Huge turn out as MINESEC delegate take over SWELA

Written by Etule Banjo, The Standard Tribune

Monday, 01 March 2010 08:36

KUMBA—After many years of slumber, the South West Elite Association (SWELA), made a huge comeback in its birthplace Saturday, holding a massively attended assembly and raising more than CFA 11 million for the building of the movement’s secretariat.

Flipping to a new page, a school official, delegate for Secondary Education Epie Ekale was elected the association’s new secretary-general, with calls for the revival of the movement which used to be very powerful in the 1990s.

The meeting, at the Kumba City Banquet Hall saw the participation of some of the regions most senior government functionaries, including the ministers and lawmakers. The event was chaired by Peter Agbor Tabi.

SWELA, a political lobby of the elite of the South West region, was founded in Kumba in June 1991 with the main objective to unit the human resources of the region in order to foster development.

The meeting Saturday was one of the most popular in recent years. In addition to conducting elections, speakers addressed the development of the region and the ongoing decentralisation process, which puts more powers in regional authorities.

In a 21-minute speech, the former secretary-general Geroge Orock, a Yaounde-based medic said in spite of the huge resources of the South West, the region remained economically week and impoverished.

He said the situation was not the result of the absence of political will but political infighting, mutual suspicion, distrust and mudslinging that had bedevilled the region’s elite class.

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, the minister of Forestry and Wildlife, was special guest at the assembly. Speaking, he said elite were the backbone for the development of the region, challenging them to doo more hard working, not less.

One of the key projects of the association is the building of a secretariat, it emerged. CFA11.5 million was raised, most of it coming from Prof Ngolle Ngolle (CFA6.7 million) and Prof Abgor Tabi (CFA3.3 million).

New SWELA bureau: SG- Epie Ekale; ASG – Nganda Rudolf; Treasure – Julie BeckeFS – Dr. Itoe