UPBACDA GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING

 

The meeting started with a welcome remark from the president who took the opportunity to wish a happy new year to members and reminded us of how important it is for us to meet as a family and enjoy the warmth and company of one another.

 

Opening Prayer: The President used his wisdom to choose Mrs. Bertha Mondi to lead us in prayers and she immediately lifted the spirit of the association by calling on the Lord to pour His mercies upon us, guide, and protect us from our enemies as well as bringing them to shame as the year unfolds. She went further to ask the lord to decent upon this association and take the lead in our decision making process.

 

Opening Remarks: The opening remark came from the president who started by thanking members for coming, while acknowledging that he can see some excitement amongst us and his wish is that, the excitement that the new year generates will continue throughout the year. He also urged members to reflect on some areas in which we stumbled last year and come up measures to ameliorate those areas. His rationale being that if we don’t remember where we come from we will never know where we are heading to. He promised the association that his administration will not go to rest until our good becomes better and our better becomes best.

 

The president also used this opportunity to keep association abreast with some changes due to take effect from the first meeting of his administration. These changes include but not limited to;

1. The time and duration of the meeting session. Deliberation starts at 8PM and ends at 10PM. However in exceptional cases we can start 10 minutes late but the deliberations time will not exceed two hours.

 

2. Entertainment. This part of the meeting will come after deliberations contrary to previous years in which it preceded deliberations.

 

3. Use of the website. Most meeting matters will be posted on the website including minutes of previous meeting sessions, hosting venues, death announcements, etc. Thus members are encouraged to visit the website daily for meeting updates and global news.

 

4. Finances. Members must pay their dues on time because the association depends on this money to ensure a proper functioning. In this regards, the administration will notify defaulters of their financial situations and the consequences that befall them.

 

5. Absenteeism. If a member has to be absent, he/she must inform the association through our text messaging group. This is out of respect for the association and its individual members. It should be noted that, as per the constitution, frequent or habitual absences and non-payment of dues will led to being put on an inactive status.

 

At the end of his remarks, the president was clear that his administration is not naïve to believe that members will readily adapt to these changes but we believe that these changes are not unsurmountable, thus if we work towards these goals we will achieve them for the good of the association that we all love.

 

Reacting to the presidents opening remarks is someone who has extensive knowledge of the internal affairs of the association who is no body but our former president Miss Patience Ebini, who used the opportunity to advice the current administration to sensor the quality and content of the materials that we post on the website because the website speaks volumes about us and that this medium of communication and publicity can make or break our credibility due to its accessibility to the general public.

 

Report of the December End of year party: The Secretary General took a moment to give a rundown of two very important moments of the end of year party. The first was an award of exemplary leadership which was handed to the then outgoing president, Miss Patience Ebini who transformed this association from what is was to what it ought be. The association unanimously accepted that she ruled us at a time when most have described as the most difficult period in the associations history. She embraced the difficult times with courage, faced the storm with extraordinary strength and character and this couldn’t go unnoticed.

 

The second award went to our founder and community leader Pa Elias Akwo who has served this community with his heart and soul. He leaves and breaths this association and we will forever be grateful for these services. Pa Akwo wasn’t present at the event but the outgoing president collected the award on his behalf.

 

Reacting to the report was the president, who extended his gratitude to members for responding to the calls to provide food and drinks. He went further to say that the level of preparation and coordination was very impressive. Finally he gave a special thank you to The First Lady and Mr. Bechem Ebini for coordinating food and drinks respectively.

 

New Matters: Under new matters we discussed issues relating to projects, Pa Akwo’s support fund, website awareness, and Sagi.

* Project: Under projects the president emphasized that collectively we have raised the bar to high and we have to keep up with the expectations because our capabilities permits us to do even better. He proposed that members should submit their proposed projects in writing to the office of the secretary general and the executive committee will review the projects and select two or three which will be presented to the general assembly which will then vote on the final project. It should be noted that the executive committee will present in writing their reasons for selecting particular projects and rejecting others.

 

Mr. David Besong on his part believes this approach will disenfranchise individuals in the meeting who are not IT savvy or unable send text messages or emails. He went further to propose that members should give their project proposal in the meeting and the SG should put it down in writing. The SG responded to Mr Besong’s proposal by saying that the goal is to save time during deliberations and that he is willing to get proposals from members while we are socializing after deliberations. The former president on her part praised the current administrations idea of making maximum use of the website and the yahoo group then went further to stress the importance of coming up with solutions to accommodate every member in every situation because these innovations will not serve the purpose if it benefits just a few.

 

* Pa Akwo’s Support fund. The president informed the association of the executive committee’s idea to raise funds for our founder who had a stroke last year. On her part the former president was very receptive of the idea and also reiterated the fact that this fund raiser should not overrule a previous general assembly decision of last year in which the association approved a sum of $1000 to support Pa Akwo as he tries to adjust to his current situation.

 

* Website awareness. The PRO called on members to visit the website frequently to make payments, get meeting updates and global news.

* Sagi Update. The SG who also doubles as Sagi coordinator for the association took the stage to inform members that come next meeting he will inform them of their individual status in Sagi. However he informed the association of a new provision in Sagi bylaws which requires all members to pay an annual fee of $12 and the fee is due on January 25. He urged members to pay this amount come February because he will make the payment on their behalf since members were no informed on time.

 

* Introduction of members. The president’s residence was jam-packed with both old and new members and everyone was given the opportunity to introduce themselves with joy.

 

The deliberations ended at 10:20 PM with a closing remark from the president who thanked members for coming and urged everyone to continue in the same spirit and enthusiasm.

 

Members then transitioned from deliberations to entertainment which included eating, drinking and dancing until 3:30 AM

 

BECHEM EBINI

SECRETARY GENERAL