George Ngwane

Mwalimu George Ngwane: Minority Rights Group is a true Diversity Ambassador

By Edwin Kontoh*

Cameroonian writer and Executive Director of AFRICAphonie, Mwalimu George Ngwane has described the Minority Rights Group (MRG) International London as a trustworthy Ambassador of defending diversity in the world since 1969. Ngwane made this statement in his speech during the 50th birthday celebration of the MRG hosted by Lord Harries of Pentregarth at the House of Lords Westminster, London on May 13th 2019.

Ngwane traced his relationship with MRG from the early 90s when he used to read about their activities in Africa, to 2016 when he spent three months with the organisation as a Commonwealth Fellow. It is during his spell with this organisation that he was privileged to travel to Cardiff, Wales, to study the structures and functioning of the Welsh Language Commissioner. On his return to Cameroon in May 2016, he wrote a seminal article in a local newspaper on the need for Cameroon to create a National Commission for Bilingualism.

Silencing the Guns and Summoning the Talks

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

In a 2015 publication by The Africa Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), Durban, South Africa, titled “Silencing the guns, owning the future”, the authors question the paradox that is Africa in terms of unprecedented levels of economic growth on one hand, and rising instability and insecurity in a number of particularly concerning regions and member states on the other. Recognizing this, and building on references to Agenda 2063 and African Union vision of ending all wars in Africa by 2020, the publication further engages collective multistakeholder deliberations on existing and emerging peace and security threats to the continent and the responses required to address these and achieve a war-free continent by 2020. Practitioners and policy-makers are well aware that Vision 2020 is immensely ambitious.