Desk Editor at L’Action Newspaper, Jude Viban has been reelected National President of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ.
Jude Viban whose benediction comes from L’Action Newsroom convinced the General Assembly of CAMASEJ to take a second mandate of the 30-year-old association, having piloted the association, last four years (November 2019-November 2023). He beats his opponent, Newspaper Publisher, Cham Victor, grabbing 79 of the total 135 votes cast to clinch the day. The Elective General Assembly, which took place, Saturday December 16 in Bamenda saw unprecedented fireworks with an avalanche of brimstones thrown at the incumbent whose positive record shamed his detractors as electors settled for the Viban-led team. The President-elect whose mission is to see a unified and more professional CAMASEJ is aware that he has opted for an arduous task, and to right the wrongs of his last mandate through dialogue, capacity building workshops and provision of professional kits to members with funding from projects. “What we’ll do a lot more is to listen…to reach out to people…to take ideas from the people who are the members and see how we can implement them,” Jude told reporters. Ours is a trademark that we want to build and that starts and continues from today. In the next four years when we are coming for a General Assembly, it would be a popular one and where we’d be having a lot of things to pass on to the next generation. We want to be remembered, so we will get to work immediately so we can be remembered for doing the right thing,” he furthered. Throw-back The journey of his leadership from when he took over office in 2019 with just the “association’s stamp and letterhead” has been an incredible one with remarkable successes and setbacks. As presented by the renewed executive, the team has built CAMASEJ from scratch gaining milestone achievements among them the successful organization of a General Assembly within their mandate, training work[1]shops to journalists, microgrants to journalists, established partnerships with civil society organizations, government institutions and international NGOs. Prior to election day, the Association through an internal Memo announced to its members a grant worth $300,000 awarded them by Open Society West Africa, OSIWA to train journalists and provide them with professional kits. On the hindside though, the Viban-led team is yet to win the trust of CAMASEJ-Douala Chapter which has been cut off from national obligations the last four years. However, present at the just ended Elective General Assembly, tension between the team and some Douala Chapter members still brewed. He is also faced with disenfranchised voices against his leadership viewed by some disgruntled members as a function of cliques. Like humans who may never always have it right, Jude Viban admitted the flaws of his team in his previous mandate and in his victory, speech assured that their gaps will be mended as they journey into the second mandate. Laudably, he brought in new faces into the current team, among them, Ambe Macmilan who put up a fierce campaign against him in 2019.
Jennyhans NDE
