Politics

President Paul Biya, some have claimed is a man of rigor and moralization. He is widely believed to have set the course for what is now the fight against corruption in Cameroon. He was heard saying recently that "During this hard times that we live, the large and long work of national construction involves the rigorous management and perseverance vis-à-vis the maneuvering force of demoralization, demobilization or destabilization". On the 31st of December, 2005, in his message to the nation, the Head of State, in a firm tone said, "the diversion of public funds to the detriment of the Cameroonian people. I would say today, very solemnly, has to stop." 

In September 2007, in a press release made by the Cabinet, as in many other speeches, the Cameroonian Chief Executive reaffirmed his determination to fight every form of evil which prevents Cameroon from emerging as a great nation. He observed that "misappropriation of public funds, in whatever form, is a crime against the people deprived of the resources that belong to them. Such individuals must therefore be punished with the greatest severity." Correspondingly, Law No. 2001/028 of December 14th, 2011 created the Special Criminal Court. It was followed by Decree No. 2013/288 of September the 4th, 2013 that set the part for the return of stolen money from the state coffers.

However, on December the 23rd, 2015, in response to recent accusations of corruption made by Transparency International, Issa Bakary Tchiroma Cameroon's Communications Minister and Government Spokesman revealed that, "to date, there are at the Special Criminal Court, 129 files forwarded to the Specialized Corps of the judicial police; 115 cases entered, 123 indictments; 146 sentences of imprisonment with fines and court costs; 40 non-places visited; 78 acquittals; 41 decisions pending with over three billion CFA francs in refund as corpus delicti including almost 30 billion Swiss francs pronounced for damages suffered by the state. "

Interestingly, before the creation of the Special Criminal Court, the ruling CPDM regime had CONAC, (National Anti-Corruption Commission), whose president was reportedly involved in numerous financial scandals. The Biya regime also had ANIF (National Financial Investigation Agency), whose members lived a princely lifestyle at the expense of the Cameroonian taxpayer. All in all, the CPDM had CONSUPE (Higher State Control), and the Council of Budgetary and Financial Discipline (CDBF) both habouring fraudsters and looters.

Biya's 32 years in power have seen castles, spectacular scientific complexes, villas and many 5 star duplexes belonging to highly placed CPDM officials and members of government springing up in Cameroonian cities, without their owners being asked about the origin of their fortune. Who now is fooling who here? We of this publication believe and fervently too, that Minister Issa Tchiroma needs rest.

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Ngwa Bertrand

28.Dec.2015

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A senior Iranian commander says the United States provoked all the wars that the world has seen in the past four decades. “Today, we live in the world of bitter and harsh realities,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the second-in-command of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Saturday. “We have seen [how] the powerful world sees peace [as an opportunity] to generate the capacity for war. “Should we review the bitter realities of recent history, we would come to the conclusion that all the wars of the past 37 years have taken place in this region and the Islamic World, with the US having been the one to provoke all of them,” he added.

The world knows that a new center of power is in the making to create a new civilization based on divine concepts, Salami said. “Over the 37 years, we have witnessed various sorts of wars, threats, and sedition on the international scale.” Salami said, “The fate of Muslims is today subject to these very policies, and war still goes on in Muslim countries.” “For the enemy, insecurity means something that should always exist there.

They are after a world where everyone lives in insecurity and misery, while they themselves live in security, affluence, and calm, and devise and implement new strategies to realize this dangerous and sinister cause.” Salami said resolutions issued by the United Nations Security Council are not capable of protecting weak countries against the military aggression of powerful states. The IRGC general called on all Muslims to fight for their freedom and religious identity.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Dec.2015

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After the cabinet reshuffle on Oct. 2, 2015, the 83 year old Cameroonian leader has appointed 15 new Secretaries-General (Vice Ministers) who will work alongside 12 ministers and two deputy ministers at the Delegation for National Security.

Ministry of Commerce: Bassilekin III Achilles
Ministry of Higher State Control: Mrs Pauline Honoree Pauline
Ministry of Defence: Said Kamsoulloum
Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs: Ebang Mvé Urban Noel
Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Planning: Jean Tchoffo
Ministry of Basic Education: Alain Blaise Bissé Bea
Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries: Jaji Manu Gigado
Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training: Justin Kouékam
Ministry of secondary education: Ivo Leke Tambo
Ministry of Finance: Edoa Gilbert
Ministry of Forests and Wildlife: Joseph Nongwen
Ministry of Public Procurement: Nassako Fritz Gérald
Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts: Mbantchong Martha Chantal Ndjepang
Ministry of Sports and Physical Education: Oumarou Tado
Ministry of Labour and Social Security: John Razak
General Delegation for National Security: Sec. Gen. Baya Dominique

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Dec.2015

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The African Union sought to reassure Burundi on Friday that a plan to send peacekeepers there is meant to bring a peaceful end to eight months of violence, and is not part of any "other agenda." Earlier this month, the AU said it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi to protect civilians caught up in the country's worst crisis since it emerged from civil war a decade ago. It would be the first time the bloc has invoked powers to deploy troops to a member country against its will. Burundi has said the proposed force is a violation of its sovereignty and that no troops will enter the country without its permission.

The AU said its head, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, had contacted President Pierre Nkurunziza to make clear that "the AU has no other agenda than to assist the government and people of Burundi at their hour of need, consistent with its commitment to promote African solutions to African problems". It said in a statement that Dlamini-Zuma had "expressed the AU's readiness to rapidly initiate discussions with the government of Burundi to devise the best ways and means of facilitating the deployment of the mission, in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation".

The crisis began in April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term, sparking a failed coup and months of street protests. The United Nations says at least 400 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country. The violence has unnerved a region that remains volatile two decades after the genocide in neighboring Rwanda. Dlamini-Zuma called on Burundi's feuding sides to cooperate with peace talks, which are scheduled to resume in Uganda on Dec. 28.

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Ngwa Bertrand

26.Dec.2015

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Prime Minister Philemon Yang has chaired the last cabinet meeting for the year 2015. The Head of Government seen here with the Cameroonian dictator President Biya, centred discussions on two major issues: the execution of construction projects of national road networks and the improvement of procurement procedures of public contracts.

Concerning road networks, especially the Yaounde – Douala highway, the Edea – Kribi port road and the Yaounde – Nsimalen urban motorway, the Prime Minister called for an acceleration of construction works. He did not make mention of roads in his enclaved Oku constituency. 

Yang called on the Minister of State Property and Land Tenure and that of Territorial Administration to ensure that compensations be paid for those displaced by such projects. Philemon Yang also mentioned the need to encourage the displaced population to contribute towards a successful completion of the projects.

In relation to the procurement procedures of public contracts, the Head of Government lauded the efforts of the Minister of Public Contracts and emphasised on the need to improve the system in 2016. Ministers of State, Minister Delegates and Secretaries of State took part in the cabinet meeting which lasted about an hour, forty minutes.

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Ngwa Bertrand

25.Dec.2015

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Suspected Boko Haram militants launched four attacks over 24 hours on villages in Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing at least seven people, security and administrative sources said on Wednesday. The Islamist militants are mostly based in northeastern Nigeria but have become a major threat to wider regional security by carrying out attacks in the lawless Lake Chad zone where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet. In the most deadly of three attacks since Tuesday, militants killed two soldiers and three civilians in Niger's southern border town of Abadam overnight, the sources said. About 150 km (90 miles) east in Chad, three militants were killed when they detonated suicide bombs after being found out by a group of local people as they sought to embark from an island to a lakeside market in Bol.

A fourth set off his bomb but survived. "They were intercepted by villagers who wanted to search them and they resisted," said a local official who asked not to be named. Three other militants managed to shed the explosives they were carrying and swim away, he added. A female suicide bomber blew herself up on Wednesday in the town of Nguetchewe in Cameroon's Far North Region, also killing a small girl accompanying her and a local resident. In northern Cameroon, several suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked three food trucks near the Chadian border on Wednesday, officials said. Cameroonian Special Forces (BIR) arrived shortly afterwards and there were no deaths or injuries. Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than 2 million people to flee their homes during its six-year insurgency in one of the world's poorest regions.

Regional governments including Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin have pledged to destroy the group using an 8,700-strong regional task force. The United States has also sent troops to supply intelligence and other assistance. But joint operations have yet to begin, leaving it up to national armies to tackle the group individually. In the absence of effective coordination, security sources have warned this often means that soldiers just drive the militants across each other's borders. Both Chad and Niger have declared a state of emergency for the regions of Lake Chad and Diffa respectively which have been hit by dozens of attacks this year. Aid agencies say they often struggle to provide food and other support to the vulnerable local populations because of the security challenges.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Dec.2015

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