Politics

Legitimate satisfaction characterised the various speakers who took the floor yesterday 29 October 2015 to highlight the way forward for both India and Africa as they design a new road map for mutual cooperation in the interest of their peoples. The inaugural ceremony which saw the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his co-chair of the event President Robert Mugabe who is the current President of the African Union as well as Mrs Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Minister of External Affairs of India, Shusma Swaraj all underscored the shared goals between Africa and India. Opening remarks by the Indian Minister of External Affairs were just to usher in the main speakers for the morning. The Summit Chairperson, Prime Minister, made a hair-raising declaration to send home his points. Having overcome the challenges of colonialism, neo-colonial and apartheid, Africa and India, he said could no longer afford to remain behind. He recalled the adage that, “if you want to go quickly, go alone, if you want to go far, go with others.” Saying India and Africa must go far since they had much in common. 

 He welcome the brilliant colours of Africa and India blending together grate names like Gandhi, Mandela etc. a vibrant mosaic of languages, religious and cultural ties now linked by the Indian Ocean, ties of kingship commerce united through centuries saying their presence of African leaders in India symbolised one third of humanity under one roof, in the same rhythm A people who have cough for their liberty and dignity, spoken in one voice in the world and formed a partnership of prosperity, He insisted that their youth constituted another precious element that united them and African like India now coming together to take responsibility for their development should be an unmistaken sign.

PM Modi visited the multitude of exhibitions at the Indira Gandhi Sport Complex that exalted creative talents endowed in Africa and India. The same messages were highlighted by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Mrs Zuma as well as the 39 Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Vice Presidents that led delegations to New Delhi for the Summit. The leaders lauded the role of Prime Minister Modi in boasting cooperation ties with Africa and the various scholarships, and capacity building offers that India is making to Africa. Some appreciated the specific development and investment opportunities that their countries are currently undertaking with India. A huge highway for mutual advances is therefore being opened between Africa and India with the youth being placed at the centre following chances for education, technological improvements and other refresher courses that can help them leverage for a better future.

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Ngwa Bertrand

31.Oct.2015

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A long-awaited regional task force is set to begin raids on Boko Haram's last enclaves when the rainy season ends soon, the U.N.'s top official in West Africa said. Nigerian and Chadian forces early this year forced the militant group, which has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, to cede large swathes of territory in northern Nigeria, undermining its six-year campaign to carve out a caliphate. But some fighters have since regrouped and ramped up suicide attacks and guerrilla raids in the remote border areas around Lake Chad where Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria meet. "They will take advantage of the end of the rainy season now to really go after them," said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, U.N. Special Representative for West Africa, in an interview on Wednesday. 

The rains in northeast Nigeria typically end in September but have lasted longer this year. The 8,700-strong joint force, headquartered in Chad's capital N'Djamena with troops from Chad, Niger, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon, was supposed to be fully functional in July. But plans were not finalised until late August, and some observers have bemoaned a lack of progress since. The African Union and the Lake Chad Basin Commission signed a memorandum of understanding in October giving final implementation guidelines and the United States has sent troops to provide intelligence and other assistance.

The expected joint raids will have to adapt to the changing nature of the enemy, which once attacked with hundreds of fighters aboard scores of vehicles but has been reduced to isolated bands, Chambas said. "There are still remote areas where they are hiding and they need to be physically flushed out," he said. Two such enclaves are Nigeria's Sambisa Forest, a vast former colonial hunting reserve, and the rugged mountains straddling the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Individual national armies continue to battle Boko Haram but there has been little sign of joint operations for months.

Chad's President Idriss Deby has indicated the force could begin operations this month. Cooperation has sometimes been hampered by communication problems between English-speaking Nigeria and its francophone neighbors, but Chambas said the situation had improved. He added that a purely military solution would not defeat Boko Haram, referring to the deeper causes of radicalism such as unemployment and climate change on the shrinking Lake Chad. "You can't just physically eliminate Boko Haram and say the problem is gone," he said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Oct.2015

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The President of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njienji has received in audience the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Stephen Hoza. During the meting that took place on the 28th October 2015, the U.S. Ambassador handed over an invitation from the Upper House of the Congress of the United States of America to the Senate President. 

The Upper House of the Congress of the United States is inviting two Cameroonian Senators to take part in a U.S. training programme on best practices and good governance to be organised in a fortnight, in Washington D.C.

Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji and H.E. Michael Stephen Hoza also discussed ways of reinforcing parliamentary ties between Cameroon and the U.S. U.S. participation in the fight against Boko Haram seen concretely through the donation of special combat vehicles and the deployment of U.S. marines in the Northern part of Cameroon were some of the issues brought up during discussions.

The Ambassador assured Cameroon through its Senate President that the U.S. will always stand by her friend especially in the fight against terrorism which is a global issue.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Oct.2015

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Central African Republic's interim president replaced the defense, public security and justice ministers, state radio said on Friday, weeks before national elections that are meant to restore democratic rule after years of bloodshed. Catherine Samba Panza's decision follows consultations this month that began in the wake of inter-religious violence that killed 77 people in the capital Bangui in September.

The country is preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 13 and a visit next month from Pope Francis on his first trip to Africa. He will give an open-air mass and visit a mosque to try to help heal the fraught religious divide. Violence has flared frequently since early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters deposed President Francois Bozize and seized control of the majority Christian country. They handed power to an interim government but not before their abuses fueled the rise of Christian militias, known as the anti-balaka, whose attacks on Muslim civilians caused mass displacements leading to de facto partition.

Under the shake-up announced late on Thursday, Joseph Bindoumi, head of the Central African League of Human Rights, replaces Marie-Noelle Koyara as defense minister. Chrysostome Sambia, a general in the gendarmerie, will serve as public security minister, while Dominique Said Paguindji, who previously held that post, becomes minister of justice. The ministers of rural development and youth were also replaced. Crowds in Bangui lynched four people on Thursday, including two who were dismembered, amid attacks and reprisals pitting Christians against Muslims. The killings brought the death toll from clashes in the capital this week to 11.

Violence persisted throughout Thursday, with witnesses near the Muslim PK-5 neighborhood saying that residents of the enclave had attacked surrounding areas. "They burned around 100 houses in the Kina neighborhood and the other surrounding neighborhoods," one resident said. "I live just behind the Kina church and my house was burned down. The church was also burned down." Witnesses said the situation was calmer by early Friday but some fear the recent spike in violence might threaten the polls.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Oct.2015

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It is five years now since the bank created to boost agricultural activities in the country was announced. Cameroonian farmers are certainly taken aback to see that such a long period has elapse without any possibility of them rushing to the bank to get the necessary finances to fund their activities. As the days pass by, hopes are rekindled with the setting up of the structures therein to enable the bank effectively go operational. The bank’s administration has been set up and the initial capital put in place to enable the institution functional. But on the ground, nothing has changed.

This state of affairs has been troubling Cameroonians, considering that agriculture represents more than half of the country’s non-oil export revenue and employs almost 60 per cent of the working population. Ninety per cent of rural households are, in one way or another, employed in agriculture, and approximately one-third of them earn their living from export crops. The announcement by the Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Forestry of the setting up of microfinance in charge of supporting farmers and ensuring their social security is another welcome initiative.

Farmers, in effect, received the news with mixed feeling especially as they haven’t been able to reap the fruit of the much pampered agriculture bank. In any case, they have continued to operate within their historic precincts financing their activities with their meagre savings, Njangis, contributions, common initiative groups and cooperative societies. In addition, pending the effective functioning of the agricultural bank and the microfinance institutions, government has not stopped providing subventions to farmers through their various cooperatives and other groups. This is being done through the various projects in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Some of them include: projects in charge of in-puts such as fertilizers, chemicals (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides) and seedlings. But this has not been enough to solve the problem.

Agriculture, it should be recalled, is more of a private sector economic activity. Government’s action should in the real sense constitute assistance. Unfortunately, many Cameroonians continue to think that government must play a primordial role in developing the sector. This entails that the creation of financial institutions ought not to be the sole source of funding for many a farmer. That said, local financial institutions of the private sector have not been of great assistance to the agric sector. Commercial banks for instance, continue to see agriculture as a highly risky sector and so, are not ready to give out loans to farmers. The conditions remain draconian. And whenever such loans do come in, there is sometimes lack of follow up to ensure that such projects are effectively implemented. It is not the first time a bank is being created to promote agriculture in Cameroon.

The faith of the Rural Development Fund (FONADER) remains engraved in many minds. Created for farmers, the bank became a financial haven for the well-to-do. At the end of the day, loans were disbursed to people who were neither agriculturalists nor potential ones. The announcement of another bank brought back minds to the woes of FONADER and this explains why many continue to think and wish that the slow takeoff of the new structure should be a measure to avoid the errors of the past.

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Oct.2015

Hits: 1607

It is five years now since the bank created to boost agricultural activities in the country was announced. Cameroonian farmers are certainly taken aback to see that such a long period has elapse without any possibility of them rushing to the bank to get the necessary finances to fund their activities. As the days pass by, hopes are rekindled with the setting up of the structures therein to enable the bank effectively go operational. The bank’s administration has been set up and the initial capital put in place to enable the institution functional. But on the ground, nothing has changed.

This state of affairs has been troubling Cameroonians, considering that agriculture represents more than half of the country’s non-oil export revenue and employs almost 60 per cent of the working population. Ninety per cent of rural households are, in one way or another, employed in agriculture, and approximately one-third of them earn their living from export crops. The announcement by the Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Forestry of the setting up of microfinance in charge of supporting farmers and ensuring their social security is another welcome initiative.

Farmers, in effect, received the news with mixed feeling especially as they haven’t been able to reap the fruit of the much pampered agriculture bank. In any case, they have continued to operate within their historic precincts financing their activities with their meagre savings, Njangis, contributions, common initiative groups and cooperative societies. In addition, pending the effective functioning of the agricultural bank and the microfinance institutions, government has not stopped providing subventions to farmers through their various cooperatives and other groups. This is being done through the various projects in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Some of them include: projects in charge of in-puts such as fertilizers, chemicals (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides) and seedlings. But this has not been enough to solve the problem.

Agriculture, it should be recalled, is more of a private sector economic activity. Government’s action should in the real sense constitute assistance. Unfortunately, many Cameroonians continue to think that government must play a primordial role in developing the sector. This entails that the creation of financial institutions ought not to be the sole source of funding for many a farmer. That said, local financial institutions of the private sector have not been of great assistance to the agric sector. Commercial banks for instance, continue to see agriculture as a highly risky sector and so, are not ready to give out loans to farmers. The conditions remain draconian. And whenever such loans do come in, there is sometimes lack of follow up to ensure that such projects are effectively implemented. It is not the first time a bank is being created to promote agriculture in Cameroon.

The faith of the Rural Development Fund (FONADER) remains engraved in many minds. Created for farmers, the bank became a financial haven for the well-to-do. At the end of the day, loans were disbursed to people who were neither agriculturalists nor potential ones. The announcement of another bank brought back minds to the woes of FONADER and this explains why many continue to think and wish that the slow takeoff of the new structure should be a measure to avoid the errors of the past.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

29.Oct.2015

Hits: 1372