Cameroon:Will The Real Civil Society Please Stand Up!

By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaounde.
Civil society is made up of associations, mainly non governmental organisations (NGO) and trade unions that are distinct from the public sector, and are not part of political parties. Civil society is also composed of diversified groups concerned with issues related to development, and various aspects of human rights. In its nature, it is diverse, dynamic, and constantly changing because new members are regularly cropping up as new societal issues arise.

The main role of civil society is to defend the interests of citizens, based on principles and values of justice, equality, and equity. It is supposed to ensure that these values and principles guide policy formulation and implementation in all areas of society to the benefit of all, especially the poor and disabled.

Civil society strengthens the state by holding it accountable and ensuring that the state involves and listens to the voices and demands of citizens. Civil society proposes, persuades, challenges, opposes, and even causes the reversal of policies that work to the detriment of the people. It is populated by groups that are usually described as “citizen voices” because they ensure that government is transparent, accountable, and participatory, so as to be competent to serve the interests of all the people.

These activities of civil society usually cause one-party and repressive regimes to consider them as voices of dissent that undermine the government. This is why during the one-party days in Cameroon, the regime acted like a vast refrigerator that reduced civil society to a stupor. This torpor replaced the habits of freedom with servitude, and the sovereignty of the people with the whims and caprices of administrative officials.

Events of the early ‘90s gave the impression that the refrigerator had broken down at last, and that the thaw was causing civil society to rear its head. The role of the bar council - which is part of civil society – in the Yondo Black affair left the impression that civil society would play an important role in the democratisation process in the country. Unfortunately, that has been the only significant thing that can be remembered of the bar council since then, although much has been crying out for their intervention, like extra-judicial killings, rampant acts of torture and other gross violations of human rights, haphazard registration of voters, repeated flawed elections, glaring cases of settlement of political scores using the law courts, and much more...

A look at the present legal dispensation in relation to civil society is further confirmation that the present regime in Cameroon is repressive, and is still guided by a one-party mindset. Whether it is law n° 90/053 of 19 December 1990 relating to the liberty of association as modified and completed by law n° 99/011 of 20 July 1999, or law N° 99/014 of 22 December 1999 relating to the organisation of NGOs as completed by Prime Ministerial decree n° 2001/150 of 3 May 2001, the effort is more to gag than to structure civil society and allow it to bloom. The legal framework gives overwhelming powers of life and death over civil society organisations to the minister of territorial administration and decentralisation. The existence of repressive instruments like obnoxious law no. 90/054 of 19 December 1990 relating to the maintenance of law and order, and the dissolution of Human Rights Watch and Cap Liberté in the early ’90, testify to this power.

Good governance programmes like those proposed by the HIPC-I, ACP-EU, and NEPAD recognise that democratic governance can only result from a serious partnership that includes government, civil society, and the private sector. Such partnership is supposed to make governance more inclusive, participatory, and democratic. To play its role effectively in such a partnership, civil society should be populated by countless citizen initiatives, campaigns, and movements with members that work hard, mostly on voluntary basis, to make contributions in every domain of society.

Citizens have rights and responsibilities. However, government is usually more interested in ensuring that citizens meet their responsibilities (like paying taxes), than enjoy their rights (like their right to vote their representatives). It is the role of civil society to organise citizens to stand up for their rights. Training, research, dissemination of information, lobbying, and advocacy should be the daily preoccupation of civil society.

In all countries where there has been change through people’s power in the ballot box or in the streets, civil society has always played a frontline role. Such change always fulfils John F. Kennedy’s saying that each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, a tiny ripple of hope is sent out; many of such ripples from different centres of energy and daring, build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Such centres of daring and energy are little advocacy groups of courageous individuals in society.

MINATD organised flawed elections under our watchful eyes, and walked away scot-free with its agents. NEO came and danced at the periphery of the circle, without ever stepping into the centre, while we watched it in amusement as if they were stage acting. Here comes ELECAM with the same methods, strategies, and tools unmodified, mesmerising us with fine talk without any convincing work, while the people again watch in frustration and apparent helpless. Will the real civil society please stand up and organise the people to channel their frustration towards confronting ELECAM for their electoral rights!

Cameroon-Road Safety Campaign:CAROSAF Urges Gov’t to Put Traffic Controllers around Road Side Schools

By Christopher Ambe Shu

 The Cameroon Government, municipal councils and other concerned stakeholders have been called upon to support a project initiated by Cameroon Road safety Foundation (CAROSAF),a Buea –based NGO that advocates for road safety and high way injury prevention, so to significantly minimize roads accidents, which are reportedly on the increase

CAROSAF officials addressing journalists(not seen in picture)

The CAROSAF project dubbed “Traffic Controllers at Selected Nursery and Primary Schools” is aimed at managing traffic at high conflict areas.

 “Within the framework of this project, trained traffic controllers are stationed at selected nursery and primary school along busy roads in municipalities,” Edwin Achimbom Minang, director of CAROSAF, who made the appeal, told journalists on the eve of school resumption, in Buea.

Minang was speaking at a press conference, during which he and other  CAROSAF officials presented a report of how successful the traffic controllers’ project was last academic year in nine chosen nursery and primary schools in Fako Division, where it was first launched.

According to Minang, “This project was a major success in the 2009/2010 academic year. No incident of a child being injured or killed in a road crash was registered at any of the location where CAROSAF Traffic Controllers operated”. He said the project would continue this academic year.

He called on the government, municipal authorities and other concerned stakeholders to “actively support this project by funding the operation of traffic controllers at other locations ,”adding that, “This will support the global objective to increase and sustain action to prevent road traffic injury and death, especially those involving vulnerable groups such nursery and primary school pupils”

The director said the traffic controllers who were trained for at least a week by CAROSAF transport experts helped school children “cross roads in the vicinity of their schools at peaks periods in the morning and afternoon”.

Minang added that each month the traffic controllers were given an allowance, thanks to financial donation from some Cameroonians of goodwill that included Churchill E. Monono, Dr.Ebob Eta and Robert Tama Lisinge.

Another CAROSAF official, Robert Tama Lisinge, talking on general perspectives on road safety, said awareness is one of the easiest measures to ensure road safety. He regretted that, each year world-wide over 1.2 million people die as a result of road crashes and about 50 million are injured.

Southwest Regional Delegate for Transport, Arthur Ekeke Lisinge, who attended the press conference, lauded CAROSAF for assisting the Government in the promotion of road safety. He said Government is doing much to promote road safety.

“I’m happy that NGO’s such as CAROSAF have come in to help ensure road safety”, he remarked, stressing that road safety should be the preoccupation of everybody.

Courtesy: The Recorder Newspaper, Cameroon, of September 16, 2010

Cameroonian Dr. Fru Richard:I don’t believe there is any disease that is incurable!

Last August 31 was celebrated as the 8^th African Traditional Day. At the centre of the occasion marking the day in Buea was the noted Dr. Fru Richard, Founder/Director, Garden of Eden International Healing & Research Foundation located in Wonya Mavio, in Buea,Cameroon

Dr. Fru’s Garden of Eden served as venue of the ceremony. It was massively attended by people of all walks of life and was characterized by free consultations and treatment of patients, a press conference, lectures on traditional medicine, traditional drug exhibition and cultural dances.Dr. Fru later spoke to The RECORDER Newspaper Editor ,Christopher Ambe Shu



Dr. Fru Richard



Dr. Fru, you just celebrated the 8^th African Traditional Day. What is your appreciation of the theme?

The global theme was “Development and Integration of Traditional Medicine into National Health Systems. But the one we used that day was “The Decade of African Traditional Medicine: How Far?”

This is because in 2001, African head of states designated the period 2001 to 2010 as the decade for African traditional medicine. That was a period set to achieve certain goals, to see that by 2010 traditional medicine is developed and integrated in all the systems of member states. But we realized that by 2010 very little has been achieved by very few countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Namibia. Cameroon is still far behind! It has not even gone any where!

In appreciating the global theme, I would say that, the World Health Organistion (WHO) is doing a lot to see that traditional medicine is developed and integrated into national health systems.

But in Cameroon’s health sector it appears policy makers have not yet seen the advantages traditional medicine has. That is why they are so lukewarm towards it.



That brings me to this question: How is traditional medicine faring in Cameroon?

 Some of us in the private sector are fighting very hard and are so happy that traditional medicine is gaining grounds in the country.



But we think there are some people- especially in the Ministry of Public Health who apparently put barriers on the way. I am referring here to the policy makers who are mostly conventional health practitioners or those so prone to the conventional system. I believe they are hindering the progress of traditional medicine in Cameroon. But those of us in the private sector are working hard and traditional medicine is gaining grounds in the country, despite the odds.

How would you rate the use of traditional medicine in Cameroon?



The use is growing geometrically. Many more people are going for traditional medicine. That is why some conventional health practitioners are so afraid so that they are coming up with strategies kill it. But let me seize this opportunity to strongly advise them to concentrate on what they are doing because they are fighting a lost battle by trying to kill it.

What advantage would you say traditional medicine has over conventional medicine?

Traditional medicine has a lot of adavantages.That is why the United Nations/World Health Organization is pressing on African heads of states (those that are its member) to see that traditional medicine is developed, promoted and integrated into  national health systems. In 2003, the theme of the first African Traditional Medicine Day was “Traditional Medicine: Our Heritage, Our Culture Our Way of Life, Our Pride and Our Future”.

And Dr. Samba, the Regional Director of WHO, sub-sahara region, said traditional medicine has a lot of advantages over conventional medicine especially in Africa, because it is culturally acceptable, it is socially sanctioned; it is available; it is accessible; the methods of preparation are very easy and it has little or no side effects.



In treatment, there must be faith; when faith does not come in to play then there is bound to a gap and treatment is not effective. That is why conventional medicine is also called the reductionist approach. This means conventional doctors are only there to reduce pains, but not to heal- because they have kept aside faith. They infringe on culture. You know there in religion in culture; so traditional medicine respects culture. The adjective-traditional means it respects tradition

In traditional medicine are there some diseases that are incurable?

I don’t believe there is any disease that is incurable. If I am not curing a diease, it does not mean traditional doctors elsewhere can not cure that disease. If I am not curing cancer, there may be somebody in say Yaounde or Fru-awa or India or Nigeria curing it.

Traditional Medicine has no limitations. This is why traditional medicine is referred to as holistic medicine; it is medicine that widens and extends beyond the narrow world view. It is super medicine; it has a lot of super natural properties in it.

What kind of support does traditional medicine in Cameroon expect to receive from the government now?

 For now we don’t need anything other than the development and integration of traditional medicine in to the national system. We believe that if that is done all other support will follow.

Should traditional doctors and medical doctors collaborate in the treatment of patients?

Traditional doctors are medical doctors. Medical is the adjective from the word medicine and anybody who uses medicine to treat patients is a medical health practitioner.

I would prefer you say traditional health practitioners and conventional health practitioners.

However, your question falls in line with what WHO is fighting for .WHO wants that traditional medicine and conventional medicine should be complementary. WHO wants that where one falls short in some situation, the other should complement. The two can and should work together to improve health care delivery.

Try-me is said to be a miraculous drug produced by you. Can you just tell our readers how miraculous this drug is?

Miraculous here means it does what is beyond human understanding. Following the scientific world view one drug can not treat so many diseases. Try-Me has broken that barrier and is doing what has kept scientists dumb-founded today. It heals any thing that comes on its way. That is what makes it miraculous. It heals diseases that are beyond the reach of conventional doctors. So many people programmed for operation -say for tumor in their breast, took it just for a short time and got healed; many who had severe liver cancer took it and got healed; many with kidney failure took it and got healed; many people with spiritual diseases have taken it and got healed, after they had been from one church to another, and from one country to another in search for a cure.

So you see the action of Try-me is miraculous because it is beyond human understanding. It is God who knows what we have used to produce the drug Try-me that is now selling nationally and internationally.

Could you cite some characteristics of a good Traditional doctor?

First of all, he must be morally upright. He must have a good sense of judgment, and conscience. And above, he must adhere to the ethics of the profession of traditional medicine. For, once you go beyond the ethics you become bad.

A good traditional health practitioner must have the health of his patient as his priority, and not put money first. He must ensure that his practice dose not jeopardize the physical well being of the patient, the spiritual or emotional well-being of his patient

So, would you say Dr. Fru is a good traditional health practitioner?

Well, I cannot beat my drum. Let society be the judge.

NB:First published in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of  16th September 2010

Cameroon shaves 2010 budget by 2 pc

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon said on Friday it was shaving two percent off its 2010 budget spending plans after the global financial crisis hit its domestic economy.
The oil-producing African state boosted its 2010 budget 11.4 percent over 2009 to 2.570 trillion CFA francs but has come under pressure from the IMF to reevaluate spending, with the Fund judging that oil production had been overstated.

But so far authorities had resisted the IMF advice as hard to implement, especially in relation to the state subsidies on food and fuel for a population dogged by widespread poverty.

"As a result of the negative impact of the crisis, the president of the republic has instructed us to take measures to ensure prudent, rigorous management of the state budget," Finance Minister Lazarre Essimi Menye said.

Essimi Menye told a news conference the state budget would be cut to 2.520 trillion francs, with the saving to be reinvested in long-term projects.

Economic growth is seen rising from 2 percent last year to around 2.6 percent this year and just over 3 percent in 2011, lagging the region as a whole and barely keeping pace with the annual rise in the population.

Cameroon's imports include everything from rice, wheat and crude oil to paper and pharmaceutical products.

The cost of many products is so high that the ordinary Cameroon cannot buy them, forcing the state to subsidise them.

As an example, he cited the price of petrol which has been subsidised to the tune of 90 billion CFA this year to make the price per litre within reach of the majority of the people.

Essimi Menye said Cameroon needed to develop its processing sector to add value to its exports including crude oil, timber, cocoa, coffee, rubber, aluminium and cotton.

He confirmed that the government is yet to issue Treasury Bonds to raise 200 billion CFA as provided for when the 2010 budget, but gave no precise timeframe on when that might happen.

Cameroon: CHAMEG Lauded for Anti-Poverty Efforts.

 Mr.Yamakawa shakes  hands with CHAMEG Director ,Mrs.Agbor Meg

A Buea –based NGO called Changing Mentalities and Empowering Groups (CHAMEG) is increasingly being commended for its poverty-alleviation efforts by both government officials and foreign investment partners.

Shortly after senior officials of the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training led by His Majesty Melone visited CHAMEG, one of the beneficiaries of the Ministry‘s PIAISI program and commended it for living up to expectations, the NGO was last September 7 host to an expert of  the Japanese International Cooperation (JICA) , Yamakawa Hiroaki, who is also Technical Adviser for SME Policy Development (Ministry of Small & Medium -Size Enterprises Social Economy).JICA has been working with MINPMEESA to support small and medium size enterprises in the transformation of local products.

The visit was intended to get on the field assessment of what CHAMEG has been doing to alleviate poverty and empower groups.

CHAMEG organizes training workshops to instill modern techniques of farming, food processing and petty-trading to enable women engage in income-generating activities, thus rendering them self-employed.

Martina Agbor Tambe, Fako Divisional Delegate for Small and Medium-size Enterprises (MINPMEESA) who accompanied the Japanese expert Yamakawa Hiroaki, told The Recorder: “We had a workshop on small and medium size enterprise development. And the Japanese expert came to tell us how small and medium size enterprises work in Japan. It was kind of a comparative study”

Mrs. Agbor Tambe said the choice of CHAMEG for the visit after the workshop, was due to the fact that it is a leading training NGO in the Southwest.

At CHAMEG Muea road office, its founder/CEO Agbor Magdaline Nchong, warmly received her visitors and answered questions from them

Mrs.Agbor, who is a US -trained financial and marketing expert, told The Recorder that empowering the underprivileged has always been her concern and she would not hesitate to work in partnership with other development agents.

Courtesy:The Recorder Newspaper of 16 th September 2010,Cameroon

Cameroon: Hon. Ayah Wants Prime Minister to account for budgeted but unexecuted Projects!

By Christopher Ambe Shu



Prime Minister Yang:will he Act?



Hon.Ayah:wants accountability



The out -spoken Member of The out -spoken Member of

Parliament (MP) for Akwaya Constituency of the Southwest Region of Cameroon, Hon. Ayah Paul Abine ha s, in an open letter to Prime Minster Philemon Yang, sought to know why for years, and despite repeated official complaints by the people’s representative, public investment projects budgeted for in Akwaya are never executed.Akwaya is one of the least developed localities in Cameroon.

 Hon. Ayah, the only CPDM MP who did not vote for the 2008 constitutional amendment that scrapped off presidential term limits, wondered whether the neglect of his constituency with  a population of over 70,000 people, was because he was conscientious and defending the public interest. The MP questions the PM in his letter: “Is it right of your government to use the people’s taxes as an economic weapon against the very people like my electorate for the simple reason that their representative in the House found it unconscionable to support an amendment of the Constitution that palpably betrayed the social contract between the President of the Republic and the very people?”

Following is Hon. Ayah’s open letter to the Prime Minister. It is a must-read:

Sir,

             The Year of Retaliation

  



 Soon after the adoption of the constitutional amendment in 2008, paving the way for the President of the Republic to stand presidential election indefinitely, a newspaper published that it had received reliable information from “CPDM BIGWIGS” that there would be retaliation against me for standing against the said amendment. Time has proven that the newspaper was wrong if it meant that there would be retaliation solely against me. But the newspaper was perfectly right if it meant there would be extensive and general retaliation. The truth is that my Subdivision of origin has paid a huge a price since then and the worst is seemingly still to come.



 To begin with, Mr. Prime Minister is not without knowing that prior to the amendment I had suffered sustained and repeated mental torture in the form of intimidation, blackmail and criminal defamation. To mention just two instances, I was within five days in January 2008 called up to the Presidency of the Republic and to your office where criminal accusations were leveled against me in virtually identical terms. Even as I gathered legendary courage and demanded that a judicial commission of enquiry be set up in order to get to the veracity of the criminal allegations, no such action has been taken in that direction almost three years since.



 I am in no doubt that in your capacity as head of government, you know, or at least are presumed to know that there is still no standing pipe anywhere in Akwaya that I represent; that there is not one electricity bulb in the area; that health centres exist only on paper; that Akwaya does not receive any Cameroon’s radio station, let alone television; that even as there is total absence of telephone network, the community tele-centre for which a contract was awarded some seven years ago is still only at the wall-plate level; that not one teacher has been sent to the Government High School, Akwaya, much less has the principal been appointed; that Akwaya voters are disenfranchised in that not one identification post does exist in the area up to now, etc.



 I know it is Cameroonian for you lightly to answer that those situations existed prior to the constitutional amendment in 2008. But granting that so was the case, you still would owe the people of Akwaya an explanation as to why in 2008 alone three major projects meant for their area have not seen the light of day some three years since the passing of the Finance Bill. I know you know what I am talking about because for these three years I have asked questions about those projects without anyone condescending even to vouchsafe me a reply. Even as I am writing these words, I have before my eyes signed acknowledgement by your office of my latest representation to you about the projects.

But if you want me to refresh your memory, I should like to point out that, in the first place, 60.000.000 francs was allocated in the 2008 investment budget of Cameroon for the first phase of rural electrification for Akwaya. Not only have I received no reply from the relevant minister to my questions as to what is holding back the start of the project; but my correspondence to you has remained unanswered up to the time of writing these words.

 Again, the sum of 43.500.000 francs was allocated in the same budget of that same year for the construction of a workshop in the Government Technical School Akwaya. We are at the end of 2010, three years since, and nobody has information as to what has become of the allocation, much less as to when the project will be started.



Similarly was the sum of 800.000.000 francs allocated for the feasibility studies of the Mamfe-Akwaya-Befang road. For the same length of time have we waited to see only the presence of anyone on the road even deceiving the people as in the past that some effort was being made to link the area to the rest of Cameroon by road. Even the absence of a road which has exposed our people to humiliation, torture and extortion in Nigeria for so long has received little attention from your government!





 How on earth would you expect anyone with a reasoning faculty to pretend not to see a link between the constitutional amendment and the infliction of pain and poverty on the people of Akwaya as the newspaper had predicted? And is it right of your government to use the people’s taxes as an economic weapon against the very people like my electorate for the simple reason that their representative in the House found it unconscionable to support an amendment of the Constitution that palpably betrayed the social contract between the President of the Republic and the very people?

I hope that you shall clarify the situation soonest and after careful and necessary introspection, Sir!

 Hon. Ayah Paul Abine,

 MP for Akwaya

NB: Hon. Ayah’s letter was first published in The Recorder Newspaper, Cameroon, on September 16, 2010



Cameroon:Aspiring Drivers Now Sit for Competitive Exam

By Christopher Ambe Shu

Any body aspiring to become a licensed driver must henceforth sit for a unique competitive examination, to be written nation-wide on the first Monday of every month, Arthur Lisinge Ekeke, Southwest Regional Delegate for Transport has disclosed.

  “Only those who score 24 on 40 in the 40-multiple-choice question examination will qualify for the practicals, to be organized two weeks after the results of the written exam,” he said.

 The delegate added that lists of candidates for the driving examination and test are submitted to the ten regional delegations of transport by various driving school directors. The delegations of transport, he said, in turn forward such to the Ministry in Yaounde for validation.

Lisinge Ekeke made the disclosures recently in his office in Buea at a press briefing intended to disseminate information on new measures taken by the Minister of Transport concerning the acquisition of a driver’s license and CEMAC number plates. He also threw light on road safety campaigns carried out by his ministry.

Already, the first competitive exam for aspiring drivers was written on September nation-wide. And in the Southwest region over70 candidates sat for it

Conscious that some aspiring drivers may be illiterates or semi-literates, Lisinge told journalists that, examiners are allowed to help interpret questions to such candidates.

On CEMAC number plates, the delegate said henceforth there is nothing again as grace period for new vehicle owners.

What obtained in the past was that, new vehicle owners had up to a three –month period of grace from the day they removed their vehicles from the port -within which period they could ply the road with chisel or foreign numbers pending the procurement of all vehicle documents and their CEMAC number plates .

“Now the fact that your vehicle documents are with us does not give you the latitude to drive the vehicle until you have your carte grisse.

“Vehicle owners should secure their CEMAC number plates in time to avoid being penalized,” he noted.

Commenting on road safety campaigns, the delegate said they are carried out by the ministry especially during peak periods of the year such as school resumption and festive periods.

“The impact is that drivers, aware of the campaigns are very cautious the way they drive”. He insisted that vehicles are required to be taken to various testing center for the checking of its technical state, for them to be issued road worthiness certificate.

Lisinge Ekeke also condemned the over loading of town ship taxis with passengers, hoping that law enforcement agents would be more alert  about this problem of over loading.

Courtesy:The Recorder Newspaper, of September 16,2010,Cameroon

Official: ELECAM Will Install Credible Computerization System

 By Christopher Ambe Shu

The Southwest Regional Delegate for Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has said the elections management body will put in place a credible computerization System.

Njang Emmanuel Mbeng gave the assurance in Buea while launching this year’s voter registration and revision of electoral lists in the Southwest Region, in preparation for the 2011 presidential election.

Mbeng stressed that this year’s registration, which is going on, is different from previous ones in that it has the following innovations: it is being done in ELECAM council branch offices; registers will be used for the first time; ELECAM will put in place a credible computerization system; ELECAM considers all stakeholders in the electoral process as partners; receipts will be issued after registration ,and the mixed commission for revision of electoral registers will be headed by ELECAM Branch officials

The Regional Delegate pleaded with the Southwest population to register massively for the forth-coming political consultations, so that they can take positive decisions about the future of Cameroon.

 “We welcome all Cameroonians of good faith, who have a positive vision and dynamism to accompany Cameroon to a political Eldorado”, he said

He insisted that, ELECAM is an independent electoral body in charge of orgainsing, managing and supervising the entire electoral processes and referendums in Cameroon.

 His insistence left on one in doubt that he was reacting to claims by some opposition parties, international organizations and civil society organizations that ELECAM looks more like the ruling CPDM organ.

Mbeng said the Southwest Delegation of ELECAM was well-equipped to perform its assign duties. “Materials for registration have been supplied, comprising voter registers, receipt booklet and electoral lists of previous elections,” he disclosed, adding: “The Southwest Regional Delegation of ELECAM has already received all electoral material from the Governor of the Southwest West Region”

To qualify for registration  one must fulfill the following conditions: must be a Cameroonian, must be at least 20 years old by the day of the poll, must be in or posses a place of abode within the administrative constituency for at least six months, and must be a citizen who enjoys full civic rights .

But the ELECAM regional boss added, “Members of the armed forces are allowed to register without complying with the residence requirements.”

He said Cameroonians abroad with valid Identity cards, must apply for their names to be maintained on the electoral lists in the constituency or polling station they last voted.

It emerged that ELECAM would at the first stage preoccupy itself with the registration of new voters and later embark on revision of voter registers after it must have put in place the commissions.

The launching of this year’s voter registration and revision of electoral lists in the Southwest Region was attended by journalists, members of civil society organizations, and some political parties such as the CPDM.

But conspicuously absent was Cameroon’s leading opposition party, the SDF, which has threatened to boycott next year’s polls should the Biya regime fail to review ELECAM, so to make it generally accepted as an independent electoral body.

Cameroon:Hon. Emilia Lifaka Commended for Donating To SW Chiefs

 By Christopher Ambe Shu



Hon..Emilia M.Lifaka



 Hon Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, Vice president of Cameroon‘s National Assembly has received accolade from Southwest Chief for being the first Member of Parliament(MP) to make a donation to Southwest Chiefs’ Conference(SWECC),now headed by Nhon Etuge Pius,with Chief Ayuk John Etchu as its Secretary-General



Hon.Lifaka has donated 100 plastic chairs and the sum of FCFA 500,000 to the chiefs recently to help them equip their secretariat in Buea, whose conference had inadequate seats and other office equipment.

“  Your Highness, though so little this is an offer coming from your daughter who recognizes and respects the institution you represent, who acknowledges the important role you play in the development effort of our region and the enormous contribution and sacrifices you make to ensure that there is peace in the region…”,remarked Hon Lifaka,as she made the donations. “ It is my own way of contribution in providing you with an enabling environment to enable you accomplish your mission”

Present to receive the gifts were members SWECC executive Council, who variously showered Hon. Lifaka with praises.

For instance, Chief Tabong Kima (and retired Ambassador) said, “I have not heard before that any of our MP’s has had anything to do with the chiefs. It is a wonderful initiative. The chiefs are delighted for the gifts”

For his part, a beaming Chief Tabe Tando, said, “Madam, we are grateful .You are the first to come. We have seen images of what you have done elsewhere before this. We can only say continue...”

Observers said Hon Lifaka is arguably the most generous MP in the Southwest region.

”Every time you hear that Hon. Lifaka is donating to this or that group.What are  other MP’s doing? ” questioned a journalist also witnessed the brief ceremony

Source: The Recorder Newspaper of September 16, 2010, Camaeroon

Paul Tasong: The Workaholic & Strategist as New MINEPAT Secretary-General

By Christopher Ambe Shu



PAUL TASONG



If at all the appointment of Paul Tasong as the new Secretary-General in the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development(MINEPAT) came as a surprise to a few Cameroonians, to many others his promotion was long expected - especially by those who have interacted or worked with this gentleman who hails from the Lebialem Division of the Southwest Region. They say Mr.Tasong is synonymous to hard work

Always decently dressed, disciplned and soft-spoken, Mr.Tasong is generally described as a workaholic and a go- getter.



 To get the best of results from him, his admirers say, entrust him with a difficult assignment and give him a free hand.

After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in public law, Mr. Tasong enrolled into EMAM Yaounde and graduated in 1988 as a tax inspector. He then worked briefly in the public service before enrolling in the prestigious University of Anvers in Belgium where he obtained a Masters degree in Public Administration and Management.

With a Masters degree in Public Administration and Management, he turned down employment offers from foreign employers, and returned to Cameroon- as true patriots do, to contribute his quota in the development of the country.

Back in the public service, Mr.Tasong would later be appointed South West Provincial Delegate for MINEPAT.He served in that position from 1999 to 2004, always  impressing his hierarchy and the public with his outstanding output. Based on merit, he would, in 2004, be promoted to the strategic position of Director of Public Investment Programming in the same Ministry in Yaoundé-a position he held and demonstrated mastery of the job until his recent elevation to the all-powerful position of Secretary-General in the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development.

While commissioning Mr.Tasong in to his new office as SG, on September 6, 2010, Louis Motaze, Minster of Economy, Planning and Regional Development told him: “The weight on your shoulder is quite heavy and the President of the Republic who appointed you is expecting nothing but positive results”. The Minster’s remark only made Mr.Tasong smile-a smile his admirers immediately said was an indication of his readiness to deliver the expected results.

Minister Motaze drew Mr.Tasong’s attention to the fact that the phase of elaborating the country’s economic Strategic document was over and now is the time for full implementation, which, the Minster said, is   Mr. Tasong’s immediate task.

But the minister was optimistic that Mr.Tasong would live up to expectation. He called for collaboration with other personnel.

Mr. Tasong replaced Roger Mbassa, now on retirement.

NB: First published in The Recorder Newspaper, Cameroon, on September 6, 2010

Cameroon:Fru Ndi warns SDF Supporters against Enrolling in Electoral Registers

By Christopher Ambe Shu

After meeting with officials of ELECAM in Yaounde Tuesday to press for an urgent review of the controversial electoral body, Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman of SDF, Cameroon’s leading opposition party, has called on SDF militants and sympathizers not to bother to enroll in the electoral registers at least for now, until further notice.

The call is coming at a time that ELECAM has just launched this year’s voter registration and revision of electoral lists in preparation for the 2011 presidential election. The SDF met with ELECAM at the latter’s invitation to discuss voter registration and the way forward

Addressing a press conference following a meeting of SDF hierarchy with ELECAM board, Fru Ndi emphasized that the electoral body is highly untrustworthy and therefore it cannot conduct any free and fair election in the country.

Fru said SDF would only participate in the coming election if ELECAM, widely believed to be an organ of the ruling CPDM and not an independent electoral body as expected, were completely overhauled.

As at now, the majority of ELECAM Board members are reportedly CPDM loyalists, and admintrators believed to be pro- Biya regime are still required to be involved in the management of elections, against popular wish.

But Fru Ndi was unclear as to whether the SDF would boycott the coming polls if his party’s request for the review of ELECAM were in the end ignored.

 “Has the SDF told you that we are boycotting elections?” he fired at the press when pressed to make his party’s position absolutely clear on the coming presidential poll.

“Why can we not come out with laws that will ensure free and fair elections in Cameroon?” he asked rhetorically. “We say enough is enough”

According to Fru Ndi if the 2011 presidential elections must be conducted hitch-free, certain SDF proposed conditions must be met. These include: a two-round vote, Cameroonians abroad must be allowed to vote, the use of a single ballot paper and the participation of political parties in all the electoral processes.

Fru Ndi said unless the SDF conditions are met he cannot ask his militants and supporters to enroll in the electoral registers. He urged SDF officials who are calling on militants to register to put a halt to such calls.

While reiterating his resolve to continue promoting peace and dialogue in the country, the SDF leader warned the Biya regime against taking Cameroonians for granted.

Cameroon:Toying With Decentralisation

By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaounde.

Governing a country is very complex business. What every country is worth largely depends on how this complexity is managed. The extent to which the citizens ensure that no single individual is in general charge, and to which everyone involved is partly in charge, determine how well a country fares. The general health of a country depends on the extent to which the people run their own affairs without any citizen feeling the need to be in phase with some political grouping, religious creed, or tribal cabal in order to enjoy their freedom and happiness, or live a fulfilled life.
The management of the complex business of governance involves bargains and accommodations among factions and interest groups, to give enough room for individual initiative and discretion, group adaptation, and functional variations between communities.


The centralized set-up that has prevailed in Cameroon since the ‘60s has meant that an all-powerful central figure stuffed the top with political appointees and civil servants. It has meant that in daily life, recommendations move upwards and orders flow downwards. This is why most appointees, civil servants, and politicians always give the impression that they lack initiative, and always do what they do because “His Excellency the Head of State” directed them to do so. They hardly ever exercise independent judgement, let alone think for themselves, since they always do only what they are told to do! And so commonsense, imagination, and other personal talents hardly have any room in the daily work of citizens.


Centralisation has been discredited by corruption, embezzlement of public funds, waste of resources, indolence and laxity, human rights violations, secretiveness about the people’s business, the rule of power in place of the rule of law, and generalised distrust and suspicion of the people by those in power. It has been discredited by the monopoly model of electricity and water supply inherited from colonial government, which has not only been incapable of continuous supply of the amenities to all local council areas, but also of supplying them at affordable prices.


Centralisation has converted us into hostages of the rainy season during which most rural areas are cut-off from urban centres by bad roads; and road construction and maintenance works, as well as the movement of goods and services across the country are at a standstill. Central control freaks have shown a self-interested unwillingness to plan investment activities to coincide with the dry season. Centralisation has confiscated the power the people are supposed to wield, and reduced them to beggars, while those they have put forward to fend for them have elevated themselves to the position of bountiful givers.


This evidence that centralization and the complexity of governance are not good bedfellows generated the hope that the mode of decentralization that Cameroonians have been clamouring for, and that was finally inscribed in the 1996 constitution would break the stranglehold of centralization on the state. Unfortunately, the way in which the decentralization programme is being implemented leaves the impression that it is just another aspect of centralization! The work to be done is being subdivided and parcelled out, while the same people are still hanging desperately on to central control. The people are still being prevented from the free exercise of opinion and initiative – from electing their representatives. The top is still being stuffed with appointees and civil servants.


It was hoped that decentralisation would allow council areas to plan investment activities strategically; and with vision for the future of the council; and with help from a responsible and responsive government, procure enough funds to allow council areas to freely carry out road construction and maintenance works, and other investment projects – like building of schools, health and administrative infrastructures, and the provision of various social amenities – only during the dry season. The rainy season would therefore be reserved for all the paper work related to investment projects in readiness for serious investment works during the 3 – 4 months of dry season each year. Two to three cycles of such strategic planning and execution of investment projects by local councils would cause serious positive changes in economic and human development indicators of not only the local areas, but the country as a whole.


Indeed, it was hoped that such decentralisation would empower the people, promote subsidiarity, transparency, and local democracy, and institute local regulatory structures and sources of funds, leaving the central government to be the facilitator, not the all-encompassing provider. This would make it possible for services like electricity and water supply to be set-up in local areas as competitive businesses, not privileges guarded by monopolies. These expectations have been dashed by what we are witnessing today.


Many persons like Hans Eysenck and other racist scientists, in order to justify slave trade, colonization and exploitation, and the present social, economic and political backwardness of Africa, argued that it was all due to hereditary determinism; that it is due to our genes. However, the recently concluded human genome project that has mapped all the genes in man has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that “race" is a fallacy that has no basis in science. In other words, our backwardness in Africa is not due to the fact that our genes are different from the genes of the people that live in the western world; we are all just human beings.


What is certain is that human beings are affected by nature and nurture; backwardness and progress depend on how humans deal with the two factors. Nature would be about how we face the hills and valleys, rain and sunshine, the dry and rainy seasons, winter, spring, and summer, etc. Nurture would refer to how the environment in which we grow up allows us to face and dominate these natural forces to the advantage of the advancement of society. In the domain of nurture are freedom and liberty, democracy and the rule of law, education and the discipline that free the mind of the individual citizen who is symbolic of the hen that lays the "golden egg" of development.


Organisation of flawed elections, sit-tight leaders, daily violation of human rights, embezzlement and misuse of the common wealth that is controlled by the government, are all reasons why man in Africa falls far behind man in the western world in many aspects of life. Citizens are interested in freely running the affairs of their communities. The more reason why they should be given the opportunity to control their own affairs, in order to put an end to an organisational structure that creates a sea of poverty and helplessness, with a bloated island of arrogance and opulence floating at the centre.

THE WORLD YOUTH CONFERENCE 2010:Chief A.S Ngwana's View

The United Nations officials who set up the World Youth Conference 2010 (WYC) thought that they had everything under control. They had carefully choreagraphed the event in order to achieve the results that they wanted. But things at the conference, held in the city of Leon from August 25–27, did not go entirely as they had planned. Sergio Burga, of PRI (Population Research Institute), provided on-the-scene, in-depth coverage from Mexico as the U.N. launched its new attack on children and families. The conference agenda was greeted by strong protests by many of the young people in attendance. The UN did not look kindly upon this deviance from its agenda, and expelled these young people from the event.

UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNAIDS and other UN agencies had begun their preparation for WYC 2010 by handpicking about two hundred youth delegates from around the world to attend.

Their selection criteria was highly restrictive, so it is no accident that almost all of these "youth representatives" were actually radical activists of one stripe or another, ranging from leaders of pro-abortion organizations, to members of homosexual and radical feminist groups. At the same time, these UN agencies attempted to exclude all young people belonging to pro-life, pro-family groups. As the protests inside the conference showed, this effort was not entirely successful.

Among the mainstream groups that were excluded from the conference was the International Youth Alliance (IYA). This is an umbrella organization that includes over 50 youth groups from Mexico, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and the U.S. The IYA publicly rejected the UN's pro- abortion and pro-homosexual policies and demanded that the UN respect the Latin American culture, with its strong emphasis on family values.

The UN, supported by the government of Mexico, had picked as the theme of the 2010 WYC the phrase “Say it Strong.” The International Youth Alliance brought together hundreds of young people excluded from the 2010 WYC on a march under the banner of "Say it Right." The contrast between the UN's loud propagandizing of falsehoods about life, family and human sexuality, and the IYC's insistence on telling the truth about these same subjects could not have been starker.

Another UN gambit—this one used to maintain iron-fisted control of the wording of the “Final Declaration”—was to make participation in the conference incredibly complicated. The public was given the impression that the declaration represented the collective voices of young people worldwide, but in fact it was drafted by UN bureaucrats. To further complicate matters, the WYC was divided into three tracks: the Social Forum (which itself was subdivided into an NGO forum and a gathering of the youth), the Government Forum, and the Legislative Forum. The three of these forums operated almost simultaneously from the beginning to the end of the conference.

Even the hand-picked UN delegates had little input into the “Final Declaration.” These young people, as a few of them belatedly realized, were there only to provide window dressing. They were kept busy participating in workshops, thematic conferences and roundtables, and had little or no opportunity to ensure that their real opinions were reflected in the final document.

The Legislative Forum provided another example of this kind of anti-democratic manipulation. The Legislative Forum, according to the UN, will work independently of the Government Forum, since both will give their findings on the same day without any contact with each other. But this is just more window dressing. It is not difficult to see how the UN will use the Legislative Forum, which is packed with more of its hand-picked supporters from around the world—all there on the UN's dime—to approve another pre-fabricated “Declaration” which dovetails with the others.

Like China's one-party dictatorship with its rubber-stamp National People's Congress, the UN bureaucracy pays lip service to democratic forms while ensuring that its own party line prevails. And so we hear its young puppets declaring that abortion is a human right, the family is a social construct, and any expression of sexuality, however perverted, is OK.

Don't believe it.