Politics
Prince Ekosso,National president of United Socialist Democratic Party outlines guidlines towards Cameroons emergence USDP's Vision for a Transformed Cameroon:
1-De-intoxicate the minds and mentalities of Cameroonians from the spirit of corruption: by instituting a high level of moral education in the management of State affairs and to live according to the fear of God almighty, the Creator of all things from whom all leadership should draw inspiration.
2-By resolving the anglophone problem in Cameroon.
3 - HEALING AND THE RESTORATION OF WOUNDED /DISAPPOINTED HEARTS. There are certain truths which we can not pretend to ignore among Cameroonians. They may have dated even before some of the younger generations in this country were born, yet, it remains a disturbing factor to the historical evolution of Cameroon.
4 - RETURN OF POLITICAL EXILES
5 - AMNESTY FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
6 - We will redefine our economic strategies for development through the application of a proper monetary system, (creation of a national currency).
7 - We will redefine the educational system and programs in Cameroon by harmonising both the angloxazone and French system of education, so as to bring out the true spirit of national unity and to produce a citizenry that understands its socio-cultural, economic and political history, and to use the various national features to initiate development.
8 - We will fustering regional balance development through the development of both natural and human resources at the regional levels, so as to resolve the problem of rural exodus (Effective Decentralization).
9 - We will resolve the difficulty in housing conditions of Cameroonians and the cogestion in our towns and cities. This problem will be solved through the strict application of a modern method of town planning system which USDP has already developed.
10 - We will resolve the problem of insecurity in Cameroon by developing new strategies to assure the security of persons and properties through out the national territory. Apply a system of security where every Cameroonian will become a reporter of evil practice, and also train our military and police personels in modern technological ways of combating insecurity and terrorism.
11 - We will improve the road network and create more accessible roads around the national territory so as to permit local transactions to main cities without stress, thereby, provoking an economic fast turnovers at individual and collective levels.
12 – We will resolve the burden of high taxes in Cameroon, especially on national private enterprises so as to increase productivity and encourage exportation.
13 – We will transform and restore the spirit of research in science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and to lower its cost. Most of our people, especially the poor, die because of lack of good medical attention and lack of medical specialized personels and equipments. We will collaborate with Cameroonian medical personels who will be able to transfer modern medical technics to our hospitals and create a viable medical system that respond to the critical health issues of our population.
14 – We will transform our schools and colleges and universities so as to meet the demands of a new and growing generation of Cameroonians, and create a Higher Educational Program (HEP) which will concentrate on professionalisation and skill development. This will encourage more job creation and reduce the temptation of university graduate to depend on government concours for jobs.
15 – We pledge to work alongside with regional and local authorities to revamp the agricultural domain, make farmers to flourish through the application of modern technological methods in farming so as to increase productivity. Thereby, resolving the problem of food shortages in the nation of Cameroon and to export to neighboring nations.
16 – We will resolve the problem of DUAL NATIONALITY in the Cameroon Constitution, by the passing of a special Bill to legalize and legitimize DUAL NATIONALITY for all Cameroonians. This will enable Cameroonians who have acquired other nationality and who desire to come back to Cameroon with great investments to do so without any constraints. All these we can do, and all these we will do.
17- We will create millions jobs for the youths while targeting the aspect of professionalisation and to oriented talents and skill development in the domain of arts and the films industry, agriculture, transportation, education, healthcare, housing, electricity, portable water, and internal security.
Chat Conversation End
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- Rita Akana
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There was huge relief after one of the missing Chibok girls was found. She is one of the many captives who have been set free from Boko Haram. But those freed face a tough time of re-integrating back into society.
The last few days seem to have been a bag of good and bad news for the Nigerian military. First, the army received a major morale boost after they paraded one of the missing Chibok girls who was found by a vigilante group roaming the vast Sambisa forest.
The news was quickly followed by another girl being freed, alongside many other women and children rescued from Boko Haram's captivity by Nigerian troops, who are carrying out "Operation Sambisa Crackdown."
The army then said she was another Chibok girl, but it turned out she was not. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people who for a period of time lived under the shadow of what has been described as the world's deadliest terrorist group. An unknown number of people, including the more than 200 Chibok girls, are still being held by the Islamists.
This year, a report by the global children agency UNICEF, warned that freed Nigerian women and their children who were under Boko Haram's control are being rejected by their communities.
The women and girls, who in most cases were raped by Boko Haram militants, forced to marry the fighters or work as domestic workers, return home only to discover they have now been labeled "annoba," a Hausa word which roughly translates to "epidemics" or "Boko Haram wives."
Fears of radicalization
Many residents fear that these women may have been radicalized by Boko Haram. They base their arguments on the rising numbers of suicide bombings that have been carried out by women and girls in recent months. Their rejection by the community is among several unintended consequences of the military's recent successful bid to liberate territories previously held for months by Boko Haram.
DW
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Cameroonian Yeguie Issa says he has not seen his only brother since they were contacted a year ago by visitors to their village and were offered $500 per month to join Boko Haram.
Issa, 29, did not accept the offer and now takes care of his poultry farm in Cameroon's Zamai village, near the northern town of Mokollo. He got started with the help of chickens provided by the government and farming advice from U.N. staff.
As a result, Issa said, he is financially and physically more stable, and he can provide for his wife, three children and 72-year-old mother — and peers no longer jeer at him for being unable to take care of his familyIssa is one of several hundred people who have benefited from the U.N. initiative to steer youths away from Boko Haram, which has frequently attacked northern Cameroon over the past three years.
The coordinator of the U.N. system in Cameroon, Najad Rochdi, said the goal of the initiative is help the area's economy grow despite the continued violence.
"Because the region was tragically and dramatically impacted by insecurity on the one hand and extreme violence on the other hand, it was very important to provide the enabling environment for the revival of the local economy, capitalizing on the know-how of the people in the region," Rochdi said. "Obviously, the know-how here is about agriculture, handicraft, agropastoral activities."
Japan contributes
Cameroon has provided $4 million in emergency funds to create jobs for youths on its northern border with Nigeria, where the unemployment rate is over 90 percent. Japan has contributed $2 million to the U.N. for the second phase of the project, focused on the entire conflict zone in Cameroon.
Ibrahim Hamaoua, traditional ruler of Zamai, said the assistance has reduced delinquency among the 30,000 people he leads.
Hamaoua said he was grateful to the U.N. Development Program and the government of Cameroon for initiating the resilience project and constructing a livestock market to supply protein to both internally displaced persons and refugees. The project has boosted the local economy and improved the living conditions of the population that grow livestock, he said.
About a hundred meters from Issa's poultry farm, Hamza Falama waters his one-hectare garden. He said the produce villagers grow — maize and sorghum during the rainy season, carrots and cabbages during the dry season — enables them to send their children to school, take care of their health needs, feed their families and save for difficult moments.
Cameroon hopes to see more gardens grow, and fewer difficult moments in the north, in order to weaken Boko Haram.
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- Rita Akana
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- Solomon Amabo
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The war against Boko Haram lent added significance to Cameroon’s annual National Day celebrations Friday. There were the usual military parades and speeches, but citizens also mobilized to honor and help the troops.
Hundreds of youths sang in front of President Paul Biya. If it weren’t for the military, they sang, their country would have been seized by Boko Haram.
Cameroon has deployed more than 8,000 soldiers to the north to fight the Nigerian terrorist group.
In hospitals around Yaounde, people donated blood all week for wounded soldiers. Among them was university student Julienne Njock, 19. She said she could not go to the front but could make this modest contribution. The teenager said she was moved when she saw wounded soldiers, some who had lost legs to amputation.
Cameroon said it needs at least 400,000 pints of blood and that shortages have forced medical staff to stop work to give blood for urgent cases.
Alvine Mvogo, 60, could not donate for health reasons. She said she was instead praying for peace to return and soldiers to come back healthy. She said Cameroon has been losing too many people.
Boko Haram began attacking northern Cameroon in 2014. Suicide bombings and raids continue.
The military said it has been struggling to meet the needs of both the soldiers and the over 200,000 displaced people who have sought refuge at camps and host communities in the north.
Military spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck said support from the population motivates the troops. He said that even poor villagers had contributed bunches of plantains, that pastors and imams had prayed for the soldiers, and that all political parties had come out to support them Friday.
VOA
The government said it had also received over $6 million in donations from the population in the past two years to support the fight against Boko Haram.
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- Rita Akana
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The choice of May 20 for Cameroon as a national day has often been criticized, with a major question being whether Anglophone Cameroonians should mourn or celebrate the day. While some opinion leaders are of the stance that Anglophones shouldn’t mourn but celebrate, another school of thought holds that the whole idea of May 20 as national day is a sham.
Barrister Bobga: A Bamenda-based lawyer, Barrister Bobga Harmony, sees no meaning in the day. According to Bobga, Anglophones don’t have any business celebrating it because the date of the celebration has no legal bases. Bobga thinks Anglophone politicians who take part in the celebration are “political prostitutes.”
Barrister Nico Halle: “It is our national day. The world is now a global village. Cameroon is much bigger, remains united and together. Unity is strength. Our national unity and national integration is ongoing, that is why you can see all Cameroonians are together fighting Boko Haram,”
Prof Asonganyi: To Prof. Tazoacha Asonganyi, a social critic, the National Day celebration on May 20 should simply be scrapped because it is not necessary. Asonganyi insists he will never celebrate any national day on May 20. He rather suggests October 1 as national day.
Fon Angwafor III: The first class traditional ruler of Mankon, Fon Angwafor III is rather of the opinion that Cameroonians have to make do with May 20 as national day as long as the date has not yet been changed. He, however, advanced that there is no reason for the date to be changed. “We fought to create Cameroon as a nation. The UN gave us the opportunity and we voted to become one,” Fon Angwafor III affirmed.
Prof Owana: Though admitting that May 20 as national day still carries controversy between Anglophones and Francophones concerning its legitimacy, another political scientist, critic and lecturer at the University Yaounde II, Prof. Owona Nguini, avers that the day should be celebrated since it has been chosen as national day.
Ayah Paul: Ayah Paul Abine, one of the advocates general of the Supreme Court and chairman of the Popular Action Party, PAP, says “there is unanimity today among Camerounese and Cameroonians that Cameroonians are not legally part of the contemporary Cameroun. This is evident in the one momentous fact that if it were otherwise, the national day would be the first of October and never May 20.” On whether Cameroonians should rejoice or mourn over May20 ceremony, Ayah notes that “no one people are stateless.”
Barrister Ben Muna: Renowned legal luminary and former UN envoy, Barrister Ben Muna, considers the celebration of May 20 as meaningless when it is not put into the context of February 11, 1961, and October 1, 1961. “Without the 11th of February 1961 and the 1st of October 1961, we would not have had 20th of May. I really regret the falsification of these two important dates,” Ben Muna worried.
Kah Wallah: Another opinion leader who doesn’t see any reason for Anglophones to celebrate May 20 is Edith Kah Walla, firebrand leader of the Cameroon People’s Party, CPP. She advances that Anglophones in Cameroon have to collectively and constructively make their voices heard in the country. “They sit in their houses and individually grumble in their rooms. We will like to see Anglophones come out in black on Friday (May 20) and present their plight,” she stated.CPP will be organizing her routine Black Friday this May 20 and one of the themes will be: “The Anglophone problem in Cameroon,” she said.
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- Mark Bareta
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Subcategories
Biya Article Count: 73
# Paul Biya and his regime
Explore the political landscape of Cameroon under the rule of Paul Biya, the longest-serving president in Africa who has been in power since 1982. Our Paul Biya and his regime section examines the policies, actions, and controversies of his government, as well as the opposition movements, civil society groups, and international actors that challenge or support his leadership. You'll also find profiles, interviews, and opinions on the key figures and events that shape the political dynamics of Cameroon.
Southern Cameroons Article Count: 549
.# Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia
Learn more about the history, culture, and politics of Ambazonia, the Anglophone regions of Cameroon that have been seeking self-determination and independence from the Francophone-dominated central government. Our Southern Cameroons section covers the ongoing conflict, the humanitarian crisis, the human rights violations, and the peace efforts in the region. You'll also find stories that highlight the rich and diverse heritage, traditions, and aspirations of the Southern Cameroonian people.
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