Jean Marc Afesi Mbafor, National Coordinator of Make Bamenda and Buea Great Again, MBBGA Concept which aims at changing the narrative about Anglophone crisis by getting the population to start thinking differently and positively has challenged youth of the North West and South West regions take the lead in bringing change in the two restive regions.
He was speaking in Buea Friday August 12, 2022, during the grand launch of the youth-led grassroots concept. Afesi Mbafor who is a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism challenged to take the lead in changing the rhetoric around the ongoing crisis in the two English-speaking regions.
Afesi Mbafor told guests during the launch that the concept is a product of general observation from what started from the onset of the crisis in the North West and South West regions in 2016 which indicated that the escalation of the crisis was as a result of systematic brainwashing of the masses, incitement to mass violence and destruction.
He explained that Bamenda and Buea, as used in the concept refers to the North West and South West regions as they are the towns which symbolically represent both regions respectively.
Afesi Mbafor said the incitement to violence and deradicalizing the youth demand a gradual and coordinated effort to effect a mental change in the youth. “By engaging our youth and others in exercises of designed thinking and creative writing, we hope to trigger the beginning of a mental shift. We are opting for an incremental approach to this, starting with two simple activities; essay writing and poetry on various topics on Make Bamenda and Buea Great Again,” the concept initiator explained.
Ensuring return to normalcy and changing the mindset of young people in the two restive regions, Afesi Mbafor said, would entail the concept to organise and manage the build back better award for communities and groups to get funding for community projects.
“The build back better award aims to engage communities; groups of people come together and think together about a local micro project aimed at developing their community and these communities compete and the best project selected by our experts is given seed funding,” he revealed.
He said aside the monthly creative writing competition exercise, other activities are previewed by MBBGA to bring about a positive mindset amongst the youth include: MBBGA Academic Excellence Award; MBBGA Mega cultural and sporting events; MBBGA radio and TV talk show; the Miss and Mister MBBGA contest and the MBBGA build back better community contest.
The South West Regional Coordinator of MBBGA, Edmond Njoh, said the goal is to have the organization well established in the region to ensure the message reaches all the villages and quarters.
“We have six divisions and we are trying to have coordinators in all these Divisional headquarters that will be working to take this information to their respective Divisional headquarters. We are also ensuring they carry this message to the youths for a change of mindsets to have a bright future,” he said.
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