The historic event was a ‘3 in 1’ ceremony that brought together legal minds, traditional and administrative authorities with a cream of media publishers and reporters from both the public and private press.
It is the first time in the history of the press in Cameroon for a private print media organ to construct its own head office. The edifice is a two-story building on a surface area of 800 m2 comprising of the printing press section, staff offices, newsrooms and a conference room.
The publisher of the Guardian Post Newspaper, Ngah Christian did not only plan the inauguration but other surprises were attached to the ceremony.
The biggest of it was the launching of a new born, The Guardian Magazine, which is a quarterly news and information magazine. The Magazine was officially launched by Hon. Cyprian Awudu Mbaya as chief launcher accompanied other hooray guests in the likes of Senator Fon Chafah Isaac, Barrister Nico Halle just to name but these.
Another surprise was an announcement from the publisher who indicated that in the very near future, the Guardian Post Newspaper will official go daily in the true sense of a daily newspaper. To him the 5/7 publications per week do not actually make the paper a daily, reason for weekend publications.
To the young publisher, the inauguration of the Guardian Post’s Head Office is a milestone in life of the Guardian Post and the media landscape in Cameroon in particular, but is equally a challenge for him to work even harder in contributing effectively to raising the standards of the media and media practitioners whom he says many refer to as people who are involved in a hand to mouth job.
It should be noted that the inauguration ceremony saw the presence of the representative of the mayor of the Yaounde III council, the municipality hosting the head office.
Recognitions
Apart from the launching euphoria, the event of Friday January 24, 2020 witnessed a series of recognitions to the staff of the Guardian Post from traditional authorities and civil society actors.
Peace Crusader and legal luminary, Barrister Nico Halle presented an award to the entire staff of the Guardian Post for their hard work, team spirit and professionalism in serving the public. He seized the occasion to appeal for the journalists to launch a nationwide campaign against social ills in a bid to reduce violence in the society which could definitely be of great help to the resolution of the Anglophone crisis.
Besides group recognition, the publisher of the Guardian Post, Ngah Christian was crowned with a special distinction from North West Fons present at the ceremony.
According to senator Fon Chafah Isaac who spoke on behalf of the North West Fons, Ngah Christian has distinguished himself as illustrious elite of the region in multiple folds and deserves to be raised to the rank of a title holder which is actually in the pipeline.
However, the publisher was secretly dressed by the traditional leaders who presented him to the public not only as a true son of the ‘Wimbum’ community in the Donga Mantung Division but of the entire North West region.
The “coronation” exercise was marked by traditional ‘Mbaya Dance’ from the ‘Wimbum’ community.
