Thousands bid farewell to the civil society trail blazer.
The village of Chomba in Mezam Division of the North West Region has never witnessed such a crowd before. It was all because of the fallen hero, Simon Nkwenti who passed on at the Bamenda Regional Hospital on August 21at about 9:30 am.
The funeral on Saturday September 8, 2012 was a crowd-pulling event as people from and outside of Cameroon thronged the village to say good bye to someone many described as a man of the people. Described by the Minister of Secondary Education, Louis Bapes Bapes as a true leader, obedient and a loyal citizen, Simon Nkwenti was the Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, which he formed in 2002 to look in to the problems of teachers. With CATTU, there was no door he could not open.
He has been credited as one of those who propagated many reforms in the education sector in Cameroon. The most enchanting is the creation of the University of Bamenda for which he once said "After the creation of the University of Bamenda and when it goes operational, I can then die and my corpse will wear a smile!"
He was so determined in his fight that he rarely thought of himself. He received so many threats and detention, however, these only made him stronger. Born on Sunday March 1, 1964, he was married and a father of five. For Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle a close friend, Simon Nkwenti was the voice of the voiceless and someone who called things by their true name. He said "Simon Nkwenti is a fallen hero whose good works will forever be indelible on man's mind."
The funeral programme on Friday September 7, 2012 saw academic honours by teachers and members of CATTU. He was praised by CATTU as the one who organized many seminars for teachers, the one who lobbied the government to pay most of their allowances with the most recent being the research and documentation allowance implemented last March."Rabbi, you offered and sacrificed your toil, tears, sweat and even blood in order to achieve social justice, fairness, dignity and self worth and above all, also for the Cameroonian nation," they concluded.
The Minister of Basic Education, Yousouf Ahdija Alim, sent a message of condolence. North West Governor, Adolphe Lele L'Afrique, was represented by the Secretary General of the Region, Balungeli Ebune Confiance as well as the Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Mache Njounwet Joseph Bertrand.
