Barely a month after journalist Amadou Vamoulké was sentenced to 20 years in prison, freelance reporter Kingsley Fumunyuy Njoka, who has been in pre-trial detention for over four years, was sentenced to ten years in prison for “secession and complicity with armed gangs”. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the conviction and outrageous charges, which testify to the ongoing persecution of journalists in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

On 24 September, Cameroon suffered yet another attack on press freedom: freelance journalist Kingsley Fumunyuy Njoka was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment by the Yaoundé military court for “secession and complicity with armed gangs”. His crime? Authoring reports published in 2020 on the armed conflict raging in the northwest of the country.

Arrested without a warrant on 15 May 2020 at his home in Douala, the country’s economic capital, by three members of the Bonabéri research brigade, Njoka has been held in pre-trial detention at the Kondengui Central Prison in the Yaoundé region ever since. Before his arrest, Njoka regularly published reports critical of the authorities, notably working for the English-language media outlet Canal 2 English on the “Anglophone crisis”, an armed conflict in the English-speaking zones of western Cameroon between the military and separatists that has claimed 6,000 lives since 2017.

One of Njoka’s lawyers, Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, a former journalist who worked with Njoka, told RSF this was an “unfair trial, in violation of Cameroonian laws and international law,” stressing that “the time limit for detention without trial, 18 months maximum in this kind of case, was not respected at all.” Nicodemus appealed against this conviction on 27 September.

“This is the second prison sentence for a journalist in less than a month — following that of Amadou Vamoulké — and illustrates how Cameroon is sinking deeper into its crackdown against the right to inform, which has been underway for several years. The case of Kingsley Njoka, who was illegally held in pre-trial detention for four years before being arbitrarily sentenced, reveals the fate awaiting journalists reporting on the Anglophone crisis. His situation is not unlike that of his colleague Samuel Wazizi, who was also arrested for covering the crisis and died in custody in 2019. Kingsley Njoka’s wrongful conviction on baseless charges must be overturned and he must be released immediately.”

Barely a month earlier, the former Director General of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), Amadou Vamoulké, was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for “embezzlement of public funds”, after 178 successive postponements of his trial. He had already been condemned to 12 years’ imprisonment for a similar case in December 2022, after more than seven years in pre-trial detention. He will therefore have to serve a total of 32 years in prison, which is inexcusable treatment of a journalist renowned for his professionalism and integrity.

Anglophone journalist Samuel Wazizi was also arrested and accused of complicity with secessionists in 2019. He died in custody under troubling conditions. According to the official statement, which was not given until ten months later, the journalist died due to illness a mere fifteen days after his arrest, despite being in perfect health – a story that is difficult to believe.

To date, four journalists have been unjustly convicted in Cameroon: Dimitri Wassouom Tchatchoua was sentenced to two years in prison in April 2023 for “publishing false information” electronically, and Thomas Awah Junior, correspondent in Cameroon’s northwest region for Afrik 2 Radio, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2018 for multiple charges, including “secession”, “insurrection”, “spreading false news”.

Cameroon ranks 130th out of 180 countries in the RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

Culled from RSF

After decades of unnecessary fighting, it is becoming clear to people of Manyu Division that competition is the law of the jungle while complementarity is the law of civilization.  The Division’s women’s organization should be encouraged to embrace complementarity.

For a very long time, it has been challenging to have people of Manyu descent to work together because of bloated egos and the men who are supposed to take the lead on efforts at bringing much-needed development to the Division have been unable to get pass their unnecessary pride and differences.

Organization after Organization has been plagued by internecine fighting, causing misunderstanding and various factions to develop. And the various factions hardly deliver any good development results. Development is also about numbers. Those who have the numbers usually have a greater resource mobilization capacity.

After most fights, the various factions always seek to destroy each other, making it hard for any real reconciliation to take place.

It has always been a firm belief in Manyu that only the men can deliver great results, but this mistaken belief is gradually yielding to new ways of thinking as Manyu women organizations are springing up and the women are more determined than ever to bring about transformative change in the Division.

Today, there are three key women organizations which are seeking to engineer a paradigm shift, though the usual demons have already reared their ugly heads.

MOHWA, which has been in existence for a long time, is trying to find its feet after a very long bruising divorce. Its ranks have been diminished following the formation of EYUMEMA and NYENE MAWN.

Despite its reduced numbers, MOHWA remains a determined and necessary force which wants to bring its share of development projects to the Division.

Though there is still a lot of bitterness, which is normal when a divorce occurs, MOHWA members still hold that they can put smiles on the faces of some young Manyu girls who are struggling to find their way around the complicated and confusing maze known as life.

Internal fighting could be bad business for any organization but it could also be a huge stock-taking moment if leaders keep an open mind. MOHWA can still rise from its ashes if its leaders address those issues which have caused it to lose many of its members and this organization, which has stood the test of time, will continue to be a fixture on the Manyu development landscape if new ways replace old methods of doing business.

After a long bruising fight, EYUMEMA has seen the light of day. This brand new women’s group has ignited and rekindled hope in many Manyu people. Its sheer numbers will be a development asset if old demons do not take a seat at the table.

Many Manyu women across the world have been rushing to join the organization, hoping that the organization’s growing numbers will be transformed into huge development capital.

The United States has the largest EYUMEMA branch and there is every indication that things are headed in the right direction. Besides having delivered boreholes to the Division, EYUMEMA still has a huge and long pipeline of projects with the building of the preventive hospital’s technical and physical capacity being a top priority.

Manyu Division lost its key medical facility a few years ago in a fire whose origin has been controversial. Following this unfortunate situation, the preventive hospital in Mamfe has been serving as a full hospital though it lacks the proper technical capacity.

EYUMEMA sources have indicated that endowing the preventive hospital with some modern capacity is a key objective of the organization.

With branches in various towns in Cameroon, EYUMEMA is clearly stealing the show from MOHWA, with many women joining the organization without knowing why they are joining. Many seem to be under a spell. The noise from the USA seems to be music to their ears and they want to be part of an organization which is already displaying a deep sense of purpose.

The MOHWA fragmentation has not only ended with the creation of EYUMEMA. A bomb seemed to have fallen on MOHWA and that explosion also resulted in the creation of NYENE MAWN in Belgium.

Its creation might not have put smiles on many faces, especially for those who think that unity is strength. However, division is as old as man and instead of spending time and energy fighting old demons, NYENE MAWN members feel they could be counted among those organizations which are putting the Manyu girl child at the heart of their operations.

The more, the merrier goes the saying and NYENE MAWN is a welcome addition to the Manyu development landscape. The brand new organization is currently developing a sound management structure to ensure that demons of the past do not rear their ugly heads in this organization which sees complementarity as part of its development strategy.

Now that the fighting is over, it is time to take stock of things. Fighting is something any reasonable person should shun. But if it cannot be avoided, its lessons should at least be learned.

Today, Manyu needs lots of development projects and any organization which is capable of changing things for the people of that Division should be welcome. MOHWA, EYUMEMA and NYENE MAWN are all Manyu organizations and the people of Manyu should support their development aspirations and endeavors.

These organizations should understand that anger against a sister should never be the reason why there won’t ever be any collaboration.

The world is in constant movement and change is the only constant. As people of Manyu descent, we must embrace our organizations, support them in whatever they are doing, provided that they will bring much-needed development to our Division, and above all, encourage them to collaborate, where necessary.

The world is moving towards complementarity and competition clearly belongs to the past. Competition may only lead to a duplication of operations and such a situation might not be in the interest of our people.

Manyu looks forward to working with all its women’s groups and the men should donate generously to these groups as our women are pointing us in the right direction. Manyu is our land and we must develop it and make it a better place than we met it.

Dr. Joachim Arrey

This is a Cameroon Concord News Group Production.

Earlier this week, Norwegian police confirmed the arrest of a man on suspicion of incitement to commit crimes against humanity in Cameroon. AFP confirmed the man was Lucas Cho Ayaba, a Cameroonian separatist leader. His arrest could be a step toward justice for the victims of serious crimes in Cameroon’s embattled Anglophone regions.

Ayaba is the leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, a major separatist group involved in the ongoing conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. Ayaba is alleged to have coordinated its armed wing, the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), remotely from Norway. The Ambazonia Governing Council’s aim is to carve out an independent state for Cameroon’s minority Anglophones. To accomplish this aim, the group punished anyone it perceived as collaborating with the government. It targeted civilians, kidnapped humanitarian workers, and killed perceived opponents while using intimidation and violence to keep children and their teachers out of school.

The prosecutor has indicated that the investigation is at an early phase, but given Ayaba is accused of inciting these crimes from Norway, prosecutors may have a number of grounds on which to pursue the case. It is the first time Norwegian judicial authorities have charged an individual for incitement to crimes against humanity.

As armed separatists like the ADF continue to clash with government forces, the welfare of civilians has become a secondary concern to the parties involved. Ayaba’s arrest is a warning to others implicated in grave crimes that the reign of impunity may be ending.

Separatists are not the only ones committing serious human rights abuses in the Anglophone regions. Serious crimes by government forces have been rife since the crisis began and security forces have also killed civilians, burned dozens of villages, and arbitrarily arrested and tortured hundreds of alleged armed separatists.

The Cameroonian government has the responsibility to ensure justice for the most serious crimes but has made scant progress in investigating, much less prosecuting, those responsible for grave offenses committed as part of the Anglophone crisis, particularly by Cameroon’s security forces.

While Ayaba’s arrest is to be welcomed, justice cannot be one-sided. All perpetrators of grave abuses, including government forces, should be held to account.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

The neglected eight-year war in Southern Cameroons and the urgent international action to end it

The ongoing mass killing of Southern Cameroonians by French Cameroon in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, marked by systematic violence, widespread displacement, and the persecution of innocent civilians, continues to be met with disturbing silence and inaction from the international community.

The conflict which has claimed some thirty-two thousand lives, torn apart communities and displaced about 5 million people is a glaring example of a human rights crisis that demands urgent attention.

Despite a compelling body of evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities by Biya’s armed forces ranging from extrajudicial killings of men women and children, to the destruction of villages, schools and churches used as military camps, raping of women, girls and children, looting of property by the French Cameroon invading military, global powers and international institutions have failed to respond with the seriousness the situation deserves.

This neglect has allowed the situation to deteriorate, deepening the suffering of the Ambazonian people and emboldening Paul Biya and his invading military sponsored by France which is responsible for the violence and human rights abuses.

The recent trend of arresting, abducting, and incarcerating Ambazonians in the Diaspora is not only a violation of their fundamental rights but also a misguided approach that will not resolve the crisis. These actions, aimed at silencing voices advocating peace, justice, and self-determination, only exacerbate tensions.

We, the leaders of Ambazonia, categorically state that arresting Ambazonian leaders abroad will not bring about peace. The international community must recognize that repression and intimidation will not end this conflict.

I have followed the ongoing general assembly meeting of the United Nations hoping that some world leaders would site what is going on in Ambazonia as one of the ongoing conflicts in the world today, strangely, none of them mentioned it. Some world leaders would cite Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine and Sudan, but will never think of the conflict in Southern Cameroons.

President Biden had a great speech but omitted the conflict in Ambazonia even though interestingly he called on the UN to go back to their main objective of promoting and fighting for peace around the world. He also emphasized the force of people’s power.

The President of the United  Nations General Assembly, Philemon Yang, a born Ambazonian, on the other hand did not make mention of the genocide going on in Ambazonia which he could not resolve through  peaceful dialogue when he was head of government in Yaoundé. He is calling for a two-state solution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine. What a paradox! Ask Yang to leave the current UN Session and spend a week in his village, Oku, in Ambazonia. He will tell you, over his dead body because he has the blood of innocent Ambazonians on his hands.

What Ambazonia and the people in the region need is not more violence or punitive measures but genuine and meaningful discussions which address fully and definitively the root causes of the French Cameroon-Ambazonia armed conflict. The key to resolving this conflict lies in dialogue. We call upon the international community, especially key stakeholders such as the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, and major world powers, to push for a peaceful resolution through negotiations without pre-conditions.

The International community should note that the genocide in Ambazonia will not be resolved by arresting, abducting or incarcerating Ambazonians.

The people of Ambazonia have the right to self-determination and to live free from fear and persecution. The international community’s continued indifference is unacceptable. It is time for the world to act decisively, to bring both sides to negotiate a peaceful and just resolution, and to address the root causes of the conflict. We shall not be intimidated; we are bold and resilient because self-determination is our basic human rights. We will continue to fight for our liberation. We will continue to fight for our inalienable right to govern ourselves in peace, justice and security.

We stand firm in our belief that the future of Ambazonia must be determined by the people of Ambazonia themselves and no one else, not by the unlawful detention of those seeking to voice the legitimate aspirations of the Ambazonian people.

 All evidence points to the fact that it is Biya and his civilian and military collaborators who ought to be in a dock. Ambazonia is a land founded on democracy and Justice.

The rule of law is the basic tenet in Ambazonia. Justice shall prevail!

The time for negotiations is now. Arrests and abductions will not stop our will and the will of a people who are determined to live in peace, dignity, and freedom. We urge the international community to stop turning a blind eye and take active steps towards peace in Ambazonia. I call on all comrades around the world to celebrate our Independence Day this year like never before. Let our voices be heard in Canada, Ground one, and Ground two and Ground zero, Rome, South Africa and the United States of America with the slogan, “No to the War in the Southern Cameroons and Yes to peaceful negotiations.”

There is an art to surviving disappointment, but you wouldn’t know it from consuming the arts and culture of the Twenties.

We seem to be hostages of an era of corrosive optimism which is allergic to complexity and intellect, and disappointment too.

The prophet Orwell warned us about this type of society and its dangerous simplicities.

In the political sphere, thoughtful critique and debate were once valued as markers of a healthy society. Now we are left with thin-skinned governments and a tendency towards sociopathic leadership all over the world.

Capitalist media owners have contributed by dropping standards for news, stranding us all in a weird space where any mention of real problems on the part of citizens is seen as an attack on government.

In the worst cases, criticism is framed by the powers that be as a form of treachery.

And yet, people still practise journalism in such an environment. What’s going on here?

I remember my first impression of real-life journalists; it was not very good. They’re nothing like the heroes in the movies, I thought, observing their sharp gazes and reticent tongues.

Why aren’t they out there saving the world with their flaming prose of social justice! What a grim bunch of cynics, I thought. I will never become like that, I thought.

I had no idea of what it takes to persevere in a profession that is utterly idealistic at its core. It turns out that journalists are a case study in how to cope with disappointment not only in one’s individual life— it’s a tough gig— but also in society as a whole.

Well. Journalists and Socialists, actually, and here I am aspiring to be one or possibly both when I grow up.

This past week I have been relying on what I have learned over time from the wisdom of journalists and the interminable motivation of modern-day socialists.

Comments made by my Head of State in response to the killing of the Chadema politician Ali Kibao during a celebration of the police were unexpected, bracing.

It was giving ‘Je suis l’etat.’ It was an unapologetic reminder that the state has the monopoly on the means of violence, and it will justify using it… against civilians.

It is now time to sit back, exhale and begin the process of embracing the massive disappointment of having invested support and belief in the current iteration of the government of Tanzania, only to discover that it was old ghosts in newly tailored Ujamaa kitenges. Old threats in new speeches. I know I am not alone at this crossroads.

The sharp gazes and reticent tongues of journalists now look like resilience to me. After all they are still doing this largely thankless job.

Veterans and old socialists have a stoic patience and deliciously dark sense of humour that quietly teaches.

This is what it looks like to survive the death of your hopes and dreams for your country. I don’t know why knowing this is therapeutic, but it is, so I am sharing it here.

There is an art to surviving disappointment. It consists of indomitable— even defiant — optimism and comes with a sharp gaze and reticent tongue.

Tomorrow — maybe next week or next year, it needs time— this too shall pass and hope will come again.

Culled from The East African

It was a balmy summer night in 2020, shortly after the lifting of Germany’s first COVID-19 lockdown, and Omar Diallo and two friends from his home country of Guinea wanted to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.

“We were enjoying life, playing music, walking through the city at night — we just wanted to be together again and have a good time,” Diallo, 22, told The Associated Press in Erfurt, in the eastern state of Thuringia.

He was not prepared for how the day would end. Suddenly Diallo and his friends were confronted by three black-clad white men.

“They were shouting: ‘What do you want here, f-——- foreigners, get out’!” Diallo remembered.

“First there were three, then five, seven — they were surrounding us from all sides. We couldn’t run away, and then they started chasing us,” he said.

At some point Diallo managed to call the police, and when the officers finally arrived, the attackers ran away. One of his friends was beaten up so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

“I simply tried to survive,” Diallo said. “I hadn’t done anything wrong. It all happened only because of my skin color.”

Being Black in Germany has always meant exposure to racism, from everyday humiliations to deadly attacks. In eastern Germany, the risk can be even greater.

After World War II, West Germany became a democratic, diverse society but in East Germany, which was run by a communist dictatorship until the end of 1989, residents barely had any contact with people of different ethnicities and were not allowed to travel freely abroad.

Experts say that specifically in Thuringia, radical far-right forces have created an environment that’s hostile toward minorities, including Black people.

Now, with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, Black Germans and African migrants like Diallo are growing increasingly concerned.

Thuringia, which has a population of 2.1 million,holds state elections on Sept. 1, and the fiercely anti-immigration AfD is leading the polls, on 30%.

In 2023, the NGO Ezra, which helps victims of far-right, racist and antisemitic violence, documented 85 racist attacks in Thuringia, down only slightly from 88 attacks in 2022, which Ezra described as “an all-time high of right-wing and racist violence” in the state.

“In recent years, an extreme right-wing movement has formed in Thuringia, which has contributed to a noticeable ideological radicalization of its followers. Politically, the Alternative for Germany party is the main beneficiary,” Ezra and a consortium of organizations tracking racism wrote in their annual report.

AfD’s Thuringia branch is particularly radical and was put under official surveillance by the domestic intelligence service four years ago as a “proven right-wing extremist” group.

“Authoritarian and populist forces, which are becoming very strong here now, harbor a great danger in Thuringia,” says Doreen Denstaedt, Thuringia’s minister for migration, justice and consumer protection.

Denstaedt, the daughter of a Black father from Tanzania and a white German mother, was born and grew up in Thuringia.

The 46-year-old member of the Green party said that growing up in Communist East Germany, she was “always the only Black child.” As a teenager, she was never allowed to go home on her own because of the risk of racist attacks, and she sometimes suffered racist slurs in her school.

“I actually experienced myself that people called me a foreigner, which really confused me at first, because I was born in Saalfeld” in Thuringia, Denstaedt said.

She fears that in the current political climate, racist narratives will become acceptable in the middle of society.

“My biggest concern is that people do not question (these prejudices), especially if they are not affected themselves,” she said.

It’s not exactly clear how many Black people live in Germany nowadays, as different ethnicities are not documented in official statistics, but estimates put the number of people of African descent at 1.27 million. More than 70% were born in Germany, according to Mediendienst Integration, which tracks migration issues in the country.

Germany’s history of racial discrimination begins long before the Nazis began excluding, deporting and ultimately murdering Black people in the 1930s and 1940s.

The German Empire held numerous colonies in Africa from 1884 until the end of World War I. These included territories in present-day Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana.

The German government has only recently started dealing with the injustices committed during that period. In 2021, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Germans to face the country’s cruel colonial past, and in 2023, he apologized for colonial-era killings in Tanzania over a century ago.

Daniel Egbe, a 58-year-old chemist from Cameroon who moved to Thuringia in 1994 to study, says he’s shocked how little Germans know about their colonial history. He says this ignorance may also factor into the unequal treatment of Black people.

“I’ve been teaching classes in school,” Egbe told the AP. “I tell them a bit about myself and especially the fact that Cameroon was a German colony. Many students don’t know anything about Africa or about the German past and it must be put on the map.”

Egbe, who took German citizenship in 2003, founded AMAH, an organization that helps university students and migrants from Africa when they experience discrimination in the city of Jena, in eastern Thuringia.

He’s worried about the rise of the AfD but has no intention of leaving.

“We won’t leave, we will do our part to change this society,” he said. “People are mostly afraid of what and who they don’t know. We have to change things through education.”

As for Diallo, the Guinean who was attacked in Erfurt four years ago, he also vowed to help improve the situation for Black people in Germany.

Even though the attack traumatized him, it also empowered him to fight for justice, he said. A year ago, he enrolled in university in Munich to study law, but he still visits Erfurt frequently, where he supports Youth without Borders, a network of young migrants.

“I don’t exactly know yet how I’m going to change Germany, but I know I will,” he said.

Culled from AP

Dear Assibong,

I have gone through your conglomeration of bunkum and from every indication, you are one of the few students my late father taught and whose sound English language skills did not have an impact on. I would suggest you go back to the English language lessons my father, a man noted for his great language skills, delivered to you. My dad should be unhappy today in Heaven after having read the mess you published.

Cameroon Concord News Group wishes it could say “rest in peace MOWAH”. But we of the Concord Group can only say, “may there be more peace for all Manyu women all over the world, now that thousands of them have retired the name MOWAH permanently”. EYUMEMA and NYENE MAWN have come to stay.

As Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of the Concord Group, I am, indeed, doing my family and me a huge disservice by glorifying your stupidity and madness by sending a reply to this new version of your old nonsense.

Your disjointed ideas and lack of lucidity in the narration of a story you know nothing about only makes you look like a true buffoon which should be used as a circus animal.

If anyone has been deceiving you that you are impressing anybody with this your piece of writing which belongs to a garbage bin, know that such a person does not love you.

You seem to be extolling the virtues of poverty, but to the best of my knowledge, poverty is only romantic in books. Your dad might have been popular in the land of the blind in those days, but today, ignorance and poverty cannot be condoned. Stop extolling poverty.

Let me lecture you on something. As the president of MOHWA, your sister Comfort Beyang jumped into the spotlight and when you embrace the spotlight, you open yourself up for criticism when you err on the side of manipulation and dictatorship. It was her stewardship as the MOHWA president that was called into question and not the poverty that has been stalking your family for decades.

If you were born into poverty, that is not your problem, but if you die in it, then you deserve a lot of blame. But this does not imply that you must rob others of their wealth just to become wealthy or engage in unorthodox sexual behavior to escape, even for a day, from the grip of poverty. You should know what I am talking about.

The last time I checked, the Catholic Church had not launched a complaint against my kid brother and the Catholic Church is a well established body with effective and efficient institutions designed to find out the truth.

I cannot remember anytime I was in the Mfoundi court and I never saw my mother crying on the streets of Yaoundé, a city she does not even know as you claim. When you listen to those stories, make sure you understand what you are being told. Don’t be selective in your understanding of events.

I have one piece of advice for you. Please go back to school and stop giving my late dad a bad name. Anybody who was my dad’s student knows how to write sound English. This your piece of nonsense speaks to how preposterous you were in school. Never tell anyone that my dad of blessed memory was your teacher. You have spoiled my dad’s day in Heaven with this piece of nonsense. I also hope Germans will also understand your own version of English as it is not of this world.

Yours truly

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

In my next write up on Assibong, I will examine seriously the stories of him being a gay man who came back from Brazil and was trafficking in fake gold and made some money which he used to build a house at Rond Point in Douala. He couldn’t maintain the house and had to transform it into an auberge for evil men to come and have quickies.

As Manyu Division faces leadership issues, it is emerging that without a selfless and responsible leader, Manyu, a division struggling with development issues, will never make any giant strides forward if a young, dynamic and experienced leader does not emerge from the crowd of people waiting in the wings to lead the  most difficult political constituency in Cameroon.

While Manyu Division is endowed with many academically bright personalities, it is becoming obvious that academic brilliance alone will not take Manyus to the land of promise. Leadership is key and support for leaders is essential.

Senior political commentators both in Yaoundé and in the diaspora have opined that Manyu needs youthful leadership that is capable of pointing the Division in the right direction. Such leadership should be selfless, determined and audacious if the Division has to head in a different development direction.

Over the last several years, Manyu has not really had its fair share of appointments in government and this has adversely impacted the Division when it comes to development.

Manyu development issues have been compounded over the years by the devastating war of liberation of Southern Cameroons which has ruined many lives, leaving many children in rural Manyu without the education they need to face an uncertain future.

In that crowd of Manyu son and daughters ready to take a top government position to give Manyu a new lease on life is Victor Mengot, currently in charge of special duties at the presidency. As the fighting played out, Mengot did not fold his hands waiting for the government to address all the concerns. Though a victim of the fighting, following the razing of his home in his native Mbijong, Mengot sought peaceful solutions to the problem.

In his own way and in synergy with other Manyu elites, the Minister in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency expressed his opinion on how to address the crisis, sometimes leading peaceful efforts at addressing the problems which has made Southern Cameroons ungovernable, especially in his native Manyu Division.  He maintains that solutions to the crisis have to be sought from home – community after community.

“Systematically, we want to tackle the problem from the roots… each community should identify theirs who are taking part in the crisis and find a way to bring them back on the rails,” he said on state media.

He pointed out that a community-centered strategic plan of action had to include monitoring the activities of outlaws and secessionists as well as push through the virtues of dialogue and harmonious co-existence.

Mengot stressed that the government plan is geared towards bringing peace to our villages and communities. He furthered that Manyus know that the people who have been disturbing the peace are our children. “They have been kidnapping, burning houses and structures. Our communities are suffering; the economy of our region has deteriorated to the level where we don’t know how many years we will take to bring back the level it was in 2016.”

But Minister Victor Mengot’s demonstration of leadership did not only end with words. When the Mamfe District hospital was razed, Victor Mengot immediately mobilized the Manyu community in Cameroon and much money was raised to alleviate the pain of the suffering masses. He understood the importance of that hospital to the people of Manyu and behind the scenes; he called on other Manyu elites to join his fundraising efforts. 

That was a demonstration of leadership. Though imperfect, Mengot continues to do his best and his leadership needs help from the people of Manyu. Manyus should stand behind Mengot for him to continue displaying such leadership skills which can help give Manyu a shot in the arm.

Perfect people do not exist on earth and only seeing a man’s weaknesses does not bode well for a Division like Manyu whose politicians are already declining in strength and are gradually leaving the political arena due to age.

While other people may be jockeying in Yaoundé to jump into the spotlight, Manyus must understand that those who have the experience of working in government and providing leadership are usually the most appropriate to point the people in the right direction.

Manyu needs development. Its infrastructure is falling apart. The people are looking at their political elite to point them in the right direction. For now, Minister Victor Mengot has to play that role and the people of Manyu should stand by him in the interest of the Division. Seeking to contest his leadership only weakens the Division’s chances of having someone in a key position in government.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with editorial input from Dr. Joachim Arrey