Ahead of 50th anniversary celebration: FEICOM organises Day of Living Together, Remembrance.

Thursday’s ceremony was attended by the present generation of workers, and retirees of the institution. The event was held at the institution’s headquarters in Yaounde.

According to the Director General of FEICOM, Philippe Camille Akoa, they gathered first and foremost, to pay tribute to the glorious way the institution had come in the past 50 years; surviving and overcoming different kinds of storm; which he said, gives reason to look ahead.

For the FEICOM boss, 50 years in the life of any organisation is worth celebrating.

The FEICOM experience

According to the Director General, living together is a guiding principle at FEICOM.  He said the institution has elaborated a code of ethics to guide all workers and other collaborators.

Camille Akoa said the code also strives to re-enforce in every worker, the sentiment and sense of belonging to the institution as well as promote a sense of communal living among headquarter and field staff, as well as inculcate the cultures of tolerance and inclusion, among workers.

Camille Akoa described living together as a complex concept cutting across religious affiliation, sociology, anthropology and other disciplines.

He said the language in use has a strong role to play in enhancing or endangering the said values of living together.

That is why, Camille Akoa said, bilingualism and its promotion are central in the day-to-day running of FEICOM.

He insinuated that every Cameroonian is supposed to take pride in the country’s bilingualism and multiculturalism nature.

The Director General reminded the audience that it was on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost fell on the Apostles, that multilingualism was enthroned as a human necessity, as the Apostles spoke in the different and various languages spoken and understood in communities of origin of their followers.

Camille Akoa advised all Cameroonians, not necessarily those working at FEICOM to aspire to be multilingual, insisting that the world of monolingualism no longer exists.

For him, it is no longer enough even to claim to be speaking the two official languages, because for one to conquer the world out there, one needs to be multilingual.

He added that it is for this reason that FEICOM trains staff on multilingualism, including studies of local languages.

Camille Akoa stressed that it is in exploiting the strong points of the country’s diversity that “we can build a stronger and more productive nation”.

Virtues which he said FEICOM is entrenching as it works to foster grassroots development in all council areas across the national territory.

Pioneer generations of staff presented

One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of past generations of people who had worked at FEICOM since it was created 50 years ago.

Etoa Benedette and Ebobo Jerome were distinguished for being among those still alive who worked and retired as staff that started the institution created on 5th December, 1974.

Etoa was given the floor to talk to FEICOM staff of the present generation. She urged them to imbibe the spirit of hard work, exhibit transparency, shun tribalism, and foster values that promote harmonious living together.

Prof Leka Essomba Armond, delivered an educative speech on the challenges and stakes of living together. 

Representatives from the Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Commission, and the Yaounde Pilot Linguistic centre, also spoke to encourage present generation of FEICOM staff to avail themselves of the opportunities the offer.

The event was ended with the old generation handing over the 50th anniversary flag to present generation of workers, with the old guard calling on the younger ones to work in such a way that 50 years to come FEICOM will still be alive, vibrant and celebrating greater achievements. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3305 of Friday November 29, 2024