Three Journalists Receive Awards

Sebastian Chi of Mutations Newspaper, Clementina Mbi Njang Yong of Abakwa FM Radio Station in Bamenda and Killian Ngalla Chintom of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), respectively received the first, second and third prizes of the Investigative Journalism competition co-sponsored by the British High Commission and the US Embassy in Cameroon. During the award ceremony that took place last Thursday, May 23 in Yaounde, the winners each received a cash prize, a certificate and working tools such as a laptop computer in the presence of the United States of America Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Cynthia H Akuetteh.

Last Thursday's event was to recognise professionals in Cameroon who on a daily basis are contributing to democracy, social cohesion, broad participation in decision-making and development. This year's event in which CJA was a major partner focused on "corruption and human rights". At the beginning, some 35 brave journalists entered the competition. 29 were selected and three winners emerged at the end.

The first winner, Sebastian Chi wrote about corruption in the forestry sector particularly in the East Region of the country, where he said the 1990 Law on Forestry is not respected. The second winner, Clementina Mbi wrote on human rights with stress on the plight of widows in the North West Region who suffer violence from their late husband's family. Killian Ngalla who is the third winner from CRTV presented an investigative report on homosexuality in Cameroon with the various views of Cameroonians for or against homosexuality.