“ANODA is not a Substitute of NODECA But a Complementary Body”
-Festus Forgwei
Mr. Festus Forgwei, one of the founding fathers of ANODA; a
development platform that assembles the various Village
Development Associations in the Noni Subdivision has stated unequivocally that
unlike the impression generally being created, ANODA is neither a divisive
competitor of NODECA nor another development association. ANODA, he intimated
is simply a platform of development partners from the various Noni villages. The
development partners in this platform he explained are the various Village
Development Associations. Among other things, Mr. Festus Forgwei gives a vivid
description of the circumstances surrounding the creation of ANODA. He was
interviewed in his Yaounde office by Francis Ekongang Nzante.
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| Mr. Festus Forgwei |
Excerpts
You’re a mover and shaker from Noni and one of the
founding fathers of ANODA. Who exactly are you and What inspired the creation
of ANODA?
……….
I am from Ashaa, Nkor from the big Mnjeivu Family. I came to
Yaounde 23 years ago for studies and stayed on after studies to work. I have
been working at the Ministry of Finance for Twenty years. ANODA is a Union of Noni Village Development Associations. For a
start it was made up of NDA, Nkor Development Association. ANODA also had on
board MBIDA, Mbinon Development Association, LADA, Laan Development Association
and BVUDA, Bvugoi Development
Association. We would have loved to have all the villages onboard from the
beginning but unfortunately Djottin and Din were left behind not because we
didn’t want them onboard but because of some misunderstandings and technical
hitches within their associations. I will like to state clearly here that ANODA
is not an association. It is a union and a development platform. It is a
partnership of village development associations which are already in existence.
It is meant to handle projects that are mutually beneficial. The major issue
with ANODA is that it was formed at the same time with an Elective AGM of NODECA,
the Noni Development and Cultural Association which some think is an umbrella
association for Noni. ANODA was not formed as a substitute of NODECA but as a
complimentary body. It is not in competition with NODECA. There should be complementary groupings in
development initiatives. The partnership referred to as ANODA was drafted and
signed on the 29th of November 2019. Since then, we have taken some
major strides in development.
The first issue that ANODA handled was the presentation of
the Nfon of Laan to the public. This process passed through a
traditional period of preparation to present the Nfon to the public. The
palace was not in good shape and we had to intervene to raise funds to refurbish
it. Within a very short space of time we were able to raise Four Hundred
Thousand Francs CFA. We gave it in the form of building material and not
physical cash. We bought Zinc and cement which was used to refurbish the palace
before the presentation of the Nfon. From there we carried out what we termed “Royal
mimbo”. You know Christmas is a festive period and a time when children of the
palace think about giving something to their palaces. This is to permit the
palace to be lively during that period. We came up with this token of 25000 Frs
CFA per palace. That is for the ten palaces in Noni Subdivision and we called
it Royal mimbo. After this, we embarked on the health outreach campaign.
This was prompted by the fact that with the crisis in the North West and the
South West Regions it became very difficult for people to have access to health
services. Instead of being evacuated to Kumbo, they were now being evacuated to
Nkambe since Kumbo was a no go area. To go to Nkambe and back on a bike cost
8000. This is too expensive considering the realities on the ground. So we decided to bring health services to the
people. We constituted a team of medical personnel which was made up of medical
doctors, nurses, eye specialists amongst others. We raised funds and we got
drugs and basic medical equipment. We sent a team home for ten days. During the
ten days, we passed two days in Mbinon (Tfuh), two days in Laan (Lasn) and the
remaining six days in Nkor. During that period 45 successful cases were
received. Mostly minor surgery cases. Dr. Dimla Emmanuel was the head of the
team. He had been doing some thing similar before we thought of the programme. We
were able to mobilize more than Four million Francs in cash and kind. Despite
the fact that the health outreach was centered around Nkor, Laan (Lasn) and
Mbinon (Tfuh), people also came from Djottin and Din. The Nfon of Din
and Wintoh were received and Wintoh was operated upon.
………..
The greatest needs of Noni at the moment are peace, unity
and development. How is ANODA contributing towards achieving these goals?
…………
ANODA was born out of disagreement in the organization of
the Elective AGM of NODECA. The Constitution states that if at any given time
NODECA is in difficulty or bankrupt, the Board of Governors have to take it
upon themselves to salvage the situation. That was the case in 2019 when the
former president declared NODECA bankrupt and was owing Five Hundred Thousand
Francs to an individual. We as the Board of Governors of NODECA who are the
Presidents of the various Village Development Associations as per the
Constitution decided to come in and salvage the situation. We decided to
organize an Elective AGM to help get NODECA out of its problems. We agreed on
the modus operandi of the AGM. It was to be elective with Delegates from the
various Village Development Associations. We chose a date and a venue for the event and
started preparations. We were working with the Vice President of NODECA because
he was the acting President since the National President had relinquished his
powers because he did not find it necessary to maintain his position as Senator
and at the same time stay on as President of NODECA. The Board of Governors
which is made up of the Presidents of the various Village Development
Associations came up with a budget of 600.000 Frs CFA. We came up with a date and planned for a
programme to take two days. The first day was reserved for arrivals and
registrations of delegates while the second day was reserved for the elective
exercise proper. We rented a hall at Carrefour Obili in Yaounde
and people were busily contributing on the forum for the occasion. All of a
sudden the President who had given up his powers to his vice took back his
powers and changed the venue of the
meeting. He chose a different venue for
the meeting at the Catholic Church at Mvogada still in Yaounde. This new arrangement was
published in the NODECA WhatsApp forum. All the plans that we had already made
were rubbished. We had a budget of Six hundred thousand Francs but he came up
with a budget of 2.5 millions FCFA. This was unrealistic for an association
that was declared bankrupt. We didn’t find it pleasant. If he had taken back
his powers, he should have at least sat down with us to arrange for the
Elective AGM. The programme was now changed from two to four days. We decided
to use the hall that we had rented at Carrefour Obili as a meeting point
to brainstorm on the future of Noni. It was during this brainstorming that the
idea of ANODA came up. We prepared the partnership and signed it on the 29th
of November that year.
……….
The orientation of ANODA was to shift from repeated
speeches to action. How is this presently manifested in the field?
……….
Like I said, we organised Mobile Health Services and Royal
mimbo as well as public presentation of the Nfon of Laan. In our 2022
plan of action, we had to carry out the feasibility studies for the plan of the
electrification of Noni by Hydro-Electricity. We sent a team of experts to the
field. They had problems with the security situation but they succeeded and
gathered some data which we are still analyzing. Some of us are beginning to
think that we should go in for solar. Some believe this will be better since we
don’t have enough catchment areas. Others however think that waste disposal for
solar is going to be a serious concern. We are exploring these two
possibilities. Mbinon has already been experimented for seasonal electricity
from Hydro-Electricity.
............
As an individual you are known to have empowered some
youths and assisted some Internally Displaced Persons.
………….
The Socio-political crisis has made things really difficult
for our people. The youths in particular have been seriously touched. At the
level of the youths, I try to do my little contribution to help them. I stepped
in to help the students of GHS Nkor in 2021 when they were going to write the
GCE. They had difficulties because they had to go and write in Misaje. I came
in and supported them with transport and feeding. In the same year I assisted
30 children who were not able to register for the First School Leaving
Certificate. This was in the 2021-2023 Academic year. What inspired me was that
there was the recruitment into the military. My neighbour's son was preselected
and he went for training. After training this guy was sent away because it was
discovered that the First School Leaving Certificate FSLC that he presented was
fake. That’s when I discovered the importance of the First School Leaving
Certificate. In the 2022-2023 academic year through the Noni Students
Association NSA, I assisted 350 Noni children
to register for the FSLC.
For the IDPs who are in town, I assisted some with bikes for
commercial purposes. I assisted some do their ID cards and regularize their
birth certificates. I helped some do their driver’s license. I have assisted
many youths depending on their different capacities. Recently I acquired twenty
second hand bikes. We did repairs on the bikes and gave them out to Noni youths
at very affordable conditions.
……………
As one of the Mayors of Noni, you certainly have an end
of year message.
……………
The Lord Mayor already sent out a message so I will focus my
message on the youth. I encourage the youth not to loose hope. With the present
situation it is very easy to loose hope. They should remain resilient as they’ve been
for the past seven years since the crisis started. They should use the crisis
as a period to learn new things and explore new avenues. They should continue
to be law abiding and to love their fatherland. There’s nothing without an end.
The crisis started some years back and will certainly come to an end. When this
happens some youth will find it very difficult to reintegrate into society
especially those who were brainwashed and decided to go into the bushes. They
went into it blindly. I call upon the youths to embrace this Jewish tendency. The
Jews believe that no matter how educated you might be, you should always have a
hand work. The girls should not go into marriage without learning a trade. They
should not go into marriage as a liability. Our parents are really suffering
with the crisis and the ever increasing prices. That’s why ANODA thinks it’s
time to shift from speech making to action.
…………………
Noni
Herald
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