A MEMORANDUM BY THE CAMEROON SECTION OF FEMNET A MEMORANDUM BY - TopicsExpress



          

A MEMORANDUM BY THE CAMEROON SECTION OF FEMNET A MEMORANDUM BY THE CAMEROON SECTION OF FEMNET, IN RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS OF GOVERNANCETHAT FEMNET HAS JUST HAD AT ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, FANNED BY A DISSIDENT GROUP THAT CONVENED AN ILLEGAL EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Meeting in Douala, on 27/03/2013 in an Extraordinary General Assembly convened by its National Coordinator, the members of the focal point of FEMNET proceeded to examine the crisis that is currently raging in this 25years old Pan-African organization, whose headquarters is in Nairobi Kenya. After a meticulous analysis of what seems like a street fight or wrangling of common market women that some members of this network have been waging over the internet against the Board of administrators and our compatriot and chairperson , Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO, who was elected on the 18th of October 2010 for a 3 year mandate; Having noted that, despite the formal opposition by the Chairperson whose duty is to guarantee the smooth running of the network, the dissident members convened and held an Extraordinary General Meeting on 26 and 27 February 2013, in flagrant violation of the Organization’s constitution to strip the Board of their powers, and just to disposes them of their powers, the Chairperson and the Board of administration of 14 members elected together, and whose term of office will only expire in 6 months; Taking cognizance of a number of immediate alterationsinduced by these illegal meetings; such as the dissolution of theBoard of administration and its replacement by a so-called"Interim Committee", the double radiation "pronounced" againstthe Resident Representative, Mary OKIOMA and the Chairperson, Jacqueline Sylvie NDONGMO, not only from their posts, but also as members of FEMNET; status that only thenational section of FEMNET can withdraw since they are delegates representing their organization in the Network; Considering this organized arbitrary and humiliating subversion against the person of Mrs. Jacqueline SylvieNDONGMO, who incidentally was not elected to that position as an individual but as delegate of her country, and contemptexhibited toward the Board of administration in particular and Cameroon in general; Considering that the organizers of the hold up had neitherthe elegance nor the courage to notify their victims on the reasons for their illegal and illegitimate decisions, and even moreto officially inform FEMNET Cameroon; Considering the fact that they have even secretly deleted the contacts of the majority of the members of FEMNETCameroon from the network "mailing list", presumably to betterhide their unjustified actions; Considering that this unexpected crisis of governance at the helm of the network appears to be just the ‘last drop...’ culminating in a well planned and scheduled intrigue by and for the benefit of a group of people, if we take into account all the historical facts that marked the path of Ms. NDONGMO and her team since their election into the board of administration. (See the chronology of facts in the appendix), We in Cameroon are asking ourselves the following question:behind ‘’this hurricane’’ and the threats of destruction are some "founding mothers" either nostalgic or sectarian, not hiding in the dark to appropriate the Network for themselves after expelling the elected leaders? It looks as if they want to recover an inheritance which they had of their own accord voluntarily opened up to other African countries. They seem to be regretting to have created a network instead of a single national association. Is that why they could not wait for the AGM in October? If we are wrong, who stands to gain from this crime? The following timeline of events presented by Ms.NDONGMO has confirmed our Assembly in its painful impression that Mrs. Norah Matovu Winyi has been pulling the strings of the"conspiracy" that would lead her to the helm of the Network later on. Chronology of destabilization October 2010: election of a new board with MS NDONGMO as Chairperson; October/Nov. and Dec 2010: the then executive director Mme Norah starts sidelining the newly elected chairperson in her functions in the network. Ms Norah practically excludes the elected president from activities of the network. For e.g in Nov 2010 in place and without the knowledge of the chairperson, Ms Norah leads a delegation of African OSC to New York. When asked why her attitude, Ms Norah gave the flimsy excuse that she was not sure the Chairperson had a US visa. The secretary Mrs. Emma KALIYA was sent by Ms Norah to New York in February /March 2011 on the organization’s budget but did not take part in any of the activities organized by FEMNET at this 2 weeks conference. This attitude was repeated several times over. October 2010-january 2011, Mrs. Emma, the above mentioned secretary who is supposed to be the closest collaborator of the chairperson, refuses to reply to the president’s mails for more than 6months! When they met at Nairobi, she apologized pretexting connection problems in Malawi. But she never meant it since she maintained the status quo until January 2012 when they met again in Addis Ababa and Emma made a promise of a better collaboration. April 2011. Resignation of Norah with a 3 months notice period following the discovery of her fraudulent activities in the organization. Strangely enough Mme Norah insists to recruit someone to replace her before leaving. The board whose statutory duty is to do the recruitment refused and she stopped after the shortlisting process. July 2011: before leaving Norah requests to remain the main signatory to FEMNET”s account and the principal fund raiser. July 2011 Mrs Roselynn, the then program manager is appointed as interim ED to replace Mme Norah whose forenotice expires in June. July 2011: Mrs Norah takes membership at FEMNET and vows that Sylvie will never finish her term ( Testimony of one of her close relationship) July, 2011 Hitches in the functioning of the network’s secretariat caused by Mme Norah who in spite of her resignation and departure from the network, continued to interfere in the running of the network through the complicity of some staff members particularly Ms NAISOLA, Ms Rose AKinyi and Mr Martin ODERA. This caused a big problem as the interim executive director complains officially and some measures taken. December 2011: Mme DINAH joins FEMNET as the new ED for six month probatory period December 2011: Holding of a secrete meeting in Nairobi during FEMNET retreat to prepare Norah’s come back as Board Chair of FEMNET January 2012: In Addis Ababa shortly after her recruitment Mme Dinah hold a series of secret meetings with the out gone ED without the Knowledge of the board which was also present. June 2012: Evaluation of Mme Dinah after her probatory period as stipulated by the terms of the contract, proves unsatisfactory and she is not confirmed. The concerned refuses to leave with the secret support of some members of the board. July 2012: Failure to confirm Dinah exposes hidden conspiracy because members that had refused to send in their own opinion during the evaluation suddenly and immediately irrupted in accusations of the evaluation committee which they taxed of violating the procedures. July 2012: The ED is encouraged in her unsubordination by founding mothers whom consulted on this matter, ordered the board to maintain her. August 2012: Two members of the Board ( Emma Kaliya and Patricia Munabi) violate the confidentiality of the Board mailing system as they deliberately copy Dinah on the discussions of the Board members. These mails are used the following day as evidence against FEMNET in the Kenyan industrial court. August 2012: FEMNET is ordered by the Nairobi judge to maintain Dinah in office while awaiting the hearing programmed for September 27, 2012, in spite of the contractual legitimity of the termination of contract. All the above coincidences brought on the surface the hidden conspiracy which continued escalating on the surface thanks to the internal and external connexions tied…« from the day of the election of Mrs NDONGMO» ( testimony of many close relations of Norah). Still referring to external connexions, the « founding mothers»reiterated in november 2012 through a rude letter addressed to Mrs Ndongmo their order to see Dinah reinstated as ED (Dinah who actually had never ceased to act fraudulently as ED from her house, thanks to the court order) arguing that this time they had been « contacted by OXFAM to this effect». They ordered the Board to reinstate Dinah immediately and write to OXFAM to say that everything has come back to normal. If this is true, it means a flagrant interference of a partner in the internal affairs of the Network, but after all enquiries, it appears that it was the sole initiative of a certain Mr. IRUNGHU Hougthon, African Regional Director of OXFAM, who acting on his untold personal interests, decided to support morally and financially dissidents with whom he surely had a deal before the election of new leaders. In fact, in September 2012, Mr. IRUNGHU Hougthon called the Chair person by phone and informed her that he had had good relationship with Mrs. Dinah and was surprised by the Board’s decision to put a term to her contract. He offered a mediation in which he proposed to be the mediator. He suggested the mediation to be discret with Mrs. Dinah accompanied by two Board members of her choice and the chair person accompanied by two Board members of her choice. The chair agreed with the demand on condition that OXFAM contacts FEMNET officially so that the Board can study the request. The suggested of the Chairperson is rejected by IRUNGHU. 26 september 2012, Mr. Irunghu s asks Dinah’s lawyer to request for an adjournment of the case; 28 september 2012 the day following the hearing, OXFAM send a correspondence to the chair copied to Dinah and to all Board members accusing her to have refused his mediation and with serious threats an and requesting an answer not from her but from the entire board. The board acknowledges with surprise the flagrant interference of OXFAM in FEMNET internal affairs. November 2012. The founding members reiterated their point, insisting this time that they were contacted by OXFAM to do that, they ordered the board to reinstall Dinah immediately and to write to OXFAM to say that everything has come back to normal. December 2010, Mr. Irunghu through NAISOLA Likiminani (who at that time was no more a FEMNET staff) sends names of consultants to facilitate the staff retreat. January 2013. These founding members asked the FEMNET network members to withdraw the authority of the and went ahead to say that the chairperson and the other board members who had acted with her should know that they have a case in the court in Kenya, creating therefore a climate of insecurity around certain board members to intimidate and prevent them from reacting. Ultimately, it is likely that Dinah who seems to have started the whole story, by refusing to leave after her unsuccessful probation period and by seizing the court, was simply infiltrated and purposely in the Network, and manipulated all the throughout the conflict by protesters and their hidden accomplices up to her undue involvement, yet total in the organization of illegal EOGE (which shesigned the invitation letters in lieu to the Secretary of the Board). Conclusion In view of all the foregone and the inventory of all the bottle necks to the proper functioning of the Board of administration elected in October 2010 (details in appendix) FEMNETCameroon is led to conclude that a small group of individuals, inranks of the minority who could not prevent the election of the Focal Point of Cameroon at the head of the Network, decided the day after her election, and with the moral and material complicity such as those of the "founding mothers" and that of Mrs Norah Matovu Winyi and Mr. IRUNGHU Houghton in outright abuse of power to use obscure, unorthodox and undemocratic means to prevent the functioning of the new Board, waiting to replace it thanks to the coup perpetrated last February 26 and 27. These seem to be the stakes: to restore the mafia conditions which had up in the past served their selfish interests. Today, beyond the personal frustrations imposed on Jacqueline Sylvie NDONGMO and members of the Board, beyond the flagrant contempt towards FEMNET Cameroon, it is the Network that is hit on the head, and it has lost its credibility in the eyes of the international community, such as UN Women. This is regrettable for an organization which was until 2012 spearheading Africa. FEMNET which used to be co-opted each year for several years by UN Women to organize the African women Caucus during the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, became in 2013 only a poor speaker: first because the elected Chairperson was preceded on arrival by a reputation of "dismissed", and secondly because the perpetrators of the coup arrived on the scene but did not dare present themselves as "new representatives" of FEMNET. In other words, our cherished Network FEMNET is now defaced, striped of any respect and that is a serious betrayal inflicted on African women in particular and the whole of the African continent in general; for over 20 years, we have been trusted to speak on their behalf in multilateral fora of the United Nations system and the African Union! PROPOSED SOLUTION First and foremost, Femnet Cameroun does not recognize the dissidents and the decisions taken during the illegal EOGA, will never approve the hold up and will take all the necessary measures for the survival of the network; Face to this painful situation, FEMNET Cameroon has chosen to appeal to the maturity of African women members of the Network, and trust them to jointly implement some actions, in order to restore our network in the statutory standards of itsoperation, while waiting to adapt them to a modern vision of its objectives; Through this memorandum and the appendix, FEMNET members would like to share and bring to the attention of all the members and partners of the network the illegal, tendentious and substantial void effects of the EOGA of the 26-27/02/2013 held in outright violation of the organization’s status, organic rules and regulations. Recommendations: In these circumstances, the General Assembly of FEMNET Cameroon has considered a number of solutions to the crisis. The first which would be selfish, but humanly justifiable, that is to resign from the Network and structure a new network which is up to the level and ambitions of African women; A second solution related to procedures and consisting on one side, following the multiple management faults to engage an independent audit (non Kenyan) after all the acts of mismanagement of funds into the accounts of FEMNET. On the other side, initiate a petition to allow the Chairperson and the Resident Trustee to seize the local authorities to block the accounts of Femnet; to reactivate the ad hoc committee put in place after the famous EOGA and organize the ordinary General Assembly in a country chosen by the petitionists; Prepare the October upcoming general assembly during which necessary reforms will be examined, amended, adopted and where there will be a democratic renewal of the network’s governing bodies. FEMNET Cameroon suggests that all the members (organizational or individuals) who wish or even pray for the survival of FEMNET in her role as a network of African women solidarity to join hands with her to summon the organizers of the last EOGA of 26-27/02/2013 to amend and withdraw themselves to allow the functional norms of the network as stipulated in the origination’s status to be reinitiated; and all the illegal and illegitimate decisions taken during that illegal meeting to be nullified. FEMNET Cameroon would be forced to seek legal redressing to re-install the network on its statutory rails and rid it of trouble makers if the aforementioned steps fail to bear fruit. FEMNET Cameroon further suggests that if the Kenyan justice system continues to deny justice and fails to protect FEMNETboard members and Femnet in general following International Norms, then the headquarters of the network be moved from Nairobi where its offices have become”private” in the name of patriotism to another country more hospitable, neutral and conversant with international laws on associations or international bodies. With due respect to all Femnet members and its partners, if the situation in FEMNET does not come back to normal by 30/06/2013; situation which will only confirm our legitimate suspicions of “confiscation” by the “founding mothers” with the complicity of the duo IRUNGUH-NORAH to keep the network at the dimension that fit their personal interests, FEMNET Cameroon will take the responsibility of this redressing with the support of international bodies; While hoping that a prompt and positive action on the part of all members and partners would stop FEMNET Cameroon from reaching this extreme step and would help us all rescue FEMNET considered as the hope of African Women and budding vision of gender on the continent, be assured of our unfailing solidarity. For the second option chosen by Femnet Cameroon, we are launching a petition on the link below. Your approval by signing on this petition will give the opportunity to the adhoc committee set up before the famous EOGA to have the legitimacy to restore the normal functioning of the network. Click on this link to sign the petition change.org/en-GB/petitions/femnet-members-rally-with-femnet-cameroon-and-stop-the-holdup President president: Jean Baptiste Sipa Rapporteurs: French: Valentine Ngouetche English: ANO Beatrice Muyang National Coordinator: Valentine Makou Kapoko
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 18:21:46 +0000

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