PRESENTATION OF A SPECIAL GIFT TO THE   THE RT REV DR ALOYSIUS ABANGALO FONDONG ON THE OCCASION OF HIS EPISOCOPAL  ORDINATION AS THE THIRD RESIDENTIAL BISHOP AND HIS CANONICAL POSSESSION OF THE DIOCESE OF MAMFE 

–              MAMFE DIOCESE, ONE FAMILY! MAMFE DIOCESE, ONE FAMILY! MAMFE DIOCESE, ONE FAMILY!

–              Your Excellency BETI ASSOMO Joseph, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Personal Representative of the Head of State,

–              Your Excellency, Julio MURAT, Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea,

–              Your Grace Andrew Fuanya NKEA, Archbishop of Bamenda, President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon and President of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference, (BAPEC),

–              Your Graces Archbishops and Your Lordships Bishops,

–              The Rt. Rev. FONKI Samuel Forba, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon,

–              Your Excellencies members of Government,

–              The Governor of the South West Region,

–              Honourable Vice President of the Senate,

–              The Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu

–              Honourable members of Parliament,

–              The Divisional Officer for Mamfe,

–              The Mayor of Mamfe,

–              The Paramount Chief of Mamfe,

–              All other  judicial, civil, traditional and military authorities,

–              Priests and Religious,

–              Christ’s lay faithful of the Mamfe Diocese,

–              Distinguished guests,  ladies and gentlemen.

I stand here in my humble capacity as a member of Christ’s lay faithful of the One Family, Mamfe Diocese who was called upon on March 24th, 2022, by His Grace Andrew NKEA, the Archbishop of Bamenda, then Apostolic Administrator of the Mamfe Diocese, to accompany the Diocese in the organization of the Episcopal Ordination of the new Bishop of Mamfe.

Judging the mammoth crowd in front of us, one can deduce that we have registered a huge success. In as much as we would have loved to take credit for the success of this event, we can’t, because this was much of a team effort.

The effort of an Organizing Committee comprising a Steering Committee and thematic Sub-committees made up of dynamic and able men and women, Priests, religious and Christ’s lay faithful, all working under the visionary and astute leadership of Archbishop NKEA. His Grace Andrew NKEA has in fact been Chair of the Organizing Committee as well as the Steering Committee, although he would rather have me wear that crown.

The role that was bequeathed me was that of General Coordinator of the Sub-committees, assisted by two able sons of the Diocese, lay faithful like myself, and who I would like to call upon to join me on this rostrum:

Mr TASONG Paul Njukang – Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Economy, Plan and Regional Development, who is the vice-Coordinator in charge of Finance and Logistics and representing the LEBIALEM Deanery.

Mr OKIE Johnson Ndoh, – Director General of the Hydrocarbons Price Stabilization Fund, better known by its French acronym CSPH. Mr OKIE Johnson who is the vice Coordinator in charge of Material Organization, representing the NGUTI Deanery, is also the President of the Association of Men of Honour, the Catholic Men’s Association (CMA).

Saint Joseph, Man of Honour pray for us!

Saint Joseph, Man of Honour pray for us!

Saint Joseph, Man of Honour pray for us!

It is worth mentioning here that within the Coordination I represent the three Deaneries of Manyu Division viz: AKWAYA, EYUMOJOCK and MAMFE.

Of course we are not forgetting our Rapporteurs in the persons of Mr TANJU Charles, Etchu Daniel OJONG and AJEH Nicholas and our focal points in Yaoundé, Douala, Buea, Limbe, Kumba, Bamenda, the USA /Canada and Europe /Germany. They all did a marvelous job towards the success we are celebrating today. To them I say Kudos!

Your Excellency the Personal Representative of the Head of State,

Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The mission of the Coordination was to sensitize, mobilize and galvanize the sons and daughters of Lebialem Division, Manyu Division and Nguti Sub-division and their friends, at home and in the Diaspora, for them to adhere to this initiative and participate physically, materially, financially and otherwise, towards the successful organization of this ceremony and the acquisition of a befitting gift for the Chief Shepherd of the Mamfe Diocese.

After five grueling weeks, we have been able to cajol our brothers, sisters and our friends of the Catholic Church, of other Christian denominations as well as some Moslem faithful, to accompany us on this journey. We are pleased to report here that your response to the our fundraising appeal towards the financing of the above twin objectives has been overwhelming.

We want to thank and congratulate the laity, the Priests and religious who live locally within the Diocese for their sustained efforts and multifaceted sacrifices – in kind, in labour, in cash and who toiled night and day to make this ceremony beautiful.

At this juncture, it is our distinguished honour and singular privilege to announce to this august assembly that the SPECIAL FRIENDS OF THE  DIOCESE AND OF THE BISHOP OF MAMFE have through their selfless donations have made it possible for the purchase of a Brand New Four Wheel Drive TOYOTA PRADO VX Full options – leather interior, alloy wheels and what have you? as a special gift for His Lordship Aloysius Abangalo FONDONG, the third residential BISHOP of the Mamfe Diocese; an appropriate car to enable him undertake his pastoral duties of evangelization and the promotion of social peace and living together within the Mamfe Diocese and beyond.

For obvious reasons attributable due to the contextual challenges imposed on us by the persistent health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant economic crisis, this brand new car could not be handed to the Bishop today, but we want to assure you that it has been ordered and paid for. Consequently we will now proceed to symbolically hand it to him  through this list of the Donors who made this possible.

May I once more express our heartfelt appreciation to the sons and daughters of Lebialem Division, Manyu Division and Nguti Sub-division at home and abroad and their friends for their largesse in making the financial resources available to enable us achieve our twin objectives of footing the bill of the material organization of this ceremony and the acquisition of a befitting gift for our Chief Shepherd.

May the seed you have sown in the Lord’s vineyard multiply a million fold and May the Almighty and Merciful God bless you abundantly.

Thank you for your kind attention.