“We must rebuild our general hospital. Without this hospital, my siblings and I would not be alive today. It is preposterous for anybody to burn a hospital. If this hospital has been destroyed by Amba fighters, then they do not know what they are fighting for. They have stopped children from going to school and now they are burning health facilities which do serve them and their families. If it is the military that is behind this unfortunate event, then they are simply justifying why people in Mamfe should distrust and hate them. This is unfortunate, but we must not let the wicked destroy us. Our strength will be determined by how fast we rebuild our beloved hospital and not how much we speak,” Dr. Joachim Arrey, the the executive director of the global think Tank for Africa speaking to Cameroon Concord News Group’s editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, following the burning of the Mamfe General hospital.

Cameroon Concord News: I don’t know how to start. This is very bad news. The burning of the Mamfe General Hospital cannot be a good idea. Who could be responsible for this? 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Thank you for giving this platform for me to share my perspective on the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital. I am devastated. This has spoiled my day. Who burns a hospital with patients in it? What type of wickedness is this? It will take years to rebuild that hospital. However, we should not despair. This is a problem and an opportunity. The people of Manyu must show that sense of purpose they have been talking about for centuries. This is action time. No long speeches. This is terribly bad. However, we must rebuild our general hospital. Without this hospital, my siblings and I would not be alive today. It is preposterous for anybody to burn a hospital. If this hospital has been destroyed by Amba fighters, then they do not know what they are fighting for. They have stopped children from going to school and now they are burning health facilities which do serve them and their families. If it is the military that is behind this unfortunate event, then they are simply justifying why people in Mamfe should distrust and hate them. This is unfortunate, but we must not let the wicked destroy us. Our strength will be determined by how fast we rebuild our beloved hospital and not how much we speak. 

Cameroon Concord News: This is really confusing. How do you think this can be handled? The rebuilding should be led by the government. 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: You are totally right! This is the government’s domain, but we can work with the government to rebuild our hospital. We cannot wait for our people to start dying like ants before we act. Be advised that when you have money, you have power. If we, the people of Manyu Division, can mobilize USD 1 million in a short time, we will force the government’s hands.  We have our people who are in government, and they should be telling us how to proceed. We are already working on a massive fundraising campaign and the Manyu Diaspora will have to demonstrate its love for our people in Manyu Division. I am already talking with many people, and they are willing to bring money to the table. I am here by announcing my modest contribution of CFAF 1 million for the reconstruction of the Mamfe General Hospital. There is a Manyu brother who has promised millions too. I prefer to keep that under wraps until we come up with a clear plan. However, we are calling on Manyu sons and daughters abroad and at home to organize fundraisers. Let us give! There is more pleasure in giving than receiving. 

Cameroon Concord News: Who do you think should coordinate this massive effort?

Dr.Joachim Arrey: We still have very many good people among us. Some are medical doctors; others are politicians, while others are administrative officers. I know of Prof. Robinson Mbu, Minister Victor Mengot and Senators Enow Tanjong and George Tabetando who are good people who can provide effective leadership in times of crisis. Many of them know their way in Yaoundé and they have that leverage to push for a fast reconstruction of the hospital. If any of them steps in to provide the much-needed leadership, then I will give much of my time to the fund-raising effort. 

Cameroon Concord News: But the government is always slow when it comes to development. It has not even issued a statement on the event. This is an emergency and urgent solutions are required. 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: You are right! The government’s machinery is always very slow. It appears there are no emergencies on its agenda. We however have options. We can work with our traditional leaders to build a brand-new state-of-the-art hospital in Mamfe while the government continues to think in slow motion. We have the numbers, and we should use this numbers to serve our people. I am thinking that if the Yaoundé government is too slow for our liking, we should be talking to the mayor of Mamfe or Chief Godson Oben who is the paramount chief of Mamfe so that they can allocate us land for the building of an ultra-modern medical facility which would deliver world-class services to our people at affordable prices. That is why it is urgent and important for us to mobilize resources very fast. We don’t have to wait for our government. I am also urging those back home to organize fundraisers for this purpose. No amount will be too small. We all must work for our beloved Manyu. 

Cameroon Concord News: I hope Manyu people at home and abroad will listen to you and act accordingly.

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I hope so too. This is the time for us to demonstrate that love we all say we have for our beloved Manyu. We must avoid long speeches at this time. We must act if we do not want our people to perish. It is in our power to deliver our people from the disaster that is staring them in the face. 

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you Dr. Arrey for talking to Cameroon Concord News Group

Dr. Joachim Arrey: It is always a pleasure to share perspectives with you and your team. Have a great day!

89-year-old President Biya and his Francophone political elites are using the Boko Haram incursions in the Far North region and the deteriorating security situation in the Central African Republic as a political tool to cover up Yaoundé’s misdemeanors in Southern Cameroons.

For over five years now, Biya and his Francophone criminal gang have perpetrated horrible crimes in Southern Cameroons without any accountability and continue to deploy Francophone army soldiers and administrative officers to the Ambazonian homeland.

With strong political, economic and military backing from France, Biya and his gangsters have secured immunity for their Francophone army soldiers from prosecution over horrendous war crimes and genocide in Southern Cameroons.

The regime in Yaoundé has a long record of crimes against British Southern Cameroonians and justice has become a plaything in Southern Cameroons due to Yaoundé’s continued praises on its troops describing them as heroes.

Recently, the Ministry of Defense for the first time announced that Francophone soldiers killed nine Southern Cameroons civilians including a baby in Missong in the North West region.

The Francophone dominated Cameroon government military said four soldiers were searching for a missing colleague on June 1 when they encountered “a group of frenzied villagers.”

The Francophone soldiers opened fire, killing four women, four men and an 18-month-old girl and slightly wounding a 12-month-old baby.

In February 2020, 23 people were killed in a military raid on the village of Ngarbuh, 15 of whom were children. The Francophone army in a statement said the 23 Southern Cameroonians had died when a fuel tank exploded during a firefight between troops and separatists.

But as international outcry developed, the same Francophone military announced again that the civilians had been killed by “uncontrolled” soldiers who were supported by militiamen.

Three Francophone soldiers were reportedly prosecuted for murder and pleaded not guilty, but the verdict has still to be announced more than two years later. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources revealed that the three soldiers from Beti Ewondo extractions have been deployed to the Far North region.

Establishing fully-fledged peace and stability in Southern Cameroons is hindered by the presence of Francophone army soldiers and Francophone civil administrators and by extrapolation-the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

The consequences of the war in Southern Cameroons are all over the place. The trust that used to be the population’s hallmark has simply evaporated given the Cameroon government army atrocities that have taken place in the Ambazonian homeland.

Many children in rural parts of Southern Cameroons are still not going to school and this is creating a serious problem that will haunt the entire West Africa in the future.

Key to all measures aimed at ending the fighting in Southern Cameroons will be the release of all Southern Cameroonians arrested because of the conflict, including President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe who is clearly the leader of Southern Cameroons.

His release and that of his entourage will send out a strong message that the Francophone political elites are committed to bringing sustainable peace to their so-called one and indivisible Cameroon and this might convince Ambazonian fighters in the bushes to down their weapons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

As the news that the hawks in the Yaoundé government are seeking a replacement for the current Prime Minister, Chief Dr. Dion Ngute, gains momentum, the mode at the Star Building in Yaoundé has changed significantly. The once vibrant staff at the Star Building now walk like zombies because they are unaware of what will befall them once Dion Ngute is given the marching order.

Dr. Ngute’s collaborators are very concerned about their own future, especially as it is dawning on them that their boss is not in the good books of the President, Paul Biya. The Prime Minister himself has, over the last few days, refused to read newspapers given to him, for fear that the news may not be music to his ears. 

His collaborators who have stumbled on some of the news articles about his departure printed them and hastily took them to him, hoping that he might like to get more details about the dark clouds hanging over his political future, but Prime Minister Dion Ngute, a jovial and energetic man, simply said he did not want to read the newspapers which were already prophesying his exit from the prestigious Star Building. 

When Dr. Ngute came to office as Prime Minister, he was an avid news-reader. He was in love with the stories about his coming to power but today what used to be as luscious as locust has suddenly become as bitter as coloquintida.  The newspapers, which extolled his virtues to the skies, have become harbingers of bad news and the Ndian Division native is in no mood to read his own political obituary. 

A source close to Dr. Ngute reported that he was a very frustrated Prime Minister. “For all the time he has been in office as Prime Minister, he has not implemented any project. He has always been complaining about the lack of a budget which can enable him to accomplish his mission. He is very angry with the hawks in the regime who have done all they can to make his job very hard,” the source said.

Mr. Dion Ngute’s scorecard as a Prime Minister is dismal. He was brought to the Star Building to disconnect the Southwest region from the insurgency that has claimed many lives in the two English-speaking regions of the country, but under his watchful eyes, the low insurgency morphed into a full-blown civil war, causing the government to lose credibility abroad and revenues at home as the economy struggles.

For more than three years, Dion Ngute has not engaged the country’s Diaspora in general and the country’s English-speaking community abroad in particular.

The country’s Anglophone Diaspora has played a key role in the insurgency that has left the government with a bloodshot eye and the Yaoundé government holds that appointing someone who can speak with the insurgents while selling the government’s position will be the ideal solution.

Dion has failed and the secret talks at the Presidency have concluded that it will be proper to cut him out if Cameroon must regain its lost peace.  He has simply outlived his usefulness.

He has not lived up to the government’s glorious expectations. He has never been to his native Ndian Division in more than five years where there have been gruesome killings. He has never taken that risk. He has simply not understood that in politics, risk is the down payment on success. In his warped thinking, his life is more important than national peace and unity.  

For some observers of the Star Building, the Prime Minister seems to be in an interminable honeymoon since he got married to a woman who can be his daughter and many observers hold that he is just dogging the footsteps of his sick and tired boss whose wife is almost 40 years his junior. Since he got married, he has been wearing a smile not because Cameroon is getting better but because his young wife has erased some of his years and wrinkles which once occupied a prominent spot on his forehead. Dion is a happy man while the country is sinking.

A happy face has become Dion’s perfume, and this is hurting those at the Unity Palace and many analysts think that the President, Paul Biya, holds Dion in very low esteem. The last pictures of Dion bidding farewell to the sick 89-year-old president at the Nsimalen Airport speak volumes for the disdain Mr. Biya has for his Prime Minister. 

Meanwhile, the search for his replacement is well underway. Politicians close to President Biya hold that the Prime Minister should be replaced with another South-westerner to demonstrate that the President has nothing against South-westerners who are moderate in their ways and can easily be brought back to the fold.

Internally, there seems to be a shortage of influential South-westerners who can run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Francophone politicians close to the President’s wife, Chantal Biya, hold that a new face from the Diaspora may make a huge difference.

They want someone who can confidently talk with the separatists and still promote the government’s agenda. The focus is now on South-westerners working in international organisations and things appear to be well on track.

A source close to the Unity Palace has it that a Cameroon Embassy staff in Cote d’Ivoire has spoken with an African Development Bank Group staff on this issue, though no agreement has been reached but it is being rumored that the South-westerner in Abidjan is insisting on working honestly for the country.

The source added that the person contacted is highly respected by both federalists and separatists, and he holds that federalism could help douse the fire which has been burning in Cameroon for over five years, an idea which does not go down well with many regime hawks. The source also said that another candidate working for the World Bank had been contacted but he does not have the leverage and cloud over with separatists who are determined to have their own country.   

The need to find an external candidate is also being promoted by the French who are already scared that they might lose Cameroon if the insurgency in the two English-speaking regions is not rolled back.

Last week, the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christophe Guilhou, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Biya. He used the occasion to underscore his country’s position regarding succession planning in Cameroon. The French know that Mr. Biya’s health is failing and that if he were to leave the scene unceremoniously, the country could be caught in a downward political spiral.

All the ingredients are in place for real political chaos to play out, especially as the president’s constitutional successor is also being tormented by a colony of diseases which have reduced his body to conference center. The clouds are gathering over Cameroon and the French are aware of this.

They currently have multiple crises on their hands. Mali, Guinea, the CAR, and Burkina Faso are already slipping out of their grip, and they do not want Cameroon to be thrown into the mix. Cameroon could be a tough challenge, especially as the two English-speaking regions are already in a concerning turmoil which has exposed the government’s inability to deal with political and military crises.

Dion Ngute may not be happy, but his performance as the Prime Minister of Cameroon leaves much to be desired. He cannot point to any concrete achievements and his permanent party mood is really a provocation of regime hawks. While he continues to have a blast with his young wife, his collaborators are losing sleep and weight, and until this issue is settled, there will be no happiness at the Star Building.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

In April, Cameroon renewed a military cooperation agreement with Russia as Moscow intensified its offensive in Ukraine. The timing certainly supports Russia’s claim that its international isolation is relative. It also raises questions about Cameroon’s foreign policy at a time when African countries’ votes in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly are under scrutiny.

The military agreement reflects a trend in Cameroon’s foreign and trade policy that entails keeping great powers at equal distances. While the Central African country is one of the largest recipients of French development cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa, its biggest creditor is by far China. Cameroon also maintains close foreign and trade ties with the United Kingdom, United States and Germany.

This international balancing act loses its appeal when it comes to Africa and the African Union (AU), however. In May, Cameroon chaired the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) after being re-elected to the council for a three-year term. The relative indifference to this rotating chairship by Cameroonian decision makers, opinion leaders and society contrasts with the substantial diplomatic efforts taken to secure the country’s re-election.

The PSC rotating chair usually helps a government push regional and thematic priorities, and demonstrate its diplomatic ability to address continental issues. For Cameroon, it’s difficult to identify clear goals in the AU, apart from preventing the Anglophone crisis from reaching the PSC agenda. The council’s discussion of the crisis could see a peace support operation deployed to the country, which Cameroon would consider intrusive.

Cameroon’s indecisive continental foreign and trade policy can also be seen in Central Africa

Yaoundé is also poised to guarantee constant AU support for the logistical base of the African Standby Force located in Douala and the regional Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin.

Despite the many contemporary transnational issues facing Africa – an expanding terrorist threat, activating the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the resurgence of coups – Cameroon’s policy towards the AU and Africa remains unclear. It’s also characterised by limited engagement at the heads of state level, where AU decisions are ultimately made.

President Paul Biya is notorious for missing AU summits. Despite this, Cameroon has managed to get its nationals elected as commissioners in the AU’s Konaré/Ping Commissions (2003-11) and the first Faki Commission (2017-21). But these political appointments hardly compensate for the few Cameroonians in the AU Commission’s senior leadership or the absence of shared guidelines for the country’s action in the AU.

Cameroon can sometimes mobilise political capital to secure positions in the AU – such as the current head of the Reform Implementation Unit. However the country doesn’t exploit its strategic and unique location at the crossroads between the Francophonie and the Commonwealth, Sahel and Equatorial Forest, and Western and Central Africa.

The focus on the president and his personal preferences prevents diplomacy from being led by principles

Cameroon’s indecisive foreign and trade policy can also be seen in Central Africa. Based on the size of its economy, demography and transport infrastructure, the country could play an anchor role in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), which comprises six countries using the CFA franc.

But the government rarely uses this position of strength to boost Cameroon’s regional interests. Despite being the gateway to the sea for Chad and the Central African Republic, Cameroon lacks the vision and strategy to harness the strong positions of its private companies in those countries.

In the wider Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Cameroon’s power is challenged by oil-rich Angola and the war-torn but mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rwanda’s increasingly active security and trade diplomacy in the region will be interesting to watch as power relations are redefined.

While CEMAC comprises countries solely committed to Central Africa, ECCAS members also have regional allegiances to Southern and East Africa. Examples of the latter include the DRC, Angola, Burundi and Rwanda. The planned merger of the two regional organisations would probably move the centre of gravity east- and southwards, diluting Cameroon’s influence in the bloc.

Cameroon’s foreign policy is notoriously obscure because official documents are rarely made public

Cameroon’s foreign policy is notoriously obscure because official documents outlining its interests and strategic goals are rarely made public. Even Cameroonian diplomats struggle to give a unified view of the country’s actions in Africa and internationally. There is no single forum convened for diplomats and their hierarchy, and the last conference of ambassadors was held in 1985.

The heavy focus on the president and his personal preferences has prevented Cameroon’s diplomacy from being led by principles. It has also been the main obstacle to the Foreign Affairs Ministry driving foreign policy rather than the presidency. But as instability grows in Central Africa, clear guidelines for Cameroon’s regional and continental engagement will become more crucial than ever.

Cameroon’s foreign policy should start with designing a neighbourhood policy. As a leading trading partner in Central Africa, Cameroon has a vested interest in the region’s stability. This makes it surprising that other less affected states increasingly settle crises on its doorstep.

A clear vision based on Cameroon’s medium- and long-term interests in CEMAC, ECCAS and the AU could guide diplomats and other foreign policy actors. Taking more responsibility for settling violent conflicts in Central Africa would boost Cameroon’s stature in the region and build skills among its civilian and military cadres.

The government has tried hard to prevent the Anglophone conflict from being considered by the AU and UN. It could learn from Rwanda and Chad, whose regional military diplomacy has successfully shielded them from international criticism in recent years.

To reposition Central Africa and Africa in Cameroon’s foreign policy, the country also needs to rectify the widespread bias which sees only diplomatic postings in Global North capitals as prestigious. Neglecting the low-hanging fruit of African diplomacy will damage the country’s image.

Culled from Defense Web

97 year-old Fon Angwafo III of Mankon is no more! To be accurate dead and very few Southern Cameroonians will mourn his passing. Many deep within the Mankon Kingdom have opined that they will spit on his grave. The legacy of the man who ruled Mankon for over 60 years will forever be dominated by his monstrous destruction of a onetime prosperous African kingdom.  

For over 40 years, the former First Vice National President of the ruling CPDM party developed casual cruelty and callous disregard for the lives of Bamenda children and this policy was and remains completely in keeping with the cruelty and barbarism of the French Cameroun Biya-led government that has been a brake on Cameroon progress and development for far too long.

Yet, though Fon Angwafo III’s solid defense of infanticide may have guaranteed him a first-class ticket on an Albatross plane to hell, going by the gushing tributes to his legacy which have emanated from corrupt Cameroon media houses and government officials, you would think that Fon Angwafo III died a martyr for Anglophone children’s rights and decency.

Fon Angwafo III’s conduct as a traditional ruler in politics was shameful, disgusting and disgraceful and leaves British Southern Cameroonians in no doubt that they have all along been led by men for whom brutality is a virtue and compassion a vice.

His anti Fru Ndi/SDF stance and his support for the state of emergency in Bamenda immediately after the 1990 presidential elections were positively medieval in scope and in their impact on the Bamenda society. A Cameroon Post Newspaper 1998 analysis of this impact, revealed that as a direct consequence:

Hundreds of people died in the North West

Hundreds of Bamenda children died or were made ill

One thousand children under the age of 5 suffered malnourishment in the entire North West Province.

When mortality in under five-year-old children rose in Bamenda, Fon Angwafo III was pictured holding an umbrella over the head of Governor Bell Luc Rene who was later nicknamed Bell Luc Grenade-as he reportedly ordered the use of thousands of grenades against civilian population in Bamenda.

All Cameroon government military operations in Bamenda from 1990 till date were heartily defended by Fon Angwafo III. Indeed, so cruel and vicious were his actions that he requested Biya to sack Professor Ephraim Ngwafor and replaced him with his biological son Fru Angwafo as minister.   

Fon Angwafo III’s legacy, it should be pointed out, is not completely dominated by his stance on the killing of Bamenda children and elderly persons. Fon Angwafo has a river of Bafut blood on his hands too, given the fanaticism with which he pushed for raids by Francophone army soldiers on the Bafut palace. Yaoundé and its Francophone dominated military did so, without bothering with the inconvenience of seeking the North West Fons approval.

The grim result was that Cameroon government troops raided the Bafut palace and killed palace guards including some royals.

Before his passing on Saturday May 21, 2022, the Southern Cameroons Interim Government estimated that 3000 people had been killed with a further 1500 injured. In addition, several houses and apartment buildings were damaged by Francophone soldiers under the watchful eyes of Fon Angwafo III of Mankon.

Not for nothing that the late Kum Set Ewin of the Herald Newspaper described all French Cameroun wars in Mezam as “Fon Angwafo’s Wars”. He was their most zealous advocate within a Biya regime that is chock-full of evil men and women – for whom morality is measured not in championing the virtues of peace but in pushing for war.

Fon Angwafo III is going to his grave at age 97 as one of the most notorious leaders of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate who became one of the most servile apostles of French Cameroun hard power, responsible thereby for creating countless Southern Cameroons war refugees.

Born on May 1, 1925, into the prominent and influential royal family of Mankon in the Bamenda Grass field region, Solomon Anyeghamotü Ndefru attended the Agrey Memorial College Arochuku, Eastern Nigeria, from 1945-1950, where he obtained the Senior Cambridge Secondary School Certificate.

He enrolled at the University College Ibadan, Nigeria, and graduated with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1953. Until he was enthroned as the twentieth king of Mankon in 1959, he was the Chief of Agricultural Technicians in Wum, Menchum County.

Fon S.A.N. Angwafo III of Mankon was reportedly one of the most educated traditional rulers at the dawn of independence. He served Cameroon in various capacities including as First National Vice-President of Paul Biya´s Cameroon People´s Democratic Movement (CPDM). He accompanied the Francophone dictator to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1995 when Cameroon was admitted into the Commonwealth of Nations.

Mankon has been greatly affected by the conflict in Southern Cameroons with scores of private homes and shops across Alachu, Matsam, and Muwatsu destroyed.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon’s long-serving president, Paul Biya, was air-lifted yesterday in an air ambulance to an undisclosed European country on health grounds, though the government’s press release issued before the “monarch” left the country said he was going on a short private visit.

But no Cameroonian can be fooled by the government’s press release. It is just one of them, full of lies and cover-ups.

The 90-year-old Biya is gradually breaking down like 50-year-old Lada vehicle which has been driven on an untarred road for five decades.

At 90, nobody expects Mr. Biya to be in the pink of health. Years of unnecessary stress, the burden and responsibility of power, alcohol and his exaggerated epicurean sensibilities have taken a toll on the president’s health.

Sources close to the Unity Palace have disclosed that Mr. Biya’s health had deteriorted very rapidly and that was why a medicalized aircraft was brought in to haul him to Europe.

Though no specific European country was mentioned in the government’s press release, it was clear that Mr. Biya was heading to his usual destination – Switzerland – where he has a crowd of medical doctors who attend to him at very short notice.

Switzerland is his ideal location because he has investments there and there are few Brigade Anti-Sardinard elements there. Switzerland is also noted for its security and secrecy and Mr. Biya needs a lot of that to mask his lies.

However, given Mr. Biya’s failing health and age, will he be back in the country for the May 20, 2022 celebrations?

Many analysts hold that it will be a miracle for him to return in time for the May 20 events.

According to a source at the Presidency, many people are scared that he might not return as many of his supporters would wish.

The source, which elected anonymity, said that the president had been in excruciating pain for weeks, adding that he returned to Yaoundé from his native Mvomeka’a on an helicopter because of his failing health and the speed with which a foreign doctor was brought in to stabilize him spoke volumes to the president’s desperation.

“He was in pain and even those pictures at the airport before his trip gave away his desperation. Take a look at some of those pictures and you will see his own desperation on his face. It was like he was scared that he might not return alive,” the source said.

“Over the last few weeks, people at the Unity Palace have been very concerned. The president is more withdrawn and it appears he does not like to see anybody,” the source added.

“It is like he is also losing his mind at a very fast rate. What you saw during the 2021 AfCON final was just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is alarming and many people working at the Unity Palace hold that the end is near,” the source revealed.

“There is not much his entourage can hide. At 90, very few people are always in good health. Trying to deceive the people of Cameroon that Biya is the picture of health at that age is like telling the world that a dead lion can be brought back to life after having been killed by the bullets of a poacher. Biya is gone. His men must come to terms with that,” he underscored.

“Of course, regarding the upcoming celebrations, Cameroonians should be ready for annoying stories. The CPDM and its notorious spin doctors will come up with some irritating stories. The event might be canceled and a message will be read over the radio and TV for us. I am sure the message has already been taped,” he said.

“What should be of concern now to Cameroonians should be what will happen to the country once the bad news comes. Are our institutions solid enough? Will the constitution be respected? I see a lot of infighting taking place and multiple camps are springing up, with all of them thinking that they deserve the presidency after Paul Biya. I am really scared of the post-Biya era in Cameroon,” he concluded.

According to our source, his fear is based on the many issues created by the Biya regime. He pointed to tribalism, nepotism, corruption, youth unemployment, poor health and road infrastructure, as well as the conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

He stressed that it would take a lot of sacrifices and a mindset change for a new Cameroon to be re-engineered, adding that ordinary Cameroonians must accept that they too have to help the new government in its efforts to point the country in the right direction.

Cameroon is in a pretty mess and it will take the patriotism of all Cameroonians to turn things around. The new leaders have to be hardworking and determined if they must make significant changes in the country, he said.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Retirement is usually a challenging period and it could be more challenging in a country like Cameroon where there are no benefits which come with being a senior citizen and the policy environment leaves much to be desired.

Retirement implies the retiree will be losing about two-thirds of their disposable income and if an entire salary could not suffice when they were in active duty; there is just no miracle to demonstrate that one-third of the salary will serve a better purpose.

In Cameroon, public service salaries are derisory and pensions are really paltry which makes retirement in Cameroon a living hell. Most retirees around the world usually have a fixed income, especially if they do not have supplemental incomes which could enable them to cushion the impact of inflation and that of other cyclical events.

Over the last two years, food and housing prices have been escalating and this is really blighting the lives of Cameroonians, especially that of retirees who do not know where to turn to. Time is no longer on their side. Energy levels are down and some still have young children to take care of.

These unfortunate events are creating frustration and depression among the country’s retirees, most of whom are already dealing with age-related diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

In well-established systems, retirement at 60 comes with lots of perks. Being a senior citizen brings many consoling advantages such as reduced cost of medicine, highly subsidized flat-rate health insurance, exemptions from certain taxes, reduced transport fares within the country, free gym membership, free diabetes and blood pressure medication and others.

These perks usually reduce the fear of retirement for people living in such societies. Cameroon is still struggling with lots of challenges and bad governance and corruption have made things worse, causing some population segments such as retirees and the elderly to be forgotten in the country’s economic policy planning.

But all is not lost. There will always be issues, but if the country’s authorities are willing and ready to embrace new ways, a lot can change for the better in a short time.

Instead of allowing Cameroonians to scramble for financial solutions when they retire, the government, that is, if it is ready to change its ways, can set up a national registered retirement savings plan for workers across the country which will enable all Cameroonian workers to take home a lump sum when they retire.

This scheme will be different from what the National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS) is currently running.

CNPS manages monthly retirement pension, but the registered retirement scheme will enable each Cameroonian worker to take home a lump sum on the day they retire, while waiting for CNPS to remit their monthly payments.

This scheme will require that each worker pays in a certain amount throughout their working life and this amount will be used for investments which will give them additional income at the end of their careers.

Each worker, be they in the private or public sector, will have to indicate the amount to be deducted from their salary at source.

For example, some people may only have the financial capacity for CFAF 20,000 while others may opt to contribute CFAF 30,000 per month. Informal sector workers may also join if they so wish and this will help them during their rainy day.

A Cameroonian who successfully contributes for 30 years, will be sure of CFAF 7.2 million plus dividends which will be calculated based on an agreed principle.

Going home with almost CFAF 10 million will be heart-warming and therapeutic. For those without homes, that money could be invested in a modest retirement home in the village.

Assuming that, on average, each working Cameroonian pays in CFAF 20,000 per month and also assuming that there are 10 million Cameroonians contributing to the fund, at the end of the month, that fund will have CFAF 200 billion while after a year, it will have CFAF 2.4 trillion, the equivalent of USD  4 billion a year. 

This money could be invested in various sectors for it to generate more revenue. It could be used to build electronic toll routes across the country and even state-of- the-art hospitals in disadvantaged regions of the country.

Money should never be allowed to sleep. It must be made to work. If each  year, such contributions could deliver CFAF 2 trillion, many jobs will be created and life will be better for every Cameroonian, especially for our retirees.

Furthermore, if another scheme – a lifetime health coverage scheme – could be set up to take care if retirees, their lives will be much better when they leave the workforce. Retirement will not be seen as a death sentence.

In this regard, every working Cameroonian could be made to contribute CFAF 2,000 every month which should cover them once they turn 55 years. Such an amount, contributed over 25 years, should guarantee every retired Cameroonian of health coverage for the rest of their life starting from the time they turn 55. This could be supplementary to any other policy they may have had while in active service.

With such a scheme, retired Cameroonians can be sure of their medication, free consultation and highly subsidized admission in hospitals in the country.

With the development of such a plan, there won’t be a need for any evacuation as our hospitals, especially referral hospitals, will be equal to the task. The investment will make it possible for state-of-the-art equipment to be procured and technicians trained to man such equipment. Good salaries for health sector staff will also follow and this will enhance confidence in the system.

Money from this scheme can also be invested in road infrastructure development and affordable housing for city dwellers. This is an investment whose economic and financial impact will ripple out to many sectors and will create much-needed jobs for young Cameroonians.

This is a proposal which if taken seriously, could be a major opportunity for the country and its citizens. These schemes have been successful in well-run countries and they could also succeed in Cameroon, especially when the current government yields its place to a more purposeful and people-centered government.

Cameroonians, be they retired or in active service, need financial security and only insurance schemes can bring the peace of mind they need. For this to succeed, the country’s future leaders will have to engineer a new mind space so that citizens can trust their institutions. Confidence is the cornerstone of every system. Its absence creates lots of problems, including poverty.

By Dr Joachim Arrey

Cameroonians have been reading online that Senator Mundi who was kidnapped sometime ago has been killed by her captors.

The kidnappers, who claim they are ADF fighters, maintain that holding the old and ailing senator will lead to the release of some Southern Cameroonians being held in the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison by the Biya regime.

As usual, the Yaoundé government is not showing any interest in the captors’ proposal and this has been irritating to the kidnappers.

When news broke that the elderly senator had been executed by her captors, many Southern Cameroonians were angry with such a decision which many qualify as irresponsible and meaningless.

Many Cameroonians hold that senators in Cameroon do not have any real influence and executing Senator Mundi will just be giving the revolution a very bad name.

The Cameroon Concord News Group has not had any real confirmation that she has been killed and would advise caution in the way some people spread such news. The group’s Northwest region’s correspondent is investigating the rumor and will be updating our readers.

Many vocal Southern Cameroonians hold that it is wrong to even hold Senator Mundi in captivity. Her age alone should discourage anybody from engaging in such bad business.

This lady is senile and sickly and the trauma of living in captivity could kill her.

A revolution which started so nicely has been hijacked by some criminal elements and this is not good.

Today, it has become a war wherein some people are using to settle scores and those who express contrary views get blackmailed, threatened or even get their online accounts hacked just to cook up stories about them.

This is not how the revolution was conceived. It was designed to bring about dignity, a sense of responsibility in the two English-speaking regions of the country and foster unity among Southern Cameroonians.

But the revolution has clearly lost its way. Schools are still closed in rural parts of Southern Cameroons and rogues and illiterates have become judges and law enforcement agents in that part of the country.

Senator Mundi is a Southern Cameroonian and she has a right to her political opinion. Cameroon has been designed in a peculiar way and only the country’s president can make meaningful decisions regarding major political issues.

The fear these days is that Southern Cameroonians will be killing each other because of ideological divergences and many young men who sincerely want to fight for the total independence of Southern Cameroons might quit the fight.

It should also be underscored that Senator Mundi has grown up children who are also watching what is happening to their mother. Humiliating her only alienates these children and many others who hold that the revolution has really come off its rails.

The kidnappers should reexamine their strategy. This action of theirs is not helping the revolution. They know who they should be fighting. Killing and kidnapping other Southern Cameroonians is a disease that is heralding the death of the revolution.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

When the Southern Cameroons crisis started in 2016, nobody ever thought Amba fighters who proclaimed that they would protect the population against all odds would be the ones kidnapping and killing their own people.

When the crisis morphed into an armed conflict, many in Southern Cameroons knew the enemy and, indeed, the guilty party regarding the killing of civilians was the alcohol-inflamed, sex-starved and trigger-happy military.

The Cameroon army was desperate to demonstrate that it was winning the war and this pushed its desperate soldiers into firing at innocent and armless civilians even in the centers of the cities, resulting in thousands of senseless deaths.

The military had a point to prove and it resorted to all criminal and unconventional means to achieve its despicable goal.

Houses were burnt and, in many cases, whole villages were burn down.  Sometimes, the elderly who could not seek refuge in the bushes were roasted in their own homes.

The atrocities committed by the military were indeed despicable. Many people will forever remember Kwa-Kwa in the Southwest region where an elderly lady was incinerated by the military in her home.

In the Northwest region, the military put its inhumanity on display when children and pregnant women were killed in Ngarbuh, a remote locality far from the Northwest regional capital of Bamenda.

Thanks to International pressure and investigations conducted by international human rights groups, the government yielded, admitting that its forces had operated in Ngarbuh  and that those atrocities were the handiwork of a desperate military that was seeking to give Amba fighters a very bad name.

But over the last three years, Amba fighters who had been considered as saviors have been a millstone around the neck of the Southern Cameroonian population.

These reckless criminals who pass off as Amba fighters have been killing and maiming civilians for money, creating a state of general terror in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Even responsible people who have helped the Amba course like Barrister Paddy Yong who has served as a lead lawyer for Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and his entourage have been kidnapped and taken to the jungle.

The so-called fighters have now become a terror on their own people. Once you get kidnapped, they ask for huge sums of money as if millions are easy to come by in any part of the world.

In Barrister Paddy Yong’s case, the ruthless and criminal elements who took him to the jungle asked for CFAF 1.7 million, a sum he could not give. His crime was that he was not supporting the struggle but there is no rule which states that every Southern Cameroonian must openly display his support for the course and there is no database wherein it could be verified if someone had actually supported the course.

Thanks to pressure from the Diaspora, especially Southern Cameroonians living in America, Barrister Yong was released but not before he received days of inhuman torture in the hands of the Amba criminals. Today, he is suffering from all types of illnesses and nightmares.

These days, many people living out of Southern Cameroons do not venture into the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon because of the violence Amba fighters are wreaking on their own people.

Southern Cameroonians living in the Diaspora do not even think of going home now because they know they have two major enemies – the military and Amba fighters – who are equally dangerous.

Even those who lose their loved ones dare not go home. The military may accuse them of funding the struggle while reckless Amba fighters will kidnap them for a ransom.

The Diaspora has been caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The irresponsible fighters have been created by the very Diaspora which feels threatened today and the military is still mad at the Diaspora for enabling the fighters to put up a good fight for five years.

The Diaspora cannot even go home to give its dead a decent burial. Amba fighters are a big issue. What used to be as luscious as locust is today as bitter as coloquintida.

Amba fighters are now criminals who must be tried in the same courts as the military. All their financiers must be identified and taken to court for legal action.

While it is unquestionable that Southern Cameroonians have suffered a lot of discrimination in a highly centralized and dictatorial Republic of Cameroon, there is just no justification for Amba fighters to make the fate of Southern Cameroonians worse by kidnapping them and spreading fear and death in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai and Asu Isong