The Manyu Women’s International Organisation (Nyene Mawn) members gathered in Paris over the weekend for the association’s second annual residential convention. Chi Prudence and Soter Agbaw-Ebai report

The sun in Paris was shining, the good weather added to a sense of optimism for a Manyu women’s group that was clearly on the brink of collapse.

Despite social media negativity orchestrated by some rogue elements against Nyene Mawn, the mood in the French capital was du jamais vu indicating that Nyene Mawn queens had move away from the nasty past and the embarrassing so-called conference of presidents’ scandal which had attempted to destroy the Nyene Mawn brand.

Here are the key talking points from the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

The President-General Dr Mrs Patience Abangma promised the Nyene Mawn queens that she was going to step down and usher in the new generation. This is after she repaired the financial damage caused by the disgraced suspended seven.  

Dr Patience Abangma did not need to put a positive spin on her speech to get the Nyene Mawn queens smiling and sharing tears of joy as much as she was.

Delegates from all over the world were in great spirit at the respective meetings that started on Friday and ended Sunday evening.

Nyene Mawn is riding high with their favourite slogan: Nyene Mawn leads, others follow.

This time last year, Nyene Mawn queens crammed into a dour, stuffy hall in the middle of the afternoon in Brussels to discuss their progress and their plans for the future. The atmosphere among Nyene Mawn queens in Brussels that day might be described as quietly confident. If the sense that day was of a Manyu women association on the rise, then Paris 2025, in its glitzier environs, was that of a Nyene Mawn whose time had come.

When the convention started in Paris Noisy Le Sec, Nyene Mawn announced a new interim body headed by Queen Maureen Tabe as President-General, which aims to speed up development deep within the association while Dr Patience Abangma used her speech to promise the women of her complete and total support for the new governing body.

Nyene Mawn queens thanked their out gone President-General Dr Patience Abangma for sustaining the Nyene Mawn cause, the association, the argument against a vicious campaign of blackmail. “Mami Abangma didn’t just win for herself, she won for all the Nyene Mawn queens”, Chief Stella Ntui Arhewoh from the Federal Republic of Nigeria who also moonlights as Second Vice President said, describing how Dr Patience Abangma had challenged attempts aimed at destroying the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News, Nyene Mawn’s new strong woman Lady Maureen Tabe said “We’re not going to screw Mami Abangma’s legacy up; we’re going to make sure that we use her leadership style and use our majority following to transform Nyene Mawn and attract quality membership not quantity.”

Whether Nyene Mawn achieves its goals for the female child in Manyu Division in Cameroon remains to be seen. But what’s clear from Paris 2025 is that Nyene Mawn queens are now strong and growing in confidence.

At the gala night on Saturday evening animated by renowned Manyu artist Etando Moh Manyu, Soter Agbaw-Ebai caught up with the President General Maureen Tabe and pressed the new leader on a range of Nyene Mawn matters, including plans to recover the embezzled funds, the indefinite suspension of the dodgy seven and also the key issue of developmental projects back home.

According to Soter Agbaw-Ebai, Nyene Mawn’s new leader was able to provide strong assurance on the issues, and a discussion with our editor showed that Nyene Mawn finally emerged stronger and united than expected.

“I’ll put my hands up any day, any time and say I was one of the Nyene Mawn queens who fought tooth and nail to preserve the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association,” Queen Regina AyukEtah, First Vice President from the Kingdom of Belgium said, explaining that Paris 2025 has given birth to a new spirit in Nyene Mawn.

Inside business day at the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

Lady Collect Tambeagbor, Nyene Mawn’s Communication Secretary predictably, spoke about getting Nyene Mawn building bridges with other Manyu women groups both at home and abroad.

Another issue that did not receive a clear answer from delegates was why Nyene Mawn decided to suspend the seven members indefinitely instead of the agreed dismissal as recommended by the general assembly.

Lady Priscillia Morand, the new Secretary General of Nyene Mawn spoke in strong terms about the importance of moving the association forward, explaining that Nyene Mawn should not be over reliant on its members in Europe but needed to tap into the Nyene Mawn worldwide diversity.

Support for the girl child in Manyu was also a theme in the residential convention discourse during the AGM, which saw a huge number of Nyene Mawn queens come together. Speaker after speaker gave barnstorming speeches at the AGM.

Many in Paris called for Nyene Mawn to empower its chapters in Cameroon if it wanted to fulfil its pledge to ensure growth across Manyu Division, and recognise this would not happen without transformative investment on the girl child project.

Conveniently, Nyene Mawn is currently trying to rebuild again on its image and finances.