Monthly Archives: January 2024

9, January 2024

Biya regime faces inflation challenges as rates persist above CEMAC threshold ⁰

Cameroon’s inflation rate over the past year averaged 7.5% in November 2023, according to information released by the national statistics agency INS.

Although this indicator is down by 0.2% compared to October 2023’s 7.7%, it still represents more than double the 3% threshold tolerated in the Cemac. According to the document, inflation rates remain above 7% in 9 out of 10 regions in the country, with the highest recorded in Bertoua (East) at 8.9%. Bamenda, the regional capital of the Northwest, has the lowest rate at 6.1%, but it still surpasses the community norm.

INS explains that this inflation mainly stems from “an 11.6% increase in food product prices, a 13.8% rise in transportation costs, and a 7.7% increase in the prices of furniture, household items, and everyday maintenance products.” However, the stats agency notes that food inflation has decreased by 0.4% during the period under review, following the decline in the prices of bread and cereals (-1.1%), fish and seafood (-1.1%), oils and fats (-1.1%), as well as vegetables (-0.4%). On the other hand, meat and fruit prices increased during the same period, by 0.6% and 1.9%, respectively. For non-food products, the decrease only concerns alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics (-0.1%).

In the 2024 budget, the Cameroonian government anticipates that inflation will decrease to 4% next year, compared to 6.7% at the end of December 2023, although this rate remains above the community threshold. In response to the inflationary situation, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) tightens liquidity in banks through repeated increases in its main policy rates, suspension of liquidity injection operations into the CEMAC banking system, and intensification of liquidity absorption operations from banks. However, BEAC acknowledges that only 20% of inflation is of monetary origin.

Source: Business in Cameroon

9, January 2024

Yaoundé to introduce malaria vaccine ⁰

Cameroon will introduce the malaria vaccine on Jan. 22, according to Manaouda Malachie, the country’s minister of public health.

The move is part of concerted efforts to enhance the fight against malaria and reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the disease, the minister said in a statement released Monday night.

“The selected vaccine, Mosquirix RTS, has been chosen by the country based on its pre-qualification, ensuring guaranteed quality, efficacy, and safety for its inclusion in the vaccination programs,” he said. “The vaccine will be offered in both public and private health facilities across 42 health districts. The vaccines provided for children are safe, free, and effective.”

Cameroon took delivery in November last year of 331,200 doses of malaria vaccine, the first consignment to arrive in the central African country.

Malaria is responsible for 70 percent of deaths among children in Cameroon, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

Source: Xinhuanet

9, January 2024

Yaoundé: Kamto calls for single candidate to face Biya in next election ⁰

Leaders of Cameroon’s main opposition party say they are negotiating with more than 30 opposition leaders to present a single candidate in the next election, should 91-year-old President Paul Biya be incapacitated by ill health.

The opposition reacted after Biya, who has ruled for more than four decades, made no mention of running for re-election in a New Year’s message.

Maurice Kamto, president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement Party, said scores of civil society and political opposition members have set up a platform called the Political Alliance for Change, also known as the PAC, to press for Biya to relinquish power.

The 91-year-old has been president since 1982 and is the world’s oldest political head of state.

Elections to take place by late 2025

Presidential elections are to take place in Cameroon by October 2025, but civil society groups and opposition parties expected Biya to announce, during his New Year’s message, early elections in 2024. That didn’t happen.

Kamto said he has been chosen by the PAC as a single opposition candidate, should Biya resign or is incapacitated. He said supporters of Biya’s CPDM party, who are fed up with Biya’s autocratic rule, should join the PAC.

“The PAC remains open to all those who believe that the current regime is now Cameroon’s problem and therefore can no longer contribute anything to its recovery,” said Kamto. “Our compatriots in the ruling CPDM party who demonstrate a patriotic reawakening are also welcome in the PAC. Let them come and take their place in the train of national renaissance.”

Kamto said he would revive all state institutions he said Biya has ruined, organize an inclusive national dialogue to end the separatist crisis that has claimed more than 6,000 lives in Cameroon’s western regions, and improve living conditions for those stuck in hunger and poverty.

According to Cameroon’s constitution, if Biya dies, resigns or becomes incapacitated, Marcel Niat Njifenji, the 89-year-old president of the Senate, the upper house of parliament, would take power, and organize elections for a new president within 120 days.

In his message, Biya did not say anything about plans to leave power or not, but blamed the country’s current hardships and armed conflict on high levels of corruption and external factors.

Biya said Cameroon, like other African countries, is dealing with an economic crisis caused by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Biya said when the world expected an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resurgence last October of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict worsened rifts in the international community and further sunk the world’s economy. Biya said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is leading to price hikes in consumer products and, consequently, the cost of living. He said the conflict is also causing shortages of petroleum products.

Despite the challenges, Biya said Cameroon had a 3.7% economic growth rate in 2023 and inflation was contained at less than 7%.

Cameron’s opposition disputed that, saying the economic growth rate is less than 2% and inflation is running above 20%. They say Biya is responsible for what they say is an economic disaster in Cameroon, a country blessed with a variety of minerals that could be exploited to develop the central African state but were misused by the Biya government.

Biya hard to beat, say experts

The Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa said that Cameroon’s fragmented opposition, which is made up of about 400 political parties, will find it difficult to beat Biya or any CPDM candidate in an election.

Kamto said all the opposition and civil society groups should, for once, rally behind a single candidate, should early elections be called or when presidential elections come up by October 2025.

Source: VOA

8, January 2024

Football: Thierry Henry reveals battle with depression throughout his career ⁰

Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry has revealed he suffered with depression during his stellar playing career.

The 46-year-old, who won the World Cup with France and is Arsenal’s all-time top goalscorer, told the Diary of a CEO podcast that the coronavirus pandemic made him appreciate his mental health struggles as he cried “almost every day.”

Henry has linked that to his past and a search for approval from his father, who was often critical of his performances as a young player.

“Throughout my career, and since I was born, I must have been in depression,” said Henry.

“Did I know it? No. Did I do something about it? No. But I adapted to a certain way. That doesn’t mean I’m walking straight, but I’m walking. You’ve got to put one foot (forward) and another one, and walk. That’s what I’ve been told since I’m young.

“I never stopped walking, then maybe I would have realised. (But during) Covid – I stopped walking. I couldn’t. Then you start to realise.”

Henry was in charge of Canadian side Montral Impact when the pandemic hit, leaving him isolated and on the other side of the world from his family.

“I was in isolation in Montreal, and not being able to see my kids for a year was tough,” he added.

“Tears were coming alone. Why I don’t know, but maybe they were there for a very long time.

“Technically, it wasn’t me, it was the young me. (Crying for) everything he didn’t get, approval.”

Henry, who is now coach of France’s under-21 team, said his father’s desire was for him to be “an amazing football player” from the moment he first held his son.

“As a little boy it was always ‘you didn’t do that well’. So obviously when you hear that more often than not, that’s what’s going to stay,” said Henry.

“(It) did to a degree help the athlete….(it) didn’t help so much the human being”.

Source: AFP

8, January 2024

German football legend Franz Beckenbauer dies aged 78 ⁰

Franz Beckenbauer, one of German soccer’s greatest players, who captained the team to World Cup victory in 1974 then won the tournament again as manager in 1990, has died at the age of 78, German news agency DPA reported on Monday.

Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich, with whom he won three successive European Cups, and had the nickname Der Kaiser, or “The Emperor”.

Source: Reuters

8, January 2024

TB Joshua raped and tortured worshippers ⁰

Evidence of widespread abuse and torture by the founder of one of the world’s biggest Christian evangelical churches has been uncovered by the BBC.

Dozens of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members – five British – allege atrocities, including rape and forced abortions, by Nigeria’s late TB Joshua.

The allegations of abuse in a secretive Lagos compound span almost 20 years.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations did not respond to the allegations but said previous claims have been unfounded.

TB Joshua, who died in 2021, was a charismatic and hugely successful preacher and televangelist who had an immense global following.

The BBC’s findings over a two-year investigation include:

Dozens of eyewitness accounts of physical violence or torture carried out by Joshua, including instances of child abuse and people being whipped and chained

Numerous women who say they were sexually assaulted by Joshua, with a number claiming they were repeatedly raped for years inside the compound

Multiple allegations of forced abortions inside the church following the alleged rapes by Joshua, including one woman who says she had five terminations

Multiple first-hand accounts detailing how Joshua faked his “miracle healings”, which were broadcast to millions of people around the world

One of the victims, a British woman, called Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church. She spent the next 12 years as one of Joshua’s so-called “disciples” inside his maze-like concrete compound in Lagos.

“We all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen,” she told the BBC.

Rae says she was sexually assaulted by Joshua and subjected to a form of solitary confinement for two years. The abuse was so severe, she says she attempted suicide multiple times inside the compound.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations [Scoan] has a global following, operating a Christian TV channel called Emmanuel TV and social media networks with millions of viewers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, tens of thousands of pilgrims from Europe, the Americas, South East Asia and Africa travelled to the church in Nigeria to witness Joshua performing “healing miracles”. At least 150 visitors lived with him as disciples inside his compound in Lagos, sometimes for decades.

Culled from the BBC

6, January 2024

Joseph Owona, former Biya acolyte dies aged 78 ⁰

Professor Joseph Owona, a cabinet minister under President Biya and a successful academic, has died aged 78.

A Cameroon government embassy official in Paris, France confirmed the death of the peer, who became Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and was later appointed Secretary General at the Presidency.

Owona served as right-hand man to the 91-year-old President Biya during the early days of multi-party politics.

He would later serve as Minister of Health, Minister of Youth and Sports and President of FIFA’s Normalization Committee of the Cameroon Football Federation and retained a keen interest in the International Relations Institute (IRIC) in Yaoundé.

In the early 90s, he made a mockery of Cameroon researchers accusing them of not producing any results.

Sometimes referred to as a Biya favourite, Professor Joseph Owona began his rise through politics deep inside the secretariat of the ruling CPDM Central Committee.

He was a controversial figure described by many as the minister who brought problems to Biya while others brought solutions.

Owona was a law professor at the heart of the Biya’s government promoting tribalism and nepotism. As Secretary General at the presidency, he was widely criticised for suggesting that no Bamileke could be head of state. He never withdrew his remarks after a firm rebuke from Etoudi but was removed from his role.

Born on 25 January 1945 in Akom, the polygamist served as a minister several times and was a member of the Constitutional Council from April 2020 to January 2024. He did his higher education at the University of Yaoundé and Panthéon-Sorbonne in France.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

6, January 2024

Boxing: Ngannou-Joshua match booked for 2024 ⁰

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will return to the ring to take on former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua’s promoter made the announcement on Friday (Jan. 05).

37-year-old Cameroonian Ngannou has boxed only once professionally.

Joshua is a 34-year-old Briton who has been world champion twice after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics.

He beat Swede Otto Wallin on December 23rd, to seal his third straight victory last year.

In October, Francis Ngannou scored a stunning knockdown on Tyson Fury but lost his inaugural boxing fight on a split decision.

A press conference has been scheduled on January 15 to reveal the details of the Ngannou-Joshua clash, which is set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It will be a 10-round bout, according to reports.

Source: Africa News

5, January 2024

Vatican and the deep divide: Pope Francis under increasing pressure ⁰

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, is facing increasingly strong opposition inside the Vatican. The conservative clan of the Roman Curia – the powerful governing body of the Holy See – accuses him of a laxist vision of Catholic doctrine, particularly regarding the status of homosexual couples and divorced people in the Church.

After more than a decade as pontiff, Pope Francis finds himself facing a major challenge: maintaining the unity of the Catholic Church’s 1.3 billion faithful worldwide. This task is made even more complex by hefty criticism of Francis’s governance from conservative circles. The pope is critiqued in particular for an overly laxist doctrinal vision and a certain authoritarianism in Church management.

Since the death of his predecessor Benedict XVI at the end of 2022, pressure on Francis’s pontificate has intensified. The pontiff’s unprecedented and controversial decision on December 18 to authorise priests to bless homosexual couples under certain conditions is causing endless controversy. The “anti-Pope Francis” clan now seems more determined than ever to pursue its objective: push Francis out of office.

For now, the 87-year-old Argentinian pope is resisting and showing that he has no intention of stepping down, as long as his health allows him to continue leading the Church. But in the Vatican corridors, many now speak of a “lame-duck atmosphere”.

Source: France 24

5, January 2024

Africa Cup of Nations: Klopp not wishing Salah too much luck ⁰

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp joked Friday that he is not wishing Mohamed Salah too much luck at the Africa Cup of Nations as he prepares for a crucial spell of games without his top scorer.

Salah is away with Egypt for the tournament in Ivory Coast while Japan captain Wataru Endo will be involved at the Asian Cup in Qatar, with both players expected to go deep in the respective competitions.

That could mean they will not be back until the second week in February but Klopp said he sent them on their way this week without wishing them too much success.

“I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal on Sunday.

“From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it.

“So it was ‘Good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way.”

Klopp does not really have a suitable replacement for Salah, who plays on the right side of his attack and has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season.

Midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was touted as a potential option but he has been ruled out for at least two matches with a hamstring injury sustained in the New Year’s Day win over Newcastle.

But Klopp, whose side are top of the Premier League, is confident Liverpool can fill the hole left by Salah.

“I think we played against West Ham (in last month’s League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there,” he said.

“We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible — we just have to use the boys with their skills.

“Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn’t have to do it often but we always found a way.

“But we play Arsenal and you can lose to Arsenal with Mo Salah so it’s possible to lose to them without him.”

Klopp said he was braced for a challenging January, even though there are fewer Premier League games due to a mid-season player break.

Liverpool’s game at the Emirates comes just two weeks after the title-chasing sides drew 1-1 at Anfield in the Premier League and will be followed by the first leg of their League Cup semi-final against Fulham on Wednesday.

“Some teams obviously don’t play that often in January,” he said. “We don’t have that, we have now with the semi-final, we have a proper rhythm.

“I think a re-match against Arsenal would really not be helpful, that’s how it is, because it just doesn’t fit in, would kill the winter break, stuff like this.”

Source: AFP