George Ngwane

Book Council Inaugurates Bate Besong Memorial Library

By Walter Wilson Nana & Francis Tim Mbom (Originally published in The Post)

The National Book Development Council, NBDC, has inaugurated the Bate Besong Memorial Library in Tiko, Southwest Province, to honour Cameroon's fallen poet and dramatist, Dr. Bate Besong.

IMPASS students commemorating World Book Day

The NBDC officially opened the library of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Science, IMPAAS Tiko, which has been named after Bate Besong, while commemorating the International Book Day on April 23 with the school. The launching, which took place at IMPAAS, also saw the donation of consignments of books to the institution by NBDC members.

Speech by George Ngwane World Book Day April 23rd 2008

Speech by George Ngwane,Chairman National Book Development Council, Cameroon, on the occasion of the World Book Day April 23rd 2008 at Imperial Academy for Arts and Science (IMPAAS) Tiko.

The Lord Mayor, Tiko Rural Council,
The Proprietor, IMPAAS, Tiko,
The Principal and Staff of IMPAAS, Tiko,
Distinguished Personalities,
My dear students,

On behalf of the National Book Development Council Cameroon, I feel honoured to make a stop at your institution in pursuit of our “Mobile library or books on wheels project”. The main purpose of this project is to promote a book culture among the youth with more emphasis on the girl child and to equip libraries that would provide access to education and literacy to youths.

2007: A Year Of Heroism And Martyrdom In Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Heroism is the ability to triumph over adversity. Its kernel is fuelled by defiance and fired by a steel will.

Either as an individual or a corporate body, heroism urges the subject to go against the grain of conservative establishment. Motivated by independent assertiveness, the subject breaks free from monolithism and complacency to embrace the collective vision of his or her society. Ali Mazrui says heroes are symbols of achievements; they are ultimate victors.

Either as an individual or a corporate body, heroism urges the subject to go against the grain of conservative establishment. Motivated by independent assertiveness, the subject breaks free from monolithism and complacency to embrace the collective vision of his or her society. Ali Mazrui says heroes are symbols of achievements; they are ultimate victors.

The African Woman

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Today, October 15, 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the death of the pan African icon and the maverick leader of Burkina Faso, Captain Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara.

In one of his fiery oratories addressed to the Burkinabe women during the International Day of the Woman on March 8, 1987,Captain Sankara said "the genuine emancipation of women is that which entrusts responsibilities to them and involves them in productive activity and in the different struggles the people face".

As the world pays lip service today, October 15, to the rural woman by commemorating what has been pompously called the International Day of the Rural Woman, it behoves Africa to speak to the interwoven tapestry that binds the African woman to her bondaged society.

The United States of Africa is A Matter of Urgency - Mwalimu George Ngwane

Originally published in Panafrican Visions magazine

The idea of a United States of Africa has been floating around for over fifty years today. When the great visionary Kwame Nkrumah militated so strongly for it, some of his peers rated him over ambitious with an unbridled appetite to exert control on the entire continent. That the idea is still a subject of strong debate today is a sign that Nkrumah was just a man out of the ordinary with a vision far above the comprehension of many in his generation and even subsequent ones. The last African Union Summit in Accra Ghana ignited the debate in full force although?? to many the out come fell short of expectations.

The Opposition and their Performance of Electoral Power in Cameroon (1992 – 2007)

By George Ngwane

Introduction
The return to multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990 was met with reluctance and resistance by the regime. Triggered by the events of 26th May 1990, that led to the defiant launching of an Opposition party (Social Democratic Front – SDF), multipartyism and eventually Opposition parties became institutionalized following the Law of Association of 19th December 1990 (Law No. 90/056).

In spite of this reform to accommodate multipartyism, the main kernel of democratic transition to put enabling structures in place evaded the political establishment in Cameroon.

Cameroonian Literature in Transition

Originally published in African Writing

"As long as the African ship of state continues to sail the sea as a rudderless object, the African writer shall continue to play the role of the compass and if need be, whenever there is that opportunity, also grab the role of the pilot."

Interview with Cameroonian writer, George Ngwane, a versatile commentator on African affairs, Cameroonian politics and literature, and the author of The Cameroon Book Industry - Challenges and Changes.

Analyst Suspects Kadhafi Phobia in AU Summit Outcome

By James Butty (VOA)
 
Listen to Butty interview with Ngwane (MP3) 

The Ninth Ordinary Summit of the African Union is in the history books following its conclusion in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.  But some Africans are still feeling betrayed over the leaders’ failure to form a United States of Africa. 
 
In their final communiqué African leaders agreed to speed up the economic and political integration of the continent to pursue the goal of a United States of Africa.

The Cost of Non-integration In Africa

The Post Newspaper (Friday June 29, 2007)

Between June 18 and 20, 2007, some 36 researchers, activists and civil society actors from across Africa attended a conference on the theme "The Cost of Non-integration In Africa" in Marrakech, Morocco. Amongst the participants was writer, Pan-Africanist and Executive Director of AFRICAphonie, Mwalimu George Ngwane. On his return, The Post's Nana Walter Wilson accosted him. Ngwane, as usual, had a heap to say. First, he said African integration had hitherto been a state-driven project until recently.

An Open letter to President Paul Biya

By Mwalimu George Ngwane (Originally published in Eden Newspaper, Wednesday, June 27, 2007)

Subject: Personal participation at the African Union summit in Accra,Ghana

Your Excellency,
From 1-3 July 2007, Ghana shall become the capital of Africa.  As host of the 9th Ordinary session of the historic African Union summit, Ghana is expected to beat past records in terms of attendance by Heads of state in the history of the pan African organization summits.  The stake is the Grand debate on the Union Government that should lead to the creation of the United States of Africa.  Every country is therefore looking forward to the participation of their Head of state. So is Cameroon.

Pre-Referendum Coupon on the United States of Africa

The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, at its 8th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa from 29-30 January 2007 decided that the next ordinary session of the Assembly to be held in Accra, Ghana in July 2007, will be devoted to a “Grand Debate on the Union Government”.

This decision is inspired by the fact that Africa now needs a Union of the African people and not merely a Union of states and governments and that ‘the ultimate goal of the African Union is the political and economic integration of the continent leading to the creation of the United States of Africa’.

Having this in mind, the Assembly of Heads of States, in compliance with the policy of popular participation through civil society endeavours requested Member States of the African Union to carry out the necessary national consultations within their countries on the Grand Debate on the Union Government.

Gender-based Violence in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Introduction
Tomorrow 8th March 2007 marks the 30th anniversary of the international Women’s Day. Established in 1977 by the United Nations, this important day provides an opportunity to celebrate the progress made to advance women’s rights and to assess the challenges that remain. This year’s theme is “Ending Violence against Women: Action for Real Results" with the Cameroonised adaptation being “Violence against women, Break the silence, take action”. The theme reflects the forms of marginalization, discrimination, persecution, victimization and exclusion, women in Africa have experienced since the Beijing Conference of 1995 became a media-hyped benchmark.

Living the Kwame Nkrumah Dream

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

“As far as I am concerned, I am in the knowledge that death can never extinguish the torch which I have lit in Ghana and Africa.  Long after I am dead and gone, the light will continue to burn and be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to all people” - Kwame Nkrumah

Tomorrow March 6th 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Ghanaian nation.  Activities have been put in place to give Ghana’s golden Independence jubilee the global significance it deserves.  But who can mention Ghana’s Independence without remembering its founder Francis Kwame Nkrumah (the Osagyefo)? After all do we not remember that prophetic and pan African slogan of his which said “Ghana’s Independence would be meaningless until all of Africa is united”?

Youths and Democracy in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

This article originally appeared as a three-part serial essay in Eden Newspaper (February 7th,13th and 15th, 2007)

Part :  A Biographic Data of Youth Governance

Preamble
Language experts, psychologists and political observers would want to give the word ‘youth’ an elastic definition of. ‘Youth is a state of mind’. It is indeed such a blanket definition that has motivated political Methuselahs to stay in power in Africa even after their political menopause.

George Ngwane: The Independent Intellectual

Originally published in Post Newsmagazine

Mwalimu George Ngwane is a man of many parts. Writer, poet, peace activist, educationist, political analyst, pan-Africanist, and executive director of AFRICAphonie are all parts of this intellectual machine. Although he could amass easy lucre by simply praise-singing as most Cameroonian “intellectuals” have done, Mwalimu has remained consistent in voicing the peoples’ causes. His uncompromising stance for the people has had dire and sometimes heart-rending professional consequences. Yet, he remains undaunted and his active participation as spokesperson of the Committee for the Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon stands out as eloquent testimony.

The Military And African Politics

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

The reasons for military interventions (militocracy) in Africa are as varied as they are complex. They range from personal grievances of civilian regimes to the political and economic kleptocracy of civilian regimes.

In a struggle to cope with this predicament between the devil of tyranny (as in one-party system) and the deep blue sea of anarchy (as in multiparty systems) military rule has often been invoked. The balance sheet has largely been negative, with very few being benign, that is serving the interests of the people whether in a short or long political life span.

Cultural Unification Identified As Instrument Of African Unity

Interviewed by Walter Wilson Nana (The Post Newspaper)

Civil Society Cultural Advocates and enthusiasts of African Culture have prescribed cultural unification as a pertinent instrument for African unity. This, was amongst a series of ideas churned out at the just ended Cultural international conference in Sun City, South Africa. According to George Ngwane, who was party to the conference, Africans frowned at the corrosive effects of globalisation on indigenous culture. He talked about more of his South African sojourn with The Post:

Africa’s Development Problematique (The case of NEPAD)

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

In July 2001, during the Organisation of African Union summit in Lusaka, Zambia, the New African Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was born. Five years later and given the importance of this new economic paradigm to Africans, it is necessary to revisit and restate some of the predicaments that NEPAD inadvertently put on its way.

First, the ideological problem.  NEPAD was not necessary. The Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) that was adopted in the extraordinary OAU – summit in 1980 was a promissory note for which Africa’s economic development was to be improved between 1980 and 2000.

George Ngwane: There is a loss of faith in the Party System in Cameroon

Interviewed by Nforngwa Ndiboti Eugene (The Herald)
   
Why is it important for Independents to run for elections?
The participation of Independent candidates in every election translates into political reality the repossession of popular sovereignty and democratic legitimacy by all the citizens. Party formation is founded on the will of a section of the people prepared ostensibly to articulate the people’s interest by electoral then representative democracy.  But above all, democracy is rooted in the concept of choices and options.  Independent candidacy is one of those options that expands democratic space, that focuses on individual merit, that addresses issues specific to the electorate and that provides an opportunity for the young men and women to actively participate in politics.

A memorandum on Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon

Submitted bythe Committee for the Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon

• "So far party – centered elections have only favoured an old generation that has monopolized the political arena in Cameroon. Independent candidature would therefore provide the young generation with the opportunity of bringing a new vision and fresh agenda to the body-politic of our country. Indeed Independent candidature is now regarded as an antidote to gerontocratic politics and a rite of passage to generational democracy."

Cameroon: Independent candidates as viable alternatives in the electoral process

By Ajong Mbapndah L (Originally published in AfricaFiles)

After more than a decade of elections generally believed to have multiple flaws, Cameroon seems to have embarked on an exercise to overhaul the electoral process. While this may just be another exercise in futility aimed at distracting attention or cajoling the international community, many however agree that there is need for vital reforms to be carried out ahead of municipal and legislative elections scheduled for 2007.

Mwalimu George Ngwane : Un antidote à la politique gérontocratique

Propos recueillis par Denis Nkwebo (Quotidien Mutations)

Dans le cadre de la réforme de la loi électorale, un Comité s’est constitué à Buea et milite pour la participation des candidats indépendants dans le processus électoral.

Benin: From Liberal to Social Democracy

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Benin is undeniably one of Africa’s most successful stories in liberal or electoral democracy. From 1990 when she became the first African country to institute a sovereign National Conference, Benin has continued to employ all innovative and endogenous democratic strategies that distinguish her from the continent’s identity of political insolvability. The solid foundation laid by the conference in February 1990 provided the Beninese people with a nationalistic vision that focused on the power of alternatives through the ballot box rather than the principle of self-perpetration through constitutional tinkering.

Creative industries, Cultural entrepreneurship and Political statehood

(An Invitation to Anglophone Cameroon Diasporans)

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Kwame Nkrumah’s battle-cry of “Seek ye first the political kingdom……..” is as relevant today as it was when he made this proclamation fifty years ago. But so are Mao Tse-tung’s Cultural Revolution movement and Emperor Meiji Tenno’s (Mutsuhito) endogenous industrialisation principle that drastically transformed the political statehoods of China and Japan respectively into the superpowers that they are today.

Deconstructing Liberal Democracy in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Liberal democracy is the system that relies on the dynamics of certain established stages in articulating its values and producing its actions. Some aspects of these stages, which are part of the process, include the production of a national constitution, the selection of candidates by political parties, the monitoring of the electoral process and freedom of assembly. (Lumumba-Kasongo 2005: 197). Last year marked the fifteenth anniversary of the institution of liberal democracy in more than 30 countries in Africa.

Supporting the Culture Triangle in Cameroon

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Only those nations which are culturally solid ever
indelibly influence the course of history’
Professor Kountchou Kouomegni (former Minister of Information and Culture)

The three main links that constitute the Art/Culture chain are Production, Promotion and Consumption. These links represent the culture triangle needed to energise an industry whose aesthetic nature and artistic values mirror the essence of human civilization. Attempts by both civil society actors and governments have aimed at transforming Africa’s indigenous culture from mere populist folklore to a national character.

From Environmental Waste to Artistic Wealth

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Ivonne Ngwa is an Environmental Artist unconscious of her laudable artwaste mission. According to a report in Cameroon Tribune (Sept.20, 2005) her stand was the center of attraction during the Cameroon Technology and Innovation exhibition organised recently by the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technology. The magnet of attraction was her art products based on controlled waste (recycled plastic, wrappers and carrier bags). Using different shades of colours of this waste to produce caps, toys, belts, foot gears, bags etc, she has created a cultural industry out of an environmental eyesore.

Towards an Arts and Culture Market in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

In memory of Nzante Spee (Cameroonian Artist) and Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwean writer)

Preliminary
The recent South African Arts and Culture exhibition in Cameroon was both a forum for intercultural dialogue and a launching pad for creating an Arts and Culture market at continental level. Drawn from its rich art diversity, the South African exhibition succeeded in showcasing its performing and visual arts as well as its local cuisine. For those who have visited South Africa, the exhibition was a tip of the iceberg. The “land of Madiba” is home to a splendid immovable cultural patrimony (the 220.000year old Tswaing meteorite crater, the Voortrekker monument heritage site, the 11km long Moreleta spruit trail etc).

Introducing George Ngwane

A Portrait by Dibussi Tande

I have known George Ngwane in both a professional and personal capacity for close to 15 years, during which we have been comrades in arms in the search for possible solutions to Cameroon's socio-political challenges. In the 1990s, we both were regular contributors to leading English language newspapers and magazines in Cameroon such as Cameroon Life Magazine, Le Messager, and the Cameroon Post. We were also at the frontline of the struggle to protect the rights of Cameroon's Anglophone minority through events and organizations such as the All Anglophone Conference (AAC) of April 1993.

Spectrum Television (STV): The Dream and the Drift

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

In October 2004, a multimedia organisation called Spectrum Group hit the audiovisual landscape in Cameroon with a new dual channel outfit called Spectrum Television (STV). STV’s arrival threatened the foundation of C.R.T.V – the only state TV Cameroonians have been obliged to watch since 1985. C.R.T.V itself had dulled the information, education and entertainment psyche of its viewers through programmes that were alienated from Cameroonians, and through a managerial style that was obsessed with patronage and megalomania. No doubt then, STV’s arrival was a relief from the boredom of monotony that CRTV had excelled in. There was every reason to be glued to STV.

Africa and the Neocolonial Development Mirage

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

“We will have to rely on ourselves, our own resources and our efforts”
Thabo Mbeki

The United Nations summit of 14 – 16 September in New York has ended without the agenda of Africa’s development occupying central debate.

Like the media – hyped G8 summit of 6 – 8 July on Debt Relief in Gleneagles; Scotland, the UN Summit once again derailed the focal issues of the Millennium Development Goals (universal Primary Education, eradication of poverty, gender equality, reducing child mortality, environmental sustainability, fight against disease etc) in favour of reforms of the United Nations, and definitions of terrorism.

My Visa Ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon

By George Ngwane

In June 2005, the UN Political affairs unit invited me to a conflict prevention workshop at the UN headquarters in New York. The conference, which took place from 16-22 July 2005, was jointly organized by the United Nations Conflict Prevention working Group (U.SA) and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (Netherlands). The theme of the conference was “From Reaction to Prevention: Civil society forging partnerships to prevent violent conflict and Build Peace”.

BOOK REVIEW: Settling Disputes in Africa: Traditional Bases for Conflict Resolution

By Isaac Njoh Endeley, PhD, JD (Endeley@aol.com)

George Ngwane. (1996). Settling Disputes in Africa: Traditional Bases for Conflict Resolution. Buma Kor House Publishers Ltd., B.P. 727 Yaoundé, Cameroon. 236 pages. [Forward by Dr. Jean-Emmanuel Pondi, International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC)]

As the title suggests, the purpose of this book is to explore traditional African methods of resolving the continent's many conflicts. The author, Mr. George Ngwane, displays an uncanny familiarity with his subject matter in this well-written essay. From Algeria to Zimbabwe, he examines virtually all of the festering crisis situations in Africa and recommends different ways of resolving them peacefully.

Nzo Ekhah-Ngaky and the Africa he did not see

By Mwalimu George NGWANE

Joseph Nzo Ekhah-Ngaky, apart from his rich national career, will for long be remembered as the youngest Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity (O.A.U).  At the age of 38, the patriarch Nzo was the second African (after Boubacar Diallo Telli of Guinea) to occupy this pan African post between 1972 and 1974.

The Cameroon Book Industry – challenges and changes

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

If Education is the road out of poverty, then books are the wheels needed for the journey
Richard Crabbe, (Ghanaian Publisher)

Introduction
April 23rd each year is celebrated as the World Book Day. The day marks the World’s commitment to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. It is a day for stakeholders of the book sector to attempt a clinical diagnosis of the state and future of the book industry. This diagnosis is of particular import to Cameroon where book famine has presently characterized our cultural landscape.

Threshing the Togolese Tangle

In the following Article, Mwalimu George Ngwane proposes three posible scenarios for resolving the current political crisis that has engulfed Togo following the death of President Gnassingbé Eyadema and the installation by the Togolese army of his 39-year-old son, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, as President, in violation of  the country's constitution:

Bye Barry, Farewell Fohtung

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

It is with a heavy heart that I read (in The Post of Monday , January 31, 2005) of the death of ace columnist Barry Fohtung.  Ah! memories; memories of the early 90s when together with Dibussi Tande,Jing Thomas Ayeah, BB, Taku Charles, Rodcod Gobata, Paddy Mbawa, Charly Ndichia, Francis Wache and the rest of the Young Turks, Barry would write those fine essays on the state and future of our collective destiny as a people.

Even though we shaped the countours of our geo-poltical space with our pens, I only got to meet Barry for the first time in the year 2000. Tall and taciturn, dark and daring, handsome and hale,Barry's sarcastic style in writing contrasted with his seducing smile in demeanour. The last time I met him was at Bate Besong's book launch in Yaounde March 2004 and there was nothing on his physique that betrayed death's hidden agenda.

I wonder whether he lived to see the democratic train he had so much wanted to board for his life's sruggle got caught at the crossroads of mortality. But I know he will, with a golden pen in hand, join the angelic scribes to scribble those celestial verses that will one day  make our terrestrial triangle live to the tenets of its National anthem.

Bye, Brother, bye.

The Power in the writer and the Writer in power

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

T

he ultimate mission of every writer is to liberate both the minds of the oppressed and the oppressors in order to cultivate a harmonious society. How this mission is attained may be a subject of controversy, but make no mistake about it, the message for every credible writer is the same; it is the style that may make the difference.

Remember 9/9/99 or Souvenirs of the Sirte OAU Summit

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

September 9th, 2004 marks the fifth anniversary of the historic extraordinary summit of the Organisation of African Unity (O.A.U) held in Sirte-Libya on September 9th, 1999.

This summit, convened by Muammar Ghadaffi brought together more than forty Heads of State and Governments to « deliberate extensively on the ways and means of strengthening the O.A.U and to make it more effective so as to keep pace with the political, economic and social developments taking place with and outside Africa ».

Book Review: George Ngwane's "Way Forward for Africa"

Reviewer: Canute A. Ngwa, Ph.D, Senior Lecturer in Economic History, University of Buea.

Ngwane, George (2003). Way Forward for Africa: A Revolutionary Call to Reject Predatory Politics and Actualize the Renaissance. Colorado Springs, USA: International Academic Publishers. 106 p.

Africa is a continent replete with amazing contradictions; it is generally acclaimed to be the cradle of civilization, it possesses huge and mouth whetting human and natural resources. In fact, it is a continent blessed with nature’s prodigality. Yet, it is also a continent that habours a third of the world’s poorest countries and a population which has been emasculated socially, politically and economically.

African scholars as well as their Africanist counterparts have been alive to the debate as to why the continent’s fate has remained on the edge of a precipice. Through prismatic spectrums such scholars have appreciated Africa’s problems from Afrocentric, Eurocentric, radical and conservative perspectives. The culmination of their collective efforts is an avalanche of literatures on Africa.