Politics

After the drama of Lady Monique koumate who died during childbirth with her twins on March 12, 2016 and whose case aroused anger among the population, Cameroon has just experienced another public health disaster involving four children born six months earlier who all perished at the Yaoundé Central hospital. Cameroon Concord gathered that the babies were miraculously born and "instead of taking care of them, they were placed in a room without test tubes while the newborns were still fragile." All attempts at getting help from the so called Chantal Biya Foundation were futile. The babies were placed in a plastic bag and they all died some few minutes later.

The quadruple infanticide has revealed a new scandal involving medical negligence and failing incubators. Public Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda who was combative, defiant, and ignored the Lady Monique scandal entirely including his loyal attack-dogs within the administration are now maintaining a kind of deliberate silence. Our senior health correspondent who contributed to this report hinted that, “What is more important in this whole medical crisis is for the ruling CPDM to emerge strong and still in control of state affairs”. 

Despite the maelstrom of accusations and counter-accusations, the Lady Koumate-L’hopital Laquintinie and the Yaounde Quadruple Infanticide affairs are now strikingly simple. It stands entirely on whether Minister Mama Fouda, the Littoral Governor and Co. were telling the truth—and not just a partial truth, but the whole truth. The general opinion is that President Biya, Minister Andre Mama Fouda and his gang of health officials have committed high crimes and misdemeanors requiring the intervention of the Special Criminal Court.

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Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

26.Mar.2016

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A new poll shows that more than sixty percent of Americans are of the opinion that presidential election process in the US is not functional. The Gallup survey released Friday shows that some sixty-six percent believe the election system is in a shambles, illustrating a record low. “Thirty percent of Americans say the presidential election process is working as it should, down from 37% in January,” reads the poll. 

The poll attributes the dramatic decrease to “cynical” viewpoints held by Republican presidential hopefuls, but shows that the number has remained steady among Democratic supporters. “The decline is driven mainly by Republicans' increasingly cynical views as the campaign season has progressed. The percentage of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say the election process is working has fallen from 46% to 30% since January,” the poll shows. “Democrats' and Democratic leaners' views haven't changed,” adds the poll which is based on interviews conducted March 16-17.

Overall, the survey shows that both Republicans and Democrats now have analogously "low levels of belief that the election process is working properly, based on their views of the way the presidential campaign is being conducted." The presidential campaign for Republican nomination has been marred by countless instances of scandals, mudslinging and onstage vulgarity, where rivals have time and again seized opportunities to blacken their opponents and push them down the gutter. The campaign of Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, has been marked by controversial statements, including with disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

Ted Cruz, currently second behind Trump, has called several times on authorities to step up their policing of Muslim neighborhoods in the United States. On the Democratic side, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the leading candidate followed by Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders' emphasis on US income inequality and influence of corporate money on elections and government has helped him attract large crowds on the campaign trail.

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Presstv

26.Mar.2016

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Suspected Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists have kidnapped 16 women in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Adamawa, local officials say. Police said they have received reports of the kidnap of 14 women and two girls by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents near Sabon Garin Madagali village. According to locals, the women were abducted in the bush Wednesday while fetching fire wood and fishing in a river. Two women jumped into the river and pretended to have drowned. They later returned to their village and told locals about the abduction. 

A police spokesman said search teams have been deployed to the region and that the Nigerian army has been informed. The army has already been carrying out operations in the region to free hundreds of hostages held by Boko Haram. On Thursday, the army said it had freed over 800 people held by the Takfiri group in several villages in the northeastern state of Borno.

Some 25 militants were killed in the army operations and army soldiers seized the militant group’s equipment, it said. Madagali is located on the border with Borno State and has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram militants. The Takfiri group has abducted thousands of women, including schoolgirls, over the past few years.

Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. It has so far taken the lives of at least 17,000 people and forced over 2.5 million others to flee their homes. The terror group has pledged allegiance to Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who are mainly wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

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Presstv

25.Mar.2016

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The dawn of a new era hovered over Cameroon’s political landscape following the creation of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, in Bamenda, North West Region, on March 24, 1985. After 31 years of seeing through challenges such as multiparty politics in 1990, facing no-nonsense challengers in various local and national elections and consolidating grassroots support, the CPDM party is today at the crossroads of new challenges.

The theme for this year’s 31st anniversary celebration, “Total mobilisation behind the National President, Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency President Paul Biya, in the growth acceleration drive and the war against Boko Haram”, seems to state the first challenge which is that of standing behind its Chairman, Paul Biya, in the war he has been waging as Commander-in-Chief of Cameroon’s Armed Forces against the nebulous terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

In effect, the enemy who is working hard to hamper development efforts promised by the CPDM Chairman, is a major threat to the ruling party’s image and objectives to improve living standards. Due to a realistic and very efficient war strategy, Boko Haram has been weakened, reason why Paul Biya needs even greater popular mobilization, starting with vigilance within CPDM ranks, to deal the final blow.

Connected to this, many political observers say is the necessity for CPDM supporters to rally behind Paul Biya in his drive towards modernisation and progress which entails fast-tracking several development projects already on-course under his Greater Achievements policy. How well CPDM supporters will stand up to these challenges, as they celebrate the 31st anniversary of the party is a wide guess.

But growing enthusiasm, especially after the recent successful operation to renew grassroots executives, indicates that widespread renewed grassroots leadership is a surety for the fresh impetus needed to mobilise anew, in discipline, behind their National Chairman.

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Cameroon Tribune

24.Mar.2016

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The recent closure and rehabilitation of the Douala International airport is critically important and is a matter of deep concern to every Cameroonian. The construction work at the airport is the largest piece of maintenance ever carried out by the Biya regime and cost billions of FCFA. Recently, the Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebo Ngo’o revealed that all is now set for flights to resume at the airport. Minister Alain Mebo Ngo’o noted that work will still continue throughout this year. We of this publication, after a series of visit at the site can now reveal that nothing new has been added to the airport. The operating, supervisory control and data systems are still the old ones that were there before the so called renovation. 

Our Douala Bureau had sounded an early warning even before the closed down concerning the safety of the airport. The ministry of transport ordered a rigorous testing on safety issues regarding the aviation control system. To be sure, the Douala airport authorities were asked specifically about the safety of the runways and whether there were any issues in respect of it. The Douala International airport representatives working on tribal sentiments misled the duly appointed Edgar Alain Mebo Ngo’o committee by not reporting that the airport could still operate with the main runway often used by the military.

We of Cameroon Concord contend that the current leadership at the ministry of transport has no credibility with regard to the transparency of what is going on at the Douala International airport and perhaps even with regard to the truth about what is happening in respect of the maintenance work. The current aviation system which they claim is modern is unable to ensure the required level of safety in take-off and landing. Cameroon Concord Intelligence Unit is aware that there are design and operating deficiencies and a lack of reliability in all what have been done over a one-month period. What Minister Alain Mebo Ngo’o and his gang have there now is completely inefficient to improve and it would create more confusion with the system if there were attempts at upgrading.

Another key issue in this whole Francophone Beti-Ewondo process now taking place at the Douala International airport is the absence of documentation in respect of the award of contracts in the prime minister’s office and even at the level of the Douala airport administration. Without mincing words,documents on how to run the so called new system, what was there and what was not,are still not available at the level of the Prime Minister and Head of Government including the presidency of the republic. It will interest our readers to know that returning workers who were seconded to the Yaounde Nsimalen airport have still not have any list of the alarms system. Our chief economic correspondent was heard murmuring privately that, “This would generate dangerous situations”.

There are very serious problems with the Douala International airport and they have been known to the CPDM regime since the crash of the Kenyan airlines, yet no media outlet in Cameroon had put this into the public domain. Accountability, credibility and, most of all, safety of the Douala International airport are today in the hands of the man they call Edgar Alain Mebo Ngo’o, Minister of Transport. Minister Alain Mebo Ngo’o is not accountable to us-the Cameroonian people nor even to the anglophone Prime Minister and Head of Government on what is happening in this matter. Instead (he) and his men are playing the CPDM game and he has issued a statement saying that work in the airport is being adjusted and improved.

From what our cream of reporters have seen, we have concluded that nothing has been done at the Douala International airport. All the systems have not been improve and will not be able to accommodate the huge air traffic developing in Douala. Nothing has been replaced. The use of components, material and software,adequate for real-time monitoring are still issues that the regime still have to handle. No one gave us satisfactory answers as regard technical options which have been upgraded within this one-month period of work. For instance, we wanted to know the response times for the commands and status reports, reliability of the communication system and data collection system, legibility and efficiency of the control interfaces, list of alarms, multiple windows and highlighting of important information relating to the structure. There is clear evidence of significant problems in the operating safety of the Douala International airport. Minister Alain Mebo Ngo’o has clear knowledge of the matter which he has failed to give to Prime Minister Philemon Yang.

The key points we are making to the CPDM government are these: Has a neutral government body gone to inspect the work done at the Douala airport? What was replaced during this one month period of work? How much did it cost the Cameroonian tax payer? Can the Minister of Transport vouch for the safety of the airport? With regard to the current operation and money spent, we must have an independent assessment.

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Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

24.Mar.2016

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Over 15,000 women have been registered in the one-month campaign to register 30,000 female voters before April 8, 2016 as ELECAM chases women in churches and markets. As of March 18, 2016, 15,419 women have been registered on voter registers by the elections management body, Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, within the framework of its ongoing one-month campaign to register 30,000 women voters. Launched on March 1, 2016, under the theme “March: Women’s Month, ELECAM Targets Women”, the campaign has transformed ELECAM’s teams nationwide into “fishers of women” to meet the target before the campaign ends on April 8, 2016. 

ELECAM officials justify the operation with the argument that women have demographic superiority in the country but, paradoxically, are less present on electoral rolls. The Communication Service Head of ELECAM’s Centre Regional Branch, Michèle Mekeme, said their strategy has known a fundamental shift from awareness messages over mainstream media to proximity “one-to-one” sensitisation, in a bid to bring women towards ELECAM. “We are chasing women wherever we may find them to make them register,” she said. The strategy is paying off, she said, because over 2,579 women have been registered in the Centre Region, as of yesterday, since the start of the operation. In the special deployment, churches, markets, women’s associations and neighbourhoods are priority targets.

However, the operation is marred by several socio-cultural barriers. Embarrassingly, where women are met in their numbers like in the markets, most do not own National Identity cards. More so, registering some women requires passing through their spouses for prior permission. Meanwhile, overall statistics since the start of the 2016 voter registration exercise in January reveal that ELECAM has not been doing poorly. While 16,128 new voters have been registered in the Centre Region, 136,209 voters have been registered nationwide, as of March 17, 2016.

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Cameroon Tribune

24.Mar.2016

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