Cameroon, EMIA Epaulettes Award Ceremony: Gradates Urged To Uphold Morally Rectitude, Be Pacesetters To Youth

The Combined Services Military Academy better known in its French acronym as EMIA has graduated its 38th batch of military officers. The ceremony in strict military ritual Friday 26 Febraury 2021 held for the very first time in the absence of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Paul Biya.

This was due to the constraints of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping across the globe. Presided at by the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Rene Claude Meka on the campus of EMIA, the graduates were christened the batch of “Peace and Unity”.

Defense chief of staff, Lt. general Rene Claude Meka awards epaulette to best graduate 

Meka in strictly military ritual handed the epaulette of the best graduate, 28-year-old Mougnol’Zom Emmanuel while other top brass of the military did same for the 287 graduates among them 47 women.

In his congratulatory message read to the officers by the Head of Communication Division at the Ministry of Defence, Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, President Paul Biya, saluted their bravery during the laborious training and also hailed the instructors for their dedication that made the raining a success.

Biya urged the officers to work in the footsteps of their elders by cultivating the values of “discipline, patriotism, and moral rectitude on a daily basis” and to in the “face of all the inevitable rigour of trials and military life, serve the country with honour and loyalty”.

Biya exhorted the officers to be “good examples for the Cameroonian youth in your behavior, commitment to defend Republican institutions” and the integrity of “Cameron as well as the unity of its people”. He assured the officers he will take over the ritual to preside over the ceremony once the health crisis gives way.

Speaking shortly after the ceremony, Colonel Onana Mbarga Oscar, Commander of Military Schools and Training Centers, revealed that the batch was special, haven undergone part of their training within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic successfully without registering a single positive case.

Commander of military training schools, Colonel Onana Mbarga Oscar

He added that the 36 six months training took the soldiers to all ten regions with an added advantage for them based on trainings they got on how to combat cyber criminality which seems to be a growing challenge.

The officers in interviews with reporters pledged to be loyal in defending the nation and to strictly apply all skills acquired in the fielding wherever they are sent with the security challenges and health situation.

The laureates are from six countries including Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea Conakry and Central African Republic. 

The officers have already been deployed to their various post of duty nationwide. They unanimously pledged to serve wherever they are posted in order to defend the country’s territorial integrity.