BONAVADA GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES INCUMBENT PRESIDENT AND EXCO BY ACCLAMATION

By Moki S. Mokondo in Buea for Fako UK/ Fako News Centre

11th July 2010

The incumbent president of the Wokova, Wova, Wonakanda Area Development Association (BONAVADA), Lyonga William Mu’umbe, and an executive of nine have been voted by acclamation to manage the affairs of the association for one year before the re-run of elections. This decision was arrived at, at the Wokova community hall on Saturday, 10 July, 2010, during a BONAVADA General Assembly meeting.

It took a heated debate before the election deadlock was broken. At the assembly, some members agitated against the list system where an aspirant presents a list of his central executives who have agreed to work with him for elections. They called for elections to be run on individual cases to avoid a situation where a list with contestants they want out be voted in because of one person. They also called that elections be postponed till when the organisation has been re-structured at the branch level.

Since another camp stood for the list method that was initially agreed on during preparatory meetings ahead of this general assembly, they too resisted the suggestion that the method be changed. It then took the initiative of the chief of Bwiteva village, HRH Chief Linonge Kinge and Mola Njoh Vevanje who calmed down the community members and asked each BONAVADA branch to send a representative to vote for or against the list method. At the end of the process, 11 out of 15 branches voted for the list system.

Only one list was presented at the end thus it was unanimously accepted that the head of the list, Mola William Lyonga Mu’umbe and his team be given one year to revamp the association and re-structure all the branches. It was also agreed it would be a one year trial period in which the community would have the choice to maintain them or vote them out if they failed to live to expectations.

At the end of the deliberations the chairman, Mola Mu’umbe, thanked the community for renewing their trust in him at least for one year. He explained that if the community is complaining that the association is tumbling during his tenure, it was because members they voted in to the central executive some five years ago have avoided working along with him. He however promised that to put things right he will advise any member in this new team to officially withdraw from his/her position after failing to attend two consecutive meetings. Mola Mu’umbe warned the BONAVADA communities against bad eggs who may be out to destroy the association’s vision.

According to the BONAVADA constitution, general elections are expected to hold every three years. This has not been the case since Mola Mumbe took office in 2005. Efforts to organise elections in 2008 failed due to poor attendance at meetings. The same situation repeated in 2009.

Those present at the occasion were entertained by cultural groups that came from the surrounding BONAVADA villages. One of these groups was the Wotamo Dance Group that showcased a classical Bakweri dance of the elderly.