We are 25 today!.

 Fashioned through the sweat and endurance of its revered Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Kristian Ngah Christian, The Guardian Post has grown from an unnoticeable irregular weekly to become the most regularly-published newspaper in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC and the larger Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS. 

It holds the feat of the only newspaper that publishes Mondays to Sundays in CEMAC and ECCAS. In its 25-year milestone, The Guardian Post has soared through due process to the frontline, holding several other records that make it an all-round first newspaper in everything.

Turning pain to power

The creation of The Guardian Post was the consequence of a deliberate decision to deny its Publisher, Kristian Ngah, a job he had actually been recruited for. This was based on funny political and divisive narratives. 

The young Kristian Ngah had been recruited to work at the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation, SOPECAM’s Cameroon Tribune. In excitement and zest to open another chapter in his pen pushing career, heavyweights in the corridors of power didn’t only see him as the son of a nobody who shouldn’t be given the opportunity to work at SOPECAM. 

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, at the time, worsened Kristian Ngah’s case, advancing that he didn’t hail from the South West Region and so shouldn’t be recruited.

And so, it came to pass that the staff who was recruited in Kristian Ngah's place hailed from same village like the then PM. It turned out later that the said recruitee was not even qualified to untie the professional lace of Kristian Ngah’s shoes.

The development left the orphan caught between pain and death. But as if to say destiny and purpose dawned on him, Ngah registered and launched The Guardian Post, turning his pain into power and found reason to dream again.

The price of dreaming big

Today is exactly 25 years since he took that bold step and the fruits are undeniable. But the journey has been rough for The Guardian Post and its untiring Publisher, exceptional journalist and journalism icon in Cameroon, Kristian Ngah Christian.

Once The Guardian Post started finding its feet in the media market place and ecosystem, shattering national and international glass ceilings, even some of those who prayed for its survival became its most ferrous enemies.

From a weekly to a bi-weekly, to publishing three times a week and later five times a week, The Guardian Post has known and continues to know what the Bible says about God preparing a table for someone in the midst of enemies.

In the 25 years memoire of The Guardian Post, its Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, will never forget the 2013 controversial back-to-back sanctions from the National Communication Council, NCC. 

It was slammed a two-month suspension without even being given the chance to defend itself as the law stipulates.

Emerging from that suspension, which Kristian Ngah continues to insists till eternity that it was the handiwork of people who saw a child with a great destiny and conspired to kill it, The Guardian Post was again suspended for three months; barely two weeks after the initial suspension. 

The punishment followed the same script like the first, with dozens of employees who had families to take care seeing their livelihoods threatened.

Yet, The Guardian Post Publisher continued paying staff, even while the newspaper was on suspension. True to the assertion that the problem is not how low one falls but how high a person bounces back, The Guardian Post returned to the stands as a daily, becoming the nation’s first English language daily newspaper.

Limitless growth 

From publishing five times a week beginning 2016, The Guardian Post today is operating on another wavelength. It expanded into publishing six times a week, with the coming of The Guardian Post Sunday, in 2022. 

The growth moment also reached another level, with The Guardian Post Sports, which completes its strings of publication besides the highly cherished The Guardian Post Magazine.

Amid the expansion in periodicity, quality has remained top, with the newspaper moving from printing in black and white to having its front and back pages printed in full colour. 

That too is an aspect of uniqueness, solely for The Guardian Post, among private media houses in Cameroon. The newspaper also later acquired a printing press to embolden its independence and autonomy. 

Those printing machines have been expanded and modernised, making The Guardian Post Printing Press, a sure tranquiliser in the production of tens of other newspapers across the country.

Most newspapers are printed at a discount today at The Guardian Post Printing Press, thanks to the magnanimity of Kristian Ngah, with his undying passion to see journalism thrive in Cameroon.

News empire housed in own structure        

Another major shift in the sweet-bitter journey of The Guardian Post, 25 years on, is that, it is housed in its own structure. Driven by a craving to always do something better, Kristian Ngah, the newspaper’s Publisher, set out to in 2018 to acquire land for the construction of an ultramodern head office in Yaounde.

The Publisher recalls having been relaxing over a drink one afternoon. While taking the drink, an insight let him to take a second look at where the newspaper was renting at the Tam-Tam neighbourhood in Yaounde. 

For the image, readership and influence of The Guardian Post then, Kristian went to work. Within six months, the ultramodern head office of the media organ located at Efoulan Lac became a reality. Since 2019, The Guardian Post has been operating from that auspicious structure.

Unrivalled audience, adjustments to technological shifts

The Guardian Post, 25 years on, has continued to breathe professionally and financially, by adjusting to the turbulence and windows technology, especially the social media, has had on news consumption. 

It has also been seizing opportunities thereof head on. While it continues to satisfy readers of its hard copies, of which at least 80% of the printed copies are sold, even before printing, on subscription, The Guardian Post is not just a newspaper, 25 years on.

From the Presidency to the Senate, National Assembly, Prime Minister’s Office to ministries, public entities, diplomatic circles and more, The Guardian Post is today the newspaper every office in Cameroon wants to subscribe to.

Through the power of technology, The Guardian Post is consumed by millions of Cameroonians across the world who see in the newspaper, the most credible platform to stay informed about developments back home.

National pride, bilingualism asset & Anglophone heritage

The Guardian Post has grown in 25 years to become one of the cardinal points of national pride. It is also a silent but major bilingualism promotion tool. 

Thousands of French-speaking compatriots read The Guardian Post daily, not to just get credible information but to also enhance their English language proficiency.

For the people of the North West and South West Regions, The Guardian Post is rated like the Bible for Christians and Qur’an for Muslims. 

The Guardian Post is today part of how the people see and live Cameroon. Many an Anglophone continues to take pride in the journey of The Guardian Post and how special and influential it has become as it clocks silver today.

Humane culture, unbroken staff care

The Guardian Post, from its early days, Kristian Ngah says, has been run on a philosophy of taking care of those through whose intellect, skills and capacity, the newspaper is processed to inform millions of readers across the world. 

25 years on, The Guardian Post has never owed its workers. The newspaper has moved from a one man show to employing at least 50 persons within and without Cameroon.

Something big loading 

While The Guardian Post team and its global audience take a sip of wine to reflect on its journey, 25 years on, something big is loading. 

It will be the unfolding of weeklong activities to mark the Silver Jubilee of The Guardian Post; from November 9, to November 15, 2026.

Among other things being planned, there will be the launch of celebrations with a media conference. This will be followed by a masterclass for young print journalist, open door and community outreach day, sports and fitness day and the grand jubilee celebration on November 15, 2026, in Yaounde.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3894 of Sunday August 30, 2026