CENPA honours Mbayu for inclusive dev’t, national unity drives.

Minister Mbayu bagged the honour on July 25, at a crowd pulling event which CENPA organised at the Hilton Hotel in Yaounde. The event was the first-ever award of CENPA to honour meritorious personalities and institutions.

Mbayu clinched the honour of “Community mobilisation Icon,” for his community-focused, unity and nation building initiatives. 

International legal luminary, good governance icon and anti-corruption personality, Barrister Akere Muna, was the President of the CENPA award jury.  Other members of the jury were: Senator Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko, Paramount Ruler of the Bafaw and King of Kumba, Esther Omam, Executive Director of the Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Reach Out Cameroon, and Ngah Christian Mbipgo who is President of CENPA.

According to the jury, the honour on minister Mbayu is “in recognition of his deserving show of national community leadership in mobilising communities in times of joy and constraints to bond, rebuild & promote inclusive development and national unity”.

The member of government received the recognition in the presence of his peers, leaders of society organisations, traditional rulers, diplomats and other personalities.

In all humility, the humble and affectionate Mbayu walked to the platform of honour to receive the CENPA recognition, amid cheers and thunderous applause from hundreds of guests, most of whom still hold fresh memories of his indiscriminate works to community and humanity.

Minister Mbayu’s community service trajectory

Minister Mbayu’s recognition has been saluted across the board, given his grassroots approach to life. It is a decoration not connected to his position as a minister. 

It is an award carried on the wings of the several humane initiatives he has led to revive, build and strengthen community bond, peace, living together and national unity nationwide.

In the North West Region where he is one of the most respected elite, Minister Mbayu’s report card of outreach ventures remains unending.  He is the elite who has remained open, coming to the rescue of many at every given time.

He is on record across the years for investing millions and donating huge consignment of didactics to boost schooling for many vulnerable kids, especially in the North West Region.

Mbayu has also been the man at the centre of major religious feasts and celebrations for both Christians and Muslim in the North West Region. The impact of his never-seen community outreach is more intense in Bamenda, where he was born and bred. 

Affectionately called Abakwa Boy, Mbayu, to many, is the Father Christmas who always comes on board to support with goodies and other community needs when his people run out of energy.

The award from CENPA is also figured on the strength of his rallying force nationwide to create community impact. 

Mbayu demonstrated his leadership, and good heart towards the wellbeing of others when in February this year, he crusaded succoring of victims of the Bamenda Main Market fire disaster.

Thanks to him, other people saw reason to chip in whatever they had that resulted in the raising of more than 75 millions FCFA to support affected traders commence rebuilding their lives.

As if to remove himself from the picture, the money raised was handed to a community, comprising eminent religious figures and other men of integrity to share to victims of the fire accident.

Other never-to-be-forgotten actions of Minister Felix Mbayu are profound. Till date, the story is still being recounted of how he spurred interest among elite in supporting PWD Football Club of Bamenda acquire a brand-new bus, after the team’s bus caught fire. The amount he mobilised both North Westerners, South Westerners, and other parts of the country to raise for the PWD Bamenda bus was in the region of 65 million FCFA. 

When PWD Bamenda qualified for two successive Cup of Cameroon finals, Minister Felix Mbayu did not fail in shouldering the responsibility of bringing people together to support the club both financially and materially.

In such moments, he eroded political rhetoric and other divisive narratives from among elite, projecting peace, unity and other community values that have kept kingdoms and countries from time immemorial. 

It was thus no surprise to many that when the donation of a new car was made to Joseph Fru Nde last week, Minister Mbayu was a major actor in the gesture. Nde, a physically challenged person, was victim of an Amba attack at Che Street in Bamenda, in June this year.

Amba hoodlums threw him out of the car and set his taxi ablaze, leaving him in despondency. But in his usual manner of doing good, Minister Mbayu and a few other North West elite put smiles on the face of Nde and his family again through the donation of the car. That was not all. They insured the car for one year and offered him a juicy envelope to fuel the car for one month. 

These moves are among many others of Minister Mbayu which are not known to the public. He is always present in major community driven initiatives nationwide to support different clans and people to advance their wellbeing.     

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3185 of Wednesday July 31, 2024