By Victorine Biy Yongka
The General Assembly of the Cameroon Media Council, CMC, has failed to elect a new executive during a highly tensioned meeting in Yaounde, September 27.
The failure, The Post learnt, was due to misinterpretation of the Charter of the Council, and allegations of self-interest which was said to have hampered the effective running of the Council.The General Assembly, which was convened solely for the election of a new executive, did not achieve its aim.
The main stumbling block to the effective running of the Council, The Post learnt, is the refusal by the present executive body that the organ is an affiliate of the Cameroon Union of Journalists, CUJ. CUJ reportedly created CMC and handed it to a designated executive that has refused to recognise or respect the Charter that was handed to them in 2004.
It was pointed out during the meeting that the President of CMC, Pierre Essama Essomba, and his team have sidestepped CUJ. Instead of being dependent on CUJ, according to the Charter, CMC is now acting autonomously to the chagrin of many.
Speaking during the meeting, the President of CUJ, Charly Ndi Chia,
made it clear that the General Assembly that was convened to elect a
new execute was illegal since they failed to consult CUJ. According to
him, CUJ was supposed to jointly organise the meeting with CMC.
It was alleged that the Council is now bedevilled by conflicts of
self-interest.
The meeting went into greater storm when it was revealed that only one out of the nine executive members of CMC answered present at the meeting, which was the President himself. The President could only justify the absence of one of the members, leaving many to believe that the executive might be at daggers-drawn. Speaker after speaker condemned the opaque manner in which the CMC executive is handling issues that pertain to the mother organ, CUJ.
Tempers also flared that the CMC charter had been illegally modified. This raised controversies as to whether the General Assembly should proceed with the election of a new executive or amend the Charter. There were many unanswered about the Charter.However, the CMC President denied claims that he tampered with the Charter.
Due to tension and misunderstandings that rocked the meeting, a working group was constituted to re-look at the Charter of CMC. The committee comprised of publishers, jurists, civil society and newsroom representatives like Pius Njawe, Mme Yvonne Leopoldine Akoa, Charly Ndi Chia, Marthin Nkemgou, Christian Lang, Balbine Manga, Anne Nsang and the CMC President were given a month to revisit the charter.October 25 was finally accepted to be the next date for the General Assembly to meet.
Comments