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JUDE VIBAN ELECTED CAMASEJ NATIONAL PRESIDENT.


The Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, now has a new President. Viban Jude was elected over the weekend in Douala during the Elective General Assembly. The election was highly contested.

Moki Charles was beaten during the election.
Viban Jude is now the  new national president of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, (CAMASEJ). He beat his challenger Moki Charles during the national elective general assembly that was held in Douala on Saturday 30th June 2019.
Despite the tensions which is but normal during such exercises, the election went on well and upon proclamation of final results, both winner and loser embraced each other promising to put CAMASEJ over their individual interests

In his acceptance speech, Viban Jude told the electorate "I promise on behalf of the team that we are going to work with everyone because we are all talented in our various ways. Moki is somebody I have a lot of respect for. I count on his support and experience. CAMASEJ remains the winner" Moki Charles on his part congratulated Jude and in also addressing the electorate said "We have an objective to support this team and make CAMASEJ great again. Mr. President you can count on my support."
 
Before now, Simon Lyonga of CRTV was at the helm of the association since August  2015 till November 2019 when fresh elections were conducted. Viban Jude of CAMASEJ Yaounde chapter works for L'Action Newspaper while Moki Charles of CAMASEJ Douala chapter works for a corporation. 
219 delegates from the various CAMASEJ chapters nationwide, that is Douala, Yaounde, Buea, Kumba, Limbe and North West took part in the elections and at the end of the vote counting exercise, Viban Jude had 126 votes while Moki Charles had 92.
 

Douala chapter presented the highest number of delegates, 72 followed by Yaounde with 48, Bamenda with 34, Kumba with 30, Buea with 29 and 23 for Limbe. 
The electoral board that coordinated the exercise was made up Obah Rosaline, Station Manager of CBS Radio, Bamenda, Pa Gideon Tarka, Station Manager of Radio Hot Cocoa Bamenda and Comfort Musa, a Yaoundé based corporate communicator.
Prior to the elective general assembly, campaigns were hot mostly on social media. Both aspiring candidates had ardent campaigners that aggressively took social media platforms mostly WhatsApp groups hostage with campaign messages for their choice candidates.

Even some Cameroon journalists (social media activists) of  English expression  based abroad sided with their desired candidates in a bit to win more voters for them. While Mimi Mefo of  Mimi Mefo Info was for Moki Charles, Eric Tataw of National Telegraph and Nfor Hanson of Cameroon News Agency backed Viban Jude. The trio each wrote and circulated short messages on social media why they think Candidate "A" or "B" will better serve the association.
Both aspirants are said to have produced rich manifestos reflecting the aspirations of many English speaking journalists in Cameroon as regards salary situation, access to information, arbitrary arrests, international exposure just to name these few. 

Viban Jude for example in his manifesto told the electorate, "With your support, together we will resurrect the association and take it to an enviable level. It is time to pick 'A New Angle' hinged on advocacy, defending the rights of journalists, training, welfare and career development of our members." 
Moki Charles on his part summarised his manifesto in what he termed The ATAN Model, meaning Advocacy, Training, Awareness and Networking. His plan was to enhance professionalism, encourage respect of ethics and standards, focus on regular capacity building initiatives for members, promote merit and excellence through an annual award and set up a CAMASEJ permanent secretariat either in Buea or Bamenda.
 
CAMASEJ elections have often been done via the list system, meaning a president is voted and he then builds his team taking into consideration representation of all the chapters. As such the new team to head CAMASEJ National Bureau for a period of four years provided the constitutional mandate duration isn't changed is made up of:
1. President - Viban Jude - Yaounde 
2. Vice President - Maimo Davidson - Limbe 
3. Secretary General - Wanchia Cynthia - N.W 
4. Vice S.G - Bennen Buma  Gana - Yaounde 
5. Treasurer - Ursula Ajebesone - Kumba 
6. Financial Secretary - Nanji Pelagie - Buea 
7. Assistant Fin. Sec - Frida Egbe - Yaounde 
8. Public Relations Officer - Jatto Richard - N.W
9. Social Sec - Richard Shengang - Kumba 
10. Auditor - Tayong Fah Elvis - Douala 
The electoral exercise was preceded by two educative talks from Barrister Nico Halle on peace and Franklin Kiven of UNESCO on humanitarian reporting. Many now await the implementation of the promises the winner made. 
 
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