Cameroon:New Horizon Cooperative to Alleviate Poverty in Bafut

Ngwaneba Jonathan,Board Chairman

By Christopher Ambe

 A new cooperative society with head office in Bafut Subdivision, Mezam Division of the Northwest region of Cameroon, has been registered with the overall mission of alleviating poverty and improving the lot of denizens of that locality.

The cooperative society, which   on November 9, 2022 obtained its matriculation certificate (legal status) from the Northwest Delegation of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), Regional Service of Registry, is called New Horizon Cooperative (NHC) society.

According to the pioneer Chairman of the Board of Directors of NHC, Ngwaneba Jonathan, who is also the Second Vice-National Chairman of Bafut Development Manjong( BDM)  and  former  President of BDM, Buea Branch:

According to the pioneer Chairman of the Board of Directors of NHC, Ngwaneba Jonathan, who is also  the Second Vice- National  Chairman of Bafut Development  Manjong (BDM) and  former  President of  Bafut Development Manjong(BDM) Buea Branch:

“Our primary mission is to combat poverty, ill-health and ignorance by reviving communities at the grassroots through a sustainable and developmental approach, and through human, material and technical resources”

Other officials of this new poverty-alleviation institution include but not limited to : Board Vice President: Mformuluh Adolf Che; Board Secretary: Mofor Samuel Che: President Supervisory Board: Shu Godlove;Secretary Supervisory Board: Ngum Asana epse Atanga Phebe ;Member Supervisory Board: Mboni  epse Njoh Ikome Magdalene.

Mr.Ngwaneba said that NHC is going to be unique in its development mission and tha its community plough back will support: healthcare, water and electricity, bridges and road maintenance, student loans, mentoring,internships  and scholarships.

He said NHC is ready to engage in partnership with individuals, organisations or corporations willing to facilitate the vision, mission and operations of the cooperative nationally and internationally.

The creation of NHC has reportedly been welcomed by elites of Bafut both at home and abroad.

 Bafut is one of the seven subdivisions that make up Mezam Division. It has over 45 villages and is 11 km from Bamenda, capital of the Northwest Region of Cameroon.  The Paramount Ruler of Bafut is Fon Abunbi II and the Bafut Palace is one of the most important cultural heritage sites in Cameroon.

NHC already has a website: https://newhco.org and for further inquiries those interested to come on board should contact Tel/WhatsApp +237 677715662 or Emial:info@newhco.org

 

 

Anglophone Crisis; Man in Hiding as Separatists, Security Forces Target Him.

By Chi Mba,

Chia kingsley Taiyi, was living and doing business in Bamenda , capital of the crisis-stricken Northwest region of Cameroon.

 Chia was said to be a car dealer and animal breeder even when the Anglophone crisis erupted in late 2016.

 Although born in Buea in 1983 ,he preferred to continue his business in the  restive town of Bamenda in the midst of the crisis that  has resulted in the death of many  people dead and  loss of  property worth billions of Fcfa  even as Buea was enjoying relative peace  and much safer. For fear of the unknown, many Bamenda business people relocated to Buea as ghost towns, kidnappings, killings and bloody confrontations between armed separatists and Cameroon security forces were common in Bamenda, which is capital of the Northwest region of Cameroon.

 Reports say in the neighborhood of Chia, many young men had become separatist fighters and kidnappings were common there but Chia was not known to have been a victim of kidnapping, fuelling the suspicion of the state security forces that he could be supporting the separatists.

As the security forces reportedly questioned Chia and monitored his moves to ascertain if he was covert sponsor of the separatists, the young businessman  became terribly frightened and in 2020 decided to relocate to Douala fearing for his life and those of his family.

Because Chia had been spotted on several occasions discussing with Cameroon security forces and then finally relocated to Douala, separatist fighters accused him of being a (blackleg) traitor who had given information about them to state security and then disappeared. He was reportedly threatened with death.

According to reports, Chia’s house was reportedly burnt but the identity of the arsonist(s) was not known .Also, some of his family members were allegedly tortured in their village in Ndop, Ngoketunjia Division of the Northwest region, by Separatists, forcing them to seek refuge in another locality.

Thinking that he was safe in Douala, some men purporting to be separatists stormed Chia’s house in his absence looking for him.

To avoid living in fear and threats of his life and those of his family members, Chia now is said to have recently fled Cameroon with his family to Nigeria, for safety.

Based accusations leveled against them,many other families have undergone the tortuous moments  experienced by Chia’s family and have fled the country to neighboring countries , to the US, Europe and to other parts of the world.

It would be recalled  that in May 2018, the  US Ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Henry Barlerin,  in a press statement on the Anglophone crisis, accused the Government of ”targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family or the Red Cross and burning and looting of villages”

Ambassador Barlerin also blamed separatist fighters for “murders of gendarmes, kidnappings of government officials and burning of schools”

The UN and other rights organizations estimate that over 40 thousand Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone Crisis  are seeking asylum in neighboring Nigeria; that  about over half a million people are internally displaced and that the crisis has left over four thousand people (both civilians and soldiers) dead. The Cameroon government labels Anglophone separatists as terrorists. The maximum punishment for terrorism in the country is the death penalty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Cameroonian Emeritus Professor, Kashim Tala:The First person who obtained PhD from University of Yaoundé

Cameroonian Emeritus Professor,Kashim Tala  Photo Credit/Chris Ambe

 By Christopher Ambe

Kashim Ibrahim Tala, 78, is a Cameroonian Emeritus Professor of African Literature.

This indigene of Bamendankwe, Bamenda I subdivision,Mezam Division of the Northwest Region of Cameroon, was the first  person to obtain a Doctorate Degree from the then University of Yaounde in 1982 .

 Although retired from the University of Buea in 2010, Professor Tala who is a lover of books, teacher, writer, essayist, and moralist is not tired. He is still very active contributing to nation-building, in various ways.

 Professor Tala holds-and strongly too- that “Any teacher who fails to arouse in his or her students, a thirst for knowledge and the search for truth should count himself or herself a failure.”

On November 4^th and 5^th November 2022 the Cameroon English Language and Literature Association (CELLA) during its annual international conference in Buea, honored and celebrated   Professor Tala for his enormous contribution to building “the bank of knowledge”  through his teaching, research and mentorship and as the first Cameroonian to have earned a PhD in African Literature in Cameroon.

Having obtained an M.Phil Degree from the University of Leeds in England, Professor Tala was recruited in 1978 by the University of Yaounde as an Assistant Lecturer.

“I became the first person to obtain a Doctorate Degree from the University of Yaounde in 1982 under the tutelage of the iconic and venerable Emeritus Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon”, Professor Tala told the Buea CELLA conference, drawing deafening applause from the audience of dons.

His quest for more knowledge the same he bagged his PhD led him to the Pennsylvania State University in the USA where he did his postdoctoral studies in Oral Literature.

But a patriotic Professor Tala, upon completion his postdoctoral studies, returned to Cameroon in 1984 to continue what he knows best: teaching.

He taught and served as an administrator in the Universities of Yaounde,Dschang and Buea, rising through the professional ranks from Assistant Lecturer and Lecturer through Associate Professor to Professor. He also occupied several administrative positions in the University system and rose to the rank of Vice Rector at the University of Dschang,Cameroon.

Professor Tala retired from active service in 2010 and was same year elevated to the rank of Emeritus Professor.

Retired but not tired

Conscious that retirement from one place or job could offer  employment elsewhere, Professor Tala since 2010 engaged in postgraduate teaching, research,supervision,mentoring and chairing of panels in the universities of Buea, Dschang,Yaounde 1, Bamenda and Maroua-all in Cameroon.

He is currently Member of Council of the University of Bamenda and the Rector of the HIBMAT University Institute of Buea (HUIB).

 Role Model

Does Professor Tala have a role model?   “ I had as a role model, my academic godfather and master, the eminent avator,classical philosopher ,and internationally acclaimed and erudite scholar Bernard Nsokika Fonlon”,he told the Buea CELLA conference, adding  that “ I have also tried as much as is humanly possible to be guided by one of his cherished precepts:

My central aim in life is to become an educator and inspirer of youths. To succeed in this, I must strain for the fullest possible measure of this two-fold culture of head and heart: for the young worship high scholarship and cannot resist the pull of noble character.”

 Legacy

Professor Tala has taught thousands of students, mentored many young scholars, nurtured many fledging oralists and inspired those who almost fell by the way side.

“I am happy to note that among my former students are illustrious colleagues who have proven themselves as devoted scholars, seasoned academics and astute literary critics who are continuing in my path.

They are Professors: Nol Alembong(Vice-Chancellor,University of Buea),Enongene Sone Mirabeau(Professor of Literary Studies ,Department of English ,Walter Sisulu University,SouthAfrica) and Professor Neba Divine Che, of E.N.S ,University of Yaounde I,”he noted.

It is worthy of note that   Professor Tala has met and interacted with such internationally celebrated and iconic oral literature scholars such as Isidore Okpewho,Chidi Maduka,Kofi Agivi,Philip Noss,Oyekan Owomoyela,Douglas Killian,Karen Keim,Tunde Okanlawon,Grahan Furniss Thomas Thomas Hale- all of who have taught him “the value of oral literature as a serious academic discipline in the current age.”

Secret of Success

Professor Tala says :“The secret of my success is  my dear wife ,Julie Enjema Ndive,epouse Tala( retired High School teacher of English ) who has endured me for 55 years and has been my faithful companion through the ups and downs, thick and thin, storms and stress,twists and turns and all the vagaries and inscrutable vicissitudes of life.

“She is God’s gift to me”

 Professional Experience

From 2015 - date, Professor Tala is Rector, HIBMAT University Institute of Buea(HUIB);2021-date:Board Member ,University of Bamenda(UBa);2007-2010:Director,Center for African Languages and Culture, University of Buea;2000-2003:Vice-Rector,University of Dschang;1999-2005:Technical Adviser, University of Dschang;1997-1999:Director of Academic Affairs, University of Buea;1993-1997:Director of Students Affairs,University of Buea;1989-1993: Secreatry-General,Buea University Centre.

Publication & Supervision

Professor Tala has published fifteen books and thirty-five articles in Peer-reviewed International Journals.He has supervised fifteen candidates who successfully defended their PhDs and twenty-seven who successfully defended their master’s degrees.

Professor Tala, who was born on July 24, 1944 in Bamendankwe(Mezam Division),is married to a native of Bova-Buea(Fako Division) and the couple is blessed with five children

As a rights actvists, he hates injustice and corruption.

In his leisure time this Catholic Christian likes reading, listening to good music, walking around and site-seeing.

Professor Tala loves Cameroonian dishes like achu and corn fufu.

 

Cameroon:UNCHRDA Mentors Journalists on Reporting Linguistic Minority Issues

By Christopher Ambe

Thirty journalists from the Southwest, Northwest, Littoral and Centre regions of Cameroon were on October 26 and 27, 2022  mentored  on  proper  reporting on linguistic minority issues in the media.

The two-day workshop organized and facilitated by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa (UNCHRDA) Yaoundé-Cameroon, took place at Prince de Galles Hotel, Douala, and was opened by the Littoral Regional Delegate of Communication, Marie-Laure Mokoko.

The communication delegate hailed the organizers of the workshop, noting that the initiative was a brilliant one. She said the voice of the journalist is very important in the promotion and protection of the rights of minorities.

 The workshop theme was “Reporting on Minority Issues in the Media.”

Presentations at the workshop were inspired by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which was adopted on 18 December 1992 by the UN General Assembly resolution 47/135.

The Declaration seeks to promote the realization of fundamental rights of minorities, as well as the key principles including equality and non-discrimination recognized in the UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other relevant international and regional instruments.

 The Declaration specifically requires States to “adopt appropriate legislative and other measures” to protect minorities.

The workshop, according to Dr.Laurent Akobi,of the UN Center for Human Rights  in an invitation letter to selected  media professionals, aimed at “ building  the capacities of media professionals in Cameroon on the rights of minorities in Cameroon and on how to report ethically and effectively on minority issues”

Seminar facilitators included UNCHRDA communication expert, Joseph Lereh Fajong and the Human rights Associate , Zoe Poznicek; Dr.Hilaire Kamga ,country administrator of African Research and Training Center for Democracy, Development and Peace(ARTDP) and Veteran Journalist Tricia Oben.

Their presentations, which participants described as very informative and educative, were on themes such as: Understanding the concepts of minority language rights and discrimination; International instruments protecting language minority rights; the new law on official languages in Cameroon and linguistic minorities; the Role of the media in the promotion and protection of minority rights, as well as Mapping stories on minority issues, checklist for media professionals.

 The two-day workshop ended with a firm commitment by the journalists to be more focused on minority rights issues and to professionally and ethically report on them.

 

 

 

 

Cameroon :CELLA Members Urged to Use Forum to publish Research works

By Christopher Ambe

Cameroon English Language and Literature Association (CELLA), the only widely known forum for bringing together scholars of English Language and Literature in Cameroon to exchange intellectual ideas, and to publish peer reviewed scientific articles, on 4^th and 5^th November, held its fourth conference in Buea.

Prof. Nol Alembong,Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Buea in charge of Teaching , who opened  the conference  on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buea,Prof. Horace Ngomo Manga, urged CELLA members  to use the forum to publish their scientific articles.

Prof. Alembong commended the organizers of the conference, noting that conferences give the opportunity for participants to share ideas and knowledge, thereby contributing to development of society in various ways.

He advised that the conference should end with the publication of the various research papers.

The CELLA International Conference in Buea, which was the 4^th CELLA come together, coincided with the 5^th edition of the KASHIM IBRAHIM TALA LECTURE (KITAL), took place at the former Alliance-Franco Camerounaise-Buea.

. The joint event was organized by CELLA in partnership with St. Lawrence University Institute and the Faculty of Arts, University of Buea.

The conference commemorated Emeritus Professor, Kashim Ibrahim Tala, 78,for his enormous contribution to knowledge through and teaching and  mentorship.

 It was attended by 98 participants (scholars) from varsities and other higher Institutes of learning in Cameroon and via online participation by scholars from Nigeria,Kenya and Rwanda.

Feeling honored and speaking at the opening ceremony, Emeritus Professor Kashim Ibrahim Tala, noted:

 “Conferences such as this are the kind of intellectual activities that effectively generate and inspire the level of interest in scholarship that has been absent in Cameroonian academia for quite some time.

“It is a confirmation of the fact that teachers are the greatest contributors to the intellectual, social, economic, political and moral development of any country.”

Prof .Tala reiterated   the responsibility of the teacher as expressed by an eminent guru: The most valuable thing a teacher can impact to children is not knowledge and understanding per se,but a longing  for knowledge and values whether they be artistic, scientific or moral.

According to Prof.Tala, who was the first person to obtain a Doctorate Degree from the then University of Yaounde in 1982 under the tutelage of the iconic and venerable Emeritus Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, “Any teacher who fails to arouse in his or her students, a thirst for knowledge and the search for truth should count himself or herself a failure. Thus, the fact that this conference is premised on the contention that profound appreciation of genuine intellectualism is necessary to foster sustainable scholastic endeavors in our county is in and of itself praise worthy.”

He noted that CELLA is recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education and urged its members to support it whole-heartedly and “use it as a forum for the publication of our scientific articles.”

Other speakers at the opening ceremony included Dr. Christina Abonge,head of Department, Women and Gender Studies, University of Buea, who presented the inaugural address  and Emeritus Professor Paul Mbangwana,who presented the KITAL Lecture.

Dr. Abonge‘s paper titled “Gender, Sexuality and Culture: Emerging Issues in Cameroonian Society” provoked interesting reactions from the participants.

Same was the presentation of Emeritus Prof. Mbangwana,titled “Evolving Gender  Roles in the Western Grasslands of Cameroon”

The keynote address came from Prof. Ayu’nwi N. Neba  of the University of Buae,on the topic “ A Linguistic Perspective  on Credible Empirical Data Collection and Analyses for Deciphering Cultural Ideologies of Gender, Sexuality and Ecology in local communities.

Day 2 of the conference, which began with a keynote address by Prof .Rev Fr. Suh Michael Niba,titled “ African Cultural and Christian Wisdom: The Earth  is Burning” work in various sessions