Tamfu Arison Tamfu Resigned From Equinoxe TV And Not The Media

Tamfu Arison Tamfu Presenting the 6:00PM News

Relinquishing his duties as editor with the English Desk of Equinoxe Television, does not mean he is quitting journalism all together, Tamfu Arison Tamfu has said.

Tamfu is without exaggeration one of Cameroon’s best English Language TV presenters in recent times. After plying his trade at one of the country’s leading audiovisual media for about six years, the 2005 Journalism and Mass Communication graduate from the University of Buea resigned in order to freelance.

“I tendered my resignation fundamentally because I wanted to freelance. And in part because I was displeased with the conditions of work [at Equinoxe Television],” he said.

Low pay, political manipulation, death threats, failure to keep pace with technological advancements and the sidelining of English-speaking journalists to marginal roles in most francophone-dominated media houses are the main challenges in a long chain of impediments journalists of English expression in Cameroon need to surmount on a daily basis, Tamfu added.

He spoke at the 17th edition of the open days of the Association of Student Journalists (ASJUB) of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Buea in June 2012.

Asked whether it was the aforementioned challenges that led him into dumping his job, Tamfu said “the deplorable conditions contributed in part. However, they become very devastating when they impede your professional growth and at that moment the wisest decision is to step down and out”.

One of Tamfu’s fans who talked to NewsWatch in Yaounde regretted that he is going to miss favourite presenter on the prime time 6:00 pm English news.

William said he ‘fell in love’ with Tamfu when he did a live report on the Wouri Bridge in Douala about military men and firefighters who had mounted a manhunt for fleeing suspects in the Douala Ecobank bank heist.

But William could miss his television personality not for too long. Tamfu may stage a comeback one of these days.

“I have been approached by some local TV Channels in Cameroon and I am currently reflecting on their proposals,” Tamfu says.

He explained that while reflecting on the proposals of media who have approached him, “I am now into full freelance reporting. So far I report for three international media as a freelance journalist”.

To his teeming enthusiasts, Tamfu says “it is most likely that, if things unfold as I desire, my fans to who I owe much will see me on air again. And if I return to local broadcasting it will be one hundred percent due to the demand of my admirers”.

Tamfu’s resignation last December 2012 brings to two the number of journalists who have ditched that institution. The first within the same year was Polycarp Essomba who abandoned his duties as editor-in-chief in October 2012 and now works and lives out of the country.
By Ndi Eugene Ndi