But says concerned members have no locus standi
By Chinje Hopeson in Yaounde
with field reports
Despite serving
a vote of no-confidence, the president of the Cameroon Association of English
Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ Meme, Ndian and Kupe Muanenguba joint chapter,
Larry Esong Akang, has vowed that he would not step down as president until his
mandate expires. Larry Esong took the firm stand after some 15 journalists
passed a vote of no confidence on him, describing him as a bad leader who
cannot lead them.
According to the president, the suppose vote
of no-confidence is null and void because it was signed by persons who had no
locus standi. Esong argued that it is the exclusive prerogative of the national
bureau of CAMASEJ to pass sanctions on its members and not the chapter.
Moreover, Esong
disclosed that some signatories in the likes of Ashu Manfred and Asong
Sylvester are not members of CAMASEJ. He went further to add that even the
‘so-called’ members who signed the sanction were not financially up-to-date as
per the constitution of CAMASEJ.
It is in the
light of the above that Larry Esong revealed he will use all legal and
administrative measures to sanction the journalists whom he termed ‘opportunists’.
“They had gone wayward by creating another association. It failed and they have
now come back to hijack CAMASEJ”, Esong disclosed.
In the meantime,
Jude Njinjuh of Eden was unanimously voted last
Friday by the ‘rebellious’ CAMASEJ members as interim president of CAMASEJ
Meme, following a vote of no-confidence that was passed on the president on
July 24.
The main
signatories of the vote of no-confidence hold that their action was provoked
when Larry Esong orchestrated the arrest of the Kumba bureau chief of The
Guardian Post , Njingang Godwin who was later detained for five hours at the
gendarmerie brigade. Much earlier, Esong is faulted with having engaged
unnecessarily in a bitter confrontation with the Kumba bureau chief of Eden.
He is said to
have had several encounters with Maxcel Fokwen of The Post. It is also alleged
that Esong seized all CAMASEJ properties from the secretary general, Innocent
Yuh.
In the heat of
the controversy, the interim CAMASEJ president, Jude Njinjuh has promised to
revamp the activities of the chapter by organising seminars and exchange visits
among other activities.
If endorsed by
the national executive, the interim president whose mandate will run till
December 2014, will have the task of organising fresh elections, soliciting foreign
partners who will fund workshops and encourage the registration of new members
in to the association, The Guardian Post was told.
According to the
communiqué, a copy of which was sent to our newsroom, Larry Esong has up to ten
days to hand over all the association’s
properties in his keeping to the interim bureau.
As we went to
press, we gathered that a crisis meeting called by the SDO for Meme will hold
on Saturday August 2, 2014.
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