In a bid to assuage the sufferings on the poor and almost outstretched populations of Cameroon’s Boyo Division of the North West Region that has seen many lives shattered as a result of the four years prolonged Anglophone conflict, and now more compounded by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, young humanist and open-hearted Senator Honore Ajuo Ngam, has forcefully stepped in to provide the much needed emergency assistance capable of barring the way for the pandemic not to enter and decimate these needy communities.
The ambitious and ready-for- implementation- robust plan consists of a whopping FCFA 3 millions subdivided into the following segments: FCFA 1 million to be distributed equally to the four Subdivisional Councils in Boyo to support their efforts in combating the pandemic; FCFA 1 million to support production and distribution of over 1000 face masks across the Division, production and distribution of educational materials on COVID19, the purchase and distribution of cartoons of laundry soap to promote hand washing in all the communities of Boyo, and the rest of the money, for the facilitation of a team of youths in communities to engage on a door-to-door sensitization and education campaign.
In addition to this personal effort, is the Senator’s donation of FCFA 500 000 through the Senate to the Special National Solidarity Fund where sons and daughters of Boyo Division would directly or indirectly benefit from, no matter where they are found in the national territory.
The announced donation notwithstanding, a major aspect and staying power of young Senator Ngam Honore’s rescue plan is to work with the traditional councils and authorities of all the fondoms that make up Boyo,and without any exception, to curate, analyze and mandate traditional practices that can locally contribute to barring the way for COVID19 in the fondoms.
Given the fact that the Senator’s plan aims at tackling the ‘epidemic of misinformation’ that has accompanied the outbreak of COVID19, especially in his native Boyo, the plan takes into consideration the translation of accurate information about the pandemic into various dialects in Boyo, and precisely through the innovative use of infographics.
According to the project owner, the Free Boyo Plan would go a long way to organize media and Social media Campaigns to counter fake news and hate speech, and monitor impacts of the pandemic in Boyo. It also aims at creating a systematized source of information especially about the gendered impacts of COVID19 as well as its impact on peace and security in the Division. Senator Honore’s Plan will also be actively looking at practical tips on how-to-do-it-yourself-at-home strategies on how housewives could locally produce face masks for their families.
Given that the outbreak of COVID19 has been further exacerbated by armed conflict, ongoing violence and humanitarian emergencies in the two English speaking regions, and given that travel and mobility restrictions have severely inhibited the delivery of essential services as well as humanitarian aid to numerous IDPs, Senator Ngam is of the opinion every right thinking Cameroonian must show coronakindness to his/her less privileged neighbours.
It should be recalled that the SDF Senator’s proactive plan of action falls squarely in line with the UN Secretary General’s call for a robust communication plan by all stakeholders so as to tackle the ‘epidemic of misinformation’ that has accompanied the outbreak of COVID19, head on. It is for this reason that Ngam Honore is urging all his Boyo constituents wherever they find themselves, to vigorously adhere to the measures already outlined by government of Cameroon and WHO directives. He is the more appreciative of the fact that it is because his constituents are following these directives that there is zero infection in Boyo till date. To this effect, and in his characteristic manner, he pays tribute to health personnel, traditional, religious, and administrative authorities and by extension, the people of Boyo Division for so far adhering to measures that have gone a long way to frustrate the pandemic from engulfing Boyo Division.
The Senator is not at his first experience when it comes to prompt and surgical interventions in his community. For two years running, he has provided varied forms of assistance to inhabitants of his native Boyo, including emergency humanitarian assistance to IDPs and other categories of undisplaced struggling Persons, and huge contributions toward the refurbishment of the Kom Royal palace.