There is nothing which keeps young men with high libido busy like the presence of a new beautiful girl in town. That was exactly the reaction caused by EYUMEMA (a woman’s voice), the new Manyu organization which is, indeed, a break-away faction of a scandal-tainted MOHWA which has fallen into the hands of wannabe dictators in Cameroon.

Last Thursday, all roads led to Ohio, USA, as hundreds of Manyu women and girls travelled from many other states in the United States to demonstrate their support for this new organization which will surely give MOHWA a run for its money.

The number of Manyu women from other parts of the United States caused a shortage of expert nurses and caregivers in other American States, prompting care facilities in the United States to ask their remaining staff to work overtime.

It was not only the scarcity of caregivers in other states of the United States that was an issue, there was also a huge Ekpe delegation noted for its voluptuous appetite in Ihio to attend the event and it is rumored that after having devoured the food and drunk the expensive drinks served, Ekpe delegation members simply demonstrated once more that their role on earth was to eat and drink without delivering any meaningful development ideas which could help EYUMEMA embrace a new and development-oriented path which will make it different from other Manyu organizations which have continued to play their roles as talking workshops.

EYUMEMA, which is an offshoot of MOHWA USA,Inc, seems to have leaders with good heads on their shoulders. Under its former name, MOHWA USA Inc, EYUMEMA had undertaken to dig boreholes across Manyu Division.  Although the project has been implemented in some parts of Manyu, its results have been mixed as some of the boreholes are already out of service and there is an acute shortage of certified technicians to repair the troubling boreholes- a clear sign that no reliable and effective project study had been undertaken.

Maybe with a new name, EYUMEMA will learn how to finance projects, following standard project implementation rules. Every project has a cycle and lots of things get taken into consideration during the design phase.

EYUMEMA will do itself a world of good if it employs development experts who will design the projects and help with their implementation based on standard procedures and processes.

EYUMEMA must know that for its projects to be reliable and sustainable, it must have implementation and executing agencies on the ground for quality to be guaranteed. Its executing agency should automatically be the Mamfe Council which should host permanent technical staff who will produce project documents for EYUMEMA which will be the project owner.

EYUMEMA is a registered not-for-profit development organization which should be capable of raising concessional resources for development purposes in Manyu Division and well written project documents will convince donors that their money is being used for the purpose for which they are intended.

Every well written project appraisal report or project completion report must include sections on project sustainability, capacity building and lessons learned from previous projects. And there are many of such failed projects in Manyu Division.

EYUMEMA should also not be shy to collaborate with any other Manyu organization when it comes to implementing projects in Manyu. By doing so, both organizations will avoid duplication and a waste of scarce resources. Collaboration is key in development.

Development projects must be viewed as businesses which must stand the test of time and should create jobs for those living in the project area. Projects should never be seen as gifts and they should be managed by people with innovative and futuristic minds. If this is the path EYUMEMA wants to tread, then it will be hailed and admired, and it must make the Mamfe Council its greatest ally to ensure that there is an agency which is keeping an eye on their development initiatives.

EYUMEMA should never spare any resources when it comes to the effective implementation of its projects. It must invest in capacity building as there is a huge dearth of development capacity in Manyu. There are many capacity building experts in Cameroon who are helping the World Bank and the African Development Group with their capacity building projects. Some of these experts could lend a hand and their services could also be honorary depending upon how EYUMEMA presents itself.

EYUMEMA which has already won hearts and minds across the world, including in Cameroon, must tread a different path. Its launch this weekend has already created a massive division within MOHWA groups across the globe, with many women already lining up to sign up for EYUMEMA, the new beautiful and well-built girl in town.

EYUMEMA cannot afford to fail. It must be run as a corporate body with clear development objectives. It must come up with a think tank which should develop its project pipeline. There are experts standing by to provide their technical and intellectual input to ensure that Manyu gets a facelift.

The people of Manyu are admiring this new girl in town. They hope it will not end up as others where its development objectives get replaced with eating, drinking, dancing and show-off.

By Dr Joachim Arrey in Canada