Personality of The Week: Robertson Tabenchong Ashu: Mayor of Mamfe Council.

However, rays of glory and shades of renewed hope are becoming evident. This week, the stars are brightest in the Mamfe Municipality, Manyu Division of the South West Region. 

It is a triumphant selection for its brilliant, dynamic and inspiring mayor, Robertson Tabenchong Ashu, for his multidimensional feats this week.

He has outpaced other characters, going by the rating of our readers to gallantly make his appearance as Cameroon's personality of this week. 

He had been on a good footing severally. But this week, our readers say Mayor Tabenchong Ashu stands peculiar as a rare nation builder and community catalyst, given the many people-focused activities he has carried out within the week.

The tireless mayor, our readers say, fits prominently for celebration as Personality of The Week. They find meaning today and tomorrow in his moves that have revived life across Mamfe and put the municipality back on winning ways.

Such dogged attachment to work for his people, our readers say and rightly so, shows Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is rightly responding to the calling of leadership. 

On all cylinders, they say his exploits measure with the honour that come with being spotlighted on The Guardian Post, that remains the undisputed pacesetter of journalism excellence in the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS.

Our readers say this illustrious mayor’s revamping, ensuring the growth and development of the people of Mamfe makes him a leadership jewel.

Tabenchong Ashu, they say, has shown the depths of greatness within him and his multidimensional capacity to rebuild Mamfe and make it a melting pot of Cameroon’s diversity. 

Many have qualified Mayor Tabenchong Ashu, and rightly so, as the architect of modern Mamfe. 

Others are saying they see in him a leader who is chasing the dream of grassroots development within President Biya’s new decentralisation vision, with a rare passion. 

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu’s determination and passion for his people, it is being said, are moving mountains and dismantling whatever had before now dared to yoke the town down.

Today, your Personality of The Week is among the few Cameroonian youths, changing the narrative of leadership. 

Tabenchong Ashu, admirers say, has not only written his name in the hearts of the people of Mamfe, but also stands out as a beacon of development and a rallying force of change.

He is the man International Displaced Persons, IDPs in their thousands see as a father. Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is the people’s fighter. He has spared no effort in defending people from all walks of life in his municipality. 

Beyond his war against separatist activities, this enthralling community developer, is the canvasing bulldozer that has rolled back dark clouds over Mamfe and neighbouring municipalities to usher in a scope of fresh air. 

Beyond being a strategist in battling enemy forces, this is a mayor with a heart connected to every inhabitant of Mamfe. On this scale, admirers say, it is difficult to separate the name Robertson Tabenchong Ashu from Mamfe and its people. 

The fire and passion in the heart of this genius of a municipal magistrate is lighting a path for Mamfe that speaks of good tidings. He has combined his youthful enthusiasm and unmatched love for Cameroon as a classical patriot to spark innovations. 

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is glittering in an atmosphere of unending glory and admiration on the strength of results and not gossip or cheap talk.  He has worked the talk to hit great heights in a way so marveling. For many, he is a rare all-rounder. 

Intelligent, humble yet full of wisdom and tact, sequential-award winning Mayor Robertson Tabenchong Ashu is the fresh unifying voice emerging across Manyu Division. 

He is a man who is into politics for the good of the masses and not the ephemeral glory of such offices. This, those who know him say and rightly so, speaks of his ability to work closely with all elite and the Manyu administration to make Mamfe regain its pomp. 

Your Personality of The Week has emerged as a Cameroonian paragon of using the limitless and boundless power of youthfulness to shape the destinies of thousands. 

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu has unlocked possibilities and given many a blueprint to fulfil their dreams amid constraints that have swallowed leaders at his level.

He has remained present in his municipality, working to boost schooling. Thanks to him, thousands of kids in Mamfe and Manyu in general are in classrooms today. 

Businesspersons and other say they will never forget his sector-by-sector strategy in ensuring fairness reigns in the daily lives of the people of Mamfe.

If Mayor Tabenchong Ashu has within a few years risen to the stratum of a household name in Cameroon today, our readers join admirers to establish that, his honour is increasing based on works at the base. 

He has become the heartbeat of progress and change at the grassroots in Mamfe, Manyu Division, South West and Cameroon in general.

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is operating at extraordinary heights despite constraints on the basis of his consistency in pursuing excellence. 

Projected for global honour this season is a man with unrivalled courage in facing challenges, strength to overcome obstacles and uncommon resilience to make things better than they were.

While some have become specialist in blowing uncertain trumpets, your Personality of The Week is different. He is a man of vision with acknowledged attachment to the rules of the Republic. 

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is not only rebuilding Mamfe but doing so with a reading of the opportunities of today and the future. His clarity and courage in doing the good things he has been doing for his people is capped in meekness.

At a time when some mayors are focused on building personality cults around themselves, Tabenchong Ashu glides to the fore with a heart for his people and Cameroon at large. He is a known fighter for development who has won all this battles. 

In his vendetta against separatists and other evil forces, your Personality of The Week has adjusted to the sails, making great gains in the progress.

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is a principled man. He stands like a rock when it comes to doing the right thing. This, many say, explains the extensive love the people of Mamfe have for him. 

He has quietened several storms in Mamfe, repositioning it as the historic town of old with a special place in Cameroon’s history.

Today, he has instilled hope in the people of Mamfe and is continually empowering them to achieve their goals. The records are already being kind to your Personality of The Week as the courageous and skillful leader who seized the opportunity to change things for good in Mamfe.

He is the celebrated architect of the annual Manyu Unity Football Tournament that has been ongoing in the last three years. 

This adds to his drive in investing in people such as donating to IDPs, helping the needy, offering temporary employment to people from other Subdivisions of Manyu including Akwaya, Upper Bayang, Eyumojock.

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is the humane character that has been championing the need for young people in Manyu to disarm and return to living normal lives. 

In 2023, he staged a historic dialogue with the population and worked hard with stakeholders to reduce commodity prices.

How this award-winning mayor has combined his charged schedule to advance development and attend to other community needs is also something that makes him unique. 

He holds a record in his own right for outstanding projects execution in the difficult context known of the English-speaking regions. 

The several culverts, solar lamps and bridges constructed in Mamfe alone tell of Tabenchong Ashu’s rare commitment to local development.

When it comes to roads construction and rehabilitation, Mayor Tabenchong Ashu, is also standing tall. His adaptive leadership explains the use of the technic approach in adding local materials to build roads that last longer.

He is also being praised for entrenching a culture of hygiene among his people. Little wonder, the Mamfe Council is among the cleanest in the South West Region. 

Mayor Tabenchong Ashu is also on a golden platform this season for working out new survival ways for the Mamfe Council amid revenue shortages.

Your Personality of The Week is also reaping the fruits of engaging the council in agriculture. The Mamfe Council under the guidance of Mayor Tabenchong Ashu runs a 19-hectares cassava farm, a 10-hectares maize farm, piggery among others to boost its revenue.

Such local development ingenuity, many are saying, makes him a key implementing partner of the Head of State’s Import-Substitution Policy.

He has been the brain behind consistent mobilisation to ensure the consistent celebration of the Youth Day and National Day in Mamfe. 

Besides our readers spotting out this local development heavyweight, others had long identified with his inclusive and productive leadership,

Just this week, he received a recognition from the Walcatz Development Association, WACODA, for his development exploits. 

As a veritable promoter of President Biya’s living together concept, indigenes of Bamessing in Ngokentunjia Division of the North West Region resident in Mamfe, also recently recognised the unique leadership of Mayor Tabenchong Ashu.

In 2022, he bagged Cameroon’s Best Mayor Award from The Voice newspaper. This was for his matchless strides in implementing breath-taking and life changing development projects.

On November 4, 2023, he received a Certificate of Congregational Recognition from the 18th District, Texas, United States of America, USA, from Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of Congress. 

This international credit was for his exploits as an outstanding business leader. He was hailed for promoting trade between Africa and the USA.

Before now, he had on November 1, 2023, received another recognition from Mayor Robin J. Elackatt of Missouri City, Texas, in the USA.

Your Personality of The Week is no mean character. Born November 24, 1987, in Mamfe, Robertson Tabenchong Ashu is a man graced with speed by God.

He holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Electrical Power Engineering Technology from Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, Nigeria. 

Tabenchong obtained his Advanced Technical National Certificate, ANTC, from Government Technical College Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria in 2007.

From 1999 to 2003, he studied at the Recoiling and Refrigerator Vocational Training Centre in Mamfe. He is also a former pupil and student of Government School, GS Mamfe Town Group I and Government Technical High School, GTHS Mamfe, respectively.

Tabenchong Ashu has undergone several other trainings nationally and internationally. In 2023, he took part in the International Economic Forum for the Development of Councils, JEICOM23 in Yaounde.   Tabenchong Ashu was also a key actor at the 2022 African Cultural and Economic Forum in the Netherlands.

This inspiring local development maestro was also a participant at the Afrique Cities gathering in Kisumu, Kenya. In 2020, he underwent a six-month training on Crisis Management in the context of Decentralisation at the National School of Local Administration, NASLA.

Before being voted Mayor of Mamfe in 2020, your Personality of The Week was Managing Director, MD, of Visionary Construction Services in Buea. This was from 2017 to 2020. 

From 2014 to 2017, he was Managing Director of Universal Trading and Construction Service. He also worked as Site Foreman at Tabe & Sons Enterprise Mamfe from 2011 to 2014.

Within the ruling CPDM party, Mayor Robertson Tabenchong Ashu has been a diehard supporter for over 24 consecutive years. He has served the party’s youth wing in Mamfe in several capacities. 

For working hard, climbing the ladder of power and not disappointing in leadership, Mayor Robertson Tabenchong Ashu, has been qualified as an unrivaled humanist, development champion and veritable patriot with potential to serve even at higher levels. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3228 of Friday September 13, 2024