Personality of The Week: Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, Scholar, Consultant.

In addition to such perceived slight is the non-respect of recent laws put in place to ensure continuity and put term limits in occupying top positions in public institutions.

One of such legal instruments is Law No. 010 of July 12, 2017, that put the term limits for General Managers, GMs, of public corporations at three years renewable twice. 

The same law gave Chairpersons of the Board of Directors of public corporations a mandate of three years renewable once. 

This means Board Chairpersons have a maximum of six years to serve in a particular corporation.

Shockingly, this week, respected scholar, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, released a research work which shows that beginning today July 12, 2024, 57 of at least 88 Board Chairpersons of State corporations have hit their term limits! 

This, according to her, shows a percentage of 64.77% of Board Chairpersons functioning in disregard of the law. The onus, she says, is on the Head of State, President Paul Biya, guarantor of State institutions, to replace such persons in line with making Cameroon an exemplary State in terms of governance and respect for the laws of the land.

Her publication is the most outstanding of developments that have won the attention of millions this week. Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole has been hailed and praised for keeping records of such an important legislative piece, which respect opens the window for Biya to inject new blood into most State corporations.

By and large, her projection to be the sole face on the coin that fits into the revered column of Personality of The Week is not that of The Guardian Post; the most regularly published and most widely newspaper in the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS. 

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole secures her spot on the strength of respect millions across the world accord to the work she released this week.

In a society such as ours, with mass intellectual human resource largely dormant on key national issues, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, admirers say, catapults herself to the fame of Cameroon’s Personality of This Week.

She is not just a genuine intellectual but a woman of integrity who has achieved many things and is willing to continue to change others for the good of society. 

The many patriotic actions she has been taking to strengthen governance is the real measure of intelligence.

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is not just intelligent; she has character that builds and inspires. She has fabulous imagination and a high sense of integrity that abhor false patterns. 

The prominence of her intelligence and push for orderliness in public governance and accountability is highly rated because she was once there and opted to resign when her mandate expired.

Her constant awareness that things need to change and taking actions to change it, others are saying, further puts her above the threshold of those whose glory is limited to college degrees and certifications without impact. She is not only book-smart but honesty personified. 

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is a practitioner who sets examples that align with her philosophy for a sane society.

Your Personality of The Week has a rare quickness in seeing things as they are and working to redress them. This outstanding Cameroonian intellectual of global merit has the dignity that upholds the place of sound education in not just nation building but also aligning society on paths that spark positive change.

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole’s gaze on the law and commitment for it to be respected also make her fine guardian of true liberty.

The change effect of her scholarly works in holding public office holders to account further make her a superior and commanding intellectual.

Beyond being endeared to raising sound Cameroonians worth the salt, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is a radiant light with power to fire the national conscience to respect the laws in place and give opportunities for others to serve. 

Her makeup of a good head and a good heart, others are saying, makes the intellectual a formidable combination.

She is glowing every now and then because whenever she speaks, her tongue exudes edifying counsel to better the lot of the nation. Her contribution to governance in Cameroon and beyond makes her a special and rare gift to the nation. 

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole always pulls attention wherever she goes for having a literate tongue at a time many bearings similar titles have become gutter praise singers. 

She is among the few intellectuals upholding the substrate of what schooled men and women of admirable standing to do their societies. 

If there have been paradigms before now, what Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is doing for the nation now, millions are saying, resonate with the soul of a people seeking for adjustments in almost all sectors of public life.

In the weight of such expectation, her publication has elicited joy which is being compensated through unending praises.

For others, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is a rare pillar on which the nation can elevate its standards and intangible intelligence to prioritise the common good. 

She is not the type who flatters wrongdoing. Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, others are saying, has proven again and again that it is her likes that must be given space to introduce a reformist agenda that can change public corporations and institutions.

They say she has what it takes to change such entities from being debt-bulging traps and suctions that leave the public till constantly in tension to corporations of wealth creation and national good. 

Besides her elegance, stature and admired intellectual prowess, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is an easy-going but compassionate replica of humanity seeking the good of all.  Those who understand her quest for uprightness in public governance say she holds very dearly the need to judiciously manage state resources to serve the people and not a coterie.

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole has a sane mind and a proactive intellect that rebels against stagnation. She has proven that it is the use people make of their faculties that render them valuable. 

She is a witty and skilled thinker, always looking for the next thing to do to contribute to the wellbeing of Cameroonians. She is swimming in global honour, especially from Cameroonians for refusing to be an ass-licking intellectual. 

Compatriots across the globe say they see in Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, a shining example of not just a fountain of knowledge but a woman of rare positive greasepaint.

Far from the madding crowd of bigots betraying people in the corridors of power, Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole, as it stands, admirers are reiterating, has the consciousness and intelligence that give value to scholars in nation building.

Through her recent publication, many say, they find in her the uncommon virtue of selflessness. They say, her prodding the Head of State to take his responsibility to replace all Board Chairs, whose mandates have expired, is seeking to uphold what is right and erasing the concept of negative convenience that is stalling national growth.

She is a woman driven by values and not personal gains. Your Personality of The Week, others are saying and rightly so, has nothing to fear and nothing to hide. 

For others, her calling out authorities is not because she wants to be different, but because she is a good woman, a rare gift from God to a generation at a time such as this. 

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole has a clear conscience softer than a new pillow. Your Personality of The Week has been captured to have the understanding that goodness is an investment that never fails.

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole has a character that has been tested and proven. She was once elevated to the corridors of public power, yet, what many hold of her time then remains golden. 

She has continued to remain an inspiration of what serving a people and living the stage for others to do same is supposed to be. 

Till date, wherever she goes within the country and beyond, there is an irresistible beam of honesty and ravaging charisma that tell everyone there is just something more about her.

One of such things never imagined from her reservoir is the new crusade for an exemplary society. She bonds with the crusade the record of having set such a revered example years ago.  

She is an eagle flying at a higher altitude, seeking to effect positive change in the Cameroonian society at a time when many have reclined into their shells. 

Many across the world say they believe in her ideologies and proposals to improve governance because she is a truthful person. 

Her increasing influence across the Cameroonian society and elsewhere, for others, is gauged on her holding fittingly to virtues and values that matter to the wellbeing of society. 

Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is simply a star whose light cannot be ignored. She is not the attention-seeking type. No! Your Personality of The Week is a highly sought after human resource. 

Intellectuals who operate in her realm in today’s Cameroon are scarce like the tears of a cat. Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is a calm positive sensation who has never ceased in raising standards wherever she goes to. 

This season, the flowers all over her are the spotless out play of her neat and tidy personality.

Born on November 1, 1971, Prof Viviane Madeleine Ondoua Biwole, is a product of humble beginning, who has risen through the ranks. 

She is said to have lost her father, a soldier, at the tender age of 11. Her mother is said to have raised her to the woman of timber and calibre she has today become.

After completing Secondary School, she studied in Cameroon and obtained her Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, within the country. She is a product of the University of Yaounde II, where she obtained a master’s degree in management sciences in 1995 and another certification in Finance, from the same school in 1996. On May 8, 2004, she defended her PhD from the University of Ngaoundere. Her work was titled: “An evaluation of public aid for entrepreneurship in Cameroon (1970-2000)”.

She received a scholarship from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie in 2006 for further studies abroad. She returned from there and released several publications. 

Viviane Ondoua Biwole became a full professor on December 29, 2017. She started lecturing at the University of Yaounde II, Soa, in 1998. 

Your Personality of The Week got recruited to the Higher Institute of Public Management, ISMP, in 1999. She worked there for 20 years from 1999 to 2001. 

Within that period, she got further training from the National School of Public Administration in Quebec, Canada.

Between 2007 and 2010, she served as Inspector No.1 and Inspector General of the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms.

From 2010 to 2019, she was Deputy Director General of the Higher Institute of Public Management. She resigned from her post after attaining the term limit set by law. 

She is the founder of the research firm OBIV Solutions, which focuses on entrepreneurship, public governance and human resource management among others.

This highly respected woman is the representative of the AGSA group of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Central Africa.  

By all standards and measures, millions of Cameroonians say Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwole is a rare phenomenal nation- builder.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3166 of Friday July 11, 2024