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| Ms Chantal Kambiwa,Pioneer SI General Coordinator at Douala Press conference |
By Christopher Ambe
Ms Chantal Kambiwa, a Cameroonian woman of high socio-political value
and former official of Cameroon’s opposition party, the Social Democratic Front
(SDF), has done her country proud with her brilliant election as the pioneer
General Coordinator of Socialist International (SI).
SI
is the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist and labour
parties. It currently brings together 132 political parties and organizations
from all continents, according to official sources.
Kambiwa was elected General
Coordinator on 24 February 2024 in Madrid -Spain during a three-day SI Council session.
The office of General Coordinator was created the same day she was elected as
part of SI reforms.
She was installed same day(February
24) by the SI Council .This Cameroonian She goes in records as the first Cameroonian and African woman to
occupy the coveted office.
She is the second highest
official after the President of the
Socialist International, who is now the sitting Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro
Sanchez.
Upon her return to Cameroon after
her election in Madrid, in spite of her busy schedule, Kambiwa convened a press
conference on March 6 at Lewat Hotel, Douala ,during which she presented her
new office and duties, promising to use her position to promote peace and
social justice as well as ameliorate the conditions of women not only in
Cameroon but world-wide.
Her duties as General Coordinator include organizing and bringing people together to work for the SI mission
and the new vision of the SI President.
She told the press of her
commitment to focus on the empowerment of women, noting that SI has the Gender
Committee to that effect.
According to her, having women in good positions facilitate the search for solutions to problems.
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| Ms. Chantal Kambiwa (middle) flanked by admirers at Douala Press conference |
“Women have an important role to play in the
promotion of peace. In Cameroon like elsewhere peace is pivotal to development
and as a Cameroonian woman occupying this post, every time there is a possibility
to help [promote] peace in my country, I will do so,” kambiwa pointed out.
“My
election to this post was a pleasant surprise to me and an honor to my country,
Cameroon-and Africa,” she said, noting that of the 54 political parties present
at the council meeting ,51 voted in her favor to assume the office coordinator-general
Reacting to her election as SI General Cordinator to this reporter, emeritus University Distinguished
Professor of Law, Ndiva Kofele kale and political mentor of Kambiwa, said:
“Her election to this history making position,
the second highest in the worldwide socialist/social democratic movement,
having as her boss Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain, speaks to her hard
work ethic. Hard work pays, and those who work hard don't make much noise
because their work speaks for them.”
Kale, a former SDF strategist,
recalled that Kambiwa’s involvement with the SI dates back to November 1999
when she was part of the SDF delegation led by Chairman John Fru Ndi to the
Paris SI Congress where the SDF was officially admitted as a Full member of the
Socialist International!
Kale who was part of the
delegation to the Paris SI congress was then Fru Ndi’s able and trusted
External Affairs man. It would be recalled that Kale was in charge of SDF foreign relations
(unofficially) from 1996-1999 and officially from 1999-2006.
When Kambiwa was designated as
the SDF party's representative to the Socialist International Women (sister
organ, to the SI), she rose through the ranks of SIW and in 2003 was elected
one of its vice presidents.
Kambiwa is the daughter of Mr Wandji Nkuimy,
first Minister of Finance from Nde Division in Ahmadou Ahidjo's Republic of
Cameroon government.
She has been a militant of the SDF from the
early 90s and served as Vice Chairman of the Littoral Province under provincial
Chairman the emblematic Dr. Nja Kwa.
Kale recalled: “Kambiwa
militated in party politics alongside her mother, Mabatgoup Rose Wandji Nkuimy,
who was herself a firebrand militant and leader of the W/CPDM in Douala,
resisting all efforts to drag her into the CPDM!
“Such has been her sense of
purpose, focus, strong convictions, and unshakeable commitment to the principles
and values incarnated in the Socialist International and which the SDF swore by
in its heyday!”
According to Kale, “As the
first African women in this global organization grouping over progressive
parties from over 150 countries, her election underscores that competence and
merit triumph in organizations that respect the principle of equality opportunity
for alL.
“This is one of the
foundational principles of the SDF and was a slogan that attracted the wretched
of our earth to its fold but now is practiced more in the breach.”
The emeritus University Distinguished Professor of law and sharp critic of political mediocrity, was emphatic:
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| Cross section of journalists at the Douala press conference organised by Chantal Kambiwa |
“Kambiwa is a shiny example of the SDF’s abandonment of this foundational principle when it expelled her and 33 other senior party officials, less than a year ago, because they were demanding that the democratic rights--enshrined in the Constitution of Cameroon, sworn to by the Founding Fathers of the Party and embodied in the charter statutes of the SI (an organization they struggled so hard and over so many years to become a member) be respected.”
Should SDF take
credit for Kambiwa’s rise?
Some political pundits think that
the SDF should not take credit for Kambiwa’s elevation to the post of
coordinator General of SI.
According to a Cameroonian
political pundit who chose not to be named, “In its haste to cashier her from
the only party she’s ever militated, the SDF, the first party from Cameroon to
become a full member of the SI,the SDF cannot now share in this glorious and
history-making victory !”
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