Politics

Since the death of Professor Peter Agbor Tabi, we have been made to understand through online commentaries that he loved Manyu people dearly, he was an intellectual and due to African tradition, we shouldn't speak evil of him.

I want to state that we are dealing here with the same problem, same backward thinking, same psychological damage of the minds of Cameroonians by Mr Biya’s system.

Predominantly, natives of Manyu have claimed he loved them because he used his influence as a minister of higher education to ensure undeserving Manyu youths are admitted into Cameroons premier teacher training college –ENS. This was at the expense of other deserving and qualified Cameroonians. According to them, he was a bold man who played with the system for the benefit of his people.

I just want to state that I personally find these comments insulting, even though I have members of my own immediate maternal family who benefitted from this scam. There is nothing wrong in wanting to help your own people and to love them. But you do not express love to your own people by denying others of their own right as Cameroonians to pursue their own careers.

ENS was never Agbor Tabi’s personal property. It was a state institution designed to accommodate every deserving Cameroonian. Denying others the opportunity to pursue their careers there purely because they came from the wrong tribe was completely wrong. And to want to justify it purely because everyone else in his rank as minister was doing something similar is naïve.

A wicked system is a wicked system and there are always people who even in that kind of a system will always want to act right. As an example, Chiune a Japanese diplomat during World War II used his influence to help 6,000 Jews who were at risked of being killed by Hitler to leave Europe by issuing transit visas so that they could travel to Japanese territory, risking his career and his family's lives. During the Rwandan genocide, there were people who lost their lives because they refused to act like a majority of people by killing others from other tribes. That’s how love can be expressed even in dangerous circumstances.

Agbor Tabi’s case was a choice which expressed hate on Cameroonians/Cameroon. He didn’t love Cameroon and he didn’t love even those he helped as in his pursuit for power, he was using them and he didn’t mind setting them up against other Cameroonians. Everyone wants to become something in this life and the desire to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature. Once rights are denied or people are forced due to circumstances to pursue the wrong career choice, then society can’t function properly.

On the issue of African tradition not to speak evil of the death, I will like to state that we are not interested in any lectures that are not based on sound moral principles and critical judgment. Just like what the Germans and Europeans did when Hitler was defeated, we are never going to be bullied but we are going to study the life of every Cameroonian who has worked closely with Biya. The reason for this is very simple - we don’t want some of the wicked things they did to happen again and we also have to try to recover some of the money they stole from the system. Once Biya is out, we are going to enact new laws to ensure what the likes of Agbor Tabi did should never happen again.

Every Cameroonian deserves respect. Those who always invoke this issue of African tradition only when they want to silence the voices of other Cameroonians should be careful. The same African tradition suggests that the youths have the right to kill through stoning anyone who is “suspected” of bewitching them. Does Mbella Moki Charles who brought up this issue consistently want us to ask the unemployed Cameroon youths to start picking up “suspects” randomly and stoning them? The CPDM should stop their foolishness and let us live.

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Mark Bareta

14.May.2016

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The Cameroonian Head of State left Yaounde Saturday, May 14, 2016 to Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria. The President of the Republic responded to an invitation from his Nigerian counterpart who is organizing a regional summit on security issues in the central/west African area.

For over five years, members of the Commission of the Lake Chad Basin (LCBC), namely Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, have been victims of the atrocities of Boko Haram. These countries affected had decided to pool their forces together to eradicate the  Islamic sect from Nigeria and to combat terrorism in all its forms.

In the search for ways and joint strategies towipe out the terrorist threat from Boko Haram, the LCBC countries have been gaining support from "friendly countries" and partner organizations. After a first summit hosted on May 17, 2014 in Paris, France, the Heads of State of Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Niger, Benin and French are meeting once again  this Saturday, May 14, 2016 in Abuja .

The main topics to be discussed at this summit will be the assessment of  progress  after the first summit in Paris and the present situation  on the field in the fight against Boko Haram.

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Elangwe Pauline

14.May.2016

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Cameroon’s government says the multinational joint forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested five leaders of the extremist group and freed dozens of women and children held captive.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma said Saturday that the raids targeted Boko Haram’s bases in the Madawaya forest earlier this month.

He said the operation freed 28 children along with at least 18 women.

The spokesman said Boko Haram had set up camp in the forest after fleeing another military operation in neighbouring Nigeria. He said the fighters had been training young girls and women as suicide bombers.

Boko Haram’s nearly 7-year insurgency, which has launched attacks beyond Nigeria’s borders into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, has killed at least 20,000 people, according to Amnesty International.

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Elangwe Pauline

14.May.2016

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The Director General of Elections Cameroon Abdoulaye Babale will this Wednesday 11th May 2016 launch a massive voters’ registration campaign in Mundemba chief town of Ndian Division, the South west Region.

Ndian Division has been choosen by the Director General to step up the number of voters of all groups in the country.

The potential registration of new voters in the Ndian Division this 2016 has been estimated at 3,500 from 1st January to August 31st 2016. 

The Director General of ELECAM shall officially hand the voter’s card, which will be extended to the nine council branches of ELECAM in the Ndian Division.

According to statistics from ELECAM, 6million 27,000 new voters have registered this 2016 in Cameroon.

The Voters’ Registration campaign this 2016, aims at giving an opportunity to every Cameroonian of voting age.

CRTV

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Elangwe Pauline

12.May.2016

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Africa's richest man, Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote donates 10 million dollars to the persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno state, Nigeria.

Mr. Dangote made a commitment to end malnutrition, hunger and starvation in the refugee camps and other parts of the country. 

“This is not the first time I am coming here and it will not be the last. So far, we have expended about N1.2 billion in efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.” Said Mr.Dangote during a visit at the camps in Borno state

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Elangwe Pauline

11.May.2016

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Over 300 members of a vigilante group in Cameroon’s far north region helping the military fend-off attacks byt the Islamist sect Boko Haram marche up to the sub-prefecture of Moskota (Far North) to denounce on Tuesday morning the “mockery gifts” from a donation by President Paul Biya, as motivation to the sacrifices they are offering the nation, security sources said.

They chanted hostile slogans against local authorities in front of the prefecture, before dispersing after thirty minutes, refusing to accept their share of the donation consisting of four bags of groundnut and maize, a carton of soap, a box of tomato and 18 bottles of mineral water. 

Last April, President Biya donated vigilant groups in the towns of Logone and Chari, Mayo-Sava and Mayo-Tsanaga a cargo estimated at CFA 1.9 billion consisting of foodstuff, basic products, animal feed, veterinary products, and agricultural equipment. According to the protesters, a good deal of the donation had been diverted by the authorities responsible for their distribution to the rightful beneficiaries. In March, President Biya donated 40 motorcycles and 60 bicycles to the police to strengthen the fight against jihadism in the Far North of the country.

In another development, one civilian is reported to have been killed on Monday overnight at Vizi (Far North-Region), following a raid by the Nigeria-based sect Boko Haram. Hours later, two Cameroonian soldiers were injured on the Djibrili-Gouzda highway, located in the same area as their vehicle ran over a mine reportedly planted by the insurgents.

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Elangwe Pauline

10.May.2016

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