MINUTES OF lAST MEETING

VENUE:ALBY

DATE:11-04-2009

Due to the fact that we could not open the booked hall, the scheduled meeting was moved and held at the president’s house. The meeting started at 17:50 with an opening prayer from Dango and chaired by Zandre. The next point on the agenda was a word of the president, Anne Marie Bechu. She first apologies for the late start and regretted any inconveniences the changes of the venue might have caused any body. She then went on to welcome all who came to the GA this day and pleaded that we should all be understanding so as to ease the progress of the GA and serve time. She ended by acknowledging the presence of a distinguish personality in the person of Dr Lekunze who was the former president of Cameroonians in Malmo. The reading of the last minutes was done by the SG and was adopted by Mbong Maurine and Ferdinand Manga. The minutes were too long and members took patience to listen.

Under matter arising, it was asked if the outgoing SG Zandre wrote to Edison as was agreed by the GA. He said that he never did so but rather called Edison to thanks him. The next point was about collecting ACAMS´ properties. A committee made up of Higinus, Mathias, Cecilia and Bessem was set up to collect ACAMS´ belonging be it money or material. During the next meeting, the same committee that doubles as the ACAMS stores Accountant should present a list of those owing ACAMS.

It was proposed to postpone the handing over power to the 20^th may party but the GA taught it was no appropriated. Maurine said the elected president and her EXCOM member are already exerting, and no one can pretend she has not the power yet. Higinus proposed that the ex EXCOM and the actual EXCOM can arrange a date for an officially and fully take over power except the financial but the proposition was rejected. It was finally agreed that the outgoing sec general in the absence of the out going president can hand over the power to the new EXCOM. Zandre officially handed over power and the GA acclaimed.

Then the President was asked to through more light on the EXCOM meeting they held a forth night ago. She presented her plan of reuniting all Cameroonians towards the seating up of a Consulate General for Cameroonian and by Cameroonians in SWEDEN. On this light, Dr LEKUNZE was given the floor to throw more light on this issue. He ceased the opportunity to thank Cameroonians in Stockholm for their generous contributions during the death of one of our sister NGUASONG GEORGETTE who rested in the Lord some months back. He then explained that there are two ways of getting it. We can either go through the Ambassador in UK to the Ministry. He said we could call a convention where the Ambassador will be invited and here a register of all Cameroonians in Sweden will be presented to him and the wish to have a Consulate or so in Sweden or go directly as a private body to the ministry to get the consulate for Cameroonians in Sweden as a private body like others are doing now. The new deal government was then encouraged to hold strong to their plan of a national convention and creating a Consulate for Cameroonians in Sweden.

President also presented the plan of a joint sports action for both the female and male ACASMS community in Stockholm. At this point, the Social Organizer, Lionel was then asked to throw more light on it. He said that the ACAMS tournament has not started yet. He is still working on the organization but the training has started today. He also highlighted that the attendance at the training session was good. Almost 25 Cameroonian attain the training session but unfortunately there were no women. He called women to participate in some activities. Zandre proposed that the best players should be selected to represent ACAMS football team.

The National Day Party was the next issue. The president informed the GA that the hall for the 20^th may party was already booked and that the party will hold on the 23^rd of May. She then estimated the budget at 17 500 SEK divided as follow: -2500 for the cooking, 1000 for the DJ, 500 for the transport, 8500 for the drink, 3500 for the hall, 500 for the decoration and 700 for the cleaning. However, amendments were made to this estimate towards caution fee for the hall which cost 1500 SEK. This took the estimate to a sum total of 19000 SEK. Then President then expressed her worries as to how this money will be raised. She called on the out going to hasten up and hand over the funds they need to foster their plan of action. On this point, an auditing committee was set up in the persons of Mathia Nchia, Cecilia Ayuk and Higinus Alem. They were to meet the out going government on Monday the 13^th of April 2009. A ticket at the moment cost 100 SEK including two cans of beers. But if any body will buy at the gate, then it will cost 120 SEK. The out going Sec Gen then encouraged members to start paying their entrance fees. He started by paying for him and his wife. A hand full of members did same. They were given a go ahead with this plan by the GA and they were also advised by Dr Lekunze and Jean Christophe to follow their plan of action. They added that they were ready to help at any time.

On pledges towards realizing the success of this party, Dr Lekunze offered 500sek and Njomeni Olivier offered two palettes of beer. The list is still open. Jegede, Maya, Sally and Justine were selected to join the EXCOM in organizing the party.

The web master Rodrigue then took the floor to explain to members that the traffic of the ACAMS website seems slow though not too bad. He called for people to come out with articles and video to optimize our website and make it more interesting. On this note Higinus promised to start contributing jokes towards making the site a place worth visiting. Rodrigue remembered that the maintenance fee for the website was to be paid before Monday. It is good to remember that a fee of 200 SEK is to be paid every 6 months. Jean Christophe proposed that we should pay someone between 200 and 900 to manage our website. Nothing has been decided about that.

Later on, the floor was opened for the registration fee. The list of register member was read by Zandre. A world of congratulation was given to those who gave birth in the community. Thanks were also given to those who hosted the meeting. The chair man of the sitting, who doubled as the Outgoing S.G, then thanked members for finding time out of their busy schedules towards making ACAMS a success. It is important to mention that Uppsala, Malmö, Germany and Finland were represented in the meeting. Lunch was served and members ate and departed satisfactorily. The meeting rose at 20.35 pm.

NB: those to host the next meeting:

- Ndangoh offered a palette

- Mathias

- Mabel said she will bring whatever she has

- Adah

- Patience

The sociocultural departement of ACAMS is informing all Cameroonians and sympathisers that the launching of 2009 SPORTS SEASON will take place on saturday April 11 ,2009 at Hallunda football arena. Activities will include a football match and some women sporting festivities.

To mark this important spring board, all women and men are requested to be present at the venue,ready to play.  It should be noted that the turning point of the sports season will be the organisation of the second edition of ACAMS SUMMER FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT. Many innovations are said to be unvailed this summer.

Venue:  HALLUNDA

Time: 11AM prompt

ACAMS

Time : 16:00

Venue : Notariebacken 11, at TBana ALBY

AGENDA

 -OPENING PRAYER
 -OPENING SPEECH BY THE PESIDENT-ELECT
 - READING OF THE LAST MINUTES AND ADOPTION.
 -MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PAST MINUTES
 -OTHER MATTERS [HANDING OVER POWER, EXCO BRIEFINGS, 20^TH MAY PARTY update],
 -INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS
- FINANCES [REGISTRATION, DUES ETC.]
-CLOSING REMARKS AND ENTERTAINMENT.

Please  be ponctual!

See you all on the 11^th of April 2009.

ACAMS President-Elect.

Ann Marie Bechu

ACAMS a vibre en fin février dernier au rythme des  élections d’un nouveau bureau  exécutif. Au clou des  élections  il  nous a été donne de constater que la présence de trois femmes déterminées a être des véritables tête de proues et a rayonner par une présence incessante et active pendant leur mandat. Cette élection des femmes aux commandes de l’association est survenue à l’aube de l’élaboration dune autre journée internationale de la femme. Les femmes, oui les femmes ! Elles viennent d’être hisser au panthéon dune association qui a soif dune pléthore et diversité d’activités. Une association qui a longtemps sombrée dans un obscurantisme caractérisée par des spirales de discussions dont les seules actions concrètes n’étaient et que des intentions. Le challenge est  donc  énorme.

However the president all the ladies are confident. They promise to seek the collaboration of all the members of the association to succeed.  And they are very sure to succeed.  Some key members and backbones of ACAMS made vows to roll their sleeves and help when needed. The period of quarrel is over and from reports of recent meetings it is clear that the gap between words, literature and actions needs to be closer. There is a new energy bubbling and we are all looking forward to see what will happen and the various changes that will occur.

The ladies promise to be instruments of effective leadership, relying on the ability to communicate, listen, build consensus, and work in partnership with allies to develop a collective vision and implement an action plan. A first version of an action plan was made available by the president (ANNE MARIE BETCHU) and published. A revised version is yet to come.  We can gather from the fisrt actions of the president that there is a need for participatory leadership and effective communication. The building of a strong group identity that will empower individuals to achieve personal goals and mobilize the whole association for collective action.

Cameroon is proud in having a wide range of culture and diversity. ACAMS should add unto it a place where you find good leaders in every aspect of life. Everybody has a talent and a gift. The problem comes when we have to materialize them. ACAMS should be a place where people are enthusiastic, having exemplary character, goal focused, tolerant in ambiguity and remain calm, confident, striving and committed to excellence. Added to the above mentioned characteristics should be humility. Without it will be difficult to maintain certain dynamism and face the challenges ahead.

The ladies have been given the commands of the destiny of the association. They need your help and support to be united and succeed.

Si nous ne faisons aucun effort pour apporter notre petite pierre a l’édifice ou que nous soyons, comment sera le Cameroun de demain ?

RODRIGUE MOMO

Last week end, following the elections of the new  executive bureau of  ABAS(Association of Bamilekes in stockholm Sweden) Olivier Djoumeni took over the leadership of a well tailored team. Will provide you with details later.

MINUTES OF ACAMS GA MEETING ON 09/02/14

As a nature to all Cameroonians, the meeting which was scheduled to start at 4pm finally started at 5:30pm with a prayer from Ayuk-Nsok who asked God to guide us to choose good leaders to run our beloved association. A welcome address from Momo Rodrigue who was asked to chair the first part of the meeting then follows. He emphasized the need for members to be serious. To him, ACAMS should work with a few members who are committed rather than huge number who are not serious. Alain Roger was not in accordance with him and insisted that ACAMS is out to unite Cameroonians and so to him, the number really matters. Since our Secretary General was unavoidably absent, the Financial Secretary was asked to act on his behave. Dave then asked if we know why people are not running for positions. Ayuk-Nsok said we all know the reason, that it is Cameroonians like to criticize negatively. That they criticize without giving proposals. The minutes of the last meeting was skipped due to the fact that the SG was not present and the chairman asked if anybody could remember something from the last minute that he/she would like to be discussed as matter arising from the minutes because it was posted on the website for all to read. Lionel then asked if the SG wrote to Edison as was agreed by the GA but since the SG was absent, no response was received.

The chairman then spoke of how could be we could be updating our website and that we need someone to be who will always be on standby to manage the site by bringing in new information.  He said he do not have the time to spend on the website all the time. He said people should come up with new articles to make our website more active. He said the web manager needs a motivation. Nothing was concluded on this issue.

He then went on to open the flood for those who have not register to do so if not, they will not be eligible to vote or be voted. The names of registered members was read while those who had not yet register, did so to be eligible to vote. There was a little argument as some members thought they had register long ago but they were clarified that the party they attended was for registration for 2007 and not 2008 and thus a proposal was made to issue receipt after a member register.

Others proposed they should be reminded to pay their registration but the financial secretary emphasized it is their obligation to pay their registration and need be reminded. Nathaniel proposed the issuing of a membership card after registration. All in all, it was agreed that members list should be updated quit often and put on the website.

During this period, the SG came in and he read the minutes of the last meeting.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Nathaniel said there was a proposal to set up a committee to collect all ACAMS property but Zandra said the GA had agreed to postpone this until after election. Cecilia Agbor said the secretary should have included it in the minutes. About the 1000SEK Edison promised, Zandre said he finally gave it and he handed this amount to the Fin Sec. Rodrigue then proposed a letter of thanks be sent to him.

ELECTIONS

The chairman then presented the electoral committee members in the likes of Agbor Cecilia, Mathias Kejeh and Higinus, the chairman of the committee and handed over the chairing of the meeting to him.

The chairman of the committee began by apologizing on behave of those running for posts but will be coming late because they were at work. He then read the names of those to be voted and due to the fact that some post were vacant, some members were nominated to fill this post before election though a majority of them declined due to personal reasons.

The various candidates took the stage to tell members what they think they can do to revitalized ACAMS beginning with the presidential candidates.

Higinus brought up an idea that if you are running for a post alone, you should have an absolute majority but Nat said if someone has opted to run for a post while other are refusing, he/she should be giving the chance.

Jacob Yombi proposed that for those post were we have just one contester, we should give the person a mandate and not to vote them. This is because to him, we can withdraw the mandate if we see that they are not doing their job. The GA refused this proposal saying that it came up too late.

T-boy proposed another post, External relations but the chairman said it will be looked into by the next executive.

Then came the moment members have been waiting for, to vote. After voting, the electoral committee proceeded in counting the votes while members were entertained with a good snacks prepared by Madame Delphine Zondengam.

When counting was over, the chairman of the electoral committee read out the result as follows;

PRESIDENT                          ANNE MARIE BECHU

VICE PRESIDENT               MAURINE MBONG

SECRETARY GENERAL                VALERIE NGABA

FINANCIAL SECRETARY GREG NDANGOH

TREASURER                        LUIS OLIVIER        

SOCIAL ORGANISERS                  DONKENG LIONEL

                                    OSCAR ATEGHA

PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER      JOHN BECHU

The president elect then gave her first speech begging on all Cameroonians to join hands together and give the newly elected excom all the support they need to run our dear association.

The outgoing president then gave a closing remark saying he was very privileged to have been at the helm of ACAMS though he made some errors as a leader and pleaded on all to forgive the outgoing excom if they did offend anyone. He thanked all who took part in the election and pledged the support of the old excom will always be available for ACAMS. He then asked the GA to form a committee to take down an inventory of ACAMS property. He called on all to inform the excom of any property they think they were involved in so we can know what is available.

T-boy made a statement that the outgoing president is no longer in charged of ACAMS but Mr Alain Roger intervene saying he is still the president until he hand over power to the new president and asked him to apologize which he gladly did from the bottom of his heart.

Rodrique also proposed that installation be done as soon as possible to enable them start work immediately. Greg then asked when the mandate of this new excom expires since they are taking over a bit late. It was said it will run to the end of the year.

Lionel said he will like the handing over to be as soon as possible because he has plans though he did not mention them

Those to host next meeting: Dave Mbesi promised to support the presidency with drinks (Beer) as they volunteer to prepare chewable.

The meeting rose at 8:30pm with the GA saying the Lord´s prayer

 ATTENDANCE

JOHN BECHU

ANNE MARIE BECHU

ETENGENEG JOHANES OJONG (JEGEDE)

MIRIAM NKEMTAJI

ERIC ENONGENE

ADELE TOUKAM

OSCAR ATEGHA

GREG NDANGOH

KINGSLEY AYUK-NSOK

LIONEL DONKENG

AYUK ASHU

RODRIGUE MOMO

DAVE MBESI

JACOB YOMBI DE YOMBI

ALAIN ROGER PAGOU

GWENDOLINE PARMAN

YVONNE FONGAM

ITOE ERNEST IKOE

FERDINARD MANGA

MAYA LOUIS

VALERIE NGABA

CHIA NATHANIEL

TAYUH NGENGE (T-BOY)

MATHIAS KEJEH

HIGINUS ALEHMBONG

CECILIA AGBOR BECHEM

RALPH TAFON

MAURINE MBONG

LIST OF ACAMS MEMBERS FOR 2009

Can we move ACAMS forward? YES WE CAN

My dear fellow Country people.

Good day. I hope you all are doing fine. As president of the new ACAMS executive bureau we are ready to take off on a new foot and ready to face the challenges lying ahead by making some changes.I want to thank you all for entrusting your confidence on me and my executive bureau. We can only succeed with your full and unlimited support. All grievances and proposals are welcome, if we don’t heal the wounds of the past, we will not be able to move forward, if you can’t diagnose a disease from its symptoms you cannot cure the disease, I together with my exco members pledge to all members who do have any grudge against ACAMS to please bring them to the table either by writing or by presenting it to the GA or the Exco.

Our plans of action for 2009(during our mandate) are:

1) Inter cultural football tournaments and cultural activities

2) Symposium on business in Sweden organized by Dr Amin

3) Reconciliation committee

4) Temporal (6months – 1yr) meeting hall with fix meeting dates.

6) Optimise the website.

7) Others.

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” Members we are out off our beds, it’s time for action and discipline is the key to success.

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” Members please stay committed to ACAMS, remember you should be objective.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”Members we are interested to serve you provided you give us your full support. We are committed to serve you because we know we care and can take ACAMS to the next level, YES WE CAN

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” Member if we are not committed, we’ll only keep promising and giving hopes. So Together lets implement our plan of action.

“The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.” Members together we can and will succeed.

“Successful people breed success.” Members this is our time to breed success

Dear members, ACAMS is going through hard times we all can see that the attendance in meetings has dropped seriously, there’s something wrong and together we have to put ACAMS back in it’s right place and direction. As I had earlier mentioned all those unhappy should please come and voice out their grievances. ACAMS belongs to all CAMEROONIANS living in Stockholm, it does not matter if you are from Yaounde , Douala , Buea ,Bamenda, Maroua ,Baffoussam,Bertoua ,Ebolowa ,Garoua whether you are Educated or not, whether you are a member of ABAS,MECA,NACS or Kumba social club . ACAMS has neither a Tribe nor a Certificate, ACAMS is for us all. Please Come and let’s take ACAMS to the next level,come and let’s build ACAMS on a rocky foundation and not a sandy foundation, Come and let’s Build a better ACAMS for the future, let no one stay away because of an individual or because of how ACAMS is governed, Come and let’s govern together. We are ready to welcome all proposals on how to move forward. Please do ask yourselves this question What have I done for ACAMS? And not what ACAMS has done for you? Can we all work together for a better ACAMS,do something good for ACAMS,be proud of ACAMS? YES WE CAN. Our arms are wide open and ready to welcome you. See you all in the next meeting.

Long Live ACAMS

Long Live Cameroon.

ACAMS President-Elect

Mrs Ann Marie Bechu

2009-02-25

THE FOLLOWING RESULTS WERE MADE AVAILABLE  BY ACAMS ELECTORAL COMITEE:

PRESIDENT

ANNE MARIE BECHU

VICE PRESIDENT

MBONG MAURINE

SECRETARY GENERAL

VALERIE NGABA

TREASURER

NOUWE LOUIS OLIVIER

SOCIAL ORGANISERS

1-DONKENG LIONEL

2-OSCAR ATEGAH

PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER

JOHN BECHU

FINAL LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR ACAMS ELECTION FEBRUARY 14 2009

PRESIDENT
1. ALAIN PAGOU
2. OJONG JOHANNES
3. empty
VICE PRESIDENT
1. MBONG MAURINE
2. empty
3. empty
SECRETARY GEN
1. VALLERIE NGABA
2. empty
3. empty
FINANCIAL. SEC
1. GREG NDANGO
2. empty
3. empty
TREASURER
1. NJOMENI OLIVIERE
2. empty
3. empty
SOCIAL ORGANISERS
1. OSCAR ATEGHA
2. empty
3. empty
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
EMPTY
N.B
1. Members are called upon to understand that several factors as stipulated by the constitution were taken into consideration before members were selected. However, this is the best we could have. We hope it satisfy your aspirations.
2. Members should see about the empty spaces before the election since we still need persons to fill these lapses. Otherwise, we will not be talking about election but on monarchy power transfer. We hope you put this in mind before coming to the election room next week.
Sincerely yours,
Cecilia.A/ Mathias.K/ Hyginus.A