see it as revolutionary but eventually they would come to realize that for AZICCUL to maintain it’s leadership position changes will have to take place. “I want to promise them that at the end of the day, we are actually going to enjoy the Credit Union that was built by our fathers and grand fathers.”

Drawing attention to the fact that he was the son of one of the best managers in the history of AZICCUL, he said he was also going to work really hard to make sure that an indelible mark was left by his reign.

In this race for the Presidency, four candidates were involved. They included Rev. Njeh Mutanga Joseph, the erstwhile Vice President, Barrister Divine Nde Momulluh, Mr Nji Sivan Tanny and Dr Asanga CA. Out of the about 1800 votes that were cast, Barrister Divine Momulluh in a landslide victory bagged 1065 votes. 

Another elective exercise that took place was that of the post of Vice President and the election of members into the Women's Committee.  In the race for the post of Vice President, Mrs Sonatas emmerged victorious with 708 votes. She was tailed by Mr Mumbai with 468 votes while Rev Mutanga tailed the queue with 383 votes. Madame Comfort Banyong was elected as the new Chair Lady of the Women's Committee. Following her election she said she was going to continue working on what the previous Chairlady had done over the years. The duty of the Women’s Committee she said was to sensitise and bring in more members into the credit union. She promised to put in all her efforts alongside all the members of the committee to make sure that set goals were met with.

Despite the tense atmosphere that reigned during the AGM that was brought to bear on the occasion by the threat that some candidates were going to be eliminated because they had been found guilty of breaking the rules that restricted them from carrying out campaigns, everything eventually went on smoothly. 

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“ Cameroonians are wasting Precious Time Killing each other”

– Ngufor Peter

By Francis E Nzante

  In the wake of the macabre killings that took place in Kumba recently, there has been an unprecedented clamouring for an immediate end of the war and an immediate return to peace in Cameroon. It was against this backdrop that Mr Ngufor Peter, the CEO of Farmer’s House declared that Cameroonians were wasting time busily killing each other instead of focusing on the much needed development. He was speaking during a press briefing organised within the confines of the Headquarters of Farmer’s House in Bamenda on Thursday October 29th.

“We are begging the Head of State to bring the war to an end” he said adding that this should be followed up with a thorough investigation and the results of the investigation publicly made known. Any culprits apprehended should be publicly punished he said insisting that if this had been done for the massacre in Ngarbu then the situation in Kumba would not have occurred. “What happened in Kumba cannot be sufficiently condemned and is a disgrace to all of us.”

The development stakeholder stated emphatically that events that had taken place in the past four years had given rise to situations that couldn’t be identified with the President Paul Biya that he knew. People talking on behalf of the President may not be truly reflecting what the President would have done but as the head, when things go wrong, he should receive the blame. He likened the situation to that of a Chief in the Grassfield Culture in Cameroon stating that a Chief is referred to as a child because he depends on many people for his decisions.

He however said the Cameroonian problem originated more from legacies of the Ahidjo regime. “The President was not appointed in good faith. When you give somebody a position that he wasn’t prepared for, the chances that he must stumble are always very high. Ahidjo did not give him the Presidency in good faith but President Paul Biya 1 took the Presidency in good faith.”

This not withstanding, Ngufor Peter said that frustration can never be cured by fighting as is presently the case in Cameroon. 

He said instead of building the nation with the limited available funds, Cameroonians were buying arms and using them to kill each other. “There are bad roads all over the country but we are only focused on killing ourselves” he said adding that President Paul Biya still had to build his legacy. 

The problems inherited from the Ahidjo regime had not yet been solved. These problems had to be addressed to give the country a sense of direction he explained further stating that as a nation Cameroon wasn’t moving towards the right direction.  

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Flenhihbs Bamenda Recognized for Stainless Top Quality Results for Ten years

The Cameroon Performance Awards has found the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences Bamenda a worthy recipient of its mark of recognition. During an Award Event that took place at the School campus on Wednesday October 7th, Mr Nkwain Joseph, Director of the Higher Institute said the recognition was certainly due to the stainless top quality results that the school had registered in its ten years of existence. 

"This institution was created ten years ago and since then it has always scored a hundred percent in all examinations be it examinations organised by the Ministry of Higher Education or the Ministry of Public Health. Under the Ministry of Public Health we train State Registered Nurses and Nursing Assistants and under the Ministry of Higher Education we have been training HND candidates in Biomedical Sciences and throughout we have been scoring a hundred percent. Last year, we were ranked the best school in the whole Republic of Cameroon as far as the HND is concerned and I am sure that all of this has contributed to our success."

Mr Nkwain Joseph further explained that the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Bamenda. "As a Higher Institution of Learning, we are not a full fledged University and we can only offer certain specialties in collaboration with State Universities and that is why we have signed this partnership with the University of Bamenda so that we can extend our programmes to the Bachelor Degree and maybe later to the Masters and why not PHD" he explained.

He called on students interested in the Biomedical Sciences to take the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences as their priority adding that it was the quality of the products of the school that has been attracting attention from different quarters in the Cameroonian society. "We don't advertise but students still come here. You should have noticed that we don't even have a notice board. If the CBC Health Services select our students, then it means our products are of top quality."

Dr. Njini Rose, General Supervisor at the Bamenda Regional Hospital who was present at the Award Event said she had collaborated with the institution for long and was impressed by the quality of personnel that had been churned out from there. The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services she said has also been making use of products from the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences. This among other examples she said was an indication of the good work that was being done at the institution.

Present during the event was the staff of Flenhihbs and a cross section of some collaborators of the establishment.

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Frontline Academician and Health Developer Receives Performance Award

 

By FEN Lenjo

Professor Egbe Philip Egbengu, Head of Department of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the Catholic University in Cameroon CATUC, Bamenda and Medical Director of the Royal Victoria Clinic in Bamenda has received the Cameroon Performance Award. This took place on Saturday in the city of Bamenda within the confines of the Royal Victoria Clinic premises at Loh Benson Quarters, Foncha Street. 

According to the Organising Committee of Cameroon Performance Awards through the words of its National Coordinator, Francis Ekongang Nzante, the Award is in recognition of the efforts Professor Egbe Philip Egbengu has been putting in the Academic Field building a formidable Department of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the Catholic University CATUC Bamenda. "It is also in recognition of your efforts as Medical Director of the Royal Victoria Clinic during these trying moments of the COVID 19 Pandemic" he said.

The CPA Organising Committee emphasised that because of these inputs, Professor Egbe was truly a Frontline Academician and a Health Developer.

On reception of the CPA Award, Professor Egbe said, he wasn't aware that sometimes when you do some of these things you were observed. He recounted how he started the clinic in the heat of the Anglophone Crisis. Against all the challenges as well as advise from friends and colleagues who discouraged him, he went ahead. "Professor Berynyuy who was one of the first patients here certainly remembers how this place was very bushy. We maintained our focus and started from no where and today we are where you find us. Some people may think it is time to sit on our laureals but no, it is time to work. We have just realised only 30% of what we set out to do."

 The professor did not fail to mention contributions from well wishing Cameroonians. He equally mentioned Rev Father Bintum and Professor Berynyuy whom he said had constantly chipped in very constructive ideas as he worked on the Royal Victoria Clinic Project.

The next thing in his program would be a Mental Health Outfit he said adding that he had been receiving lots of encouragement and ideas on this project from Reverend Father Bintum whom he said had been a driving force in his project all along.

 Talking about his dream for Royal Victoria Clinic the Health Developer said "It is not just us here. We have a lot of inputs from friends of the clinic and well wishing Cameroonians who have visions which impact on our professional calling. Visions which we incorporate into the grand project of Royal Victoria Clinic. It is not just about opening a clinic. It's about opening a standard clinic." He said it was unfortunate that when Africans study abroad and see top quality structures, they always failed to maintain the same standards when they wanted to build their own structures back home. 

Royal Victoria Clinic he said was trying to fill all those lapses. "This project is trying to meet all those ramifications, the technical quality, the professional calling, the social impact or the impact on society. We are trying to incorporate all of these and come out with a strong Blueprint that will represent health in Cameroon not only in our contemporary time but also in the future."

Professor Egbe Philip Egbengu has been involved in teaching and the practice of Professional Medicine for almost fourty years. Commenting on this, he said medicine was not just the intellect but the application of what had been gathered over the years. 

In building the clinic, cognizance was taken of certain present realities like the COVID 19 Pandemic. The reception area at the entrance to the clinic as well as the entrance to the Laboratory are provided with glass shields that separate the patients from the health personnel attending to them. 

Medical Practice today he said goes with the necessary technology adding that in that domain, Royal Victoria Clinic could comfortably hold its head above water level. 

Though Royal Victoria Clinic provides Health Services, the professor unequivocally stated that they were also in business. "We've gone past that stage when health was considered as a humanitarian activity. When you make health a business, you do it better."

Proudly stating the achievements so far made by the clinic in one year seven months, the professor said there was no hospital in Bamenda and by extension the North West Region that had the standards of Victoria Royal Clinic. He said  that's why when you come to the clinic your health problems were solved. 

Professor Egbe Philip Egbengu said he was very gratified to be recognized by the Cameroon Performance Awards. "I am not the only Medical Doctor around and if I can be singled among the few that have been recognized by your Award out of the 2900 doctors in the country it gives me the greatest pleasure. Secondly it's like a showcase to my establishment. There are very few occasions where five media organs will visit an organization like ours so I have every reason to be grateful."

The Professor seized the opportunity to take his guests on a guided tour of the clinic from the reception area through the spotless and we'll equipped Laboratory to the wards.

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University of Bamenda Signs Partnership Agreements with Higher Institutions of Learning

By Francis E. Nzante

The University of Bamenda on Sunday September 27th signed partnership agreements with some fourteen Higher Institutions of Learning from across the country. The nature or categories of these partnerships included Memorandums of Understanding MoUs, Specific Partnership Agreements SPAs and Specific Partnership Agreements for Expansion.

The Vice Chancellor in her speech at the opening of the ceremony

MoUs were signed with two institutions. Theses included the Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences Bamenda Flenhihbs, and Skyhigh Higher Institute of Engineering and Business SHHIEB, Douala. 

Mr Yong Jaques on behalf of Institute Superieur JIMIT Yaounde and the Vice Chancellor

Meantime, Specific Partnership Agreements were signed with the Access  Higher Institute of Professional Studies ACCESS-HIPS, Douala represented by its promoter Dr Leke Charles. Other schools which signed partnerships in this category included the Yaounde Higher School of Economics and Management YSEM and Institute Superieur JIMIT, Yaounde represented by Mr Yong Jaques who sat in for the promoter.

Mr Nkwain Joseph Director of Florence Nightingale Higher Institute of Health and Biomedical Sciences Bamenda with Vice Chancellor.

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The bigger chunk of establishments involved in the signing of partnerships fell in the third category which was Specific Partnership Agreements for Expansion. In this group were the Havard Higher Institute of Science and Technology HHIST, Bamenda, Institute Superieur des Sciences Appliquees a la Sante INSSAS, Bafossam, National Polytechnic University Institute NPUI Bamenda, Lead Higher Institute Yaounde, Higher Institute of Business Management and Technology HIBMAT, Buea, Higher Institute of Management Studies HIMS Buea, Institute Superieur des Sciences Biologiques et Appliquees ISSBA Yaounde, Institute Universitaire Siantou IUS Yaounde and Institute Des Science Economique Et Informatique De Gestion ISEIG Yaounde.

The Vice Chancellor of National Polytechnic University Institute Bamenda with the UBa Vice Chancellor after signing of Partnership

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Highlights of the signing ceremony included a speech by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bamenda Professor Rose Akenji in which she appropriately placed emphasis on the importance of the exercise in the lives of these Private Higher Institutions of Learning. This was followed by a ceremonious signing exercise with all the necessary academic paraphernalia with each establishment involved taking its turn at the podium in the University Restaurant. 

Dr. Leke Charles of ACCESS-HIPS Douala poses here with UBa Vice Chancellor after signing of SPA; Specific Partnership Agreement

The closing remarks at this very important rendezvous in the lives of Private Higher Institutions of Learning in Cameroon were made by the Vice Chancellor of UBa.

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