Africa

24, July 2016

South West Public Investment Projects comes under attack ⁰

The Vice President of the Committee of Public Investment Budget in the South West Region, Madam Agbor Magdalane has decried what she termed the “so-called miss-placed priority of the BIP projects at the regional level.” The South West Iron Lady was speaking in Buea during the first quarterly meeting to evaluate the level of execution of the Public Investment Projects in the region.

Madam Agbor Magdalane stated that projects at the level of the region have no vision and have no impact on the suffering masses. Lucrative projects such as roads, electricity, water and health have been relegated within the BIP. She hinted that renovation and purchase of equipment has rather preoccupied the development purse in the region.

Said Madam Agbor “The regional projects are not even poverty alleviation projects. You can’t have regional projects when you always have renovation of office buildings and buying of equipment. Do we have to renovate and buy equipments every year?” “We want to know what they do with the old equipment,” she demanded.

Constituencies such as Ndian, Manyu, Meme, Kupe Muanenguba and Lebialem that are in dying need of rapid development projects have been reduced to cosmetic attention and the bigger picture buried. It is not only embarrassing but sad. She further noted that “councils are crying for decentralization, they want power and the little power they have been given, they cannot do things, so that people are encourage knowing that they deserve more power. They are never present. If you look at the low recovery rate, it’s because of projects at the level of the council.”

For her part, the representative of the Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Development, Mme. Djomana Christine announced that henceforth the public investment budget for the region would witness an increase. The South West was awarded 383 projects for 2016 financial year with an estimated cost of about 4,692,951,150 FRS. So far, 672,948,051 FRS have been engaged with a total payment of 429,798,202 FRS giving a percentage of 9.16% in actual payment. The physical execution is rated at 33.06%. Ndian division with about 79 projects, amounting to 926,448,300 FRS still stands at 0.00% execution at all levels. The meeting was boycotted by some regional delegates and heads of state corporations in the South West Region.

Cham Victor Bama (Cameroon Concord News Group)

19, July 2016

50 billion FCFA stolen from BICEC Cameroon ⁰

An audit conducted in March 2016 by the Banking Commission of Central Africa (COBAC) has revealed that 50 billion francs CFA was stolen from the International Bank of Cameroon for Savings and Credit (BICEC). The findings also noted that the money was taken from the bank through “implied external providers with internal complicity.”

Media reports have suggested that the arrival of Alain Ripert, the new CEO of BICEC brought about the opening of the investigations. The COBAC revelations highlighted the participation of two senior executives of the bank in these criminal practices namely, Innocent Ondoa Nkou who resigned a few weeks after the discovery and Samuel Ngando Mbongue, the Director of Accounting and Treasury who was fired with four other employees.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Concord News Group)

19, July 2016

Camair-Co: Downward trend continues as pilots begin strike action ⁰

Camair Co-pilots reportedly launched a strike action on Monday, July 18, 2016, because of their poor working conditions. In a memorandum from the Union of Airline Pilots and Flight Engineers of the Cameroon Civil Aviation ( Spinac) addressed to the Minister of Finance and the chairman of the board of directors of Camair-Co, the pilots noted the non-payment of salaries since May 2016.

Commander Ngom Mambingo who signed the document also stated that the pilots were demanding three months of unpaid wages. Camair-Co like every CPDM business structure is run like a crime syndicate. Salaries for December 2015 were paid in February 2016 and that of April 2016 were paid in early July of this year.

The pilots also denounced the incompetence at the top management and operation of aircraft. The recruitment policy of the company is laughable. From 2011 to 2014, Camair-Co had 400 to 500 employees. Today, the workforce is 900 employees, against only 96 additional seats with the two new flying coffins from China- MA-Go with 48 seats each.

So in two years, Jean Paul Nana Sandjo has recruited 500 new employees in a company that is sorely lacking in financial resources to pay the maintenance costs of its aircraft, as well as wages.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)

14, July 2016

Finance Minister brings together controllers and vote holders in Yaounde ⁰

The Minister of Finance has organized a three-day get-together for finance controllers and vote holders on ways of effectively managing the State budget. Errors whereby vote holders and finance controllers logged heads over management rules are being catered for at a three-day meeting in Yaounde organized by the Ministry of Finance. Finance controllers and vote holders from State bodies and decentralized councils will during the get-together upgrade skills on effective management with the view of contributing efficiently to the execution of the 2016 State budget.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Finance, Gilbert Didier Edoa, on behalf of Finance Minister, opened the meeting that focuses on creating synergy between sector actors. Participants told Cameroon Tribune that misinterpreting basic texts has been a source of conflict between vote holders and finance controllers, stalling the smooth execution of public investment projects.

Gilbert Didier Edoa challenged participants to master the lines of activity, master management procedures and the nomenclatures of result-based budget under application in Cameroon since 2013. Efforts are however underway to turn the tides, with reforms on public finance and budgeting in place besides training sessions to familiarize stakeholders on the basic texts.

“We expect to see that the budget is executed according to the various prescriptions and that the performance we are expecting according to the results of the evaluation of budgetary expenditure is going to be achieved,” it was stated. The workshop opened yesterday July 13, 2016 and ends on July 16, 2016.

Cameroon Tribune

12, July 2016

Celestin Monga is African Development Bank’s Vice President for Economic Governance ⁰

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced on 10th July 2016, the appointment of Cameroonian economist Célestin Monga, to the position of Vice President in charge of the economic governance and knowledge management in this Pan African financial institution. Mr Monga was until now, and this since end 2014, Deputy Managing Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

But, it was at the World Bank, where he spent about twenty years, that this Cameroonian economist began his career with international financial institutions. Prior to that, Célestin Monga worked in the banking sector in Cameroon, and was revealed to the general public through an open letter addressed to the public authorities, which resulted in some legal difficulties in 1990.

Exiled in the USA, Célestin Monga, who had previously studied in France, further expanded his curriculum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Having authored several books and editor of economy section in the New Encyclopaedia of Africa (2007), Célestin Monga lectured at Boston University, USA and University of Bordeaux, in France.

Culled from Business in Cameroon

8, July 2016

Eneo angers Yaounde city dwellers with sharp increase in electricity bills ⁰

Households in the nation’s capital Yaoundé have registered their protest following a sudden increase in electricity bills. The offices of Eneo, the company responsible for the distribution of electricity have all been receiving large numbers of complaints this week. Cameroon Concord News spoke to some of the Yaoundé city dwellers who revealed that the bills moved from 30,000 to 50,000 CFA francs in the month of June 2016. Some electricity customers claimed their amounts rose from 13,000 to 20,000 FCFA.

Many customers of the distribution company, Eneo do not understand what caused the sharp increase. A spokes person for the electricity company, Eneo was quoted as saying that “Change can only occur with a decision from the regulatory agency for the electricity sector (Arsel). To date, invoice is based on the rates set in 2012”.

Eneo issued a statement late last week stating that “rates are set according to consumption brackets between 0 and 110 kWh, it costs 50 CFA francs, without Vat. But as long as people buy appliances or even simple light bulbs that consume a lot, or they leave phone chargers and various other devices connected all night, and consumption increases when you exceed 110 kWh, it you apply another minimum charging period is 79 FCFA with more Vat”

It is also common in the major cities for dubious electricians to tap electricity from a neighbor without his knowledge and “you pay for two or three households”. At the time of filing this report, an Eneo official admitted that there were billing problems, due to some mistakes.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Concord News)

8, July 2016

Another electricity company created in Cameroon ⁰

Another electricity company known as the Nachtigal Hydro Power Company has been created in Cameroon. An agreement to concretize the existence of this company was signed on the 7^th of July 2016 in Yaounde by representatives of France, Cameroon and the International Finance Corporation.

The Minister of Water Resource and Energy Basile Atangana Kouna signed on behalf of Cameroon while Jean-François Arsenault represented the French Government. The Nachtigal Hydro-Power Company is expected to provide one third of Cameroon’s Energy by 2020, and to supply power to the aluminum plant in Edea.

The company will in the Months ahead complete the construction of 420 mega watts power dam on the river Sanaga. It is estimated to cover a distance of 40 miles transmission line.

According to the agreement, the French Government will have a 40% share of the company and the Electricite de France will exploit the dam for a period of 35yrs while Cameroon on the other hand will have 30% share. 30% of the project will be funded the International Finance Corporation.

CRTV

7, July 2016

Poultry farmers hold massive demo in Yaounde ⁰

Poultry farmers have held a massive demonstration today in Yaounde. The farmers blocked the entrance to the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), protesting against what they termed the destruction of the national poultry industry following the poor management of the bird flu crisis. Cameroon Concord News understands the farmers were led by the Association for the Defense of Collective Interests (ACDIC).

In the event of this morning, 40 cartons of eggs were destroyed in an industry already ruined by the CPDM government’s procrastination policy. After the discovery of the first outbreaks of bird flu in Yaoundé, the government banned the marketing of chicken and eggs and also ordered the destruction of more dairy products. Five regions in the country were greatly affected by bird flu and losses are around 66 billion FCFA.

Ebong Kingsley (Cameroon Concord News Group)

5, July 2016

Biya expected in Kribi ¹

The presidential security and some elements from the civil cabinet department of the presidency of the republic have been moved to Kribi pending a visit by the head of state to the newly constructed deep sea port project. Cameroon Concord News understands a long line of all-terrain vehicles of the Cameroon army have been stationed at Mboro at the sea port site whose first phase was completed since 2014.

We gathered that the visit of the Head of State will be to inaugurate the industrial port complex. A highly placed government official who sued for anonymity quoted the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic that “everything is ready for the arrival of the head of state”.

Sama Ernest (Cameroon Concord News Group)

4, July 2016

MTN Cameroon suspends over 600,000 unidentified subcribers ⁰

Barely a day after the deadline for the identification operation of mobile phone subscribers initiated by the CPDM Government, the mobile phone operator MTN Cameroon has suspended lines of subscribers who have not met the rules. Cameroon Concord News has learnt from local media sources that nearly 600,000 unidentified numbers were put out of the MTN Cameroon network. A spokesperson for the South African operator was quoted as saying it is matter of making the operator’s database reliable and to respect the orders of the guardianship.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Likeng Minette Libom Li announced that every mobile phone subscriber must be identified. It was in line with government policy that MTN Cameroon is committed to working with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to make the environment even safer and increase customer confidence in the network and take all appropriate measures, such as to guarantee security. MTN has also advised that after six months if the unidentified customers failed to submit make available the rightful documentation, they will be permanently disabled.

Sama Ernest (Cameroon Concord News Group)