The Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ), Yaounde chapter launched activities to mark the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) this Thursday May 02, 2023 in Yaounde with a cleanup campaign.
Members of CAMASEJ Yaounde converged as early as 6:30am for a clean-up campaign in the Yaounde VI neighbourhood precisely from Rond point express to the council in Acacia.
The activity falls in line with the theme for this year’s celebration “Journalism for the planet: Journalists in the face of environmental crisis”.
The press men and women picked refuse from the said stretch of road and equally liberated blocked gutters to permit free water passage.
The journalists came out in their numbers to ensure the exercise was fruitful and equally encourage other citizens to do the same.
The CAMASEJ Yaounde chapter president, Ndi Eugene Ndi emphasized that journalists play a crucial role in advocating for change and the clean-up campaign was part of that role. “When you are advocating for change you should be part of that change,” he said.
“We know that Yaounde is a very dirty city” CAMASEJ President highlighted and said the activity was an advocacy for a cleaner city in which they live.
“We are leading by example, that is why we decided to carry out this clean-up exercise. When you look at what was done today, we carried tons of refuge that had been on the stretch of the road from Rond Point Express to the DO’s office for those who know Yaounde, if you look at what we did and compare it to other parts of the city, you will understand what I mean” Ndi Eugene said.
He added that “if we are calling on authorities to solve the environmental crisis, we should show them that another way of solving it is volunteerism and that is what we just did today”.
Besides the clean-up campaign, CAMASEJ Yaounde will have a panel discussion on Friday May 03, 2024 which is the WPFD proper.
The celebration of the WPFD which will take place at the head office of The Guardian Post, will have Eugene N. Nforngwa as the Keynote speaker and the panel discussion will feature Ngalame Elias, Leocadia Bongben, and Solomon Tembang and will be moderated by Amindeh Atabong.
Discussions will focus on the theme and how journalists can use it to write better stories to educate and call for change.
The association has also “envisaged the symbolic planting of a tree at the head office of The Guardian Post newspaper which is part of our contribution to environmental protection” Ndi Eugene told the press.
He added that the choice of The Guardian Post is because it is the first private media organ in the country to build and own its head office, “we are giving it that honour” he said.