It was at one of the magnificent halls of the Yaounde Conference Centre that members of the Commission met in their second biannual session for 2022.The December 15th, 2022 session which was the thirteenth since the creation of the Commission was devoted to the evaluation of the activities carried out in 2022 and project into 2023. In this light, the President of the Commission, H.E. Peter Mafany Musonge lauded the efforts put in by the members to achieve the positive results recorded in 2022. He cited the successful fieldwork undertaken, first to some public and private entities based in Yaounde, and then, to the Regional and Local Authorities of the ten Regional headquarters of the country, to monitor the national policy on the promotion of official languages in these entities. Another major achievement of 2022 was the new communication campaign against hate speech and xenophobia that was carried out on the very high instructions of the Head of States. The Commission also signed a memorandum of understanding with fourteen civil society organizations to spearhead the fight against these scourges. H.E. Peter Mafany Musonge noted that “This ground-breaking event that took place at the NCPBM headquarters on the 24th of May 2022, enabled our institution to take the fight against these scourges to a wider audience. The reports received from the field, so far in this regard, are quite encouraging”. In 2022, the NCPBM also had greater visibility through its remarkable presence at the 2022 Government Action Fair. The President of the Commission said, SAGO 2022 served as forum for the NCPBM to make itself better known to the public.
READ MOREParticipating at the Government Action Fair for the first time, the NCPBM is pulling lots of visitors. Most of them want to have a better understanding of the missions of the NCPBM and what is has been able to achieve since its creation. They had staff to answer their questions. Each day there are at least two members of the NCPBM to also clarify some of the visitors on some pertinent issues about the Commission.Among some of the important personalities who have visited the NCPBM Stand are the Ministers of Communication, René Emmanuel Sadi and Public Service, Joseph Le. The visitors also went away with copies of the law on official languages, the Commission in brief and the Compatriot.There is also the Golden Book which the visitors sign before leaving.
READ MOREIt was about midday this 22nd June that the 11th edition of the Government Action Fair was officially opened by the Minister of Commination, René Emmanuel Sadi, representing the Prime Minister. On the occasion, attended by several members of Government, he called for the modernisation of the Public Service, in a bid to give satisfaction to users. On his part, the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reform, Joseph Le enumerated some of the recent reforms carried out by his ministry to bring in more comfort in service delivery. At the stand of the NCPBM, the Minister of Communication, accompanied by the other members of government listened to the missions and some of the achievements of the Commission. He then proceeded to the signing of the Golden Book, where he congratulated the personnel for a job well done in the promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism. Representing the President of the Commission at the opening of SAGO 2022 was the Vice President, Mr. Oumarou Djika, who was accompanied by some members and the Secretary General, Dr. Chi Asafor Cornelius.
READ MORESome Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the NCPBM have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to fight against hate speech and xenophobia. The ceremony at the Head Office of the Commission brought together the President of the Commission, The Vice President, the President of the three working groups (Bilingualism, Multiculturalism and living together), the Secretary General and the leaders of fourteen Civil Society Organisations, drawn from the ten regions of the country. On the occasion, the President of the Commission, H. E. Peter Mafany Musonge said the choice of working with the CSOs is not fortuitous because “We know that, in your day-to-day activities, you deal directly with the target populations; you know them, you speak their language and they trust you”. The President of the NCPBM said that the Commission was relying on this position of proximity that the CSOs occupy to ensure that every Cameroonian gets the message and joins in the fight, so that the beauty and wealth of Cameroon diversity should not be sacrificed on the altar of hate speech and xenophobia.
READ MOREA United Nations strong delegation led by the Under Secretary General for Africa, Madam Martha Pobee was received at the Commission on 31st March, 2022. The delegation which also featured the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Central African Sub-region, Mr. Francois Louncény Fall, first held talks with the President of the NCPBM, H.E. Peter Mafany Musonge. This was followed by a working session presided over by the Vice President, Oumarou Djika in the presence of the Secretary General of the Commission, Dr. Chi Asafor Cornelius. Talking to reports later, Madam Martha Pobee said “the United Nations is working in partnership with the Commission to implement the mandate that it has”, adding that, “we are committed to continuing this support… it is an excellent progress so far and it is an example that other countries can learn from”. She further said the several numbers of ethnic groups in African countries should enrich them, rather than divide them.
READ MOREThe fieldwork to the public and private enterprises and establishments based in Yaounde, Centre Region runs from Monday 14 March to Friday 18, 2022. Divided into seven teams the members will visit several public and private enterprises based in Yaounde. The aim is to follow up and evaluate the National Policy on the Official Languages of Cameroon. The policy stipulates that French and English are of equal status. In all, some 60 enterprises will be visited. A similar exercise took place in Douala from the 31st October to the 6th November 2021, where the Commission members visited private enterprises and Employers Organisations.
READ MORECameroon and France examine common ways of combating misinformation and hate speech on social media. These concerns were raised during an audience granted by the President of the NCPBM, Peter Mafany Musonge to the Ambassador, and Special Envoy for Public Diplomacy in Africa, H.E. Sylvain Itté, who was accompanied by the French Ambassador to Cameroon H.E. Christophe Guilhou. Talking to reports after the audience on the 15 March, 2022, H.E. Sylvain Itté said they discussed extensively on the role of the Commission which has an immense task. He said they also exchanged on the problem which the entire society is facing, being the use of the social media which are useful instruments of communication, but which are at the same time terrible machines of massive misinformation. According to Ambassador Sylvain Itté, France was particularly preoccupied by this phenomenon of manipulation and misinformation which today leaves no room for neither the truth nor debate.
READ MOREWomen of the NCPBM join others to celebrate the 37th International Day of the Woman. Focus was on the fight against hate speech and xenophobia. After taking active part in the march past at the 20th May Boulevard, presided over by the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, the Women of the NCPBM came back to their headquarters where they organised a feast to crown the event. On the occasion, the women thanked hierarchy for their constant support to them and the promotion of gender equity within the Administration. The Vice-President of the NCPBM, Mr. OUMAROU DJIKA, who represented the President of the Commission, H.E. Peter MAFANY MUSONGE exhorted the women to relentlessly support the fight against hate speech and xenophobia. Also present at the ceremony were some members of the Commission resident in Yaounde and the Secretary General Dr. CHI ASAFOR Cornelius.
READ MOREIt was at the Yaoundé Conference Centre that the members of the NCPBM met for the exercise on the 20th January, 2022. The main point on the agenda was the validation of the 2022 budget. On the occasion, the President of the commission, H.E. Peter Mafany Musonge said the fight against hate speech and xenophobia will be intensified through sensitization, with more trips to the regions and a greater presence in the media. He also expressed the wish to see those who are guilty of offences of hate speech and xenophobia as stipulated by the Penal Code effectively punished. The NCPBM also hopes to carry out three programmes in 2022. The first being the promotion, monitoring and evaluation of the National Policy on official languages, the second being the promotion and protection of multiculturalism and living together and the third on governance and the institutional support of the Commission. The Commission counts on a budget of 2.980.000.000 (Two billion nine hundred and eighty million frs) to achieve these goals.
READ MOREMembers of the Commission met on the 16 December at the Yaoundé Conference Centre in their second biannual session. On the activities carried out in 2021, H.E Peter Mafany Musonge pointed out that, “we received the very high instructions of the President of the Republic to carry out a new communication campaign against hate speech and xenophobia in our country”. This activity took the Commission virtually six months to be realized. The promotion of the two official languages was also of great concern to the Commission, the reason why it was in Douala for a week, to follow-up and evaluate the implementation of the public policy on the promotion of the two official languages by Employers’ Organizations and some private Companies. As far as 2022 is concerned, the President of the NCPBM said “We still have an uphill task of making the Commission better known to the public, and especially to our partners. This requires more communication and more positive actions on the field.” He added that, “one of the challenges we’ll have to face will be to get our regional offices operational, despite the difficult financial situation in which we find ourselves” Members, at the session, examined a report on the execution of resolutions adopted during the session of January 2021, a report on the implementation of the NCPBM missions, a report on the activities carried out from January to December 2021 and the draft NCPBM action plan for 2022.
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