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27, November 2016

2016 Women’s AFCON: Cameroon knows how to throw a party ⁰

A walk into the courtyards of the Yaoundé Multipurpose Sports Complex tells the story of how the nation knows how to celebrate. A giant screen stands tall on which visitors watch football matches simultaneously played in Limbe and Yaoundé respectively. There is also a podium where promotional entertainment and playbacks are ongoing especially during the 15-minute half time period.

Somewhere in the same courtyard, children are being entertained with music and dancing competitions. At this section, the kids are given the opportunity to mount the podium and compete in dancing for the award of varied prizes. Exhibition stands have also been erected at the AFCON village; Cameroonian traditional regalia, jewellery, foot wear and cuisine are all on display.

Food and drinks are also available in huge supplies to spice up the entertainment. As people discuss and move around the courtyards of the AFCON village the police is on hand carrying out the necessary checks and ensuring safe movement. Either the cries from football fans, the sound of music, the smell of good food or the beautiful lighting from the AFCON village in Yaoundé is sure to catch the attention of those within the vicinity and beyond.

CRTV

27, November 2016

US President-elect calls Wisconsin votes recount effort a “scam” ⁰

US President-elect Donald Trump has denounced the effort to recount votes in Wisconsin as a “scam,” insisting voters should “accept this result and then look to the future.” The recount has been requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The state has until the federal deadline of December 13 to complete the recount process and announce the final results. Trump narrowly defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a small margin of over 27,000 votes in Wisconsin and grabbed all its 10 electoral votes.

“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn’t even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount,” Trump said in a statement on Saturday. Stein has raised millions of dollars for her push in just more than a week. She has called for an audit and recount of voting results in Michigan and Pennsylvania as well over fears that hackers might have manipulated the voting machines.

“All three states were won by large numbers of voters, especially Pennsylvania, which was won by more than 70,000 votes,” Trump said. “This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing,” the president-elect added. The Clinton campaign, which had kept quiet about Stein’s crusade, said it would now back her efforts to review the voting results in order to ensure a “fair” process for all involved.

“Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves,” campaign lawyer Marc Elias said. “But now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.” Clinton won the overall popular vote by around 2 million ballots in the Nov. 8 presidential election. However, Trump clinched most of the key battleground states in play, albeit by narrow margins.

“It is important to point out that with the help of millions of voters across the country, we won 306 electoral votes on Election Day— the most of any Republican since 1988— and we carried nine of 13 battleground states, 30 of 50 states, and more than 2,600 counties nationwide – the most since President Ronald Reagan in 1984,” Trump said in his statement. Earlier this week, speculation that electronic voting in key states might have been hacked prompted Clinton supporters to urge her to contest the election results.

Culled from Presstv

26, November 2016

Another Camrail train derails, no casualties reported ⁰

A CAMRAIL freight train derailed today the 26^th of November 2016 in the district of Ndokotti, located in the economic capital of Douala.

No loss of human life has been reported so far. The Cameroon Railways (CAMRAIL) train experienced the derailment in the early hours of the morning at the Ndokotti Bridge in Douala. Police say the material damage was not huge.

Today’s incident whose causes remain unknown for the moment, brings to mind the terrible train tragedy at Eseka on October the 21st, 2016 that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured 599 people, according to official figures.

By Chi Prudence Asong with cables from CIN

26, November 2016

Destroying our Credit Unions is killing our Anglophone economy ⁰

The Cameroon Common Law Lawyers unanimously started the now popular Southern Cameroons strike action due to the coming into place and implementation of the OHADA Uniform Act. The lawyers may have been angered by the complete absence of the English version of the document. However, Cameroon Concord News is now aware that there is more to the OHADA than just its translation.

Our chief economic reporter revealed during our last editorial meeting that the OHADA Uniform Act is a Francophone teleguided policy to stifle the Anglophone economy and by extrapolation, the Anglophone identity. For those who do not know like Minister Atanga Nji Paul, the OHADA has destroyed the original co-operative law.

The CPDM government is now demanding that application forms for loans be stamped duty and tax. This implies that a minimum loan of 50000 FCFA will have a 14000 FCFA tax. This is not realistic. The VAT that the CPDM government is demanding from co-operative credit unions does not take into consideration the corporate law that distinguished category 1 micro-finance from categories 2 and 3.

The Co-operative law does not restrict the organization from having branch offices. With the new OHADA legal apparatus, credit unions are being persecuted for having branch offices throughout the national territory. So, any good thing that has its origin from Anglophone Cameroon is under threat from the Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo government. British Southern Cameroons micro finance institutions cannot survive with this kind of judicial system.

The so-called tax laws do not exist in English. The OHADA uniform act on credit unions exists only in French. In a country where more than half of its micro finance and credit union establishments operate in the Anglophone zone, destroying our Credit Unions is tantamount to killing the Anglophone economy.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

26, November 2016

National Assembly: Minister Alamine Ousmane presents same CPDM old stories ⁰

CPDM business has commenced at the National Assembly with Cabinet Ministers defending their budgetary allocations in the Committee on Finance and Budget of the House. The Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey, set the ball rolling on November 23, 2016. It was a long night starting with the presentation of the Report on the Nation’s Economic, Social and Financial Situation and Outlook for the 2016 financial year.

Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey, proceeded with the defence of draft budgetary allocations for 18 sovereign institutions like the Presidency of the Republic, Services attached to the Presidency of the Republic, National Assembly, Prime Minister’s Office, Economic and Social Council. The exercise culminated with the Ministry of Finance, whose budgetary allocation is estimated at FCFA 52 billion in 2017 up from FCFA 46.2 billion in 2016.

The Report on the Nation’s Economic, Social and Financial Situation and Outlook notes that the achievement rate of internal budgetary revenues stood at 68.9 per cent by the end of the first nine months of the 2016 budgetary year. Resources mobilized stood at FCFA 2,373.1 billion. Domestic budgetary revenue amounted to FCFA 2,056.3 billion while cumulative budgetary expenditure amounted to FCFA 2,418.41 billion with a 2.4 per cent increase.

Cameroon’s economy remains resilient, with growth strengthened around 6 per cent, holds the macroeconomic and budgetary projections. Growth slowed slightly to 5.3 per cent in 2016 as against 5.8 per cent in 2015 with fingers pointing at the drop in oil production. Growth however, continues to be driven by the non-oil sector with value added projected at 5.7 percent. The strong increase in gas production is expected to fit the holes of the decline in oil production. The inflation rate, the Minister indicated, is not expected to exceed the threshold of 3 percent. He stated that the terms of trade could become favorable again in 2017 after several years of hardship.

Culled from Cameroon Tribune

26, November 2016

Fidel Castro of Cuba dies aged 90 ⁰

The legendary leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, has died, Cuban state television has announced. He was 90.

26, November 2016

USA: State of Wisconsin announces recount of votes for President of the United States ⁰

The US state of Wisconsin has announced a statewide recount of the ballots cast in the November 8 presidential election, upon a request by Green Party nominee Jill Stein. “The [Wisconsin Elections] Commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for President of the United States,” the Commission’s Administrator Michael Haas said in a statement on Friday. The state has until the federal deadline of December 13 to complete the recount process and announce the final results.

Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes went to US President-elect Donald Trump, who managed to beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by a small margin of over 27,000 votes. Stein, on the other hand, finished fourth in the race by receiving only 30,000 votes in the state and over 1 million votes nationwide. Her campaign announced on Wednesday afternoon that the candidate was seeking an audit and recount of the voting results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, following hacking allegations.

The candidate told CNN on Tuesday that “these concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified.” A fundraiser launched by the Stein campaign to finance the costs of the recount bid had returned over $5 million as of Friday. Stein has reportedly set aside $2.5 million of the money for the recounts, which may cost around $1 million in Wisconsin alone.

Under the state’s rule, Wisconsin would pay for recounts only when the winner holds a margin smaller than 0.5 percent. This is while Trump won the state with a nearly 1-percent margin. Stein’s move came days after a group of academics and election lawyers called on Clinton to challenge the results of the November 8 vote in some counties of the same Rust Belt states.

According to the group, Clinton has “underperformed” in areas using electronic ballots compared to areas with paper ballots. In Pennsylvania, Trump won by over 60,000 votes, a surprising victory that brought him 20 more electoral votes. He also won Michigan’s 15 votes by a narrow margin of over 10,000. Trump defeated Clinton 306-232 in terms of electoral votes.

Presstv

25, November 2016

Southern Cameroons Statehood Question: What the UN should Do ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Statehood Question falls squarely within the terms of the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The people of the territory have the inalienable right to freedom and independence.

The United Nations still has at least a residual moral and legal obligation towards the people of the Southern Cameroons until they achieve sovereign statehood. It has the right to take appropriate action in this matter. Such action includes the right to revert to itself the interim administration of the territory, until such a time that it can conduct a referendum that will reflect the true aspirations of the peoples.

It is accordingly recommended that the United Nations should take the following actions:

1) Call on the government of La Republique du Cameroun, to refrain from any further action calculated to deny or deprive the peoples of the Southern Cameroons of their unquestionable and inalienable right to self determination.

2) Call on La Republique du Cameroun to forthwith withdraw its colonial administration, civil and security from the Southern Cameroons.

3) To take precautionary measures to safeguard life, property and the wealth and resources in the Southern Cameroons, including the deployment of a peacekeeping mission; and

4) To set up a two-year interim United Nations administration in the Southern Cameroons leading up to democratic elections and independence for the territory.

25, November 2016

Djibouti Head of State: Seeking for notice ⁰

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has dismissed unfounded claims by Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh that the Islamic Republic is interfering in the affairs of regional countries, urging him to stop implementing the commands of others. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Friday urged Djibouti officials to avoid “making any remarks which are basically and fundamentally at odds with existing realities” and instead rely on their “wisdom, defer to unbiased sources and steer clear of the indoctrination of agitators in the region.” He added that the Djibouti president had better stop rehashing false and baseless remarks made by others and review his one-sided statements through realism and a genuine concern for stability and the interests of regional people.

Qassemi emphasized that such “stances will never help [promote] regional peace and security and solve the Syrian, Yemeni and Bahraini crises in particular.” The Iranian spokesperson urged Guelleh to “study the history and civilization of the world, particularly the region, more precisely.” The Djibouti president on Wednesday claimed that Iran has been intervening in the affairs of many Arab countries, including Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Iraq, inciting sectarian strife and destabilizing peace and stability in these countries. He also said that Arabs have the right to combat this alleged destructive role played by Iran in the region using various available and possible means.

Djiboutian Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said on January 6 that the African country has severed its diplomatic relations with Iran, following in Saudi Arabia’s footsteps. Riyadh cut off diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3, following demonstrations held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters who slammed the Al Saud family for the killing of top Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Presstv

25, November 2016

UN says Boko Haram hindering relief operations in Cameroon ⁰

The United Nations says the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists are hindering relief operations meant for tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees living in dire conditions in northern Cameroon. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that one of its teams had earlier this month been able to visit previously inaccessible border areas of Cameroon’s Far North Region. Leo Dobbs, a UN spokesman, said the team had managed to help pre-register more than 21,000 refugees who had fled acts of terror by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria in a span of two years and had been living for months with mainly impoverished host families.

“It was the first time we have been able to visit these people and there are believed to be many more,” he said. Dobbs said the refugees in northern Cameroon “urgently need assistance.” UN figures show about 27,000 refugees are living outside of camps in areas such as Fotokol, Makary and Mogode districts in the Far North Region. Dobbs said the UNHCR “would like to help and have helped in a little way, but the continuing Boko Haram threat is a hindrance to regular access.”

The UN official said that while some of the refugees in northern Cameroon were staying with poor host families, most were sleeping outdoors in the open, in makeshift shelters or on dirt floors in classrooms. “Others were in abandoned villages whose residents had fled Boko Haram attacks earlier,” he said. The UNHCR is encouraging people to relocate to Minawao camp further from the border, which is home to nearly 60,000 refugees, Dobbs said.

Cameroon has been fighting Boko Haram since 2014. A joint regional force from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon has helped retake swathes of territory from the militants, who come from northeastern Nigeria. However, the terrorist group still poses a security threat to civilians in the four littoral countries surrounding Lake Chad.

Presstv