In a move many have described as “charity that begins abroad,” government has contracted a French events planning firm to manage the opening and closing ceremonies of the women’s Africa cup of nations, AFCON, due to begin on November 19.

The opening ceremony, the first of such an event to be hosted by Cameroon, will take place at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium on November 19, while the closing event will be held three weeks later, (on December 3), at the Limbe Omnisport stadium, The Cameroon Journal can report.

Speaking in an audience the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Bidoung Mkpatt, granted the Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Adrien Daniel Charpentier, on Monday, the Frenchman said the opening and closing ceremonies of the women football event would be the first ever of their kind on the African continent.

State media on Tuesday quoted Charpentier, whose firm reportedly took charge of the opening ceremony of the 2002 Africa cup of nations in Mali, as saying both ceremonies will be unique in terms of choreography, harmony and style.

A source at the ministry of sports hinted that it is a multi-million FCFA contract. Critical watchers have been quick to lash out at the move, which they have described as wasteful and superfluous. To them, the contract could well have been handled by an indigenous establishment.

The women’s AFCON, which will be in its 12 edition this year, is just a little over four months away and a litany of projects being executed within the framework of the tournament is yet to be completed.

Rehabilitation works are still ongoing at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium which will host pool A matches of the 8-team competition. Meanwhile, at the 20,000 seater stadium in Limbe which is programmed to host group B, peripheral finishing works are being done.

We gathered that heads of sub-committees charged with various organisational aspects of the tournament met in Yaounde Tuesday to evaluate the state of advancement of the various projects.

In the meantime, a selection of the Indomitable Lionesses, under the guidance of head coach, Carl Enow Ngachu, has been in the mountainside city of Buea since three weeks for intensive training camp in preparation for the football jamboree.

The Lionesses are current vice African champions. They lost to a strong Nigeria Super Falcons side at the finals of the last edition of the tournament hosted by Namibia. But Coach Enow Ngachu says he is poised to see the trophy remain on Cameroonian soil when the tournament rumbles off on Saturday November 19 in Yaounde.