Inside Cameroon

 About 123 Poultry farmers after staging a sitting in Yaounde,have written a memo to Prime Minister Philemon Yang asking him to take measures to ensure the continuous sale of non infected Fowls.

In their memo,they are asking for a security corridor to be created where these fowls will be transported to-neutral markets. They are calling on the immediate lifting of the ban on sales of fowls in Some regions. 

Birds Flu has cost the economy to lose over ten billion in just a month. Thousands of jobs have been put on balance and a man in West committed suicide a forth night ago due to his inability to refund a loan he took from a local bank.

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Prince Nfor Hanson

30.Jun.2016

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Monday June 27, 2016, was a black day for the population of Kumba in Meme Division of the South Region. They woke up that fateful morning to news of the passing on of three commercial motorbike riders crushed to death by a front-loader caterpillar in Fiango in front of K’town Hotel at about 7.45 am. Bisong Randy Enow, one of the riders died on the spot, while Fonyam Sylvone and Nkwenkap Eugene, later gave up the ghost in the Kumba District Hospital.

The other 9 victims are still in the hospital where medics are giving special medical attention. Some of the victims suffered fractures on legs, arms and heads, with many in critical conditions. The population spent the day running between the scene of the accident in Fiango and the Kumba District Hospital to personally see the horror. The driver of the caterpillar in mad rush drove into a township taxi with three passengers and then four motorbike riders. It ended up pulling down the wall of K’town Hotel and was only stopped by another parked vehicle in the premises.

The Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Meme, Koulbout Aman David, the Divisional Officer, DO, for Kumba II and security men immediately rushed to the scene of the accident in Fiango and then the hospital to comfort the victims and their families. The SDO urged the Director of the Hospital and his staff to pay more attention to the victims. The surviving nine victims who are responding in hospital are Mbango Tapitha, Eboe Ebande, Miken nee Nkem Adeline, Ngum Trossey, Mbango Taseu, Oben Nerogon, Matute Sone, Doh Kinsley, and Tambi Ramson. As at press time, the caterpillar driver was still on the run, while security men have opened investigations into the matter.

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Rita Akana

29.Jun.2016

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The first devastating effect of Birds Flu has been recorded in Noun Division, West Region. A poultry farmer in his 40s plunges into the Noun river and died following the persistent lost of fowls, resources and most especially money he borrowed from a bank. Simon Nguemo drove his car, packed beside the river, dived inside and was gone. He leaves behind a wife and child.

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Rita Akana

23.Jun.2016

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Heavy down pour of rains  in Douala  has renderered  many families homeless. Homes have been inundated. Streets transformed into streams. The rain has been ceaseless for hours. New Town Airport is one of worse hit areas.Tropical monsoon rains and subsequent flooding are becoming more frequent in southwestern Cameroon, as well as in other countries with shores on the Gulf of Guinea. Each year the heavy rains seem to become more deadly and do more damage. 

 Annual rainfall fluctuates from year to year, but in Douala, for example, averaged 3,000mm of rain per year between 1906 and 1965. This has since increased to 3,200mm in 1989 and 3,800 mm in 2010, before falling to 3,080mm in 2014, according to the National Department of Meteorology (DMN).  

Several unfulfilled promises were made last year when the city of Douala witnessed one of the most dangerous floods,but authorities have failed to live up to expectation.

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Prince Nfor Hansen

23.Jun.2016

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Husbands who are found guilty of having sexual intercourse with other women will be slammed a six-year imprisonment term and fine, ranging from FCFA 25,000 to 100,000.

This is one of the elements of the bill on the amendment of the Penal Code that government tabled in Parliament on June 13. The prosecution of adulterous husbands is one of the amendments that the government has proposed in the Code.

Until the proposed amendment becomes law, the current Penal Code provides that only women found guilty of adultery are punished, while the men guilty of the same crime are left off the hook of justice to enjoy impunity.

The proposed amendment of this section of the law provides that both men and women guilty of adultery will face the music of the law on equal basis. They both bag a six-year jail term and pay a fine of FCFA 25,000 to FCFA 100,000.

The law provides that an adulterous partner can only be prosecuted if there is a complaint from his or her partner. It equally provides that the court can stop prosecution if the victim decides to forgive his or her adulterous partner.

People who send away their spouses or abandon them unjustly will face the long arm of the law by virtue of article 358(1) of the proposed amendment. An imprisonment term of three months to one year and the payment of a fine of FCFA 500,000 have been reserved for them. The imprisonment term, going by the proposed amendment, increases to five years for a husband who is guilty of sending away his pregnant wife.

If the proposed amendments are adopted, Cameroon will emerge with a Penal Code that gives a kink to the protection of the rights of women and gender equality.

Many gender activists hold that its provisions are in tandem with the recommendations of the UN Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW.

The bill that has 370 articles, seeks to update the Penal Code that Cameroon has been using since 1967. Many of the provisions of the almost half a century Penal Code are obsolete and stand at variance with the evolution of time. They are at odds with the current socio-economic and political dispensation of the country.

Article 163 of the draft law provides that people found guilty of examination fraud are punishable with an imprisonment term of one to three years and a fine ranging from FCFA 25000 to FCFA 2 million. People found guilty of having fake certificates are also punishable under this section of the proposed law.

Even officials who would be found guilty of having facilitated the entry of students into institutions through fraud will face the law. Examiners who deliberately cause the failure of students in official exams will equally be prosecuted. Once found guilty, they will bag a five-year imprisonment term and pay a fine ranging between FCFA 200,000 to FCFA 2 million.

Gay rights activists in Cameroon are bitterly disappointed given that it is still maintained in the Code that homosexuality is a criminal offence in Cameroon. Thus any one found guilty of committing homosexuality is slammed an imprisonment term of six months to five years with a fine ranging between FCFA 20,000 to FCFA 200,000.

The new Code will have regressive elements extracted from the law on terrorism that Parliament adopted last year. Such provisions, observers hold, constitute an affront to fundamental liberties like public demonstrations.

Advocates of press freedom also take exception to the fact that the criminal defamation element will still be maintained in the new Code. This means that journalists can still go to prison in Cameroon for expressing their opinions. It still maintains the element wherein one can bag a heavy jail term if found guilty of outrage against the Head of State.

The proposed amendment also seeks to protect citizens against quack doctors who claim to treat every disease. Meanwhile, tenants who refuse to pay their rents are also liable to imprisonment terms of three months to three years as well as pay fines for destruction to buildings they are renting.The new Code is tailored to be at ease with the fight against corruption and cyber criminality, as well as, some international instruments such as the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime and the OHADA Uniform Acts on General Business Law Relating to Collateral and Cooperative Societies.

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cameroonpostline

22.Jun.2016

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The Esu community in North-West Cameroon has been subject to systematic and sustained arbitrary judicial and administrative harassment for several years due to their resistance to a huge land grab involving 75% of their communal land. Recently the persecution has increased and the crisis is heading for a violent end. Below is an update on the situation and call for urgent action.

Redemption Godlove, a secondary school teacher was arrested from his home in Esu at 2 a.m. on 22/4/2016 by six plain clothes gendarmes and taken to the Gendarmerie Legion in Bamenda for interrogation on trumped up charges of vandalism and arson in relation to grass huts belonging to ELBA Ranch owned by commercial rancher Baba Ahmadou Danpullo. Redemption is one of about a dozen youth leaders targeted for intimidation and harassment because of their stance against a land grab by the billionaire rancher. Redemption was transferred from the Legion to Bamenda Central prison where he is awaiting trial.
Kpwe Philip Abue a prominent youth leader was arrested by a road patrol police on the 25/5/2016. Abue was travelling from Esu to Bamenda for business as he does regularly when he was stopped and arrested at a routine identity card check point. Abue is languishing in the overcrowded Bamenda Central Prison awaiting trial.

On the 26/5/2016, Abue and Redemption were put under duress inside the prison by the authorities to sign a ‘resignation’ letter from the Esu Youths Development Association which has been opposed to the land grab of 75% of Esu communal land by Baba Ahmadou Danpullo. The letter was presented by authorities in a pre-trial hearing. Their lawyer objected as it is clearly extracted under duress.
On 24/05/2016, the Fon (traditional ruler) of Esu, HRH Kum Achuo II was summoned to Bamenda by Colonel Beyegue Guy, Legion Commander of the North-West Region. Fon Achuo II was arraigned before Njie Mbondo Albert, Prosecutor-General of the North-West Region, accusing him of arson and vandalism. He has been summoned to Bamenda, far away from his village, three times in less than one month on these trumped up charges. The authorities have been threatening to remove Fon Achuo II as traditional ruler of Esu for refusing to accept bribes and intimidation to cede the land to the commercial rancher. Benoit William Emvoutou, Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum has threatened Fon Achou II with arrest if Esu people stage any protests against the land grab. He is being intimidated because he has refused to support the illegal takeover of his village by Baba Ahmadou Danpullo.
On 12/01/2016, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, Governor of the North-West Region banned a press conference by the Fon of Esu and their lawyer in violation of their constitutional right.

On 09/06/2016 three more Esu youth leaders: Divine Biame, Zong Cyprian and Bernard Meh Dankawo were summoned to the Legion of the Gendarmerie in Bamenda and detained on same accusations of arson and vandalism. The Divisional Officer for Fungom Edward Egbe Forzah has constantly threatened the youths demanding a written apology from them for allegedly disrespecting him.
Even if the charges were valid the right jurisdiction is Menchum Division where the purported crimes took place. But they were instead taken to Bamenda, a different Judicial Division far away from their families. Under Cameroon law a crime is prosecuted under the judicial division where it was committed.
Both Abue and Redemption have been in prison without bail for several weeks in violation of Cameroon laws. The offences for which they are being charged are bailable offences.
It is not the first time Esu youth leaders have been arrested. On 9th July 2015, Kpwe Philip Abue, Dyfred Ndzo Zang, William Meh and Oumarou Bouba were arrested on orders of Bekondo Brunnette Ebe, Senior State Counsel for Wum for allegedly violating an injunction order on the disputed land. They were detained in the Public Security Police post in Wum. They were released when Esu population organised a peaceful sit-in in Wum.
All of the arrested are part of a list of nine targeted youth leaders (and the Fon of Esu himself). The targeted are: Biame Divine, Khagha Mbong Ephraim, Meh Williams, Wung Emmanuel, Fuh Bernard, Meh Ivo and Azong Cyprian. Others who have not been summoned are targeted through bribery and intimidation and forced to make false confessions to implicate the community leaders.
All of them are being targeted on trumped charges of arson and vandalism. This is rather ironical because on 18th January 2016, farm houses belonging to Esu people were burnt down by workers of ELBA Ranch belonging to the land grabber BAD. The matter was reported to the authorities but they took no action. Instead the above are being persecuted for burning of farm houses belonging to themselves?
Background

For 30 years the Esu community has peacefully resisted against the forceful takeover of their communal land by billionaire rancher and member of the Central Committee of the ruling RDPC party. The struggle came to head when the rancher attempted to establish a land certificate in 2015. The Esu village of 35,000 organised peaceful protests. Over 200 people have been displaced by ranch leading to some deaths. The chemicals from the ranch have contaminated the rivers and drinking water of the villagers causing illnesses and deaths. Several people have arrested, tortured and detained for resisting the land grab. He has bribed a number of Esu individuals who are helping him to take over the land.
Baba Ahmadou Danpullo applied for an injunction to stop the Esu villagers from accessing their communal land. The Esu challenged the injunction in court. Mr Danpullo then reinstated the application. Esu filed a case in court demanding that he proves he own the land. To date he has not produced any evidence in court to this effect.

Instead in February 2016, Baba Ahmadou Danpullo filed a court case on trumped charges of defamation claiming 100 million FCFA damages against Barrister Fon Robert, the lawyer representing Esu community. The lawyer is only doing his job defending the Esu community and it is the first he is directly targeting the lawyer who has won many cases against Danpullo on behalf of the Mbororo community.

On 12/12/2015, Mr Danpullo wrote a protest letter to the President and Prime Minster complaining that the North-West Governor Adolph Lele Lafrique is supporting Esu people against him. He published the letter in the national media. The Governor strongly denied the accusations. The Governor organised a field visit to the disputed on 29/12/2015, and set up a commission to look into the land but to date there has been no report from the commission. According to the administrative authorities it is because Mr Danpullo has refused to attend the commission which he is funding to defend his application for a land title.
In a meeting called by Prime Minister Philemon Yang on 27/02/2016, in Ayaba Hotel, Bamenda, attended by the Governor, Senior Divisional and Divisional Officers of Menchum Fungom and all stakeholders, Mr Danpullo declared in the presence of everyone that he has given the Governor of the North-West and other government officials 50 million FCFA but was still waiting for his land certificate.

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Rita Akana

22.Jun.2016

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