Monthly Archives: October 2024

African Development Bank: Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade named Senior Vice President

9, October 2024

African Development Bank: Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade named Senior Vice President 0

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has appointed Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, née Ndongo-Seh, as its new Senior Vice President, effective retroactively from October 4, 2024. A Cameroonian by origin, she previously served as the Acting Vice President for Regional Development, Integration, and Service Delivery at the AfDB since 2022.

During her tenure, Akin-Olugbade played a key role in promoting regional economic integration, mobilizing resources, and developing innovative financial solutions. She managed a $9 billion portfolio for West Africa and provided leadership in challenging environments like the Sahel region. Her efforts involved working closely with governments and the private sector to drive development.

“Marie Laure is a highly experienced, committed, and effective manager of teams, who brings extensive knowledge of the African Development Bank, its rules, processes and systems, and a well-proven capacity to deliver on bank-wide operations while ensuring team cohesion,” said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina. He expressed confidence that her leadership would bring renewed energy to the bank’s management team.

With 32 years of experience in capital markets, asset management, and debt policy, Akin-Olugbade is known for her results-driven approach. In her new role, she emphasized her commitment to increasing the bank’s impact across its member countries. “I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence that President Adesina has placed in me. I look forward to working closely with the president, senior leadership team, our Boards of Directors and staff to enhance the Bank’s impact and effectiveness in delivering programs that benefit our regional member countries,” she said.

Akin-Olugbade holds a master’s degree in applied economics from Paris-Dauphine University and a higher diploma in management from Panthéon-Sorbonne University. She joined the AfDB in 1991 and has held several key roles, including Country Office Manager for Ghana in 2010, where she managed a $1 billion portfolio.

She replaces South African Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, who stepped down to run for AfDB presidency in 2025.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Cameroon bonds drop as investors weigh political stability risk over Biya health

9, October 2024

Cameroon bonds drop as investors weigh political stability risk over Biya health 0

Cameroonian dollar bonds dropped for a third consecutive day as speculation about the health of the nation’s president raised concerns about a potential succession battle.

The country’s debt ranked among the worst performers Wednesday in an index tracking frontier and emerging market sovereign bonds. President Paul Biya has been absent from public view since early September, though the government said the 91-year-old leader was healthy.

Source: Bloomberg

Paul Biya: Why Cameroonians want him to die!

9, October 2024

Paul Biya: Why Cameroonians want him to die! 0

For some time now, news about Paul Biya’s death has been trending and most discussions among the country’s Diaspora focus on Paul Biya, a man who has ruled his country for almost 42 years.

To gain a better understanding of how Cameroonians think about their president, the Cameroon Concord News Group North American editor, Alain Agbor Ebot interviewed some members of the country’s Diaspora who did not spare any punches. Read below!

Elad (Canada): We have been hearing of Mr. Biya’s death for some time now and this is not helping us. I am a Cameroonian who has been living in Canada for over two decades and I have been thinking of returning to my native Southwest region where I intend to undertake some agricultural projects to create jobs in the country, but my return is impossible for as long as Biya is in power. Lots of things have fallen apart in the country due to the lack of proper infrastructure. The country has not got good road infrastructure.  The existing roads are not motorable. It is hard doing business in an environment which does not have good roads. There is also the issue of electricity. It is hard to operate in a country where there is no electricity. Cameroon needs an extreme makeover and this can only be engineered by a new regime.

Eyong (Germany): I have been in Germany for almost twenty-five years and I am sick and tired of living abroad. I want to return to my native Mamfe where I can have a more relaxed life. But returning now is almost impossible. Biya has to go for things to improve in Cameroon. His death will be a welcome relief as it may even cause separatist fighters to down their weapons. Biya is the main reason why many of us are living abroad. We love Cameroon but Biya and his gang have messed up the place. He should even resign. He hasn’t got the capacity to rule. I am happy that he hasn’t got much time to be on this planet. If he is not dead now, he will surely die in a few years’ time. He is a very wicked man. He wants to take down the country with him. This is indeed unfortunate!

Nfor Nji (America): That is the news we have been waiting for. Biya is better dead than alive. He is a massive liability to that country. I live in the United States, but I always think of returning to my native Cameroon. I am over 63 years and I would be happy to return to my native Bamenda to help with any reconstruction work. I am a professional engineer and I know a lot about post-war reconstruction. There are many other Cameroonians who hold that retirement will be better back home but how do we return there when nothing works. No good hospitals poorly regulated medical environment. Bad roads, lawlessness, insecurity and no electricity! Cameroon has been run aground by Mr. Biya who was expected to lead Cameroonians to the Promised Land. Biya is a sadist. He is happy inflicting pain on his people. Talk to many Cameroonians in the USA and you will find out that they are not happy living out of their country.

Folefack (America): When I heard of his death, I immediately went online to see if it was true. I even called family members back home who said they were waiting for confirmation. Biya is a millstone around our necks. He has killed Cameroon, triggering a wave of migration. Today, Cameroonians even migrate to places like the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries which are even economically worse than Cameroon. Our youths want to leave the country. They hold that salvation will never come from the ballot boxes. Biya’s rigging machinery is well-oiled. Biya is a monster. He does not care about the country. He only wants to die in power. We need a new government comprising dedicated and honest people. Cameroon has a huge Diaspora and there should be a ministry dedicated to the Diaspora. We want to return but what are we returning to. I am tired of living abroad. I left Cameroon in 1985. At that time, things were already falling apart but Biya and his men who are snake oil salesmen kept on telling Cameroonians that they would steer the ship to safer shores. None of that has happened. Today, they are instead making the waters murkier. Corruption, embezzlement, intimidation, violence and chaos have made Cameroon unattractive to investors. It is indeed unfortunate. We need a new leader who will come up with a brand new vision. Our towns are unplanned. Our people are starving. The food grown in rural areas cannot be brought to urban areas due to poor roads. We are indeed in a quagmire. My mind bleeds for that country.

This is a Cameroon Concord News Group Production

Poverty Culture: Several Francophone political leaders urging Biya to run in 2025

9, October 2024

Poverty Culture: Several Francophone political leaders urging Biya to run in 2025 0

Several political leaders have called on the president to seek a new mandate in the 2025 election, despite persistent concerns about his health.

As with every presidential election in Cameroon, the calls for Paul Biya to run again—now 91 and facing many questions about his health—are multiplying. The leaders of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC, the ruling party) began these efforts as early as 2023, but now the movement is spreading to smaller allied parties.

On October 6, the Democratic Movement for the Defence of the Republic (MDR) made its move. At a special convention in Maroua (Extreme North region), the MDR announced that it would keep to its long-standing policy of supporting the president.

“Implementation of Congress Recommendations”

“Remaining true to the path set by its founder, the late Dakolé Daïssala, the MDR will continue to back President Paul Biya’s candidacy in the 2025 election,” said a resolution signed by its president, Senator Paulin Djorwe. “We are preparing calmly. The party is ready. We are urging our supporters to follow this direction,” added the lawyer, who was officially installed as the new leader after serving two years as interim.

A few days earlier, another call for Biya’s candidacy came from the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) in Yaoundé.

After an October 4 meeting between Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji and Robert Bapooh Lipot, who leads one faction of the historically divided UPC, Lipot said his party would support Biya in 2025. “We are carrying out the congress’s recommendations and honouring the commitments made by our late Secretary-General, Augustin Frederic Kodock, to support the man who made sure our heroes, Ruben Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandié, Abel Kingué… are celebrated in this nation,” he added.

Battle of Coalitions

The MDR and the Lipot-led UPC are both part of the ruling majority. The MDR aligned with Paul Biya’s RDPC after the March 1992 legislative elections. Defeated by the opposition that year, the ruling party gained a majority only after the MDR’s six deputies joined them. That same year, the MDR entered the government, securing four ministerial posts.

The UPC joined a few months later. After tough negotiations with its then-Secretary-General Augustin Frederic Kodock, it also joined the government in October 1992, gaining four ministries and a position as Minister of State in 1994. However, decades later, both parties have greatly weakened.

Hampered by internal infighting, both the MDR and UPC have lost much of their influence. In the 2020 legislative elections, the MDR managed only one seat, while the UPC was barred from running due to its divisions. Nevertheless, these parties remain symbolic, and the RDPC continues to rely on them to promote its policy of inclusiveness. In 2018, the ruling party leaned heavily on the support of the G20—a coalition of allied parties—to counter the opposition, particularly the campaign of Maurice Kamto.

Who will mobilise more this time? As the next elections approach, the battle for coalition support has resumed in full force.

Culled from The Africa Report

Disgraced FECAFOOT boss and CPDM MP  Vincent Onana dies

9, October 2024

Disgraced FECAFOOT boss and CPDM MP  Vincent Onana dies 0

Vincent Onana, former president of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), passed away on October 8, 2024, at his home in Yaoundé, according to a report by the national broadcaster CRTV. Born in the Lekié department in the Central Region, Onana was elected president of Fecafoot in 1996 during an extraordinary general assembly, after serving as the director of stadium operations in Yaoundé.

During his tenure, Cameroon’s national football team qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. However, just before the event, Onana was accused of fraud, leading to his dismissal and arrest. He subsequently spent two years in Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé before being released after a court ruling cleared him of the charges.

In 2004, he attempted to return to the Fecafoot presidency, expressing his desire to “restore the reputation” of Cameroonian football, which was facing challenges at the time. However, he eventually withdrew his candidacy, citing the electoral process as a “sham.” He was also a former physical education teacher and had coached football clubs such as Tarzan d’Obala and Mbalmayo Football Club.

Onana has also been an MP. In 2002, he was elected under the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM)’s banner. He was reelected in 2013.

Source: Sbbc

“Biya has never been hospitalised in Paris,” says Cameroon’s ambassador to France

9, October 2024

“Biya has never been hospitalised in Paris,” says Cameroon’s ambassador to France 0

As rumours continue to circulate about the health of the Cameroonian president, Cameroon’s Paris-based diplomat André Magnus Ekoumou says Biya is in Geneva.

For nearly a month, the health of Paul Biya, 91, has been the subject of widespread speculation, as the Cameroonian president has successively cancelled appearances at the United Nations General Assembly, the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) summit, and the Sustainable Development forum in Hamburg, Germany.

While the Cameroonian diaspora was mobilising in the Paris suburbs, where Paul Biya was allegedly hospitalised at the Percy military hospital in Clamart, the rumours reached a new peak on 8 October with the broadcast, by South African channel ABS Africa TV, of the announcement of the head of state’s death.

A “completely baseless piece of news”

Contacted by Jeune Afrique on 8 October, André Magnus Ekoumou, Cameroon’s ambassador to France, stated, however, that “Paul Biya has never been hospitalised in Clamart or anywhere in France”. Expressing his displeasure at the spread of rumours, the diplomat also confirmed the information that the president “is currently in Geneva”.

He added that the head of state is “in good health”, while some of our sources close to the presidency have indicated that he is currently under medical supervision after complications caused by his diplomatic activity in July and August.

From Yaoundé, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Grégoire Owona, also took to his X account to address the rumours of the president’s death. “Those who are trying, by various means, to deceive public opinion by announcing the death of the Cameroonian head of state must pay a high price for such a gross lie. Since they no longer have any human conscience, the appropriate institutions must take action against these impostors, no matter their origin or location. We are in a democracy, but malice and hatred have their limits!” he declared.

‘Baseless news’

Jacques Fame Ndongo, Secretary for Communications of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement and Minister of Higher Education, also penned a statement, in his own characteristic style: “This news is completely baseless. This phantasmagorical scheme must not shake the political maturity, clear-headedness, and patriotism of Cameroonians and our friends. Universal journalism relies on facts, not on fantasies or malicious news. It follows a rigorous approach inspired by experimental sciences, including observation, hypothesis, verification, and law, as Gaston Bachelard pointed out. Journalism is both an art, a technique, and a science.”

A segment of the political class called, on 8 October, for clarification from the civil cabinet of the presidency, led by Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, regarding the president’s true health status and the possibility of a vacancy of power. Noting the “prolonged absence” of Paul Biya and urging Cameroonians to “remain sufficiently cautious and vigilant,” the Cameroon Democratic Union, headed by MP Hermine Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, called on the presidency, the government, or “any other competent institution […] to take responsibility by providing official information to the people.”

Source: The Africa Report

Biya is alive, can we see him?

8, October 2024

Biya is alive, can we see him? 0

The government in Yaoundé has said that rumours of all kinds circulating through conventional media and social networks about President Biya’s condition are pure fantasy.

Biya has not been seen in public since attending a China-Africa forum in Beijing in early September. His failure to appear as scheduled at a summit in France last weekend stoked speculation that the dictator was unwell.

Cameroonians love their president and they want to see him. Biya has won every election since 1982 because he is the only popular candidate in the Francophone dominated country.

The country is well-managed. Can we see Biya? Can he talk to Cameroonians now at a time when Cameroonians are frustrated?

Escalating cost of living is killing Cameroonians. Where is the president? He is the only man with a magic wand.

What does it cost to see Biya, the only man who can rule Cameroon? Cameroonians are worried. Without Biya, Cameroon will dissolve. Please let Cameroonians see him. Seeing is believing!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

CPDM government ministers offer reassurances on Biya’s health

8, October 2024

CPDM government ministers offer reassurances on Biya’s health 0

Ministers Fame Ndongo and Gregoire Owona have reassured Cameroonians about the health of President Paul Biya, 91, and expressed anger at those who announced the demise of the ailing dictator, Cameroon Radio and Television reported on Tuesday after Prime Minister Dion Ngute reportedly cancelled the weekly cabinet meeting.

Cameroon Concord News reported that President Paul Biya had a prostate operation and the dictator is bedridden at the Percy Army Training Hospital known in French as the Hôpital National D’instruction Des Armées Percy located at 2 Rue Lieutenant Raoul, Batamy, 92140 Clamart, France.

Biya has been in power since 1982 and his Francophone dominated government has for years sought to quell speculation over his health.

Last week the presidency disclosed that he was sick and undergoing medical treatment in Paris or Geneva but no one deep within government circle is saying whether he has recovered.

Paul Biya has not been seen in public since leaving Beijing on 8 September after attending the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC).

His time as head of state has been marked by empty ambitious social and economic programs largely managed by corrupt political elites from his Beti-Bulu tribal extraction, many of whom are trying to position themselves as Cameroon’s next head of state.

For 42 years, Biya has also overseen an intense crackdown on dissent that analysts say has helped him consolidate power.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Biya regime issues new bonds to cover CFA12bn repayment

8, October 2024

Biya regime issues new bonds to cover CFA12bn repayment 0

On October 2, Cameroon successfully issued CFA10 billion in treasury bonds on the Beac public securities market. The results of this loan have not yet been disclosed.

This issuance coincided with a scheduled repayment of CFA12 billion from the Cameroonian treasury, which was due on the same day. This repayment relates to a loan taken out 26 weeks earlier. This suggests that, as is customary, the Cameroonian government sought to secure the repayment by obtaining a new loan.

This practice has become common in the sub-regional public securities market, allowing Cameroon to avoid dipping into its cash reserves to meet obligations to BEAC market investors.

It is worth noting that since the launch of the BEAC public securities market in 2011, the Cameroonian treasury has never recorded a single payment default. This track record makes Cameroon one of the most creditworthy countries in the market for the past 13 years.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Yaoundé says CFA1.7 trillion in suspicious financial flows in Cameroon in 2023

8, October 2024

Yaoundé says CFA1.7 trillion in suspicious financial flows in Cameroon in 2023 0

Last year, CFA1,665.4 billion was recorded as suspicious financial flows in Cameroon. This figure represents an increase of 180% compared to the previous year, according to a report by the Anti-Graft Commission (Conac), which cited statistics from the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF). The result comes from analyzing 965 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) submitted to ANIF by banks, microfinance institutions, mobile money operators, money transfer companies, lawyers, notaries, and other public agencies.

The document found that “various fraud cases” were the most common, nearly tripling between 2022 and 2023. These cases represented over half (50.6%) of the reports made in 2023. The detected activities included tax fraud (60% of cases), customs fraud (40%), land transaction fraud (7%), and credit card fraud (5%). Common methods involved the illegal transfer of funds abroad using misused credit cards, hiding business revenues in third-party bank accounts, and illegal business operations by some economic actors. In addition to the relevant courts, information about tax and customs fraud has been shared with the General Tax Directorate (DGI) and the General Directorate of Customs (DGD).

The report emphasized that after “various frauds,” cases related to terrorism financing rose by 38% compared to 2022. These cases ranked second in terms of reports and accounted for 31.54% of submissions in 2023, totaling 141 cases. This rise may be attributed to security concerns, including the presence of Boko Haram in northern Cameroon and the activities of separatist movements in the Northwest and Southwest regions. Identified funding mechanisms involved internet scams, using fake identities to receive funds from abroad, as well as transfers through mobile money and money transfer companies.

Also, while the number of cases related to public fund embezzlement rose by 140% between 2022 and 2023, Conac noted that these cases represent only 2.68% of the reports submitted by ANIF to the authorities. However, they accounted for 4.3% (over CFA71 billion) of the total suspicious financial flows recorded by ANIF this year, compared to 94.7% (approximately CFA1,577 billion) for “various frauds.” Activities linked to terrorism financing accounted for only 0.14% of the suspicious financial flows reported, totaling around CFA2.3 billion.

Source: Business in Cameroon

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