Female cabinet ministers and parliamentarians have added their “widow’s mite” to the war effort against Boko Haram by donating cash worth FCFA 10.8 million for Defence Forces, refugees and displaced population in the Far North, North, Adamaoua and East Regions. Regrouped under the Cameroonian branch of the Network of African Female Parliamentarians and Ministers (REFAMP) and led by their president and Women’s Empowerment Minister, Prof. Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, they handed over the cash amount on December 11, 2015 to the Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Adhoc Committee in charge of managing donations to Defence Forces and affected population, René Emmanuel Sadi. Minister Abena Ondoa’s delegation equally disclosed the donation in-kind was still being collected and will be handed over soon.

René Emmanuel Sadi who is also Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, received the stacks of banknotes with words of gratitude for the gesture which to him was a show of solidarity with the beneficiaries and a sign of support to President Paul Biya’s efforts to eliminate the threat of terrorism especially from the Boko Haram sect. “This donation enables us to meet the FCFA 2 billion watermark already collected for the purpose,” René Emmanuel Sadi said, urging the ladies to continue in the same vein.

REFAMP was created in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in 1995. A branch was put in place in Cameroon in June 1998 with the aim of pursuing advocacy, ensuring leadership on issues concerning women’s empowerment and protection of their rights.