OJ SLIM MEDIA

  Women are often the main victims of conflicts, as they suffer both physical and sexual violence. These must be recognized during peace negotiations by including programmes that deal with them.  In essence, however, “women's participation in mediation is simply a question of equality and fairness.”-Hannah Tetteh  Women make up more than half of a community. Their voices should be heard. Post-conflict societies must give women the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and achieve their potential. That is why we need female mediators who make sure the peace process takes into account women's aspirations and engage women from these communities in conflict in the negotiations. Only in this way will it be possible to reach balanced agreements that also take into account women’s needs. Communication is about giving a voice to people. Women are generally less violent. If more spaces such as media, leadership and politics, are given to women, they will general promote a nonviolent agend...

When Muteff community in Fundong Subdivision of Boyo Division of the North West Region opted for school boycott in the 70s as part of the strategy to achieve autonomy from mainland Abuh, they knew it was after all just going to be only an adhoc move, not a permanent one. That's why one year after, they were quick to take their knees off the necks of the hundreds of children who had forcefully been withdrawn from the main school in Abuh and allowed to continue schooling in Muteff, even as the struggle intensified. And that's definitely the reason why it is the children that went to school in Muteff at that time that are providing informed leadership and development initiatives to that emblematic community today. That, to the Muteff spirit, is the meaning of independence.   Although the immediate cause of the brutal decision by Muteff parents to withdraw their children from CBC school Abuh was Abuh authorities' refusal to allow for a junior primary school in Muteff (where chi...

The Global Initiative for Digital Inclusion and Communication (GIDICOM) has trained some Bamenda base journalists and CSO members under the umbrella of the Cameroon Community Media Network on Digital Literacy, particularly ,  information verification and Online advocacy. The training saw the participants trained and encouraged to be Up standers and not By standers, encouraging them to put in their best to fight Fake News where ever they see it on the different META platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and others). This participant and CCMN member, Pechuqui Laurata, says   ”I have better understood information verification, getting to know that it is ,  not as tedious and time consuming as one may think .   A lso ,  advocacy is not necessarily to be done by very big organizations alone, as an individual ,  I can start a harsh-tag  and have my friends and I  change something in our community…” To the coordinator of GIDICOM Miss Pedmia Shatu, she...

As we pursue our collective goal of global peace, we must keep these two principles always in mind, seeking not only to eradicate conflict, but also to establish a more trusting and inclusive world community, in which each and every individual is valued and respected. Inclusive peace processes are key to ending violent conflict. At the same time, peace processes can be critically undermined by societal fragmentation, and the perceived or actual exclusion of certain groups from peace negotiations. On the other hand, a seemingly precarious peace agreement may be fundamentally strengthened by attempts to “knit together” the “frayed fabric” of a society damaged by internal or external conflict. The task of maintaining peace falls, ultimately, to the young, and therefore the young and old, men and women, must be included in the process of establishing peace. All peace processes would do well to ensuring that no voices are marginalized  in the gradual movement towards a more harmonious, tole...

The population of Wum in Menchum Division, have started keeping their various  school premises clean, ahead of the new school year that begins on Monday September 5 2022. The population, both old and young came out as one man to clean both public and private institutions especially those that have been abandoned and whose campus have been invaded by  wild grass. Prior to the back to school, preparations have reached fever pitch. The Divisional Officer of Wum Subdivision, Ngoe Godfrey Nembi, brought together Headteachers, Principals, education stakeholders and traditional authorities to brainstorm on two major challenges affecting the smooth running of schools within Wum Subdivision; Insecurity and absenteeism of teachers. From the various interventions of school heads and the Inspectorate of Basic Education of Wum subdivision, last academic year was better that the previous. Even if the schools are not functioning at 100%, at least 70% of the schools opened their doors last ye...

Muteff wasn't particularly a Christian community like Njinikom where names like Peter, Paul, Jacob, John, etc, could abound. That didn't mean the village lacked its fair share of imported names. That's how one could hear names like 'Ibo', 'I Think', 'Fine Boy'(brother to the famous Tella Kfvumte), 'Amphalia', and a lot more. Such nicknames either captured foreign lands the persons had visited in the course of their exploits to eke out a living for themselves or just English expressions they picked up in the course of their journey and came back to mesmerize villagers with. Before my father became a convert and picked up the christian name Jude Thaddeus, he was known throughout the community simply as 'Bafia'. The sobriquet name given to him by villagers due to his constant narration of jaw breaking incidents and challenging experiences overcome during his numerous trips to Bafia, a community in the Centre Region of Cameroon, virtually...

The S enior D ivisional O fficer for Menchum Division, Abdoullahi Aliou, has just wrapped off  his week long tour today in all the villages and communities of Wum  subdivision , beginning from Bangwe right up to Upkwa.   The r aison d’être   of  this emergency meet the people ’s  tour was to mitigat e  and preach the values of peace and reconciliation to  both the Muslim and native communities of these villages , and to also ensure that there is security, especially at the dawn of another school year .   This comes as a result of four Fulani youths murdered on the night of Sunday 25 July, that led to clashes between the Natives of Aghem and the Fulani/Hausa in Wum. These clashes that continued on Tuesday brought about an impromptu security meeting between the administration and traditional rulers of both communities. The end result was the counter murder of two Aghem natives on Friday July   30 .    These actions from the two communities brought about fear of the unknown and further di...