Religious bodies condemn homosexuality

Authorities of the main religious bodies in Cameroon have again condemned the activities of homosexuality going on in the country.

The national body of the Catholic Men Association, CMA in Cameroon has put in place a new leadership, approach and vision to champion societal vices notably, homosexuality.

Roland Kwemain from the Diocese of Buea o Saturday, July 19 was elected the new National President of CMA. Kwemain and his team have pledged to utilize their 3-year-mandate resourcefully and more importantly join in the fight against homosexuality.

According to Kwemain, the new executive of CMA Cameroon will embark on three principal issues, which include; advocacy. “The CMA will be making their voices heard on social issues like homosexuality, corruption, embezzlement, violence of all sorts, terrorism and reinforcing the essence of family values,” he mentioned.

Kwemain indicated that the new national bureau of CMA will be breaking new grounds across Cameroon, since the association is found in 14 of the 23 Dioceses in Cameroon. “The new executive will be giving the CMA a new cultural and linguistic touch, making it accessible to all catholic men in Cameroon, no matter their linguistic background,” he noted. The chair of CMA Cameroon said that building the capacity of their members on Christian leadership will be at the fore of their activities, with emphasis on St. Joseph, their patron saint as a role model.

The CMA is a non-profit and non-political group of baptised and devoted male Christians of the Catholic Church. It has as its mission to render service to God, the church and the community through unconditional loyalty to the catholic baptismal promises. It has as their motto; humility, love and service and their patron saint is St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The patron of CMA Cameroon is the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, who is currently, Mgr. Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Douala.

Besides electoral issues, the new executive intend to bring into the national body of CMA more visibility by creating a website and introduce a robust communication plan composed of the classical and social media. “We will create partnerships and affiliations with other CMAs across the world and work closely with the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon,” Kwemain added.

The CMA elections, which took place at the College Bilingue Terrenstra in Bertoua had three competitors for the association’s top job; the incumbent, Francis Bekeny from the Bamenda Archdiocese, Cassian Mbinkar from Yaounde Archdiocese and Roland Kwemain from Buea Diocese. At the close of the electoral college of 102 voters from 13 dioceses, Roland Kwemain emerged winner with 68 votes.

He is joined by the following members in his executive; Vice President; Ephraim Lukong, Secretary General; Rills Ekalle, assistant; Theodore Deukam, Financial Secretary; Ephraim Ntungwe, assistant; Emmanuel Mua, Treasurer; Bongo Fongo, Communication Officer; Raphael Tchoupi assistants; Cyprian Asongwe and Henry Sama, Auditors; Louis Paul Tchouameni Touko & Gabriel, Liturgy; Blaise Ambe, Social Officers; Gabriel Tagang & Samuel Agbor, Discipline Masters; Oscar Mbilla and Cyril Tambe, National Chaplain; Fr Thaddeus Mbi, Advisers; Denis Enonchong, Joseph Abangage, Martin Ndua Ngono, Batholomeus Okwujiaku and Martin Mbah.

The CMA operates in the following Dioceses in Cameroon; Bamenda, Bafoussam, Bertoua, Buea, Douala, Ebolowa, Kribi, Kumbo, Mamfe, Maroua/Mokolo, Mbalmayo, Ngaoundere, Sangmelima and Yaounde. The Bertoua rendezvous was the 4th National Congress of the CMA on the theme; "We are fellow workers with God".