Personality of The Week: Eric Chinje, Int’l media consultant.

It is a disease that cuts across nations, continents, and organisations. People are increasingly becoming greedy, putting even the future of their countries at risk. 

These are the classes of people who try to challenge God and racing against the reality that there is time for everything under the sun. 

Whatever is within the realm of humans that wants to assume an eternal posture is nothing short of an aberration and an affront to celestial order.

One of such issues that have become a matter of national discord is that relating to the Head of State, Paul Biya, possibly going to seek another mandate. 

When some Bishops of the Catholic kicked against President Biya's planned decision to seek another term of office, regime apologists differed. 

Yet, at the close of its 48th annual seminar in Buea, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, NECC, issued a statement in which it lamented that the country has remained stagnated since independence.

This week, respected Cameroonian journalist and international media consultant, Eric Chinje, came out strong on the same issue. Chinje was more direct in his outing. 

He declared his likeness for President Biya but urged the Head of State, in all visible good faith, to consider the possibility of retiring at his age- 92. 

Chinje judged that Biya has done his time and the nation is in need of a new air of leadership.

At The Guardian Post, the weight of Chinje’s outing and how important it is to shaping the political future of the country is being revealed through its teeming readers across the globe. 

Given the trust The Guardian Post has established with its millions of readers and its credibility in revealing their choices to the public every week, Eric Chinje comes this 2025 as Personality of The Week number three.

Our readers say they find his outing, not only as being timely but speaking truth to power. 

Our readers quip that unlike other pseudo-patriots who only come to the fore to share the spoils and fight for their stomachs, Eric Chinje merits every form of respect for refusing to join a self-glorifying clique. 

Eric Chinje, they are insisting, is a global hero who has seen the dynamics of leadership across the world and is in a position to assess what obtains in his country. 

Our readers say his message is not only truth that must be digested but makes him a national insignia and a critical pillar in the building of a new Cameroon.

While some have become apostates and others apostles of seeing wrong and calling it right, your Personality of The Week, is this season getting the fresh rating of an all-time genuine professional, lover of country and an unrivalled crusader of positive change.

Others see him as a smart intellectual and global professional who is constructive in his criticisms. Our readers say unlike others who see nothing good in the current regime, Chinje is a man with a clean heart and uncompromising when it comes to facts, yet knows when to signal danger ahead. 

Admirers say anyone within the regime feeling bad with Chinje’s position on the political future of Cameroon is bedeviled by ego. 

Chinje, our readers in their vast majority are saying, has consolidated his place in the committee of men of respect and dignity.

 Our readers have raised your Personality of The Week to the realm of patriarch of hope and a fixer, for having the insight to see the window of change, and speaking without caring whose jigger toes are smashed. 

Going forward, they are insisting that Eric Chinje must be counted among the wisest men Cameroon has ever produced. Others say he is a lesson to the Biya regime and not an enemy as some want him to be seen through the lenses of Yaounde.

From another angle, Eric Chinje, it is being said and rightly so, long attained a global rating wherein doing the right thing is the only way out. 

He has the intellect, maturity, experience and aura to know when governance is working and when it has failed. Chinje is a rare breed whose confidence, enthusiasts are positing, is reminding those plundering the country of their insecurities.

Chinje is an awesome character and a stainless professional, inspiring leaders, nations and organissations across the world. He cuts the mark of a man near perfection, given that his words always match his actions. 

Your Personality of The Week plays outside the league of people with double standards. Chinje is a refined gentleman who seats permanently in the most desired of glorious atmospheres. 

Sized up for global honour and national inspiration is a positive thinker who feels the intangible and has the wherewithal to achieve the impossible. Failure has never occupied any spot in Eric Chinje’s engagements and career.

Your Personality of The Week has in abundance what money, fame and positions can’t buy. He is a dealer-in-chief when it comes to respect, integrity, patience, character, common sense, love and class. 

Eric Chinje is no ordinary personality. The influence of his voice on national and international issues is hinged on the wheels of merit.

He is a go-getter who is not in the habit of trying to make everyone happy. Eric Chinje is a rare breed who has always thread on the path of truth, justice and equity. 

He is not a man seeking for approval from elsewhere. Our readers say he finds himself in the comfort of their thoughts for his shooting thoughts on an issue many in positions of influence continue to mumble about.

The wholeness and revival of Cameroon others are saying, rest with the love and concern of incorruptible persons like your Personality of The Week.

This renowned journalist, communications and development heavyweight, was born September 5, 1954. He was the first presenter of news in the English language on the then Cameroon Radio Television, CTV, now Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV. 

He is on record as one of the few Cameroonian journalists to have interviewed the Head of State on several occasions. Chinje is a native of Santa Subdivision, North West Region.

Beyond, he is a Cameroonian exported to the world. Chinje has headlined several projects related to communications and development, serving as an advisor to several governments and international organisations.

From the World Bank, African Development Bank, AfDB, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and more, Eric Chinje made a name, bringing honour to Cameroon in his service.

Among other portfolios such as Visiting Scholar at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, USA, Chinje is an irresistible communications expert. 

He has served in institutions such as the National Museum of African Art of the prestigious Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. He was Vice President of the African Advisory Board of the institution.

Chinje equally worked as Senior Adviser at Tutu-Desk United Kingdom, UK- a scheme that brings affordable school desks to kids in rural Africa. The Benefits Committee of the New York-based Africa America Institute, AAI, has also tasted his experience.

He also sits on the board of the London-based Make Every Woman Count, MEWC; Africa Unbound, and is also Chairperson of the United States, US arm of the Zambia Orphans Aid, ZOA, and many other international organisations.

He is also mostly known for his time as Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the African Media Initiative, AMI. 

At the level of the World Bank, Chinje was at the origin of the media development program, Independent Media for Accountability, Governance and Empowerment, IMAGE. 

Under the World Bank Institute, he built the capacity of media to report on governance.

The former CRTV journalist still in his global repertoire of service, initiated and managed many workshops, and in the process, training over 2,000 journalists in Africa and Asia on Economics and Business Reporting, Investigative Journalism, Budget Coverage, and agriculture reporting.

The communications consultant has been an advisor to governments in countries such as South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC and Liberia. His areas of interest with these countries were on strategic, development and international communications.

He served at one time as correspondent for CNN World Report, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle Radio. In the world of volunteerism and philanthropy, Chinje is also doing well.

Your Personality of The Week holds several international recognitions and national decorations. Some of these are; Officer of the Dutch Order of Orange Nassau and Officer of the Cameroon Order of Merit. 

In 2023, he received the Pan-African Ivory Club of Tampa, Florida, United States and Lifetime Achievement Award in Audio-Visual Communication from ICT University Cameroon.

Given the depth of his plough across the world, his sane readings of the sociopolitical situation of Cameroon, many are saying, make him an unforgettable star and conqueror in nation building.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3348 of Friday January 24, 2025