Politics

Five classrooms of the Government Primary School Atuakom in Bamenda are reported burned down by unidentified individuals notwithstanding the frightening presence of the forces of law and order who have invaded Southern Cameroons, especially  to ensure the safety of candidates taking official examinations. The incident occurred during the early hours of Monday morning, around 3 a.m., reports camerooninfo.net.

According to reports, the unidentified persons perpetrated the act and disappeared before security forces could arrive at the scene.

But the fire fighting brigade arrived with the police and put out the fire.  

As investigations get underway, some sources claim that the incident is the handiwork of some activities fighting for the Anglophone Cause.

This is not the first time fire is consuming buildings in Southern Cameroons. Several places have been reduced to ashes, including markets ( in Bamenda  and  Limbe), a police station and several other schools).

The unrest in Southern Cameroons began in November 2016 when Common Law lawyers took to the street to decry (most importantly) the invasion of their legal culture by East Cameroon. Teachers and students followed and the strike took a different turn.

For months now, the majority of the students and pupils in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon have been away from classes.

Ghost towns continue in spite of pressure and crackdown from Yaoundé.

The practical phase of the General Certificate of Education began on Monday, featuring just everybody including unregistered candidates.  

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Jerome Ngwa

15.May.2017

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The principle of separation of power which is a basic tenet in democracy is a far fetched dream in la republique du Cameroun. The 84 year old tyrant unilaterally controls the executive, judiciary and the legislative arms of government. Going by section 8 of the crook and biased 1996 Constitution, Mr Biya is the president of the republic, head of state, Chief of defence force, Head of the higher judicial council amongst many other prerogatives conferred on him. It is unheard of in modern democracy to know that a president elected by the people, appoint and dismisses top government and military officials at will without any objection from anywhere.
The gerontocratic Yaounde government is 90 percent manned by natives of the Bulu, Ewondo and Etone clans (Beti tribe). The non beti government officials including those from the Anglophone Community are people who swear to defend the interest of the ruling party even if it means jeopardising the well-being of the population.  
Shockingly, it has been revealed that for over 30 years of Biya’s reign over Cameroon, he has used over 500 cabinet ministers with southern Cameroons getting just 70 ministers without portfolio out of it. More to that, very important and strategic ministerial positions are being occupied by natives from the Bulu community where Mr. biya originates and most of these persons are his old friends and classmates.
Nonetheless,it wouldn’t be an affront to the Beti military regime to say that the judiciary is not independent. Biya appoints judges in tribunals mainly to settle political scores rather than to serve justice to litigants. The recent illegal arrest, torture and detention of one of Southern Cameroon’s legal luminary, chief justice Ayah Paul Abine is a glaring example.The legal sector is marred with high level bribery and corruption, justice goes to the highest bidder.
On the other hand, many have described the Yaounde based parliament as a robber stamp, group of stooges and hand clappers. The coming of the senate, has added nothing but rather helped to drain tax payers money with the huge salaries they receive from Mr. Biya.The national Assembly on its part has never adopted any private member bills but only those emanating from the francophone dominant government.Controlling government action which is parliament’s fundamental role is an exception with the Ngoa Ekelle glass house MPs.
It should be recalled that Paul Biya took over power from Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982 and two years after, he changed the name of the country from United Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Cameroon without consulting the parliament nor conducting any referendum. He has ruled Cameroon since then till date and he is preparing to run for another mandate at the age of 85 come 2018.  

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Rita Akana

15.May.2017

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Heavy jail terms dangle over the Bishops of the Bamenda Episcopal Conference (BAPEC), the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) and the Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC), if teachers of the aforementioned confessional schools decide to peruse a court case against the Men of God for the non-payment of their salaries.

Meeting under the umbrella of the Cameroon Confederation of Confessional Trade Unions (CCCTU) in Bamenda recently, teachers of Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist schools said the non-payment of their salaries since February has been tabled before the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for it to arbitrate on.  

The executive members of CCCTU bemoaned that since the eruption of the November 21, 2016 teachers’ strike and its suspension in February, their salaries have not been paid by their various employees, while their colleagues in Government schools are still entitled to theirs.

They urged their respective bosses to reconsider their action and reinstate their salaries. The CCCTU executive said they are going through a torrid time with their families without salaries.

They demanded for an avenue of social dialogue and collective bargaining between the teachers, the church leaders, and any other stakeholder to enable them reach a compromise.

The executive meeting of the Confessional Trade Unions was jointly chaired by Emmanuel Ayeah, President Baptist Teachers’ Trade Union of Cameroon (BTTUC), Gilbert Lakinyu, Vice President Catholic Workers’ Trade Union (CEWOTU) and Stephens Afu Kwah, President Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers’ Trade Union (PEATTU).

Speaking at the conclave, the National President of CCCTU, Afu Kwah, said the issue of non-payment of teachers’ salaries has subjected them to untold hardship.

“But it is this Ministry of Labour AND Social Security that can determine when the issue can generate into a court case... The Labour Code in section 34 to 40 is very clear on this,” Afu Kwah noted.

Members of CCCTU said teachers of confessional schools sacrificed a lot to produce quality results, despite working under very difficult conditions.

Their complains are coming barely a few weeks after the aforementioned church leaders were sued at the Bamenda and Buea Courts of First Instance  by a Consortium of Parents, whose children attend mission schools.

But the CCCTU Executive regretted that their various church leaders have been dragged to court by a group of unknown individuals.

However, if the Ministry of Labour and Social Security fails to strike a compromise  between the teachers and the Anglophone church leaders; then Mgrs Cornelius Fontem Esua, Michael Bibi, George Nkuo, Immanuel Bushu, Agapitus Nfon, Andrew Nkea, Rev Samuel Fonki and Rev Godwill Chiatoh Ncham will heading to the courts again.  

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Abeh Valery

15.May.2017

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Twenteith of May 1972 was and remains a farse and today falsehood must be debunked and killed. Cameroon remains a state that venerates falsehood and deceit .
It's on record and history can attest that the Fifteith anniversary of reunification was celebrated in Buea wheras the format of the state that was born as a result of the 11th of February 1961 masquerade had been ruined.
Celebrating May 20th as national day across the Cameroon's is show casing falsehood,deception and manipulative tendencies.  

I have never seen a situation where by a couple instead of celebrating their respective birthdates start celebrating their wedding day as an upper most event.
Furthermore we cannot continue to fool ourselves by celebrating Germain Ahidhjo' s birthdate. Its time enough for us to remove the saw dust from our eyes.

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Rita Akana

14.May.2017

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Today in Bamenda peace loving citizens and populace witnessed an intimidation parade by blood thirsty BIR battalion elements each carrying at least five heavily armed weapons as a show of false bravado.
The people of the North West Region and erstwhile Southern Cameroons say no to such antics and no to such uncalled for provocation.  
The people of the erstwhile Southern Cameroons can comfortably wipe out these brutes from the surface of the earth without resulting to the use of weapons.
The purported Commander of the BIR battalion shall have such cowardice sanctioned by history when tomorrow shall be our judge.
Military men and women, Gendarmes and Police in Cameroon have refused to be abreast with the changing era and seemingly are still using antics that were fashionable in the 60's and 70's and therefore are out dated and mundane.
The Military of La Republique should come to understand that no country has ever won any war against its people.
The united Nations Organization's Secretary General through his Central African sub Regional representative is watching as well as the world as Cameroon tramples on human rights.  

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Rita Akana

14.May.2017

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History has proven and still holds that there can be no valid democracy without a strong Opposition. God is not a fool to have allowed Satan stand against Him this long, going by Christianity.

But what we observe in Cameroon is just the reverse. There is no Opposition in Cameroon.

Recently, something caught our attention. Leaders of two of the leading parties in Cameroon expressed very divergent views about the status quo in the nation.

While the leader of the leading opposition party (Social Democratic Front) was crying foul against the government for being unable and unwilling to handle the numerous problems plaguing our nation, his counterpart of the Cameroon Democratic Union (UDC) was calling on his militants to “preserve the heritage of our fore-fathers”. Adamou Ndam Njoya made the call on Wednesday in the West Region.

According to him, there is nothing wrong. The Foumban Conference has been given the right attention. As a result, his militants must hold tight to National Unity.  But that is his own point of view, which must not necessarily match Fru Ndi’s. The chairman of SDF sees a “decaying state of our nation”. Mr Fru Ndi raised the concerns in a letter addressed to his militants on 7th May, calling on them to boycott National Unity Day on 20th May.

 In a country of less than 30 million people it is quite unconceivable that more than two hundred opposition parties should pretend to stand against a single government. How many followers can each party have?

By the way, what is the main motive for creating a party? Are we creating parties because we want to ensure the respect of democratic values or simply because we want to put something into our pockets, given that recognized political parties are given financial assistance by the State during election campaigns?

Certainly, the Opposition is not an enemy of the government. But a strong Opposition is the watchdog of every democracy.

And the sheer number of political parties in Cameroon would not be a problem if the leaders of such movements had a focus. Unfortunately they are as divided and confused as you can imagine. If there were a good focus for each party, most of the leaders should have had similar ideas, which would have bound them together in a strong coalition that could do what was done in the Gambia months ago.

 How can we explain the fact that a political party should participate in an election just to tender its votes to the ruling party?

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Rita Akana

13.May.2017

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