More Cheating Unmasked In Golden Jubilee Logo Contest

By Clovis Atatah, Daniel Gwarbarah & Leocadia Bongben| Tuesday, May 4, 2010 |The Post|

Shaddai (L) Relinquishing Logo To Alan Bright

Officials involved in the selection of the logo for Cameroon’s 50th anniversary of independence and re-unification celebrations reportedly influenced the committee in charged to deny victory for at least two entries by Anglophones, The Post has learnt.

Reliable sources close to the committee told The Post last week in Yaounde that one of the entries, which was almost sure to win, presented by an Anglophone, Theodore Alan Bright, was simply shelved to allow a Francophone belonging to the ethnic group of the President of the Republic to emerge victorious. Another entry by an Anglophone, John Shaddai Akenji, which is now the official logo of Cameroon’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, was relegated to third place ostensibly to deny the winner an FCFA 5 million cash price.

Logo that was surreptitiously shelved by Committee Members

Akenji officially received FCFA 1 million, while the fake winner, whose entry is now gathering dust in a forgotten file, received FCFA 5 million. The Post has now learnt that both Akenji and Alan belong to the Bride Arts Gallery, a Yaounde-based firm specialised in the production of portraits and logos with Alan as boss. Sources said Alan’s entry so fascinated members of the committee for the selection of the logo that it was initially presumed that the final vote on the winning work would just be a formality.

Logo 1 that was relegated to 3rd position but preferred by Biya

But subsequent calls from the Presidency changed all of that, and Alan’s work was not even considered when the final votes were cast. Senior officials at the Presidency, including the chairman of the Committee for the Organisation of the 50th Independence and Reunification Anniversary, Martin Belinga Eboutou, who is also Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, were aware of the shelving of Alan’s entry, sources said.

Although Culture Minister, Ama Tutu Muna, an Anglophone, was officially the President of the committee for the selection of the logo, she was constrained by instructions she received from the Presidency, The Post learnt. When reporters of The Post met Alan to react to the shelving of his work, the story took a new twist. He not only admitted making an entry for the independence logo contest, but quickly added that he was the real author of the winning entry presented by Akenji.

Alan, who was in the company of Akenji, said he did not want to comment on what went on in the logo selection committee, but regretted that the art work presented by his surrogate did not receive the FCFA 5 million that it deserved.  Instead, he said, it was a Francophone who went home with the FCFA 5 million.

Akenji admitted that Alan was the real author of the work: “I was simply standing in the stead of Mr. Theodore Alan Bright to present this logo. He is not only the brain behind this logo; he is the actual creator and owner of the logo. So I’m hereby relinquishing all rights [to the logo],” Akenji said. Asked why he did not disclose the real author of the logo, during the official presentation of the work of art, Akenji said, “I was following the instructions of my boss [Alan] and I do so without apology.” Alan cut in: “I, Alan Bright, worked on the logo with John Akenji and I wanted to honour him that day.”

It is not yet clear why Akenji is relinquishing his authorship to Alan, whom he said is not only his boss, but also like a father to him. One of our sources, however, speculated that the young Akenji might have been intimidated by the government following the scandal about the logo selection, and the more senior Alan is now ready to take the heat. Meanwhile, sources told The Post that Akenji did not receive the entire FCFA 1 million he was promised. Akenji refused to comment on the issue.