Breaking News

15, December 2016

Daughter of former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza murdered in Maputo ⁰

Valentina Guebuza, daughter of the former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza has been murdered in Maputo.

Aged 36, Valentina Guebuza was considered the seventh most powerful woman in Africa by Forbes magazine. She succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital after receiving several bullets.

According to local media, her husband, Zofino Muiuane, a businessman working for British American Tobacco is presently in police drag net but has not been formally charged.

The daughter of the former President of Mozambique Armando Guebeza managed the family holding company Focus 21 Management, which has stakes in telecoms, fishing, transport, mining and land.

By Chi Prudence Asong

15, December 2016

Political flirtation: Minister Issa Tchiroma, others named and shamed ⁰

The Minister of Communication and government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has been named and shamed as the greatest political opportunist in Cameroon. The Cameroon political story has all along been animated and characterized essentially by “chronic” instability. The country has no fewer than 298 political parties, and most of these movements were created after December 1990, in the aftermath of the return to multiparty politics.

The majority of Cameroon’s political leaders belonged either to the National Union of Cameroon (UNC), the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the National Union for Democracy and Democracy Progress (UNDP), or the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC).

In a recent edition, a local newspaper L’hebdomadaire Repères painted Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Minister of Communication as a political opportunist. As one of the founding members of the UNDP, Tchiroma was dismissed from the party on the 21^st of January 1995 alongside his corrupt acolyte, Minister Hamadou Moustapha. The two then created their own party: National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP). He has held the position of Minister of Communication since the 30^th of June 2009 and is known today as a Biya loyalist.

Jean Jacques Ekindi, leader of the Progressive Movement (MP) was also named in the report. He started from a political party with links to the UPC and joined the ruling CPDM crime syndicate before creating his own party in 1991. For her part, Edith Kahbang Walla left the SDF to create The Cameroon People’s Party (CPP). Célestin Bedzigui, abandoned the leadership of his own political formation, the Liberal Alliance Party (PAL) and became a card carrying member of Bello Bouba Maigari’s UNDP in 1997. 5 Years later, precisely in 2002, Célestin Bedzigui was sacked from his position as 1st Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee and member of the UNDP Political Bureau by Bello Bouba Maïgari.

Bernard Achuo Muna, one of the founding members of the SDF, separated from the Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi during a party congress in 2006. He joined the Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP) a year later, and then headed by Maidadi Yaya, another defector of the SDF. He became leader of the AFP, but in February 2012, he stepped down from the presidency of his party and became a simple militant.

By Ebong Kingsley

15, December 2016

Minister Gregoire Owona’s health: A new CPDM tell-tale sign of worry ⁰

A rumour that spread widely on Wednesday night in Yaounde, the nation’s capital, announced the death of Gregoire Owona, the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance.

The rumour invaded the social networks but was denied by some close collaborators of the minister who also moonlights as the assistant secretary general of the central committee of the ruling CPDM party.

Minister Gregoire reportedly attended a meeting of the ruling party late on Wednesday evening. Cameroon Concord News understands, the minister’s health has been failing recently. He was in France of late for medical reasons and has drastically reduced his public appearances.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

15, December 2016

Seeking for notice: South West Regional Delegate of Communication bans free speech ⁰

The Regional Delegate of Communication for the South West Region, Muma Rosette Bih, has banned all debate programs related to the Anglophone problem in both Radio and Television stations. The decision to ban all talks was made known to private media men who were convened by South West Governor on Tuesday December 13, 2016 .

In the release, the regional delegate said the region was experiencing political uncertainty and that the social responsibility of the journalists warrants them not to add flames to the issue. Earlier at the Governor’s office, Bernard Okalia Bilai threatened to send Buddih Adams, Kum Leonard and Tilarious Atia to jail if they do not retract from a communiqué made public Sunday which spelt out the modalities and wants of a new Consortium created.

Reacting to the ban on the debate programs, Kum Leonard the president of South West Chapter of Cameroon Journalists Trade Union said, “We feel that media organs in the North West and South West regions are more competent to give real time information, the debate organized by these radio and TV stations can give the best of information, we cannot understand why we are not given opportunity to do this. It is a slap on face of Press Freedom. We are going to respect the decision because Cameroon is a state of law but we are going to meet with the regional delegate for Communication to discuss the way forward. This comes after the Journalists planned to boycott all public meetings held without English versions of Press Kits.

Culled from CIN

15, December 2016

Anglophones leaders refutes Danpullo “secret meeting” allegations ⁰

Anglophone trade union leaders have refuted reports that they took part in a meeting in Ndawara with CPDM business tycoon, Baba Danpullo. The Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, Wilfred TASSANG, told a sister publication, Cameroun info.net that no Anglophone leader ever met with business magnet, Danpullo.

Wilfred Tassang however observed that the negotiators sent by the Philemon Yang administration come with a hidden agenda which to him will not lead to a fruitful negotiation between them and the Government The firebrand unionist says the fact that the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee put in place by Prime Minister, is demanding the striking teachers to call off the strike before going to the negotiation table is an indication that the Government is playing a game with them.

Meeting in Bamenda on Wednesday December 14, 2016, the teachers maintained the strike while welcoming the putting in place of committee and members to sit on negotiation table. The Executive Secretary of CATTU, Wilfred TASSANG, told Cameroon-Info.Net that “The trade Unions have met and we have taken cognizance of the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee. We are just waiting on the committee to go to work, however we are also expressing our disappointment with the Chairperson of the committee, Paul Ghogumo, who declared that the committee will not be convened until we call off the strike. If the committee is convened we will go to work. Government has not given us any reason to call off the strike, however if the committee does its work as we expect and the Prime Minister gives a timeline for implementation, that could lead to suspension of the strike. If that is not done, then there is a possibility that schools may not resume coming January.”

Culled from CIN

14, December 2016

Eto’o honored in Turkey ¹

Cameroonian football legend Samuel Eto’o currently playing with Antalyaspor of Turkey has been honored by the Antalya city council in Turkey. Eto’o was made honorary citizen and he received the award on Monday the 12^th of December 2016, after his club recorded a historic win over Fenerbahce on the 14^th day of the Turkish Championship.

“I am very grateful to Turkey and my Turkish brothers for all the affection they have shown me since the first day I arrived here. Special thanks to Antalyaspor, the city of Antalya and our Mayor Menderestürel. I am proud to be an honorary citizen! “Said Samuel Eto’o in a post posted on his Instagram account.

The Cameroonian striker officially joined Antalyaspor on Tuesday the 7^th of July 2015 from the Italian club of Sampdoria of Genoa. Antalyaspor is the eleventh club of his career.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from CIN

14, December 2016

Gambia: Regional leaders have failed to convince President Jammeh to allow power transition ⁰

West African regional leaders have failed to convince Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, who has lost and rejected the results of a recent presidential election, to allow power transition. Political upheaval erupted in Gambia after the presidential election on December 1, when opposition leader Adama Barrow was declared the winner. Incumbent Jammeh, who has ruled Gambia for 22 years and was seeking re-election, first conceded defeat but then backtracked, calling for a re-vote.

Gambian military forces, professing loyalty to the president, seized the headquarters of the national elections commission on Tuesday and blocked staffers from entering the office. Leaders from a regional bloc known as the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, traveled to Gambia in a failed attempt to strike a deal with the president to make him leave power. “It is not time for a deal. It is not something that can happen in one day. It is something that we have to work on,” said Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who led the ECOWAS delegation.

The regional leaders will meet again on Saturday, in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, to further seek a solution to the crisis. ECOWAS president Marcel Alain de Souza warned on Tuesday that military intervention could be considered if the Gambian president avoided to step down. Head of the president’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, has filed a petition with Gambia’s Supreme Court demanding a fresh vote with a re-validated voter registry.

The document, which was filed against the election commission and Gambia’s attorney general on Tuesday, said the recent election should be invalidated because, it said, the vote was not conducted fairly. “The petition prays that it be determined that the said Adama Barrow was not duly elected or returned as president and that the said election was void,” read the petition.

But it was not clear what the filing of the petition with the Supreme Court would entail, as some of the institution’s judges have been dismissed by Jammeh himself in a previous row. “The only recourse when you have any problems with the results of the elections… one has to appeal to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has been dormant since May 2015,” said the election commission’s chairman, Alieu Momar Njie, referring to the time when Jammeh dismissed the judges.

Barrow has denounced Jammeh’s rejection of the vote results and said the president lacks the constitutional authority to call for a new vote or to invalidate the election. The United States, the United Nations Security Council, and international organizations have also called for a peaceful transition of power.

Presstv

14, December 2016

US: Autistic boy jailed over attempt to assassinate Donald Trump ⁰

An autistic boy from Britain has been given a 12-month jail term over an attempt to assassinate GOP nominee Donald Trump in one of his rallies at a Las Vegas casino in June in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The 20-year-old Briton, identified as Michael Steven Sandford, tried to grab a police officer’s gun before he was stopped as the future president was addressing his fans. He later told officers that he meant to kill the now president-elect and pleaded guilty in September.

Judge James Mahan told him: “You have a medical problem. You should not be ashamed or embarrassed about it. You need medication….You’re not a hardened criminal. You’re not evil or a sociopath like a lot of people we have. I don’t think you wanted to kill anybody. This was just some crazy stunt that your mind told you to do.” The young man also voiced regret, saying, “I know saying sorry is not enough. I really do feel awful about what I did. I wish there was some way to make things better. I have cost taxpayers so much money. I feel terrible… I’m really sorry to you and the court for taking up so much time.” Sandford’s family has been trying to make the legal arrangements necessary to bring him back to the UK, where he can receive proper psychiatric help, The Guardian reported. They have also launched a crowdfunding campaign in an effort to raise money of the legal costs. According to his mother, Lynne Sandford, “Michael’s actions were completely out of character. He is an extremely vulnerable young man and we believe that he needs to return to the UK in order to serve his sentence.”

“During my visit to Las Vegas, I learned that Michael had been on suicide watch several times following numerous mental breakdowns,” his mother said. “‘Suicide watch’ in the US involves being kept in isolation 24/7 for up to a week at a time. Other prisoners are allowed books, but these are taken away from Michael while he is in isolation. Michael isn’t even allowed toilet paper while he is in isolation.”

Sandford, who also suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, severe depression, seizures, cardiac issues and Crohn’s disease, had been in the US for 18 months before the incident happened. He drove from California with a plan to kill Trump in Las Vegas, where he even went to a gun range to learn how to fire a gun. According to his British lawyer, Saimo Chahal, he was delusional at the time. Trump finally managed to gain electoral victory on November 8 and become the country’s future president.

Presstv

14, December 2016

Understanding our Anglophone freedom fighters ¹

POWERCAM: It was a hydro electricity dam located in Yoke Muyuka that was supplying electricity to the entire British Southern Cameroons. This dam was closed down deliberately by the Francophone led government after reunification.

CAMEROON BANK: This was our Anglophone bank created by the government in Buea and was the biggest bank in the two Cameroons and operated under the Barclays Bank UK standards in West Africa. It was completely destroyed by both Ahidjo and Biya’s men in La Eepublique du Cameroun.

National Produce MARKETING BOARD: It was the cocoa and coffee authority of British Southern Cameroons headquartered in Victoria (Not Limbe as the Biya comedian Inoni Ephraim wants us to call it}. It provided Anglophone farmers with details of all what was happening in the world market. It invested in reserves in the Cameroon Bank and kept the our young men off the streets by running football clubs. This was completely shattered by La Republique.

Cooperative Societies: This was a Dutch culture implanted in Anglophone Cameroon. Farmers had to work in cooperative groups. Those who were sailing from a Port in Douala via Malabo in Equatorial Guinea to France to be assimilated came and destroyed it.

Mobile Wing Police: It was a well trained British police force that we Anglophones inherited and was noted for its discipline. Ahidjo replaced them with a ruthless force known as the French Gendarmerie

What can we say about the following?

EMPIRE DAY

CAMDEV

CONFIDENCE HOTEL ORCHESTRA

BALI MODERN JAZZ

LIDO ORCHESTRA

CHRYSTAL GARDEN ORCHESTRA

MOUNTAIN HOTEL ORCHESTRA

WEST CAMEROON HOTELS LTD

CAT (CAMEROON AIR TRANSPORT): The main hub was Tiko international airport. It was transporting CDC produce and also running domestic flights. Was an airline representing British Southern Cameroon values and was a fast growing airline in West Africa at that time. It was closed down by a Francophone dominated government in Yaoundé.

PWD: The Public Works Department was an Anglophone identity of heavy duty machines placed at the doors of councils for road maintenance and repairs. Their pride was also seen in the football clubs; PWD Kumba and PWD Bamenda and it was the fastest road construction and maintenance body growing in West Africa. It was maliciously stifled by vicious elements of La Republique du Cameroun.

MEDINO: This was a body of trained roving Agric experts who moved around helping farmers by educating them on farming methods. The seat of MEDINO’s government was in Bamenda. It was ruined by La Republique du Cameroun.

Ekona Research Centre was created by the Americans and was the best research centre in West Africa. It was systematically Francophonised and now is a sham.

Tiko international airport was indeed the fastest growing international airport in West Africa that hosted the late Dr Nkwame Nkrumah of Ghana during his maiden official visit to British Southern Cameroons. It was shut down by people we call brothers from La Republique du Cameroun.

Tiko Wharf: It Linked maritime transport between West Cameroon via Nigeria to the entire West Africa and was growing to the status of a seaport!! This was Killed by La Republique du Cameroun.

FONADE was created through a British Southern Cameroons initiative to subsidies farmers both financially and materially. It was transferred to Yaoundé by Ahmadou Ahidjo and the name changed to Credit Agricole and destroyed by Francophones.

Ombe Trade centre: Equipped with heavy industrial machines and training Southern Cameroonians to master the maintenance culture was laid to rest by La Republique du Cameroun.

George Pompidou (French President) including Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya agreed that, all these Anglophone companies should be eliminated so that, we can be the slaves to La Republique du Cameroun.

13, December 2016

UN warns that world’s poorest countries are falling further behind ⁰

A UN report has warned that the planet’s poorest countries are falling further behind the rest of the world. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its annual report on the world’s poorest nations on Tuesday that the Least Developed Countries (LDC) had failed to catch up without more aid and favorable trade deals.

The agency has warned that these 48 countries were caught in “vicious circles.” It has also voiced concern over the ability of the poorest nations to lift themselves up on their own. “Countries can only break out of such vicious circles with international support in finance, trade and technology.”

The UNCTAD report also said nearly half of the poor live in the 48 most impoverished countries. The rate has more than doubled since 1990. Extreme poverty is currently defined as living on less than $1.90 per day. Botswana, Cape Verde, the Maldives and Samoa are the only four countries that have graduated from the LDC list since the United Nations created it 45 years ago.

The current list of the LDC countries includes 34 African nations, nine in Asia, four in the Pacific, and Haiti. Only Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu, the report said, are on track to be excluded from the LDC in the coming years. Angola and Equatorial Guinea have seen a rise in the gross national income (GNI), but the benefits of energy revenues have not been spread among the population.

Mukhisa Kituyi, the UNCTAD chief, has said that graduation from the LDC is not, in itself, a mark of progress. “How a country graduates is just as important as when it graduates.”

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