There was total commotion at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue, last May 20, when the names of those to receive State medals as part of celebration for the National Day were read and the name of Zacheus Mungwe Forjindam featured among the names.

Tongues began wagging, media reports went viral and the population became restive that the State was decorating the erstwhile General Manager of the Cameroon Shipyard and Industrial Engineering, who has, since 2008, been incarcerated at the New Bell Prison in Douala for embezzling State funds.

The Littoral Court of Appeal on July 20, 2012, further found Forjindam guilty of syphoning State funds and slammed a life sentence on the former Manager of the State Corporation for pilfering up to circa FCFA 978 million from the public till.

The May 20 incident in Bamenda was further compounded by the fact that the said Forjindam, who was to be decorated, was not at the ceremonial ground.

After media reports went wild that it was the jailed Forjindam, who was decorated, the General Secretariat of the Chancellery of the National Order refuted the media claims, stating that the person who was awarded a State medal was Zacheus Mungwe Forjindam, a Senior Warrant Officer at the Air Force Base in Bamenda.

It was in this light that the Governor of the Northwest Region, Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, on July 1, 2016, organised a special public event to award the 52-year-old officer with the Cameroon National Order of Merit, Grade of the Knight medal and some Cameroonians who have distinguished themselves in their various fields of occupation. The Senior Warrant Officer, who works at the Bamenda Airport, is the nephew to the jailed Zacheus Mungwe Forjindam.

Talking to The Post after his decoration, the Senior Warrant Officer expressed gratitude to President Paul Biya for recognising his contribution to nation building and rewarding him with a medal. “My absence during the May 20th celebrations which I was supposed to receive this medal was because I was on duty.

I know it sparked a lot of controversy and misrepresentation, given that; I have the same names with my uncle, Zacheus Forjindam. My presence here today in person, will tell a different story, because my uncle is not a soldier,” Forjindam, noted.

Zacheus Forjindam is the Chief of Communication at the Bamenda Airport. Other recipients of the National medals of honour included Bochong Elhaj Lawan Bako, National Chairman of the United Democratic Party, UDP, who was awarded the highest medal grade, Commander of the National Order of Valour.

Second group, that of the Cameroon National Order of Merit, grade of the knight were; David Talla, François Ngoulle and Dr. Nicolas Ngwanyam Yufenyuy.

The medal of merit of the Public Force went to Hilary Ngwesse Ekonteh. Over 30 military officers, non-Commission Officers and the soldiers of the rank and file were given new epaulets.