Mr Manasseh Denga, popularly known Manz Denga has a name and personality that go far ahead of him. More to it, his good will and generosity do not respect any stringent rules of “I don’t know him so I can’t give him any thing” or “where is he from? Iam not from his village so he can’t get anything”. When moved by his beliefs, I think, this Denga does his goodwill. He does it selflessly too. He is not a man who puts superfluous excuses as deterrents, whatsoever, when he wishes to do good.
Iam not a flatterer so when I write so highly of Denga, I should not be mistaken or taken out of proportion. Iam just talking from my “personal encounter” with Manz Denga and re-expressing what others, who like me, have witnessed or directly benefited of his charity. People who have met him and appreciative enough to say it; I am being their mouth piece.
Like most of other important people I have known in my life, I came to “know” Manz through my friend, Tersoo Akula. This is as recent as 2006. At that time, Akula, I and others, were planning for a Kwande Youth Summit tagged “where do we go from here”- remember this was just a year after the Kwande Crisis which had crippled us, instil fear in our minds and made us to disregard our unity and common wealth: that period was, and will ever remain, a dark age in the history of Kwande. It called for novel ways of reconstituting our society and many people had responded to the call. Manz Denga was one of those who responded to the call. Our own aspect of intervention was bankrolled by Denga from far away Uganda or Kenya.
But it is not until recently when I joined Ate-U-Tiv and Ate online Yahoogroups, online platforms which Manz Denga is also a member that I realized as a fact, what a son Kwande has in Manz Denga. He is not only a Banker cum administrative colossus, but a well respected man whose take on issues translate into an instant authority. He is one of the few that no Tiv man in any part of the world can accuse of jealousy or any of such petty accusations that bedevil most Tiv men of Manz’s standing.
So when I heard that he would be honoured or a reception was going to be organised in his honour by friends, I thought it necessary to write this piece. I thought the piece crucial for two reasons and wanted to achieve at least one significant thing with it. What are the two crucial reasons for the discourse? Firstly, Manz Denga seldom visits the village. So I wanted to make the most of this visit, to use it to pass across to him a message that he might have missed due to so many years of being away from home. Secondly, I wanted to tell him that he is appreciative by people. I wanted him to know that he is sincerely praised and prayed for by all men of goodwill. I wanted him to also know that he is a role model. One which a whole generation of Kwande youths, Tiv youths were looking at. I wanted him to know that he has over the years, successfully positioned himself as a face of hope for all Kwande youths. And he would have to work consciously of that calling.
Those were the two reasons that motivated me to write this piece, but what did I want to achieve? I wanted to invite Denga to a reasoning pool.A river where I would not be afraid to ask him a question. I wanted him to ponder over the question that I asked as he left the pool. The question that is likely to becloud his highly achievements; at home and abroad-I was surprised to ask him the question, because I thought, someone would question my essence, but Manz’s simplicity made me asked him the question, “Manz Denga, you are a banker of international repute, but why is it that Adikpo, does not have a bank whatsoever?”
In the end, that is but what Manz Denga must do for Kwande.
Good one, hope he will respond positively.
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