Monthly Archives: April 2024

21, April 2024

Poverty under Biya: Cameroonians embrace Chinese language for brighter futures ⁰

In a bustling classroom at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, students are immersed in learning the Chinese language. Their teacher, known as Sema, originally studied physics but found a passion for Chinese language and culture at the Confucius Institute.

After obtaining a master’s degree in Chinese language in China, Sema returned to Cameroon, where he now teaches Chinese language and culture at the university.

Sema expressed his deep connection to Chinese culture, saying, “When I was in China, I felt like I was a Chinese person because their culture is very similar to African culture.”

He emphasized the opportunities that speaking Chinese has brought him, including a significant increase in income. “When I returned from China, I started with 500,000 francs CFA (about 814 U.S. dollars) as monthly salary working as an interpreter for some Chinese. That is a lot of money for a Cameroonian,” he said.

Completing a Chinese language course opens up a wealth of opportunities. Graduates can pursue careers as interpreters or explore various fields beyond language, and moreover, they have the option to further their studies in China in any discipline, Sema said.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

Rokis Petou, a business manager for the Chinese firm Sinohydro Corporation Limited in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, also highlighted the advantages of learning Chinese.

In 2017, Petou traveled to China for PhD research studies in geophysics and geological engineering. Despite pursuing his research without a language requirement, Petou recognized the value of speaking Chinese in his professional life.

He said his ability to communicate in Chinese has not only provided him with a well-paid job but has also elevated his social standing. “Being able to speak a language that very few people understand in my environment makes one be treated with special attention,” he added.

Similarly, Eric Sama Doh found employment in 2014 working with Chinese engineers on a construction project in Cameroon.

“When some of my Cameroonian colleagues see me, they always say ‘ni hao’ (hello),” said Doh who has been working with China Machinery Engineering Corporation.

“With this job, I am able to feed my family and send my children to school. In fact, I am living a comfortable life thanks to the opportunity that Chinese language has offered me,” he said.

These stories are just a few examples of how learning Chinese has opened doors for Cameroonians in a challenging job market. According to Didier Nama, national pedagogic inspector of Chinese Language in the Ministry of Secondary Education of Cameroon, there are nearly 20,000 Chinese learners in the country, with nearly 200 secondary schools providing Chinese courses.

Nama highlighted the government’s efforts to promote Chinese language learning, with several state universities now offering Chinese courses and hundreds of Cameroonians trained to teach Chinese in schools across the country.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024.(Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

In 2008, only one state university in the country offered a Chinese language diploma. However, as of now, four other state universities have formally applied to offer Chinese courses, Nama said, adding that nearly 300 Cameroonians, co-trained by the University of Maroua and the Confucius Institute, are currently teaching the Chinese language in schools nationwide.

Sandra Mefou and Viviane Limunga, two students attending Sema’s lecture, expressed their intentions to pursue further studies in Chinese language and linguistics in China after graduation, citing the limitless opportunities that speaking Chinese provides.

“Chinese-owned companies are everywhere in Cameroon and across the African continent. I want to learn the language to work with them,” Mefou said.

“I plan to pursue further studies in Mandarin and linguistics in China after graduation,” Viviane Limunga added.

“These young people represent a growing trend of cultural exchanges and understanding between Cameroon and China,” Sema said.

20, April 2024

US agrees to withdraw troops from key drone base in Niger ⁰

The United States agreed Friday to withdraw its more than 1,000 troops from Niger, officials said, upending its posture in West Africa where the country was home to a major drone base.

The long-expected move effectively marks a new regional gain for Russia, which has ramped up its focus on Africa and backed military regimes in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accepted the call to remove troops in a meeting in Washington with the prime minister of the junta, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

They agreed that a US delegation would head within days to the capital Niamey to arrange an orderly withdrawal, the officials said. Nigerien state television earlier announced that the US officials would visit next week.

The State Department made no immediate public announcement and officials said no timeline was yet set to withdraw the troops.

Niger was long a linchpin in the US and French strategy to combat jihadists in West Africa. The United States built a base in the desert city of Agadez at the cost of $100 million to fly a fleet of drones.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March 2023 became the highest-ranking American ever to visit Niger, vowing economic support for one of the world’s poorest countries and seeking to bolster elected president Mohamed Bazoum, a stalwart Western ally.

But the military four months later sacked Bazoum and quickly kicked out troops from former colonial power France.

Unlike its anger toward France, the junta initially sounded an openness to maintaining its longtime defense relationship with the United States.

President Joe Biden’s administration, however, has refused to mute concerns, insisting on the return of civilian rule and the release of Bazoum.

Russian military instructors arrived in Niger this month with an air defense system and other equipment, state media said, after talks between military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nigerien message becomes clear

The Nigerien military had announced last month in a statement on state television that it was breaking off a defense agreement with the United States with immediate effect.

But diplomats said the Nigerian leadership had sent mixed messages and the United States initially said it was awaiting confirmation.

The United States puts a high priority on troops’ safety, and concerns rose last week when thousands rallied outside the National Assembly headquarters chanting for US troops to leave.

Despite maintaining dialogue with the junta, the United States has for months been preparing for the likelihood it will need to exit Niger.

General James Hecker, the US Air Force commander for both Europe and Africa, said late last year that the United States was in discussions for “several locations” elsewhere in West Africa to station drones.

While not publicly asking to station drones, the United States has pursued close cooperation with coastal democracies including Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Western governments feared that the remote Sahel will offer a new hub for Islamist militants after jihadists overran much of Mali in 2012 as part of a rebellion by ethnic Tuaregs.

With Niger seen as comparatively stable, the United States based its drones in Agadez, building the site known as Air Base 101.

The United States resumed drone operations after the July coup in Niger but one of its main functions soon became surveillance for the sake of protecting the US troops based there.

With support from both parties, the United States in recent years has been retrenching its once sprawling military network set up as part of the “war on terror” following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican known for his brash statements, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Niger was an “extraordinary Biden foreign policy failure” and urged the safe withdrawal of troops.

Source: AFP

19, April 2024

CPDM Crime Syndicate repays CFA39.8bn debt with new borrowings ⁰

On April 17, Cameroon reimbursed CFA39.8 billion on the public securities market of the Central African States Bank (BEAC). Renowned for its solvency since the establishment of this market nearly 13 years ago, Cameroon used its usual borrowing strategy to make this repayment.

To this end, two new issuances of fungible Treasury bills (BTA) were carried out on April 15, two days before the repayment date. These issuances, consisting of securities with maturities of 26 weeks for CFA40 billion and 52 weeks for CFA25 billion, raised CFA49.4 billion from investors. This sum not only covered the due repayment but also generated a cash surplus of CFA10 billion for Cameroon.

The interest rates applied in these operations reflected the increasing tension in the market, which has seen its requirements rise over the months due to a restrictive monetary policy. Cameroon offered an average interest rate of 6.3% on the 26-week BTAs and 6.5% on the 52-week ones. The rates are significantly higher than the 3% ceiling commonly practiced by the Cameroonian Treasury on these securities a few years ago.

Source: Business in Cameroon

18, April 2024

Kenya: Helicopter crash kills defense chief and nine senior officers ⁰

Kenya’s defence chief and nine other senior military officers died in a helicopter crash on Thursday, President William Ruto announced.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto told reporters, adding that nine other officers were also killed while two survived.

He said the Kenya Air Force has dispatched an air investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

“A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and in the service of the country,” Ruto said, announcing three days of mourning from Friday.

Source: AFP

18, April 2024

Cocoa Farmer Household Income New Methodology: Any hope for African farmers? ⁰

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) on April 3, 2024, announced the launch of an important new methodology for measuring cocoa household income and living incomes. Led and funded by WCF and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO), the methodology is expected to go a long way in help experts and actors in the cocoa sector gain a better understanding of the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

The methodology was delivered by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) who partnered with the Centre Ivoirien de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (CIRES) and Etudes de Marché et Conseils (EMC) from Côte d’Ivoire. Until recently, there has not been any authoritative way to measure cocoa farmer household income across the sector, yet accurately measuring cocoa farmer household income is key to understanding the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

Existing methods still struggle to account for the costs of cocoa production and to capture non-cocoa income whilst data gathered by individual companies offers a picture based solely on their direct supply chains – leaving cocoa growers, especially in African countries where data does not drive processes and there are no organized systems, in the indirect supply chain underrepresented. Individual data gathering by companies and other institutions also currently relies on a variety of different methods.

This new methodology solves many of these challenges and offers a standard that can be applied to all future studies, research and data collection to make them more widely comparable and better representative of the sector as a whole. It includes groups that have not been intensively involved in sustainability interventions in the past as well as underrepresented groups such as sharecroppers, women and cocoa farmers on the African continent who are not in the indirect supply chain.

It also includes robust means of collecting data on diversified household income that does not stem from cocoa. The methodology was completed with inputs from numerous stakeholders across the cocoa sector including the Alliance on Living Income in Cocoa (ALICO), Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), representatives from producing country governments, NGOs and civil society organizations and WCF member companies. It is designed to determine the living income status of cocoa farming households and the impact of sustainability interventions on household incomes. These two elements are essential to defining and aligning stakeholders’ efforts around the interventions that are most effective.

“To understand what works in helping raise cocoa farmers’ incomes we first need to be able to consistently measure how activities affect those incomes,” said Michael Matarasso, WCF Director of Monitoring and Evaluation. “This methodology gives everyone in the sector a firm foundation to stand on and will help us to drive collective progress to improve cocoa farmers’ incomes.”

As the second phase of this collaboration, WCF, GIZ and SWISSCO will use this methodology to conduct baseline studies on cocoa farmer household income in three landscapes in Côte d’Ivoire. WCF will implement an income study in the Yapo Abbé Forest, GIZ in Bossématié whilst SWISSCO plans to deliver a cocoa household income study in the Cavally Forest Reserve in having recently completed an income study in Ghana aligned with this new measurement methodology. Similarly, other academic institutions, companies and government agencies can use the methodology in their own research and data collection, reinforcing a common standard for the entire industry.

“This methodology is important as it enables evidence-based policy and intervention design based on the analysis of good quality data for different household groups. We hope that it contributes to greatly reducing or closing the living income gaps of farming households,” said Yuca Waarts, Senior Researcher at Wageningen University & Research.

Lisa Kirfel-Rühle, overseeing cocoa supply chains at BMZ, emphasizes the significance of the methodology, stating: “Through this methodology, we and our partners advocate for standardized high-quality income data of cocoa farmers to strengthen political discourse, whether past interventions have been sufficient to ensure decent incomes for cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire or whether we still have to address imbalances in value chain distributions.”

“Helping cocoa farmers succeed requires everyone in the cocoa sector to work together. Therefore having a common methodology to measure and compare the income of cocoa farmer families is important to accurately understand their economic situation,” said Nicoletta Lumaldo, Manager Innovation and Member Engagement at SWISSCO.

The new methodology measuring cocoa farmer household income is the result of several months of work and deep collaboration among all the organizations involved.

Culled from WCF By Cecilia M. Manjang

18, April 2024

4th Cameroon Investment Forum opens in Douala ⁰

The 4th edition of the Cameroon Investment Forum, a flagship biennial event that brings together high-level government officials, development partners, and various business stakeholders from around the world, opened on Wednesday in the commercial hub of Douala.

Organized by the state-run Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), the forum aims to intensify the import substitution dynamic in Cameroon by mobilizing and directing investments into niche sectors such as rice, maize, fish, milk, and palm oil, said CIPA Acting General Manager Donatus Boma.

“It is a platform for high-level consultations and exchange of experiences. It is an excellent opportunity for investors to understand why Cameroon is an investment destination,” Boma said during the opening ceremony, which was attended by African, Chinese, Russian, and European investors.

“The main objective is to encourage local investors and attract foreign direct investment in products aimed at increasing local production and processing. This initiative should help reduce Cameroon’s deficit caused by the importation of staple foods in large quantities,” he added.

The forum, held after years of postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will end on Friday.

Source: Xinhuanet

18, April 2024

Cameroon doctors flee to Europe, North America for lucrative jobs ⁰

The state of health care in Cameroon is a source of growing concern, with thousands of doctors fleeing the central African country for lucrative jobs elsewhere, especially in Europe and North America, according to officials.

The number of people, including doctors, acquiring passports and applying for visas has increased by 70 percent, officials say. In addition, 75 percent of the 1,000 doctors that Cameroon’s government trains each year are leaving.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health reports that several hundred doctors are enrolled in what members of the profession see as lucrative schemes to emigrate to Canada. Also, the number of health workers, including doctors, applying for the U.S. government’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, is rising.

The Cameroon Medical Council, an association of doctors, says the doctor-patient ratio in Cameroon has sunk to one doctor per 50,000 people, instead of the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio of one doctor per 10,000 patients. The group reports that the doctors are fleeing to escape hardship, poor pay, difficult working conditions and unemployment.

Doctor Peter Louis Ndifor, the council’s vice president, said it is unfortunate that Cameroon trains but does not recruit thousands of its doctors. He spoke to VOA via telephone from Buea, an English-speaking town in southwestern Cameroon.

“The number of registered doctors on the roll[s] of the Cameroon Medical Council is about 13,000, but we have 5,000 to 6,000 doctors in Cameroon presently,” he said. “Doctors quitting Cameroon is an eloquent testimony that doctors are in discomfort, doctors are in distress.”

Cameroon says it currently needs at least 30,000 health workers, including doctors. The country is facing attacks from Boko Haram that have left more than 36,000 people dead, a separatist crisis that has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced about 750,000 others, and the spillover of sectarian violence from neighboring Central African Republic.

The Cameroon Medical Council says the central African country in 2013 launched a program to train about 1,000 doctors in order to improve the doctor-patient ratio, which was then one doctor per 17,000 patients.

However, the government recruits less than 100 doctors each year due to financial constraints, officials say. Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health says it expected privately owned hospitals to recruit a majority of the doctors upon graduation from medical school, but hospitals owned by individuals, communities and churches also recruit less than 100 doctors each year.

Even when recruited, the doctors say they are paid about $100 per month in private hospitals and about $220 per month in government hospitals.

Jathor Godlove, 29, is an unemployed doctor. After seven years of study at the faculty of medicine of Cameroon’s University of Bamenda, he says hardship is forcing him to consider leaving the country.

“I find myself being very restrained and restricted in my capacity to help my family,” he said. “I even have some peers who venture out of medicine because they see that as a medic, when you get somewhere to offer your services, they will tell you they want to pay you 50,000 [Central African CFA] francs a month [around $80 U.S.], which is very funny. Some of them have families, when they find themselves in such situations, they see better opportunities abroad. I think you can’t blame them.”

He says poor working conditions — including the lack of hospital equipment and poor pay — are pushing nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians to join doctors in leaving Cameroon for Europe and North America.

However, some medical staff members who have not been able to travel out of Cameroon offer voluntary services in hospitals like in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest Region.

Doctor Denis Nsame, director of the Regional Hospital in Bamenda, says unemployed health care workers outnumber health workers hired by the government.

“At the Regional Hospital in Bamenda, out of 600 staff, only 146 are state-employed staff, and we consult on average 45,000 patients per year, carry out about 1,900 surgeries per year, we have deliveries [of babies] close to 250 to 300 every month,” Nsame said.

The Cameroon Medical Council says that some health workers, including doctors, at times go several months without pay. Many of the health workers count on donations and consultation fees from well-wishers and patients to make a living.

In a message to Cameroonian youths last February 11, Cameroonian President Paul Biya said young people’s growing desire to emigrate is increasingly a cause for concern. He said Cameroonians should be patriotic and serve their homeland because the country is facing difficulties and leaving is not a solution.

Doctors and other health workers say the president, if he wants to curb emigration, should improve their living conditions and hospital equipment.

Source: VOA

16, April 2024

Dortmund sink Atletico to reach Champions League semi-finals ⁰

Borussia Dortmund fought back to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, securing a 5-4 aggregate victory and a first Champions League semi-final since 2013.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, goals from Julian Brandt and Ian Maatsen had Dortmund 2-0 up at half-time.

Visiting coach Diego Simeone made three changes at half-time including bringing on Angel Correa and his energy told immediately, Mats Hummels conceding a poor own goal before the Argentine netted to put Atletico back ahead in the tie.

But those goals brought a sluggish Dortmund back to life, with Niclas Fuellkrug and Marcel Sabitzer each scoring in a three-minute period to send the Bundesliga club through.

Former winners Dortmund, fifth in the German top flight and struggling to qualify for next season’s Champions League, will next face Paris Saint-Germain for a place in the final at Wembley on June 1.

The home side should have been level in the tie after three minutes but Sabitzer took an extra touch with the goal beckoning, allowing Atletico to cover.

Just moments later, Atletico had a major chance of their own, as Alvaro Morata raced through one-on-one with the goalkeeper but chipped the ball well wide of the post.

Buoyed by an 80,000-strong home crowd trying to one-up last week’s atmosphere in the Spanish capital, Dortmund pushed and prodded, with Karim Adeyemi blasting straight at Jan Oblak.

Dortmund broke through after 34 minutes, Brandt collecting a Hummels chip and shooting on the turn, the ball bouncing through Oblak’s hands.

The home side were ahead in the tie just five minutes later, Maatsen threading in from an acute angle after he was given space to run in the Atletico box.

With Simeone sensing his chances of qualifying for the semis for a fourth time as Atletico boss slipping away, he shuffled his deck at half-time, making three changes including hooking the ineffective Morata for Correa.

Dortmund’s wobbles suddenly returned, letting the visitors back into the tie.

Hummels turned Mario Hermoso’s header into his own net from an Atletico corner under little pressure and with goalkeeper Gregor Kobel waiting to save.

Atletico smelt blood and could have levelled when Correa dragged the ball just wide.

The World Cup winner made up for his miss on 64 minutes when he cut through a penalty area crowded with yellow shirts and smacked the ball in, sending Atletico in front on aggregate.

The goal jolted Dortmund back into action and Edin Terzic’s men scored twice in three minutes to retake the overall lead.

Fuellkrug headed in a Sabitzer cross and the Austrian midfielder then got a goal of his own, shooting through the Atletico defence and into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, grabbing Dortmund a famous victory.

Source: AFP

16, April 2024

US: Trump media group plans TV streaming platform ⁰

Donald Trump’s media group said Tuesday it will launch a streaming television platform, but its shares continued to tumble on Wall Street.

The announcement came as 77-year-old former US president Trump sat through a second day of jury selection in his historic criminal trial.

No other ex-president in US history has been hauled before a criminal court and the trial in a Manhattan courthouse comes as scandal-plagued Trump is fighting to make a shock return to the White House in November.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a scheme to cover up reports on the eve of his 2016 election victory that he had an extramarital affair with a porn star.

After a winning debut on Wall Street last month, Trump Media and Technology Group shares have suffered a bruising retreat, denting the Republican candidate’s wealth.

The company has seen its market value plummet from around $11 billion to less than $3.2 billion based on its $22.97 share price during mid-day trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq.

Shares that trade under the symbol “DJT” slid more than 12 percent during the day despite an announcement that the operator of Truth Social will add streaming television to the platform.

DJT shares had taken a hit on Monday with a regulatory filing saying Trump’s money-losing media company could issue more than 21 million more shares.

Streamed television content is expected to focus on news, religion, and “family-friendly” films and documentaries, according to the company.

“We’re excited to move forward with the next big phase for Truth Social,” chief executive Devin Nunes said in the release.

“We aim to provide a permanent home for high-quality news and entertainment that face discrimination by other channels and content delivery services.”

The first phase of the roll-out will involve adding streaming television to the Truth Social app, with a stand-alone version released in a second phase, according to the company.

Trump drew criticism during the weekend for a video posted on Truth Social that featured an image of President Joe Biden hog-tied, as if he were being kidnapped.

Biden’s reelection campaign said the post by Republican candidate Trump could lead to violence.

The Trump campaign was unapologetic, accusing Democrats of “weaponizing the justice system” against Trump.

Trump holds 57.3 percent of the company, which was successfully merged into a shell company known as Digital World Acquisition last month; equity owners in such transactions are typically required to hold the stock for six months before cashing out.

The company’s principal asset is Truth Social, the social media platform launched for the ex-president after he was kicked off Twitter and Facebook in 2021 in the wake of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Source: AFP

15, April 2024

Cameroon is broken: Who can fix it? ⁰

Cameroonians are sick and tired of seeing their country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and they are all blaming the country’s long-serving and sit-tight president, Paul Biya, who has run the country’s economy aground and made corruption the hallmark of his 42-year-long presidency.

Today, Cameroonians want to leave their country for greener pastures, including the old and sick who are not receiving any form of assistance from the state. The country’s pension plan is anything but effective and many retirees are dropping dead like flies just a few years after heading into retirement.

For the sick, they know they are on their way to a lonely and miserable grave as the country’s hospitals have been transformed into businesses where the sick must fund the luxurious lifestyles of the few medical doctors who have opted to live in Cameroon. There are more Cameroonian medical doctors out of the country than in Cameroon and many are not thinking of returning to their country anytime soon, except Mr. Biya dies and, from every indication, Paul Biya is not in a hurry to leave this planet. He is determined to die in power and the longer he stays in power, the more pain he inflicts on the people he is supposed to serve.

Mr. Biya’s incompetence is legendary and his management style has left the country in the throes of a long and painful economic disaster which has been around for 42 years. Biya is not in the mood to walk away from the Unity Palace, the presidential palace which he thinks belongs to him and his family although it was built by his predecessor.

Mr. Biya’s health has been failing for more than 15 years now, but he is not throwing in the towel and his Swiss doctors are doing their best to keep him alive given that he is their ATM. The Swiss medical experts spend most of their time praying for the corrupt and irresponsible Biya to be sick but stay alive so that they too can continue bilking the Cameroonian taxpayer.

Cameroonians are going through tough times. The economic disaster engineered by Biya and his collaborators is biting and this can be seen on many faces as many Cameroonians are aging prematurely. Mr. Biya seems to have put Cameroonians on a diet and many are losing weight at a disturbing pace. While the Swiss doctors are praying for Mr. Biya to be alive, Cameroonians are praying for him to die as his death might put them out of their economic sorrows and psychological torture.

Strangely, both parties are praying to the same God and, from every indication, God is listening more to the Swiss doctors and this has triggered a wave of prayers in Cameroon, with many Cameroonians praying aloud and crying as if God is deaf. Many Cameroonians hold that Biya has overstayed his welcome and should retire to his village, but his supporters are already calling for him to run again in the 2025 presidential election which he will win with a comfortable margin as the country’s constitution and electoral laws have been tailored to suit his intentions.

Though all the odds are stacked up in favor of Mr. Biya, there are some politicians who hold that they can legally and legitimately take the ailing and mentally disoriented Biya out of power. The Cameroon Concord News which is Cameroon Anglophone’s best and most popular news platform has decided to profile some of those who think they can take the bull by the horn even when they know that the 900-pound bull can send them to an early grave. This month, the Cameroon Concord News will profile Barrister Akere Muna who has opted to engage in a fight against Biya and his intentions are bringing some hope to the confused and desperate people of Cameroon. Cameroonians hope he understands the risk associated with taking the bull by the balls.

Akere Muna has his eyes set on next year’s presidential election and his intention is clear – unseat President Paul Biya, who has led the country since 1982. A lawyer by training, Akere has been active in the global arena, serving as an elected Vice-Chair for Transparency International where his involvement in rights issues resulted in the formation of the Transparency International Working Group which helped draft the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

He has also served as the President of Transparency International Cameroon; Cameroon Bar Association President; President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union and the President of the Pan African Lawyers Union. In January 2010, he was elected to the Panel of Eminent Persons which oversees the African Peer Review process.

After having served the world, he has turned his eye to his country, Cameroon, where he has been calling out the country’s government for its corrupt practices, especially recently following the condemnation of Glencoe, a global firm charged with corruption in the UK and the USA for is acts of corruption in several African countries, including Cameroon where millions of dollars were alleged to have been given to officials of the country’s oil refinery, SONARA, and SNH.

On paper, Barrister Muna has all what it takes to beat Mr. Biya in a free and fair election. His career is what many around the world would dream to have. However, having a brilliant international career is not synonymous with beating Mr. Biya in an election whose results are already known. The odds may be stacked up against Barrister Akere Muna, especially as the political landscape is crowded with small parties, many of which have been created by the ruling party, the CPDM, just to ensure that genuine opposition parties do not coalesce around one candidate against Mr. Biya, but he holds that if the people go out to vote and protect their votes, things might turn out differently. Barrister Muna knows that the system is built for purpose – to favour Mr. Biya and it is “tailored to be tweaked to make sure he wins,” but he is not giving up without trying.

Barrister Muna has already been talking to other political leaders like Cabral Libii and Maurice Kamto who is clearly a more popular political leader in Cameroon. He has a tough job convincing other political leaders that he is the right person to wrestle Biya out of Etoudi though the rules give Mr. Biya a massive advantage. Besides the tailored laws and constitution, Barrister Muna has an uphill task to persuade Cameroonians that he will be the right person to challenge Biya as the population has doubts about him.

He is loved as a human rights advocate and a critic of the system, but beyond that role, many Cameroonians believe that he has an elitist mindset, having grown up in Yaoundé where his father, the late Solomon Tandeng Muna, was once a vice president of Cameroon and before that, he was a first prime minister of West Cameroon. Barrister Akere Muna seems to be totally disconnected from the suffering masses in Cameroon as he has never lived their lives and does not know how it feels to go to bed without a meal.

His father has been part of the mess that has transformed the country into the land of the rich and he himself has been working with the same government on some legal issues which many think are anything but transparent. His sister was once a minister in the same regime and it is hard for the Muna family to clearly and honestly dissociate itself from a government which has weaponized poverty just to keep the people of Cameroon in check.

But it is in the Southwest region of Cameroon where it will be most challenging for him to win hearts and minds. Taking his political agenda to that part of the country will be like taking his eggs to the wrong market. South Westerners still hold that Solomon Tandeng Muna and John Ngu Foncha, both from the Northwest Region of the country, actually betrayed them when they took Southern Cameroons to East Cameroon.

That decision has never gone down well with the people of the South West Region. Southwest politicians who openly called on Southern Cameroonians to join Nigeria in a referendum which reunited the two Cameroons were cut out of politics and many were made to languish for the rest of their lives. EML Endeley, the man who openly opposed the stance Solomon Tandeng Muna and John Ngu Foncha took was impoverished and made to pay for his political views. N.N Mbile, Chief Nyenty and Chief Ayamba all from the Southwest Region of Cameroon paid a huge price for their political stance against Amadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’s first president who took Foncha and Muna to Yaoundé after the massive betrayal of South Westerners.

However, Barrister Muna is not his father. The crimes and sins of his father should not be his. He has time to demonstrate that he is different and his integrity should be seen as an asset in a country where corruption is widespread.

Barrister Muna should start building a huge political platform which should be inclusive and national in character. The presidential election may be eighteen months away, but there is a lot to be done. Barrister Muna must get in touch with the country’s Diaspora and must clearly make his stance known. He has to condemn the mistakes of his father in public to win hearts and minds in the country’s South West Region and he has to shed his elitist mindset to convince Cameroonians that he understands the country’s economic realities. In eighteen months, a lot can be done to make Barrister Muna marketable even to his worst opponents. The ball is in his court.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief