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[/one_third]The President of the Southwest Civil Society Organization (SWECSON), Louis Nkembi, has unveiled a 13-point plan of action which his team will undertake during their three-year mandate. Principal amongst these are increasing the visibility and profile of SWECSON (nationally and internationally), revising entry criteria into SWECSON, re-building the trust and confidence of member organizations, reforming the financial management policy of SWECSON, creating an Endowment Fund to support core and regional charitable initiatives, developing a code of ethics for the network and restructuring SWECSON to become more responsive to emergent issues.
By Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho
Nkembi presented this action plan, August 22, 2015, at the Fakoship Plaza Conference hall in Buea while welcoming SWECSON member organizations to the first extraordinary General Assembly of the network.
On behalf of the new SWECSON executives, Nkembi thanked the network for giving them the confidence, promising to render the network self-financing and to help member organizations raise funds for their respective projects.
Nkembi said the SWECSON executive will work only with business-like member organizations.
“My executive will not work with sleeping organizations; they must cease from being brief-case organizations; they must be politically neutral and cease from being managed as family-based organizations. My executive will throw out non-responsive organizations as well as those who backstab others,” Nkembi said.
He added that they would transform the network into a great employer in the Region and to ready member organizations to become great employers and leaders in their respective fields. He called on member to specialize in specific thematic areas, adding that any cross-cutting move will be seen as a sign of frustration and will be frustrated at the level of SWECSON.
He promised to meet the training needs of each member organization.
The SWECSON President, however, regretted the fact that his team is inheriting a bankrupt account from an unaccountable and non-transparent legacy.
“My team is starting the most difficult journey of our times. Your support at this critical point will help us clean the house of those who want to fraud the network and feed fat on our sweat,” Nkembi said.
He thanked member organizations like United Action for Children, Reach Out Cameroon, and the Environment and Rural Development Foundation that have so far supported the network either financially and or materially, calling on other member organizations to do same.
The SWECSON President also appealed to members not to lose sight of their mission as a charity organization to reach out to the poor and underprivileged population.
The General Assembly also saw the revision and adoption of SWECSON constitution. CIGs were given up to six months to upgrade into associations in consonance with the new OHADA regulations, while the position of SWECSON coordinator was factored into the constitution.
This office will be hosted and sponsored temporarily by the Environment and Rural Development Foundation.
The audit report was also presented and members decried the poor management of SWECSON funds, lack of accountability and transparency and maltreatment of the networks’ documents and records by the outgoing exco.
The incoming executives were told to create an account for the network in a reputable bank and to ensure that SWECSON’s records and documents are properly kept and the account well managed.
The new exco tabled a budget of 63 million francs, suggested the creation of an endowment fund and an accessible and payable funding database for SWECSON.
At the end of the General Assembly most members termed the meeting very successful with great plans and objectives presented.
They hoped that the ambitious plan of action presented does not remain on paper.