Honorable Enwe Francis ‘There is an Anglophone problem but Communities should stay calm and avoid violence.’

Permit us to ask that you re-introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born some 46 years ago at Befang in the Widikum Sub-Division, Momo in the Northwest Region. I attended my primary school in Mankon where I lived for a couple of years. I went to Secondary school at GHS Batibo and went to high school at GBHS Mbengwi from where I graduated in 1992 with my Advanced level.

Honorable Enwe Francis

 From there I proceeded home and started practicing with the Church where I was finally ordained as Pastor in the New Apostolic Church where I worked from 1993 to 2000.

 When did the switch in your life come about?

 I decided to relocate to South Africa for greener pastures. I got to South Africa in January 2000. A couple months later I was privileged to have a good job with a company and from there I decided to proceed with my own education.  From my first company I was taken by another company for a better salary. In 2003 I created my own company and in 2007 I already had about 21 workers. I was doing capacity building and performance improvement in the Ministries. I actually worked with the governments of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Malawi.

 How was this company called and how enabling is the business environment in South Africa?

New Era Coaching, Africa was the name of the company and the South African Business Environment was quite good. We noticed that the government of South Africa had budgeted a lot to empower its citizens considering the setbacks that they had because of the apartheid regime. As a result, quite a lot now was put in training and even those that were working with government needed training. The environment in South Africa was very enabling. When I set up the company, it was doubted if I could really make it but it went on so well for someone doing business in a foreign country. I think it was because of the quality of services that I offered. Those that attended my seminars went back as good references. 

 

What brought you back to the country and what pushed the community into placing so much confidence in you?

I was at the peak of good business in South Africa when I left but something touched me by the end of February 2006. I had this urge to go back home. I was with my whole family and kids going to school in South Africa.  I tried coming home with businesses so that I could settle in Cameroon and it never worked. But something told me to look at Politics. My area is so cut off, and had never had a Parliamentarian.  And the whole area was full of opposition parties so I decided to get back home. I came in early 2007 to talk to the political leaders of my area of the ruling CPDM. We talked on how we could improve upon the performance of the party in the area which was 70% SDF at the time. They said it was risky considering the SDF dominance at the time. So I said if they backed my candidature I would handle the situation and they accepted. That’s how I got in and in July 2007 I won the elections. My mind became divided. Was I to remain in South Africa with my family or stay in Cameroon and work as a Parliamentarian?  I eventually chose to stay back home and serve my people as a Parliamentarian.

How changed can you say the area is at the moment since you came back home and took your place as a Parliamentarian?

Lots of changes have taken place today and I would say that’s what really comforts me.  Let me start with education which was my main pre-occupation. When I came in, Widikum had only three colleges for 42 villages with about close to 50 primary schools. After touring the constituency I had to put up centers where 5 to 6 villages could have a secondary school and I created a series of secondary schools in the area.  Now Widikum is proud of not less than 12 secondary schools and high schools are already there now. The number of children who go to school has risen and all those earlier problems of early pregnancies and marriage have stopped and everybody is now concentrating on the education of their children.  When I came to Widikum I knew only of three people in uniform in the military but I encouraged many able bodied young men who were either in the bike riding business or idle to join the military and even helped many in the process. Today about 50 young men are in the military from my area. It’s the same in Ngi and Njikwa Sub Divisions and I tried hard to promote an elite class in the area by chipping in a word here and there on their behalf especially for those who were already in the civil service. Today you have a reasonable number of Secondary school principals among others who have been appointed from the area. That’s how we have tried to build the human resources of our various Sub Divisions. Many have been appointed as Delegates and I think as a man between the government and the people, I  have worked hard to see how I can sustain a solid base of human resource in our Sub Divisions Widikum, Ngi and Njikwa which is one of the largest in this country with 72 far off villages. I have to visit these villages and most of my journeys are on foot moving across forests and dangerous rivers to get to some villages. But I am proud to say if you go to Widikum now you will agree with me that no Sub Division is receiving the kind of attention that Widikum is getting now. Quite a lot is being done because of my contacts in Yaounde. The pace of electrification is alarming and as I speak 5 villages are being electrified back home. I do a lot of follow up to make sure my projects are in the budget. 

I think you have a message for your constituency, its traditional leaders, elites and Cameroonians at large.

For the youths, many of them know what I used to do before I left for South Africa. I had a garden and I used to sell local Palm wine that I transported every morning over a distance of about 5 kilometers to sell. I used to trade even with smugglers to Nigeria to carry cargo and when we trekked three days to Nigeria and three days back, we got 15000 FCFA. They knew me for selling even loin clothes carrying them on my head to some villages to sell them to women. I have done a lot of things including getting married early. I married at 24 to an 18 year old girl chosen for me by my parents and I think that’s the best gift my parents gave to me. I have five kids with my wife.  I call on youths therefore to be hard working. For the Community especially with the ongoing Anglophone problem, I call on them to be calm and to avoid anything that deals with violence. There must be a solution and every problem must have a solution and I think. Government is working towards that. I have been part of the negotiations too and most of the negotiations that I have been doing have been personal not assigned by anybody.

  

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