It was exactly 1.45 pm when the plane carrying the body of Dr Laura TABOT EGBE Epse BESONG landed at Yaoundé Nsimalen international airport. Family, friends and close associates turned out en masse to welcome her.

A number of key figures attended, including Rose Gwari MBAH ACHA FOMUNDANG, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of State Control, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, JAJI Manu GIDADO, personal representative of the Minister, Dr Taïga who was unable to attend, the representative of the World Health Organisation in Cameroon, Dr Phanuel HABIMANA and the Inspector General of MINEPIA, Dr Phillipe Didier ENGAMBA. They were followed by almost all the staff of MINEPIA’s central services and those of the Centre regional delegation.

After the body was placed in the domestic arrivals hall, a funeral mass was said by Father Benoît Charles AKEPE, priest of the Obili parish in Yaoundé, who built his homily around the promise of resurrection. The funeral ceremony ended with a few testimonies, words of comfort from the General Secretary to the family who had suffered so much, and an account of the circumstances of her death by her husband. The funeral cortege then proceeded immediately to the mortuary of Yaoundé General Hospital.

Dr Laura TABOT EGBE épse BESONG of regretful memory died on 11 April. Before her death, she was Technical Advisor No. 1 at MINEPIA and recently appointed Executive Secretary of CEBEVIRHA. She leaves behind a husband, children, family and inconsolable colleagues.

Kaltoumata DEIDEI, Executive at CELCOM-MINEPIA