Dr Denis Nsame Nforniwe

We now Do COVID-19 Tests in Bamenda - Director of Bamenda Regional Hospital
 

Doctor Denis Nsame Nforniwe is the Director of the Bamenda Regional Hospital. This Medical Doctor with 20 years of experience also served as Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital before being transferred to Bamenda where he replaced Dr Kingue Thompson who was also transferred from Bamenda to Limbe as Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital. In this interview which is dominantly focused on efforts to combat the deadly COVID-19 Pandemic, the Medical Doctor states that COVID 19 tests are now done in Bamenda. Dr Denis Nsame begins with a vivid description of the Bamenda Regional Hospital.

"The Bamenda Regional Hospital is really a mighty hospital having 400 beds and Five Hundred Staff. Out of this number, there are 42 Doctors and 200 Nurses, 36 Laboratory Technicians and the rest are Juniour Sanitation Workers and Paramedical Staff with about 30 structures. In a General Hospital like this, we have all the services with some Specialized Services like the Imaging Center, the Dialysis Center and the Daycare Center, where we have about 6000 patients who come for HIV Treatment and for the taking of their daily drugs."

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What additional structures have come in as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

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With the coming of COVID-19, at least we've had another additional Specialized Service and we have termed it the "Solidarity Ward". This ward is not really inside the Hospital but is found at the main entrance to the hospital at the Hospital Roundabout. It is in a fenced building having three rooms with six beds and we've had a tent outside with ten beds so it has a capacity of 16 beds. Since the advent of COVID-19, we registered the first case on the 20th of April. Today the second of May we have 11 confirmed cases. It will be good to inform the public that almost all these cases came through importation from Douala. The first case was someone who was not satisfied with his treatment in Douala and decided to drive himself to the Northwest Region where he presented himself for testing. After that we had another case from Yaounde and since then we are in phase II because we are having Community Transmission. When you have a confirmed case you start having contacts since there is movement from one place to the other.  So far we have tested close to 60 people and it is still going on as we continue to test the contacts and suspected cases. Unfortunately, among the first 11 confirmed cases, we lost one. This person came and samples were collected and he did not pass up to 48 hours here. He however gave up the Ghost before results could come out. 

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How are the corpses of COVID-19 victims handled?

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As we know, managing of corpses as concerns this highly infectious diseases means that the corpses are buried immediately. The burial of this case was done by the Medical Staff. We also need to disinfect the compound and supervise the burial. Burial should be done by the City Council but this one was an exceptional case since the compound was inside the town. The grave was dug and we came in and did the burial immediately. The other ten cases are responding to treatment at the Solidarity Ward. 

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Out of the Hospital Premises, what other facilities do you have?

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We also have some External Isolation Centers. This includes Azam Hotel with 72 rooms and if this becomes insufficient, the Governor will request for space elsewhere maybe at the Ayaba Hotel, Low Cost Houses, the Military Hospital and the Police Hospital where they are also trying to make sure that other logistics are put in place. 

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What measures have been put in place to handle suspected and confirmed cases?

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We have a team of 20 people made up of Doctors, Nurses and Laboratory Technicians who are manning their redeployment to Isolation Centers and see into the day-to-day running of these centers. For now the treatment of COVID-19 is free as prescribed by the Government. We should however know that we have some cases of co-mobilities. If you have Coronavirus and you have hypertension, it doesn't mean that you will not continue to have your treatment for Hypertension.You will have to continue buying your drugs. If you are COVID-19 positive and diabetic at the same time, you will have to continue taking your insulin. If we discover some other things that are not linked to the Protocol of Management of COVID-19, then accordingly, the patient will take care of treatment for the other things while we continue to manage him. But we know that everything as concerns the Personal Protective Equipment, all the Management and Hospitalisation is free and then all the drugs as concerns the COVID-19 as the protocol is spelled out by the Ministry of Health are free. Its case by case. Some people warrant admission or hospitalization. All of this is not paid for.

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Is there a Regional structure in place that has been created to handle the Pandemic?

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We have a Regional Committee headed by the Governor of the Northwest Region and we have an Incident Management System headed by the Regional Delegate of Public Health where we have all the various sections: Communication, Coordination, Case Management and Diagnosis.

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We understand Testing still poses lots of problems since specimens have to be taken to Yaounde..

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Another good message to share with the public is that we now do the testing in Bamenda. We have a Reference Laboratory. Specialist came from "Centre Pasteur" in Yaounde and installed the platform for testing so we no longer carry specimens to Yaounde. It was very tedious from the beginning and Bamenda is already receiving speciments from Bafoussam. Bafoussam is getting more and more overloaded with contacts to test. 

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What measures are you putting in place to keep the Medical Staff safe?

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Another message is to the Health Personnel. We are at the Frontline of this fight. The message we are giving out is that we don't want visitors and that people should stay at home. People should be well masked as they move out. They should practice the Hand Washing Habit and the use of Hand Sanitizers. People should only move when it is absolutely necessary. 

Even in the Hospital, we insist on one patient one carer. We don't need extra carers. Sometimes you see one patient having 5 to 7 carers. We don't need that. We are given the mandate to controle Social Distancing even within the Hospital. It is really a challenge and we really wish that the population should respect it. They can call their loved ones who are admitted rather than just stroll into the hospital for visits. This will make our hospitals crowded and increase the risk of transmission which can happen even within the hospital.

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There is the Tendency for the population to panic anytime a flu-like symptom is observed..
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We will continue to treat other diseases. These may have flu-like symptoms but not necessarily COVID-19. You can still have Pneumonia which is not COVID-19. So if the population is hiding and not coming out to check themselves then this is bad and we will have many deaths from other diseases that is not COVID-19. We want the public to know that Coronavirus exists, that it kills and that it is a very contagious disease. 

Cameroon is just starting. You heard of 2000 people dying within 24 hours in the USA. With the limited resources that we have, lets make use of the preventive measures. As for the masks, the medical ones are not really available in enough quantity for the population but the Government has been encouraging local production. We are calling on producers to do so in the right way. Atleast three layers with the cotton and the latex in the middle. Accredited Centres for the production are not yet established but we call on those producing it to follow these rules. It is better that each person should at least have protection. We are happy that our Northwest Special fund has been producing Sanitizers and masks.

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Any special message to the public?
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Coronavirus is real and there is already Community Transmission. If you have Flulike Symptoms, you must not come to the Hospital. Call the Toll Free number 1510 or the other numbers. We have 233361503 or 233361506 or 233361507 or 677564650 or 677032723. These are numbers of the Call Center at the Regional Delegation of Public Health in Bamenda. You shouldn't be running to the health facilities but should rather call and you will be given the appropriate information on what to do. If necessary we may even come and investigate you in your house.  

At the level of the hospital we have also locked the main gate and we concentrate firstly on pre-screening at the level of the gate. If you have fever, cough or difficulty in breathing, we have a pathway that you have to follow. If you have upper respiratory tract infection then you will be screened to make a difference between the one which is bacteria and that which is suspicious for COVID-19 and then we manage accordingly so that staff and doctors at the hospital are protected.

Interviewed in Bamenda by Francis Ekongang Nzante 


Les Gens Du Cameroun: Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/ +237678401408

Dr Bijingni Kuwoh Pius

"The PBF Project Can Transform the Health Sector in Cameroon" Dr. Bijingni Kuwoh Pius

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The last time Dr. Bijingni Kuwoh Pius worked with the Public Service in Cameroon was as Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital. However, just when he was handing over from the post of Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital, he received a call requesting him to work as a Consultant with the Performance Based Financing (PBF) project in Yagoua in the Far North Region. The Non-Governmental Organization IRESCO was chosen to execute the project. The experienced Public Health Physician, had been contacted earlier but they called him that day to inform him that he had been selected to coordinate the pilote phase of the PBF project. The erstwhile Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital started the job in August 2016. He begins this revealing Interview by giving a detailed description of the nature of his job in the Far North Region of Cameroon.

"There was an antenna in Yagoua that took care of five Health Districts.  There was another antenna in Maroua which took care of Six Heath Districts.  There was a manager in Maroua and then I was Manager in Yagoua. We managed the Pilote Phase from August 2016 to December 2017 and because the results were encouraging, the Government asked us to extend the project to all the 30 Health Districts in the Far North Region in 2018.  From January 2018 we started the expansion and then I was also moved from Yagoua to Maroua where the Head Quarters is found. We succeeded in extending the project to all the 30 Health Districts in 2018. This is 2019 and we are still working at it. The project ends in 2022"

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Your appointment in the Far North came at a time when the Boko Haram insurgency was at its peak. How challenging did this make the execution of your job?

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The attacks from Boko Haram did not spare our Health Facilities. It makes the life of Health officials and the movement between Health Facilities very difficult. Health Facilities were attacked and burnt and were forced to be closed. This pushed Health Officials to go and seek for space in other existing facilities in order to continue with consultations. Most of these burnt facilities are not in main town Maroua but are instead around the border with Nigeria and Chad. It has made work very difficult in those areas but we have however succeeded in working in all the 30 Health Districts. Sometimes we've had to work with Administrators and the Forces of Law and Order to escort personnel to facilities. In fact Health Personnel have left the dangerous areas to stay in safer areas. They only go there to carry out their duties. These are some of the strategies used to continue providing Health Services to the people. 

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Can you briefly describe how the project is organized and how it functions?

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The contracts with IRESCO ended in September 2017.  The IRESCO program is being funded by the World Bank. The World Bank wanted to collaborate with a local NGO and so they chose IRESCO. The NGO was co-implementing the project in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health. When the contract with IRESCO ended in December 2017, the project was then put under the Special Fund for Health Promotion SFHP. In 2016 and 2017, the Special Fund for Health Promotion SFHP had not yet been put in place in the Far North Region. The structure executing the project is called the Contract Development and Verification Agency (CDVA). 

This project shifts away from the traditional way of financing Health Projects where Credit Cards are given by the Government. We call them inputs and when they don't give the inputs we sit and wait. Performance Based Financing (PBF) moved away from the traditional way of financing to an output way of financing. The PBF comes out with what we call indicators like consultations, deliveries, surgeries, transfusions and so on. We work with what they call verification agents and the hospitals carry out their activities normally. At the end of the month we send our verification agents to the hospitals. They are given the registers of the health facility and they go in and count. The verification agents come in and count these indicators. The hospital staff may have declared 100 consultations but the verification team may acknowledge or validate only 98. Each of these activities has a unit price that you multiply by it and have a certain amount. At the end we make the total and come out with invoices that are sent to the Technical Team at the Ministry of Health that processes them and sends them in for payment. Apart from this we carry out community Surveys every three months so we work with Community Based Organizations (CBOs). They go down into the field every three months and get information from people in the community who benefit from services of health facilities. We also worked on the management aspect with an intention of improving upon the management quality of our facilities. We have a tool which we call the Indice Tool in which the Health Facility has to declare all that it has as revenue and also declare all its expenditure. In PBF we believe that the staff must be motivated. We have a tool that we use to evaluate the performance of our staff. We believe that at the end of every month, there should be some money left for the motivation of staff so that it will deter them from doing parallel activities and encourage them to work better. 

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How successful do you think the project has been so far?

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The general objective of the project is to strengthen the performances of the health system in Cameroon. It also aims at reaching the population especially the poor and vulnerable with quality health care. From the data that we are assembling we see that the number of people who are attending health facilities is going up. Also the number of poor and vulnerable who are receiving health care is increasing. Health facilities are improving their infrastructure and equipment. Health facilities have also been able to recruit personnel. More and more health facilities are paying performance bonus to their staff. There are some Health Facilities that have acquired Solar Panels, some have employed Personnel and improved upon infrastructure. This has made the personnel generally happier and more motivated with these bonuses that are being paid. The patients themselves are getting more satisfaction and if you see their ratings of their satisfaction with services at the facilities you will see that it falls from 80% upwards.  Some even go above 90%. For technical quality, the score ranges between 60% and 70%. On Management, the score ranges between 50% and 60%. On the whole its been very successful and the Government is relying on it to attain the Universal Health Coverage.  

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Briefly speaking, has it been a smooth sail?

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Not at all. Firstly it is about introducing a change in the way services were being managed. When you talk about change those who feel threatened will oppose if they see their interest threatened. The credit cards are transformed into subsidies and paid directly into the account of the health facilities. So no more 30%. Also the heads of the health facilities have to manage the resources in a transparent manner. They have to sit down with their collaborators and plan and discuss how resources have to be managed. Even those who accepted did not know how to go about it so we had to organize trainings before enrolling health facilities into the project. But gradually even those who were opposed at the beginning are becoming convinced of the positive changes that the project was bringing especially when they started receiving the first payments. Yes at the beginning we give the facility what we call Quality Improvement Budget. So facilities that have infrastructural problems are given what we call Quality Improvement Bonus (QIB). There are some Health Facilities that have acquired their Solar Panels, some have employed Personnel and improved upon infrastructure. 

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For a Professional of your caliber how satisfying is your present occupation?

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I am that kind of person who likes to work especially when I am convinced that the results will bring about a positive change.  I believe that if it is well implemented it will bring about the big change that we expect in the Health Sector. It fits in with my vision of what the Health Sector should be. 

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Do you think the COVID-19 Pandemic is going to find a solution that quickly? Secondly, what message do you have for Cameroonians with regards to the pandemic?

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The COVID-19 they say is similar to the SARS. Its infectious but less deadly than the SARS. A lot is still to be known about the COVID-19. For the moment Cameroonians should implement the safety measures that have been prescribed. Washing of hands and avoiding the touching of their faces as well as maintaining Social Distancing. These measures have worked elsewhere and can work here as well. The Cameroon health system is not strong enough to respond to such a Pandemic if huge numbers of patients storm our health facilities in a very short time. The best option is to stick to safety measures, while hoping that a cure or a vaccine is found very quickly.

   

Interviewed By Francis Ekongang Nzante 

Edev Newspaper Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ edevnewspaper@gmail.com

Senator Kinyang George pays Tribute to Late Hon Mbah Ndam

"The Anglophone Crisis is now used for Business"
 -Senator Kinyang George

While decrying the killings, back biting, settling of scores, destruction and hate that have hijacked the struggle of Southern Cameroonians or the Anglophone Crisis as it is commonly referred to, Senator Kinyang George has equally decried the fact the belligerents are now turning the Anglophone Problem into a lucrative business. In tribute to the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam he insists that Federalism which the late MP supported fiercely could provide all the solutions to the Anglophone Problem. He said a Two State Federation could save the country from all the violence, killings and destruction that was presently going on. The Late Hon Mbah Ndam he said struggled to put this idea across throughout the Anglophone struggle. Some quarters he said understood his stance while some did not.

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What are those things that you vividly remember about Honourable Mbah Ndam?

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I remember him as a University Don. It will surprise you that he even taught me at the University of Yaounde. The only University that we had at the time in the Republic of Cameroon. He taught me Civil Procedure between 1990 and 1991. He was one of the Pillars of the party. He was the Lead Counsel or the most Seniour National Legal Adviser of the party. He as such played a very big role in orienting the party legally. Most of the political actions could not also be carried on without his Legal Advise. I consider him to be one of the most intelligent university professors that we have had in this country. He contributed greatly to bring democracy under the platform of the SDF into Cameroon. My only disappointment and disagreement with the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam  is the fact that he accepted to run for the last Twin Elections. To me it was a political blunder.

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Can you revisit his tenure in the National Assembly and his contribution towards revolutionising the ways things were done there?

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He started his political career as an SDF Parliamentary Group Leader when he just got into Parliament around 1997. He was one of the pioneer Parliamentarians of the party. He was also appointed as one of the questors of the National Assembly and from there he occupied the post of the Vice Speaker until his demise. As a Bureau member, there was nothing undemocratic that could pass in the Bureau of the National Assembly with him present. He actually played the role of the Opposition in the Bureau of the National Assembly. You know that we are in a dictatorship where everything that comes from the Government is just adopted without even considering opposing opinions but the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam used to stand his ground. He used to orientate the party on serious political actions to be taken at the level of the Bureau. You see, the measures that were taken to defend the Southern Cameroons position with regards to marginalization and other related issues were spearheaded by Honorable Mbah Ndam. I get so embarrassed when I see people writing and castigating him that he did not defend the Southern Cameroons position. His outings are there and the videos are there to show that even at the level of his own village, Mbah Ndam stood against the marginalization of his people. Cameroonians should not be castigating Mbah Ndam because he was a Federalist. Federalism is the position of the SDF and it is also another way of fighting for the liberation of Southern Cameroonians. The SDF has always stood for a Two State Federation, insisting that we should go back to the 1961 Constitution. It centers on getting political power and being able to take Administrative Decisions. Everything coming from the Central Power should not be imposed. The SDF has always insisted that we had to revert to the 1961 Federal System or the Two State Federation. With this Two State Federation, Anglophone problems would be solved without resorting to this violence and killings, self destruction, settlement of scores and hatred. We are presently experiencing all of these and it is not doing us any good. Mbah Ndam spearheaded all of these and it will be unfair today for him to be described as a black leg or somebody who faught against the interest of Anglophones. It is unfair. We need to be truthful in our approach and to consider other opinions. Mbah Ndam has been pushing the story of the Southern Cameroons to the International Community using the platform of the parliament since he was a parliamentarian. He was a CEMAC Member of Parliament so these are all International Platforms that he used in the fight. People should not think that its every one who has to take up arms and go into the bushes. It is not everybody who has to fight for the Anglophone course physically. I salute Mbah Ndam for all that he did for the Anglophone Community.

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We are slowly seeing the exit of all the "grey cats". Are you also of the opinion that it is time the party mutates from the older generation to a younger and more vibrant generation?

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Yes all the older people are going. It is normal. These older people constitute the pioneer members of the party. Age ushers in illness and most of them have been sick. That's the truth about it and its not about getting into politics or changing hands. The shift simply has to do with age and ill Health. The SDF is conscious about this and that's why the Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi did not stand as candidate  during the last Presidential Elections in Cameroon. That is why it was Honourable Joshua Osih Nambangi, a young and dynamic person who stood as Presidential candidate. At the level of the NEC National Executive Committee, most of the delegates who are in Command today in terms of Administration and Leadership are of the younger generation. The party is quite aware of the fact that we need to reform and hand power to the younger generation. Subsequently many decisions will be taken in that direction to strengthen the party. This will build more confidence in the population and make them know that the SDF remains the only political party on which they can count. 

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Any message to Mbah Ndam's immediate family and to the SDF family?

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The family should know that everybody is passing and that everybody is going to die. These things happen so that we can learn a lesson from them. I grew up as a christian and my dad was a Reverend Pastor. These things happen for us to know that we are in a temporal world. I was very scandalized when a certain Social Activist Abdul Kharim sent a write up which has gone viral on Social Media in which he questions what Mbah Ndam was going to benefit from gaining the world and losing his soul. It is a very embarrassing position for someone whom I had respect for to take.  Who is he to Judge Mbah Ndam? Is he God? I don't know if in Islam you can judge but in Christianity judgement is the sole prerogative of God. He went as far as stating that Mbah Ndam took a political option that was temporal. Is there any political option that is permanent? That write up is emotional and when emotions come in, we lose reason and cannot solve problems. This issue of the Diaspora trying to encourage violence has destroyed us. We need to re-strategise to see that this fight which is very genuine is well managed without us hating one another, without us back biting and using it for business. Everyone is now using the Anglophone Crisis for business. They have forgotten that there are people in the bushes with nothing to eat and no medicine to take for their illnesses. I say farewell to Honourable Mbah Ndam. He did all he could do. We appreciate what he did and we thank God for him and his family. I pray that the God that has taken him should give his family the strength to accept his departure. 

Interviewed in Yaounde by Francis Ekongang Nzante

Cameroon People Magazine: Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com or francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/+237678401408

Senator Henry Kemende Comments on Transition within the SDF

- Says its Time for the Older Generation to Think Differently! 

- Praises Late Honourable Mbah Ndam for Job well Done in the SDF

Senator Henry Kemende has hinted that Transition within the Social Democratic Front SDF from the older to the younger Generation is just a natural course of things that cannot be altered. The old he said must as prescribed by nature always give way to the young. For the party to move on smoothly, those of the older generation still hanging on he insists will have to begin thinking differently and in a way that ties with the ways of thinking of militants at the base who constitute the greater segment of party militants. The Senator also paid glowing Tributes to the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam who passed on recently.  He was interviewed recently in Yaounde during the Senate Session that just rounded up in the Nation's Capital. He begins by talking about those qualities of the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam that he will hardly ever forget?

Senator Barrister Henry Kemende

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"In fact, he was a Legal Icon and a reflection of who a true legislator is supposed to be because he has been in Parliament for close to 25 years. He taught me Law at the University of Yaounde, specifically Civil Procedure  and he was a square peg in a square hole when it came to matters of Civil Procedure because he was a Legal Practitioner. When he taught me Civil Procedure in the Late eighties, I found myself in the courtroom because his tone, pronunciation and his mastery of the Subject Matter made you to admire becoming a Lawyer. He made you to live the Courtroom Atmosphere by the way he would make us to feel practice and that's why he was a good teacher first of all to begin with."

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How were your early contacts with him and what impressions of him did you get?

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After we took part in the launching of the SDF in 1990 though we were rounding up at the University of Yaounde I saw in him a true politician, a true defender of the people, a true defender of Human Rights and a voice of the voiceless. In Parliament when he spoke at the rostrum, you felt that he was truly representing the people because he will articulate the problems that you are facing. He never sounded artificial like some people do, sounding as if they were talking to Europeans. He on the contrary sounded very original. You saw somebody articulating with all the conviction of a Lawyer who believes in his case. You saw somebody articulating your case and you really felt you had a representative. He carried out that role for 23 years until the crisis set in. 

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How do you think he impacted on the way things are done in Parliament during his more than twenty years in there?

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I can only speak as somebody who observed from a distance. You know there is the Lower and the Upper House. I am of the Senate and they are of the National Assembly. I cannot say I have actually lived him in the same hall intervenining for bills but when it comes to Speaking to the population I can imagine what he does when speaking in the Lower House. I think he has taught our brothers East of the Mungo what Parliamentary Democracy is all about. It is not just a matter of endorsing whatever the government comes in with. It is an institutional issue and when the government comes in with a bill it doesn't matter which Political Party one belongs to. It is a matter of scrutinizing the Government so that when the bill comes out into Law, it will make the people  much more comfortable better than they were before. He never undermined the other colleagues from the other Political Parties. 

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 What was that extra touch that he brought into the SDF party?

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He encouraged some of us to think that we could take Front Line Stage in the Politics of this country as it is normally supposed to be because in the world, Lawyers are leaders, Politicians and Presidents. He transformed the party from being the party of the layman to a party in which you had people who could be the backbone in terms of legislation, interpreting the Laws even of the very party. We needed such a brain to be able to handle even NEC Meetings and even other events where intervention of Jurists were needed to interpret the Constitution of the SDF.

Senator Henry Kemende in an Interview with Francis Ekongang Nzante

 

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Many people are of the opinion that the party is transitory at the moment. Many people think the party is shifting from the first phase to the second phase of its existence. What's your take on this?

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We have seen the passing on of people like Dr Sigha Asanga, Ngwasiri, Joseph Banadzem, Justice Nyoh Wakai and now Honourable Mbah Ndam. It is but normal. It is a natural process. If you don't want that process to take place while you are alive, it will take place naturally. It is the way of nature that the old shall give way to the young. It sounds a warning bell to those who are still left that either they look at things differently the way the younger generation like us look at it, or they just surrender and give way. This is because they will soon discover that their ideas do not correspond with those of people at the Party base who constitute the majority of the party now. They will soon discover that they are operating at the analog level while we are already in the digital age. 

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You certainly have a message for Late Honourable Mbah Ndam' Family and for the SDF Family as well...

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 The message for the immediate family is to take heart and that what has happened to him will happen to each and everyone of us. They should not also care about what his critics are saying. Certainly, the life of a politician requires that he makes enemies and as he makes enemies, he makes friends too. They should focus on the friends of Late Honourable Mbah Ndam. If they focus on his detractors then they will feel that life has no meaning. They should look at the positive side of the late man and be consoled by those who have good words for him like us. Those who are judging him have no rights to do so. They are neither his God nor his maker. To the SDF family I call on them to take this as a lesson that life is vanity and that when they are given a task to do, they should do it diligently. When we are called to serve the people we should do so with all our hearts and should not always think only of the self. Honourable Mbah Ndam spent years serving the people and I don't think he had the time to enjoy himself. The message is that we should serve the people and make the world better than we met it and that we should be forward looking. We are going through the challenge of our lives as politicians and as members of the SDF. The challenge of our lives as Anglophones and as Cameroonians. The challenge Late Honourable Mbah Ndam faced was that of handling the Anglophone Crisis without stepping on any toes. It has been a very tricky one for him because you see yourself serving one side and abandoning the other and considering yourself as not serving the Republic or serving the Republic and seeing yourself as not serving "the people." People who were not party militants got into the show and started dictating to him who was voted on a party platform. It became really tricky. Honourable Mbah Ndam was who he became because of a particular system he was voted to serve. A revolution does not need the institutional setup of what it is revolting against to succeed. A revolt that is bound to succeed does not need the support of the institutional setup that it is fighting to succeed. It pushes its way through making everybody to comply.

Interviewed in Yaounde By Francis Ekongang Nzante 


Edev Newspaper: francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/ +237678401408

Ngufor Peter Njontor CEO of Farmer's House Throws weight behind Anti COVID-19 Efforts

- Equips Bafanji with necessary Anti COVID-19 Gadgets 

By Francis Ekongang Nzante 

Against a backdrop of the Presidential Grant of FCFA 2 Billion given by His Exellency President Paul Biya to help in intensifying the fight against the New Coronavirus COVID-19, Ngufor Peter, the CEO of Farmer's House, one of the leading Agro-industries in the Central African Sub Region has thrown his weight behind the dreaded virus. The donation which constitutes a first step in a series of other donations that will follow was made up of 900 Cubes of Soap, 50 buckets and 500 face masks was earmarked for the Indigenes of Bafanji in the Bali kumbat Subdivision.

Speaking during a brief ceremony to mark the occasion at the Head Quarters of Farmer's House in Bamenda, Ngufor Peter Njontor said, "With the New Coronavirus that is attacking the whole world and in particular Cameroon,  we heard that the Head of State instituted the Solidarity Fund so we felt that we have to come together to help him to help the country and to help our population to fight the Pandemic. This is my own little contribution to fight against this Pandemic. This package is to help the people of Bafanji. I hope that others should follow suit and do something like this or even better. Fighting this Virus is more or less like a war and its not a joking matter. Its not a fight meant for a single person but rather its a collective one.

The fight is going to be a long and tedious one because the virus will not be going away anytime soon. So we've got to fight using every means possible. Many people have done greater than what I did today but this is my own little effort."

Explaining why he chose to start with Bafanji, Ngufor Peter Njontor said "I have started with Bafanji village because that's where I come from. I am not limited to Bafanji and I plan to move to other communities like the area where I stay in Bamenda. I will certainly do something in Nkwen and you should understand that it has to do with means available."

Cognizant of the difficulties that could occur at the level of distribution of the gadgets, he explained that "the Traditional Council to which these goods are addressed will use their discretion in the distribution of these items. They actually asked for it. They said they needed support in the fight against COVID-19. They already have their plan on how they are going to distribute them throughout all the quarters of Bafanji so that the population has access to these facilities." 

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