Politics

The Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP) says "Yes to federalism as a mode of administration"
In an open letter signed by President Alice Sadio, the Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP) has called on the government of Cameroon to listen to the voices of its citizens! We do not govern against the people, but with the people and for the people. "

The entire AFP position:

The Northwest and Southwest Regions have been disconnected from the rest of the country and the world for some time. In a dictatorial system such as ours where most private media are compelled to use the minimum service, the Internet remains the most effective means of information and a guarantee of transparency. The AFP by my voice, urges the CPDM regime, to comeback to their senses by having in mind the principle according to which: the State is us all! We do not govern against the people, but with the people and for the people. 

 In Cameroon as elsewhere, social networks have played a remarkable role of counter-power, which has made it possible to expose and curb the abuses of dictatorships. AFP is particularly concerned about this suspension of the Internet in the protesting regions of Cameroon (North-West and South-West). It is only behind closed doors, in darkness that the worst atrocities have perpetrated in the history of humanity, we fear for the security and the rights of the Cameroonian citizens living in these areas. The right to information is one of the fundamental rights of EVERY citizen. No one can deprive him or her of it without interfering with Democracy.

There is an Anglophone crisis in Cameroon

Leaders that you were yesterday in talks with, have now been relegated to the rank of "maquisards" ... You changed tactics and now embark on abduction and intimidation! And yet, we know that mutual respect, intellectual honesty, taking into account the fundamental concerns of the stakeholders ... are the prerequisite for any constructive dialogue! Indeed, as we feared, it is rather the strategy of the suppression that is in progress regarding the crisis that prevails in the anglophone parts of Cameroon. When the Government embarks today on the inviolability of the Constitution to stigmatize the Anglophone Consortium and others, it forgets that no one has violated the Constitution as much as the CPDM dictatorship.

They have probably postulated that we Cameroonians are suffering from collective amnesia and thereby claiming to forget that the CPDM marched on the blood of Cameroonians in 2008 to modify the constitutional provisions in the interest of a single individual: Paul Biya. But when a community as representatives as that of two whole Regions show almost unanimity in the demand for the revision of the systemic pillars of the State, you take refuge behind this same Constitution, perpetually trampled under foot, implemented to a level of  less than 50%, to enact" outlaw "citizens whose only crime is to have the audacity to consider Another future for our children.

Who do you mock? It is clear to any common sense observer that in the management of the Republic, only the interests and priorities of the CPDM count.The position of AFP in the issue of the right to self-determination is indispensable as it should be in any democracy. Consequently, the tortures will do nothing, the people will eventually have the last word. Yes to federalism as a mode of administration. The number of federated states to be determined by referendum. 

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Rita Akana

23.Jan.2017

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Former President Jerry John Rawlings has denied ever granting an interview to Radio France International in which he called for the ousting of President Paul Biya of Cameroon.

A statement from the Communications Directorate of the former president’s office, signed by Mr Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, said: “The attention of the office of His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings has been drawn to a false report on Radio France International (RFI) alleging that he spoke on the situation in the Gambia during which he purportedly called on ECOWAS to influence the AU to send troops to Cameroun to oust President Paul Biya.”

“President Rawlings has granted no interview to any local or international news media on the subject matter and we condemn in the strongest terms the attempt by RFI to smear his reputation with such falsehood.

“The former President is best known for his conflict resolution roles within the sub-region and beyond and any attempt to attribute to him false news on serious matters of international diplomacy is reckless, unethical, unprofessional and slanderous,” the statement added.

Mr Rawlings’ office warned that any media house that publishes “falsehood about former President Rawlings should note that immediate legal action will be taken against them for such fabrications.”

peacefmonline

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Rita Akana

23.Jan.2017

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Southern Cameroonians residing in Germany are gearing up for a big demonstration against the brute regime of Dictator Paul Biya and the liberation of Southern Cameroonians from the occupational forces of La republique Du Cameroun.The demonstration is scheduled to take place on  Friday the 27.01.2017 in Berlin Germany.demonstrators will be pouring in to Berlin from all regions of Germany and elsewhere in Europe.Cameroon Concord had the chance to speak with one of the demonstrators from the SOUTHERN CAMEROONS NATIONAL COUNCIL (SCNC), Mr Gwan Philip Ngassa, who had this to say:

My friends, to fight for our people is a matter of conscience and obedience to God's commandment!

We cannot afford to regard as normal the burning alive of our grand parents and burning down of our villages; We cannot regard as normal the reckless gunning down of our youth and systematic raping of our daughters.

Below is a press statement released by Dr Elad on his Facebook wall:

Dear lovely people of West Cameroon living in Germany and around the world, I am Dr. Lawyer Kizito Logan Elad, one of the coordinator of the upcoming demonstration in Berlin on Friday the 27.01.2017. I am writing to confirm the worries of many people who have called to verify if the demonstration is genuine. YES, it is.
All the police paper work was ready before the first announcement was sent out.
Let me use this opportunity to thank all our West Cameroon citizens for being fully determine to carry this our common struggle right to the end.
Fellow West Cameroonians, I am asking you all to please honour this call and come out in your numbers so that, we can put a final "full Stop" on the existence of la Republique in our territory 'West Cameroon, a land of hope ". Remember that, "it is during our darkest moment that we must focus to see the light", Aristotle Onassis. Thanks, yours, Dr . Elad.
For any information you can reach me on: +491799154188  

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Rita Akana

23.Jan.2017

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They lived like they'd never die. Yet some died like they never lived. Some have faded away into obscurity, living in foreign lands where they wield ABSOLUTELY no power. Change indeed is the only constant. A constant that takes different forms. My reflection below.

Reflection part 2:


There is a pattern.
A political pattern.
A pattern that followers of political events, especially events in third world “dictocracies” whose electoral systems suffer from ACUTE ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION can use to precisely and concisely predict outcomes of political movements.
Give it any name. On my part, I’d prefer to call it “Dictators’ Gun Powder Cake Theory”.

We begin in the Caribbean. On June 5th 1980, in what the Guinness Book of Records listed as one of the three most expensive weddings, Jean Claude Duvalier AKA Baby Doc got married to Michele Bennett. This was paving a new hopeless trajectory for the Haitian people. Under his rule, remotely controlled by his wife, Baby Doc of Haiti, taking after his father - Papa Doc – who was himself a ruthless dictator, perpetrated medieval-styled savagery. He and his family literally pocketed the national income of the country, asphyxiated or rather sentenced economic growth to death and institutionalized voodooism while the average Haitian could barely afford a pair of shoes, not to mention three square meals a day.
All these were ingredients that constituted a perfect recipe of Baby Doc’s Gun Power Cake which awaited an ignition. The ignition!! A shopping spree by the dictator’s wife in France during which she spent a whopping $1.5 Million on clothes while the country suffered food and fuel shortages amidst corruption and many other ills. Many of such had taken place before but this was the tipping point that put an end to his rule. He fled to France aboard a U.S. air force jet on the 7th of February 1986, leaving behind less than $500,000 in the state treasury.

Next on my list is Idi Amin Dada. The buffoonery perpetrated by this Ugandan blood thirsty dictator was larger than his personality but extraordinarily insignificant when it comes to his brutality. A brute in the making, a sadist compared to none other on the African continent in recent times. His official title.. “His excellency, President for life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beast of the earth and fishes of the sea and conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in particular” was among some of his many theatrics he bamboozled the international community with while his henchmen flooded and choked Ugandan streams and rivers with the blood and bodies of innocent civilians.
 Seizing power in a military coup d’état on the 25th of January 1971, it wasn’t long before this tinpot dictator started putting together ingredients for his gun powder cake. But first, he needed a promotion to Field Marshal and that, he accorded himself. And then, his ingredients; Human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption and gross economic mismanagement just to name a few. All of these were enough to build dissent from within and abroad which served as a matchbox.  The ignition came when Amin attempted to use his infamous, ragtag army that was specialized in killing unarmed civilians to annex the Kagera Province of Tanzania in 1978. This triggered the Ugandan-Tanzanian war and led to the demise of Amin’s eight-year old regime leading him to flee into exile to Libya and then to Saudi Arabia where he lived until his death on August 16th 2003.

Maybe we take a turn to North Africa. Zine Al Abedine Ben Ali. A somewhat political tactician who became prime minister and later booted out Tunisia’s first post-independence ruler, Habib Bourguiba, in a bloodless coup on grounds that the president was “mentally unfit” to rule. He is credited to have overseen some level of economic growth and praised for his progressive stance on women’s rights and economic reforms. Sounds like he was doing great, right?
Ben Ali’s “gun powder cake” ingredients comprised of rising unemployment among a large section of the youth population and large sections of the Tunisian interior languishing in poverty. In the characteristic of many dictators, he became omnipresent with giant posters of his face in public spaces. He quelled political dissent and was on many occasions accused by human rights groups of unfairly arresting and maltreating critics. Protests were not tolerated and there was rising resentment of the perceived corruption of the elite.

 The ignition here isn’t or wasn’t a metaphor but a real one. Mohammed Bouazizi, a young Tunisian graduate had the cart of vegetables he was selling to support his family seized by a police officer. He self-immolated and died later in the hospital. This triggered nation-wide.

Melaine Nsaikila: Fulbright Scholar, Economist and Development Enthusiast. 

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Melaine Nsaikila

23.Jan.2017

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He has sent policemen and soldiers to shoot at protesters in the Southwest and Northwest and ordered the arrest of a Supreme Court judge in Yaounde on Saturday night without any warrant of arrest. He has banned protests and curtailed the freedom of association and of speech. He is known for spending months abroad relaxing in luxury hotels while his countrymen struggle at home. He is accountable to no one but himself.

Cameroonian dictator, Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years since 1982, has turned his terribly underdeveloped country into another banana republic in Africa.

He has sent policemen and soldiers to shoot at protesters in the Southwest and Northwest and ordered the arrest of a Supreme Court judge in Yaounde on Saturday night without any warrant of arrest. He has banned protests and curtailed the freedom of association and of speech. He is known for spending months abroad relaxing in luxury hotels while his countrymen struggle at home with empty stomachs. He is accountable to no one but himself, and maybe Paris.

At almost 83 years old, Mr. Biya and his cabal have grown increasingly uncomfortable, especially, with developments in Ghana and Gambia, where sitting Presidents were defeated in the last presidential elections and had to go.

In the Northwest and Southwest, where residents are mainly English speakers, protests went on for months by lawyers and lecturers demanding justice and equality in a country where President Biya has spoken French for more than three decades and Anglophones feel left behind in many economic and political areas in Cameroon.

Mr. Biya reacted by sending trucks of policemen and soldiers to shoot at and suppress the protesters. Many were arrested, including students who were bundled into dirty trucks and sent to various tribunals for phony judgments.

If Angophones feel marginalised by the Biya government, the situation is not any better in any part of Cameroon. In the far north where Boko Haram has been bombing, shooting and killing for years, Mr. Biya has not visited to comfort the citizens or encourage soldiers fighting and dying in ambushes. And when the corpses of 38 killed soldiers were brought to Yaounde for burial, Mr. Biya did not even attend the event.

The level of poverty in the north is so appalling that most people are now used to living in squalor and hunger and do not know any other way. It is the same situation in the eastern part of the country where basic infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and electricity are rare to find.

Even in the capital, Yaounde, the underdevelopment and unemployment are palpable everywhere. Dusty roads and scattered houses in an unplanned city can be seen here and there.

The entire country is in a state of chaos where basic laws are not respected and protests are met with excessive force.

The international community should call the despotic leader to order and not allow him go down with the entire country in flames.

TheSimonAtebaNews, Washington DC

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Simon Ateba

22.Jan.2017

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West Cameroon (21 Jan 2017 ) -- A recent release warning some media organs in Cameroon and threatening them with either suspension or outright bans was read Thursday on the state broadcaster, CRTV. The National Communication Council accuses the media outlets in the release of publishing and broadcasting seditious articles that glorify Federalism and or Secession ideologies, thus threatening peace and national unity. Trusted sources et the Ministry of Communication (MINCOM ) and the National Communication Council (NCC) revealed to the Consortium that the release had been prepared by two state politicians ; the Minister in Charge of Special Duties et the Presidency of the Republic , Atanga Paul Nji, and a Senior Official at the Ministry of Communication, Felix Zogo.
The dubious release was taken to the NCC to be rubber stamped.

The NCC boss, Peter Essoka, was threatened to sign it, our sources hinted. The NCC boss reportedly resisted signing the document, "citing procedural violations and the need for a session to be held to examine the issues raised to no avail."
Cameroun imposed control on key internet providers MTN and Orange, through its state-run internet service provider, CAMTEL, citing dubious "security concerns." A recorded phone conversation with MTN South Africa Bureau confirmed that the 34-year regime ordered MTN to stop the supply of its internet services to millions of citizens in West Cameroon. A highly Confidential Mail NO. 006/DG issued by the CAMTEL Boss, David Nkotto Emane, on the 18th of January, 2017 to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and leaked out to the Consortium by a reliable source at Minister Libom Likeng Minette's cabinet, explains that MTN and Orange were coerced to deprive the West Cameroon from its access to internet services in a bid to inflict untold sufferings to the citizens.

The Consortium has also been reliably informed that the regime would block WhatsApp nationwide next week because citizens from West Cameroon cross over to neighbouring Bafoussam and Douala which are border towns closest to Bamenda and Tiko respectively, to upload pictures on World Wide Web that report gross violations of human rights, all forms of torture and the use of brute force on civilians, mostly women and children.

Journalists are reporting that the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bak, had previously, personally called a few of them working with the private press by telephone and threatened them to stop the coverage of the Anglophone problem or he would ask their bosses to them. A few days later, two audience-pulling TV journalists working for LTM, a Douala-based TV Channel, were sacked without prior notice.

Call for Condemnation

The United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression ; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers".
Several international instruments including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by Cameroon forbid such repressive acts against the free speech. It is unacceptable that while other countries in Africa have leaped from autocracies to democracies, Cameroon is left behind despite its millions of citizens who are willing to push forth universal rights and freedoms through dialogue, understanding, and integration of all parties.

Violating basic rights is condemnable and punishable. Citizens must not keep living in fear and tyranny in the 21st cent,. President Paul Biya must stop the ever-increasing violations of the rights of the own people of Cameroon. We .11 on the international community of goodwill to immediately puncture a brewing genocide nursed by President Paul Biya and his supporters of bad faith. The people need dialogue and not deadlock. We remain convinced that current affront on the credible press in Cameroon falls within the realms of what one-time US President Thomas Jefferson said: "No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first objective should, therefore, be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions."

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Rita Akana

21.Jan.2017

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