Humphrey
Ekema Monono: Saint or devil on the cross?
By
Peterkins Manyong, guest writer and publisher of The Independent Observer
Humphrey Ekema Monono |
It is no longer a secret
that the Cameroon General Certificate of Education CGCE Board registrar, Sir
Humphrey Ekema Monono is on a hot seat. It has been so since he initiated some
‘radical’ reforms at the GCE Board. The most outstanding of these was the
decision that GCE examination results should be published via telephone
messages.
“Many new ideas are rejected
not because they are bad, but because they are not already familiar” says the
celebrated Cardinal John Henry Newman. But there was more to the hostility to
the SMS innovation than the fact that it was new. Added to those who benefitted
in the pecuniary sense from the publication of GCE results were more acerbic
critics among Monono’s pedagogic colleagues Atanga Christopher Bonai, Simon
Nkwenti’s interim successor at the helm of CATTU, lashed out at Monono for
abandoning the GCE Board’s original partners, the newspapers. Atanga, however
admitted that reforms were necessary at the board and that Monono had been
quite innovative.
The law of change is the law
of God. Christ was making this point when he stood firm and remained steadfast
against conceited Pharisees who regarded themselves as the best interpreters of
Mosaic laws.
The Pharisees within our
educational system are not unlike Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle who
continue to live in a glorious past in defiance of technological advancement.
The decision to disseminate
GCE results through SMS is well founded. The first positive point in this
innovation is that both successful and unsuccessful candidates get their
results at or around the same time. The second is that the results are secret.
It requires an ear to the ground to know the number of failed candidates that
contemplate or commit suicide due to the vulgarization of GCE results. This was
not the case in the days of London GCE. Monono has been very unequivocal in his
explanation.
If any mobile telephone
company had struck a deal with Monono, that company would have had the monopoly
of disseminating GCE results. The fact that the booklets and result slips are
available at the various GCE centres at the same time or even before the
results are made public is ocular proof of the GCE Board registrar’s concern
for the feelings of the candidates. Only someone with the sterling qualities of
a parent and a teacher can do that.
Transparency
of the highest degree
The ermine is not a familiar
animal. But those who know about it would testify that it hates dirt of any
kind and does everything possible to avoid it.
Humphrey Monono has been
like the ermine at the helm of the GCE Board. All attempts to soil him with
allegations of corruption have ended in calamitous failure. Those acquainted
with the accounting system of the GCE Board at inception know one thing about
it-the system was chaotic. But with the advent of Monono everything is smooth.
A
man for all seasons
Chinua Achebe tells us that
the world is like a mask. If you want to see it well, you must not stand on one
spot. Monono is like Thomas More’s major character, a man for all seasons. He
mixes with people of all walks of life. He is present everywhere fellow humans
are: at their “born house”, cry dies and weddings. He is as comfortable in
Bamenda and Yaounde as he is in Buea. In short, he is a humble man. Thomas a
Kempis had in mind people like Monono when he wrote his famous treatise:
“Imitations of Christ”. He derives more pleasure from serving than in being
served.
Saint
or devil on the cross?
Kenya’s celebrated novelist,
Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s book :“Devil On The Cross” is an indictment of a
politician on the cross of public opinion. His source of inspiration is, of
course, the Holy Bible where Christ was crucified alongside two armed robbers,
disciples of the devil, to be more apt. The difference between Christ and the
two bandits is that he was innocent while the two deserved their fate.
Monono is on the cross of
bias public opinion. He has carried the success. Reason why he won The Guardian
Post 2013 Man of The Year Award while the GCE Board which he ably heads won the
CAMER-Foundation Best Managed Public Institution Award. Both awards from two
institutions working independently. A
man who achieves great beats, naturally has enemies and Monono is too great an
achiever to be without them. Martyrs should be made of more pious stuff. Sir
Humphrey Ekema Monono is more than just a man for all citizens. He is a child
of God.
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