Monthly Archives: September 2020

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Government Secrecy in the Management of Funds Destined for Covid-19 Response

26, September 2020

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Government Secrecy in the Management of Funds Destined for Covid-19 Response 0

As Cameroonians began to fall sick from the novel coronavirus, President Paul Biya made a plea for public solidarity to help the government support a healthcare system already collapsing under the weight of multiple security crises affecting the country.

Dozens of people and companies immediately poured money into a fund hastily created by the president. This fund should have augmented the millions of dollars in a separate Health Solidarity Fund, an emergency reserve established by the government in 1993, into which healthcare facilities pay 10 percent of their revenues each month. These revenues largely come from patient fees, raising the cost of health care, already unaffordable for many.

However, the government has managed both these funds in secrecy, obstructing the public’s ability to track public resources.

It is not clear if and how the government has spent these funds, nor the $226 million from the International Monetary Fund it received to support its Covid-19 response, among other international assistance. As the virus swept across the country, medical staff and others told us in June that their hospitals had received no extra financial assistance, hampering their ability to treat patients or provide healthcare workers with adequate  protective equipment.

Only after enormous public pressure, citing the “urgency of transparency,” did the government publish, on July 29, some basic information in a two-page statement about how it spent about 22 billion FCA ($40 million), which it said was its  total expenditure to respond  to Covid-19 in the preceding five months.

Funding from the ADB and the IMF

The information provided is too general to allow for meaningful public oversight – saying only that, for example, 1.75 billion FCA ($3 million)  went toward “rehabilitating, renovating, and extending” isolation areas in three hospitals in Yaoundé, the capital. The statement similarly provides a generic list of equipment to account for another 3.92 billion CFA (nearly $8 million) attributed to “procurement of medical equipment distributed to facilities.”

And what little is included may not be entirely accurate. Observers who visited the three Yaoundé hospitals and spoke to staff there two weeks after the Health Ministry published the statement were unable to identify any new construction work  to prepare for Covid-19 patients, although two had set up tents outside as testing sites. A sign at the General Hospital of Yaoundé dated July 16 announced that the hospital would no longer accept Covid-19 patients.

Watchdog groups such as the Association for the integrated development and Interactive solidarity (ADISI), with its digital platform Data Cameroon, have also pointed out that the $40 million does not account for all the funds the government received to support its Covid-19 response. The Health Ministry statement included a list of about 65 individuals and companies who donated around 1 billion FCA ($1.8 million) to the president’s solidarity fund. But it hasn’t made public any information specific to the fund’s revenues and disbursements, which appear not to be governed by any legislation. And the total sum the Ministry says it spent is far smaller than the amount it received in international assistance for more than 43 Covid-19 projects, including $100 million from the African Development Bank.

The International Aid Transparency Initiative tracks funds for these projects, but does not include comprehensive details on expenditures. Nor does the tracker account for the $226 million in emergency assistance the government received from the IMF in June.

More than 20,000 cases and 416 deaths

In a letter requesting the loan, the finance minister cited the importance of the funds “to cover urgent needs to upgrade the health system.” The letter committed to publishing all procurement documents related to Covid-19 expenditures, including the names of the real owners of companies awarded contracts, but we were unable to find any such contracts.

In his letter, the minister also promised to publish the results of an independent audit by the end of 2020 fiscal year, which passed on June 30 without any news that an audit is even in progress.

Tracking this money is about more than the government reciprocating public solidarity with accountable governance; it is key to ensuring funds crucial for fighting a pandemic are fully and fairly distributed across the country. Cameroon reported more cases and deaths than most countries in Central Africa – nearly 20,000 cases and 415 deaths as of September 10, according to the World Health Organization. Yet many hospitals remain woefully unprepared six months into the pandemic.

We spoke to a doctor who works in a hospital in the North-West region, which has been hard- hit by violence since late 2016 and whose medical facilities have been repeatedly attacked by both government forces and armed separatists. He said that the 10 health facilities in his district received a combined 10 million FCA (around $17,000) in early August. Prior to that, his hospital, had only received 12 masks, 20 boxes of gloves, and four full body gowns for almost 50 employees, he said.

The money enabled his hospital to buy personal protective equipment for some staff, medicine, and two oxygen machines, he said, but it didn’t come close to meeting the needs of the hospital needs, which still lacks sufficient protective equipment for most staff, as well as adequate access to electricity and an ambulance. And the money arrived tragically late: a nurse at a nearby hospital died from Covid-19 in June.

Cameroonians have demonstrated their solidarity. It’s well past time for the government to do the same and publish a full accounting of the Covid-19-related spending, including from the Health Solidarity Fund.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Journalists Say They Are Regularly Abused, Brutalized

26, September 2020

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Journalists Say They Are Regularly Abused, Brutalized 0

Cameroon’s journalism association has called on authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalists detained while covering anti-government protests this week.

Police detained at least eight journalists covering Tuesday’s protests, searched the homes of four of them, and seized or destroyed their equipment. At least one journalist was still in custody Thursday.

Tah Javis Mai, a freelance journalist, returned Thursday to his office in the English-speaking southwestern Cameroon town of Buea. Mai said he was arrested by police in the French-speaking coastal city of Douala on Tuesday while reporting on protests against President Paul Biya.

“The men in uniform asked that why am I using my phone to film them,” Mai said in a telephone call from Buea. “I said I am on a Skype call. They took us to that brigade in Bonaberi. One drinking alcohol poured the whiskey on me. He asked me to drink, and I refused. He poured it on my head. We were in an airtight cell. A cell for about two people, we were 15 in number with no food. Our phones were confiscated. They took everything from us.”   

Mai said he was forced to sit on the ground for seven hours. He said he was released at 6 p.m. Wednesday after pressure from journalism associations and several international rights groups.

Jude Viban, president of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, said Mai was arrested with seven other reporters in Yaounde and Douala.

Those arrested included My Media Prime TV cameraman Tebong Christian, cameraman Rodrigue Ngassi of Equinox TV, Lindovi Ndjio of La Nouvelle Expression, and Polycarpe Essomba, Cameroon correspondent of RFI.

“We have strongly condemned the arrest of our colleagues who went out to report and not to support the protest, and they were picked up arbitrarily and detained in facilities without communication, without access to their lawyers, without access to their colleagues,” Viban said. “This is terrible for our democracy and, unfortunately, it keeps happening. It is a very difficult period to be a journalist in Cameroon.”

On Thursday, the National Syndicate of Cameroon Journalists reported that the homes of four journalists were searched by police. The report said phones, recorders and computers were seized.

Rights activist Andelbert Mvomo said Cameroon is becoming notorious for its abuses on journalists, including beatings and rights violations.

Such acts, he said, soil Cameroon’s image and disgrace its people.

Cameroonian police and the minister of territorial administration did not react to the accusations when contacted by VOA.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday that police were still holding one of the arrested journalists, Lindovi Ndjio.

Samuel Wazizi

CPJ said it has not forgotten what happened to journalist Samuel Wazizi, who died in police custody in August 2019 but whose body has yet to be seen.  

The military said it was keeping Wazizi’s body for investigations.

Source: VOA

Biya regime to hold first Regional Council elections amid petitions and boycott

26, September 2020

Biya regime to hold first Regional Council elections amid petitions and boycott 0

Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the electoral body in Cameroon, says about 10 political parties have provided required documents for the regional elections on December 6, 2020.

Erik Essousse, ELECAM Director General, made the disclosure at a press conference on Wednesday in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde. He said about ten political parties would take part in the December 6 polls.

“With regards to the divisional delegates to be elected by the municipal councilors, 27 out of the 58 constituencies will compete. While on the side of the traditional leaders, it will have 24 constituencies out of the 58 which record at least two competing lists,” Essousse told reporters.

Over 10,000 Municipal councilors were elected in February this year and traditional rulers form the electoral colleges.

However, ELECAM says that there will be some cleaning up of the registers. “There have been deaths; there are those who have chosen to go to the college of traditional chiefs to avoid duplication. In general and concerning the two colleges, we are about 24,000 voters ”, the Head of ELECAM affirmed.

As far as the material preparation is concerned, Erik Esssousse told journalists, “Currently, the general management is preparing to receive the files which will be transmitted no later than next September 27, to the Electoral Council which will meet from this day within the framework of the 2nd ordinary session as of right, since the convocation of the  electoral college. This with a view to the publication of the lists of candidates no later than October 7, 2020 .”

87 year old President Paul Biya who came to power in 1982 called up the first Regional elections in Cameroon on September 2, 2020. Each of the country’s 10 regions will have 90 members; that is 70 divisional delegates and 20 traditional rulers.

The poll has been received with mixed feelings by some opposition political parties calling for boycotts, among them the Social Democratic Front SDF and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement CRM. Joshua Osih, 1st Vice President of the SDF told TODAY NEWS AFRICA that, the party’s decision to boycott the election even after taking in the February 9, 2020 Municipal election is hinged on the fact that the Supreme Court is yet to rule on petitions calling for the annulment of the polls in the Anglophone regions of the North West and South West where Government forces and secessionist fighters have been clashing for close to four years now.

“The conditions under which elections were held were not good. Many of our voters have fled violence. But soldiers and some government workers are compelled to vote Mr Biya’s CPDM party, enabling them to win unjustly. We cannot have Regional representatives who do not reflect the aspirations of the people.” Osih lamented

For the CRM priority must be given to concrete resolution of the separatist conflict in the North West and  South West regions. Barrister Christopher Ndong, Secretary General of the party cries out that, “Holding election o the blood of English speaking compatriots means Mr Biya has no regard for Anglophones.” This explains why the party leader Maurice Kamto called for anti -Biya demonstrations earlier this week where over 400 people have been arrested.

The Cameroon President however believes that, the Regional Councils constitute the culmination to the establishment of institutions inscribed in the 1996 Constitution making Cameroon a unitary Decentralized state.

According to the National Communication Secretary of the CPDM, ” This election will finally see the birth of the Special Status for Anglophones who want autonomy for their regions.” But Osih argues that it is a smoke screen. To him “Paul Biya is obsessed with centralizing power and dictating to the masses.”

Despite the challenges, ELECAM has vowed to continue with the elections calling on internal and external actors to support.

Source: Todaynewsafrica

Divided opposition quashes hopes to unseat Biya

26, September 2020

Divided opposition quashes hopes to unseat Biya 0

On September 22, hundreds of citizens in Cameroon’s Anglophone region took part in an organized anti-government protest. But the numerous opposition parties are under scrutiny for lacking clear leadership or a strategy.

Cameroon’s opposition parties have much in common with one another. They all agree that the political landscape is in dire need of change following President Paul Biya’s almost 40 years in power. They also wish to see an end to the ongoing Anglophone crisis in the country’s south and are pushing for a free and fair electoral system.

Despite this, however, the parties have consistently failed to present a united front in practice. A planned nationwide protest on September 22 organized by the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) party, Maurice Kamto, failed in its aim to facilitate the resignation or ousting of Biya.

Ako John Ako, the founder of the Cameroon Youth Movement Association (CYMA) says the opposition’s inability to come together is the main reason these demonstrations regularly unravel.

“The call for protest was unilaterally done by head of the MRC party, Maurice Kamto,” Ako told DW. “There should be a pre-consultation of all the opposition forces in Cameroon, before any nationwide protest is called.”

While the MRC branded the parties who did not join the demonstration as “afraid,” the president of the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP), Edith Kah Walla, says for her party “and several other organizations, it was a question of timing.”

Supporters of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party hold their fists up during an election rally

Supporters of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party put on a united front during a campaign rally for presidential elections in 2018

Bruised, but not beaten

With the much-anticipated September 22 protest having come and gone, many opposition supporters are now feeling the anti-climax.

But the MRC party has taken an optimistic view of the situation, claiming it still succeeded in sending a “strong message” to the government. The party’s secretary general, Christopher Ndong, has decried the heavy-handedness of the Cameroonian military and use of state intimidation to silence protesters.

“Over 300 people have been arrested, two people died in Douala, over a hundred wounded,” Ndong told DW.

While lawyers are beginning to galvanise efforts to ensure those who were arrested are soon released, the MRC says it will not give up its aim to unseat Biya from power and is urging other parties to join them at the forefront.

“Let other parties now come in and take the lead, we are ready to join them too, whenever they are ready,” Ndong added.

History repeats?

On the day of the protest, news quickly spread that Kamto and other MRC party leaders had been placed under house arrest.

The government’s swift attempt to quell the demonstration came as no surprise to many.

“Cameroon has for several decades been led by a repressive regime,” Ako said. “In the 1990s, more than six months of protests led by the opposition had a similar response – and they did not remove Biya from power.”

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982. He has been accused of marginalizing the country’s southern Anglophone region

Observers have begun to question if Kamto has an alternative plan to delegate leadership of the opposition, should history repeat itself. The lack of a strategic, coordinated plan has been highlighted by some as one of the reasons why the wave of protests in the 90s faltered under Biya’s rule.

Ndong disagrees. Instead, he argues that the opposition “didn’t succeed because of the heavy presence of military forces, violating the constitution and rights of Cameroonians to march against Biya. People who are only fighting for change. Deploying soldiers to fight unarmed civilians was an intimidation tactic.”

Protests amid a divided opposition

A total of seven opposition political parties and civil society groups signed and endorsed the call for the latest nationwide protest. But with Kamto under house arrest, there was no obvious candidate to take his place as leader.

The MCR’s Ndong puts the blame on the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party and the CPP.

“We took the initiative to bring everyone on board, others are pulling us back,” he said.

Kah Walla agrees that finding a solution to the Anglophone won’t be found in the ballot box, but through peaceful protest. But she believes that taking to the streets without a proper plan will prove futile for the opposition movement.

“We have to establish a clear strategy, we have to establish clear communication,” she explained. “All of this was impossible to do before the 22nd so our movement said, ‘please, go ahead. We will not be a part of it’.”

But opinions are also divided within the MRC party. Key allies including Paul Eric Kingue, Celestin Djamen, Michelle Ndoki – who were jailed alongside Kamto for challenging Biya’s 2018 presidential election victory – have remained curiously silent over the issue. Despite criticism within the opposition movement, Kamto remains determined in his party’s goal to unseat President Paul Biya

Kamto remains defiant

Kamto – whose Yaoundé residence is still under military surveillance – has meanwhile taken to Twitter to celebrate the movement’s “victory.”

“The peaceful, patriotic and republican Marches of 22 September 2020 were a resounding success. Warm congratulations to the Cameroonian populations who have gone out in large numbers,” he wrote.

While some observers believe the September 22 protest did manage to debunk myths surrounding the government’s invincibility, possibly emboldening civilians, Biya still remains in power, while the opposition has no apparent strategy going forward.

Ako warns that any protest perceived to be a “one-man-show” cannot succeed.

“If we honestly want change, there should be a better plan,” he explained. “We have a common problem as Cameroonians, whether you are of the ruling CPDM, SDF, or a soldier. We are struggling to get the tyranny out and put our institutions on track.”

Culled from DW

Football: ‘Nothing surprise me anymore,’ says Messi lamenting Suarez departure

25, September 2020

Football: ‘Nothing surprise me anymore,’ says Messi lamenting Suarez departure 0

Lionel Messi bid an emotional farewell on Friday to Luis Suarez, the day after the Uruguayan striker had said tearful goodbyes to Barcelona after the club sent him to Atletico Madrid.

“Today I went into the dressing room and the awful truth hit me,” Messi posted on Instagram, before renewing his criticism of club management.

“You deserved to be sent off as what you are: one of the most important players in the history of the club,” Messi wrote. “And not to be fired in the way they did it.”

“The truth is that at this point nothing surprises me anymore.”

Messi has a long-running feud with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu which intensified after Barcelona were humiliated 8-2 by Bayern in a Champions League quarter-final in August.

Messi tried to force his exit from Barcelona but finally accepted that he would have to see out the final year of his contract. Meanwhile, two of his closest friends on the team, Suarez and the Chilean Arturo Vidal have left.

The 33-year-old Suarez moves to Atletico on a two-year contract on a free transfer, although, if he does well, Barcelona could receive some money.

Suarez, who hit 198 goals for Barca, becoming the third highest goalscorer in the history of the club, cried as he bid an impromptu farewell to the club on Thursday.

“I’m going to keep playing, with fresh motivation, with the objective to show I can continue competing,” Suarez said.

“Everyone knows the relationship we have, Leo and me. I’ve already played against him in the Uruguay-Argentina matches, playing against each other is not going to change the feelings we have for each other,” Suarez said.

Messi and Suarez were neighbours in the beachside suburb of Castelldefels and would arrive at training together.

“How difficult it is going to be not to continue to share the days with you, both on the pitch and off it” wrote Messi in a post accompanied by seven pictures of the two men together, sometimes with their families. “We are going to miss you very much. It’s been many years, many cups of mate, lunches, dinners…Many things that I will never forget.”

“It’s going to be weird to see you with another shirt and much more to face you,” wrote Messi. “But I wish you all the best in this new challenge. I love you very much, I love you very much. See you soon, my friend.”

Source:  AFP

US: Top Republicans promise peaceful transition after Trump sows election doubts

25, September 2020

US: Top Republicans promise peaceful transition after Trump sows election doubts 0

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans on Thursday repudiated President Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, assuring American voters the lawmakers would accept the outcome of November’s election.

Trump declined on Wednesday to embrace a peaceful transfer in response to a reporter’s question and said he expected his election battle with Democrat Joe Biden to be settled by the Supreme Court.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he did not know that an “honest” election could be held on Nov. 3 “with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots.”

The Republican president’s rhetoric on Wednesday, which largely referred to voting by mail, set off a fury that prompted several Republicans in Congress to distance themselves from Trump.

Despite four years of incendiary statements by Trump, members of his own party have been loath to criticise him, as many feared political retribution.

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” McConnell wrote in a morning tweet.

Like other Republicans, McConnell did not directly criticize Trump.

By midday, with the controversy raging, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told a news briefing: “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.”

But for months, Trump has cast November’s election as being rigged and repeatedly attacked Democrats for promoting widespread use of mail-in ballots for voters who do not want to risk contracting the deadly COVID-19 virus by casting their ballots at potentially crowded polling centers.

In an interview on Fox News Radio, Trump called mail-in ballots “a horror show,” despite studies showing no significant problems with that method of voting over the years.

Michael Waldman, president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said voting arrangements were steadily advancing. In an interview with Reuters Television, he added: “The system is not broken. States are actually improving their voting rules day by day.”

Democrats accused Trump of threatening American democracy and further politicising his upcoming choice to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by suggesting the yet-to-be named nominee would have a role in the election’s outcome.

Some of McConnell’s fellow Republicans joined the effort to quell election fears, including Senators Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who told reporters: “It will be a smooth transition regardless of the outcome.”

Trump, who trails Biden in national opinion polls, has long sought to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, asserting without evidence that mail-in voting would be rife with fraud.

“President Trump, you are not a dictator and America will not permit you to be one,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, calling him “the gravest threat” to U.S. democracy.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost to Biden in the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating race, called for an independent commission to oversee the upcoming election.

Democratic House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned against panicking over the remarks of a president who she said admires autocratic leaders. At a news conference, she urged Americans to cast their ballots and admonished Trump: “You are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia.”

Court challenges

If November’s election is close, Trump could contest the results in federal courts in hopes of being awarded enough Electoral College votes to retain the White House, according to political analysts.

Only one U.S. presidential election, the 2000 contest between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore, has had its outcome determined by the Supreme Court.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who will play a significant role in whether Trump’s upcoming Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed, said there could be litigation over the presidential election. “The (Supreme) Court will decide and if the Republicans lose, we will accept that result,” Graham told Fox News. “But we need a full court.”

If Trump nominates a conservative to serve on the Supreme Court, as expected, and the Republican-controlled Senate confirms the nominee, it will have six justices considered to be conservative and three viewed as liberals.

(REUTERS)

Mali: Designated interim president makes first public appearance

25, September 2020

Mali: Designated interim president makes first public appearance 0

Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel who has been designated Mali’s interim president following last month’s coup, made his first public appearance on Thursday, meeting a regional mediator, AFP reporters saw.

Ndaw, 70, met former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, in Bamako on a mission for the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS, on the eve of his swearing-in.

Ndaw’s appointment was announced on Monday by Colonel Assimi Goita, who heads a junta of young military officers who seized power on August 18, ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Goita himself will serve as vice president, under the announcement.

The interim president will rule for a maximum of 18 months before staging nationwide elections.

ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — slapped sanctions on Mali on August 20 to push for swift restoration of civilian government, including the appointment of civilians as interim president and prime minister.

The bloc may announce on Friday whether the plan meets criteria for easing sanctions, Jonathan said on Thursday.

An official close to the sanctions discussion, who declined to be named, said that “there are still consultations going on”.

Jonathan was due to meet other Malian officials on Thursday, besides Ndaw, including prominent figures whom the military detained after last month’s coup.

ECOWAS has demanded the release of all detainees. Keita was released, but former prime minister Boubou Cisse, among other officials, remains in detention.

Mali’s neighbours have taken a hard line with the junta, fearful that the fragile nation of some 19 million people could spiral into chaos.

Swathes of the vast country already lie outside of government control, due to a lethal jihadist insurgency that first emerged in 2012. It has also inflamed ethnic tensions.

Current restrictions include border closures and a ban on commercial trade and financial flows but not on basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons records 9 cholera cases and 1 death in Buea

25, September 2020

Southern Cameroons records 9 cholera cases and 1 death in Buea 0

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Cameroon has said on September 23 that nine cholera cases have been confirmed and one death recorded in Buea, the chief town of the Southwest region of Cameroon since the declaration of the cholera outbreak last week, according to a news report by Cameroon Online.org.

Officials have expressed concerns that the epidemic could spread even more rapidly in the town that is hosting several internally displaced persons escaping from an armed separatist conflict principally in the rural areas of the region.

“The cholera outbreak declared in Buea is very concerning due to limited access to clean water, a health system weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that Buea town is hosting thousands of displaced people due to insecurity in the region,” OCHA said in a statement.

“Humanitarian actors are supporting the Regional Delegation of Public Health to develop a robust and rapid response, including the establishment of a Cholera Treatment Centre at Buea Regional hospital,” the statement added.

On Friday, health authorities in the region called on the residents to “be on the guard” and adopt hygiene and sanitation practices.

Cholera spreads through contaminated food and drinking water, causing diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

Source: Xinhuanet

Indomitable Lions: Coach António Conceicao is on the search for new talent

25, September 2020

Indomitable Lions: Coach António Conceicao is on the search for new talent 0

Indomitable Lions coach António Conceicao says he is looking to improve his squad by looking for new talent both in Cameroon and further afield.

The Portuguese has now been in charge of the former African champions for a year after taking over from Dutchman Clarence Seedorf.

While the chance to train with his players and play matches has been affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic Conceicao has been keeping busy.

“I’m in regular dialogue with Fecafoot (the Cameroon Football Federation) to extend our work to the youth national teams, to make the best of our experience to for those teams,” he told BBC Sport Africa.

“Finding and developing new talent and bringing them to the national team is something that will make Cameroonians proud.

“I’m trying to improve the network in the countries where there are big Cameroonian expatriate communities through personal contacts and I can then observe players that I have identified.

“We’ve also been reaching out to young Cameroonian players playing abroad that can end up playing for other countries, in order to try to bring them on-board and want to play for Cameroon.”

Planning ahead

Since he took charge, after their exit from last year’s Africa Cup of Nations in the last 16 at the hands of Nigeria, the Indomitable Lions have been limited to playing three matches.

October’s international break gives him the chance to hold a training camp and play a friendly against Japan in the Netherlands.

“We will have the chance to bring together a squad of players for the first time after a break of almost a year,” he said.

“We’ll bring the group together, and work on team spirit; exchange ideas with the players on what we want to bring to the national team.

“Also get to know and observe players who are new to the team; give players the opportunity to play for the national team, so that we can also draw conclusions and get new ideas for the future.”

In November the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers resume and although Cameroon have qualified as hosts they are taking part in the campaign and have back-to-back games against Mozambique.

Conceicao has admitted that the coronavirus pandemic has created new problems for his team and Fecafoot.

“There are a number of additional logistical difficulties in organising team gatherings, with the increased difficulty of bringing in players to Africa,” he explained.

“I don’t want to focus on the problems instead I have to focus on the solutions that despite all the limitations will allow us to work with Fecafoot for the best of the team.

“At the moment I am working hard with Fecafoot to try and improve training conditions for the team, working conditions in general, and the running of the team.

“Things are going well with the federation, and we feel they’re open to co-operating.”

He also insisted that taking part in the Nations Cup qualifying process despite qualifying as hosts is something he feels is important.

“I want to look at this situation as a way of improving the national team and bring in new players, so as to be able to have the best possible squad for the tournament itself,” he explained.

Conceicao is fully aware of what is expected of him and his team by the Cameroon fans.

It is a major responsibility, I know how important the national team is for all the people in Cameroon and the pride they have in their national team,” he added.

“There is the added responsibility of hosting the Nations Cup in Cameroon in 2022. So I am very conscious of the hard work and the difficulties that come with this task but I am very motivated.”

Source: BBC

Biya regime holds fair to promote development

25, September 2020

Biya regime holds fair to promote development 0

The 9th edition of the Cameroon government exhibition forum dubbed “Sago” kicked off in the capital city Yaoundé on Tuesday to promote public actions towards development and stimulate citizens’ participation in public affairs.

The fair saw the participation of all government structures and partners and a large number of companies, according to Emmanuel Rene Sadi, minister of communication and government spokesman who officially opened the fair.

“Sago’s objective is to let people know about what the government is doing and to also let our fellow citizens know exactly what we, the government, offer opportunities of investment,” Sadi told reporters at the start of the fair.

“There are so many things that we are doing in this country, which are not known by fellow citizens. An initiative like this needs to be sustained,” he added.

During the week-long event, different ministerial departments will organise conferences where they explain their actions to the public.

The fair, taking place in strict respect of COVID-19 barrier measures, will enable development partners to understand the real needs of the population in order to redirect their support, Sadi said.

Source: Xinhaunet

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»