If there is one thing that the political elites in Yaoundé have been brilliant at over the last 38 years, it is their astonishing consistency in creating political tragedy and fostering appalling silence through intimidation and bribery. As we were about to retire to bed last night, our editorial desk was forwarded a photograph of a fragile creature in God’s waiting room. Upon close scrutiny, it dawned on me that the photograph was that of French Cameroun’s senate president, Marcel Niat Njifenji, who is 86 years old. It is summer in France as I write but he was covered in a blanket. He is doubtlessly in an apartment he purchased in France from the proceeds of his protracted and well-documented unlegislated activities in the Cameroons over the last 50 years.

Mr. Njifenji is a classmate and close collaborator of Paul Biya, the commander-in-chief of the most sophisticated state-ordained terror and misappropriation enterprise ever operated from the Cameroons. He has been the senate president since its inception in 2013. It is alleged within CPDM political circles that the man who presided over the death of SONEL has nine lives. He was once the country’s deputy prime minister and the former managing director of the country’s main power provider, SONEL, in the 1980s. Mr Njifenji’s embezzlement while at SONEL is well-known and documented and that explains why he can never walk away from Mr. Biya. He is one of the bigots who have ensured that no meaningful political change takes place in the country.

Confronted by crises in the Southern Cameroons, economic meltdown, human rights abuses, unprecedented unemployment, Coronavirus deaths, a collapsed public service, Cameroon has diapers-wearing-pensioners passing for leaders. How did a nation of 25 million minds end up in such a state?

After four decades in power, these senile pensioners are watching helplessly as the nation they pretend to govern is melting down. They are in care homes in France contemplating the emptiness of life in their last days on this planet. What a pity? In life, our unwise acts accompany us to plague and torment us and this is very true when it comes to these political arsonists. They have scorched all they inherited from the country’s first President Amadou Ahidjo.

He is about to meet his maker with nothing to show for as his contribution to mankind. Mr Njifenji is soon going to come face to face with the man he most wishes to avoid. He would be answerable to him without the thugs he has helped to sustain for forty years. From his photograph, his regrets and apprehensions are colossal. He has made his bed, let him lie on it. But the most fascinating thing is he is still hanging on to his earthly position as the senate president of a banana republic at 86.

One of the tests of good leadership is how well one grooms his successor. Somehow, for nearly forty years, there is no succession line in any department or arm of government in Cameroon. These ancient and senile individuals that could hardly support themselves are still hanging on to power in flagrant disregard of civility and logic. The most amazing thing is that sane people in their millions seem to find nothing wrong with this insanity. These ancient creatures wobble once every nine months to their offices for photo opportunities and the nation of Cameroon finds nothing wrong with such senselessness.

Cameroonians who have opted for silence will have a lot to repent for as posited by Martin Luther King Jr; “we will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people”. Cameroon Concord News Group believes that the good people of this resource-rich country must end this silence and sorrowful episode of their history by standing up to these senile tyrants. Cameroonians must understand that there is no chain of disasters that wouldn’t come to an end. The criminal pensioners are on their way out.  Slowly but surely, four decades of political tragedy in the Cameroons are coming to an end.

One thing is now certain; this clique of criminal and senile pensioners that has conspired to ruin a once rich country will not be missed when they leave this planet. Cameroon Concord News Group will supply their families with appropriate headstones with the following message; I CAME; I SAW; I WRECKED.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

A ringside seat with popcorn to watch the public unravelling of Cameroun’s first family is now a must. If one ever needed to be persuaded that money can’t buy you happiness, the current production in Cameroun’s first family might just do the trick. For more than thirty-eight years in power, the world’s oldest dictator has colluded to destroy two generations of his country’s youth, labour force and potential with impunity. His vindictiveness, exaggerated thievery of state funds and running down of the country’s public services will go down in history as one of the worst attempts at leadership ever. But it’s not his crimes against his people that are his latest production in town; it is the unravelling of his family in public.

This week’s revelation from his daughter, Brenda Biya, about her health problems has drummed sympathy from countless parents the world over. Brenda Biya is suffering from a disease that widens the cavity in which one’s eyes are lodged. But her revelation on Facebook that she has discontinued her treatment due to the confiscation of her documents and prescriptions has raised eyebrows in the world of political reporting. Her comments exposed a deep underlying problem from a troubled soul.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to represent a national sales establishment in the United Kingdom. In one of my presentations, I became acquainted with a lovely British citizen who had been Brenda Biya’s English teacher during her early years in Yaoundé. She educated me on the pitiful attitude she displayed as a spoiled brat. She explained that during her English classes, the presidential guards would frequently impolitely interrupt her lessons to check if Brenda was okay in a class of fifteen kids. She found the effort of teaching her and dealing with the constant interruptions from the presidential guards laborious and primitive. She registered her profound disgust at the attitude of the child towards learning.

Brenda’s English teacher lived in Bastos, Yaoundé, a place she described as an eye-sore although she was told that it was the up market part of town. There, she endured a housekeeper that plagued her with persistent begging. Her housekeeper demanded her phone, dresses and anything she owned that did not move. The aggressive begging and bad manners from the young Brenda and her bodyguards were so ruthless; the English teacher politely terminated her teaching contract and moved to China for another appointment.

Fast-forward almost sixteen years after her English language tuition in Yaoundé; she is twenty-two years old and a student at the neo-colonial institute for administration and magistracy, ENAM. She was admitted into ENAM in 2017 after a disastrous attempt to study in the USA resulted in her inhaling more toxic chemicals than her little brain could tolerate. She lived a glamorous but empty lifestyle in Los Angeles, California, from the proceeds of her father’s embezzlement.

Brenda’s brother, Paul Biya Jr, is an embarrassment of unmatched proportion. The last time anything was heard from him was when he was absent from ENAM in 2018. Those close to him made public that he had no aptitude and attitude for education and intended to pursue a career as a nightclub DJ.

 It is a demonstrable fact that children acquire values from the family. Psychologists say we gain a sense of decency and learn to emulate our parents of what constitutes satisfactory and unacceptable behaviour in the home and society. Paul Biya’s continuous lodging and partying in the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva over the years made his absence from his family conspicuous and the consequences are unravelling in this pitiful family melodrama. Whether he is dead or alive, he is paying profoundly for his indiscretions and inability to perform the role of a father figure in his home. With all the hundreds of billions of US dollars he has embezzled, his home is a failed unit. Some will say Karma. None of his children Franck Biya included has earned a University degree.

It is at moments such as this that a mother can use the power endowed upon her by nature to bring the family together to make things better. But not Chantal Biya. She is pitifully under-educated and her past before her meteoric ascension to the first lady throne is less than glamorous. The value of education and good morals were never around her intellectual and moral neighbourhood. You cannot give what you don’t have. The family foundation has been built on sand, embezzlement and worldly possessions.

The fragility of character in the Biya household is particularly obvious as the days go by. Over the last few weeks, Paul Biya’s private doctor, driver and cook have all died from COVID-19. The silence from his household and collaborators is getting louder and louder. Brenda Biya’s social media rants are an indication that something deeper is trending in the Biya household.

If the collaborators in the CPDM crime syndicate in Yaoundé were confident that their actions were rational and should be seen as such, Brenda shouldn’t be reduced to tears and emotional rants on social media about her medications and particulars. Brenda has fashioned a defining moment in her family and the Cameroons with her public call for empathy. Mvomeka can’t just paper over the cracks.

It is extremely telling that Chantal Biya and the president’s close acolytes have stonewalled questions about the 87-year-old dictator’s life, health and actions over the last few months. Is he dead or alive? That’s the puzzle every Cameroonian has been seeking to solve for three months. Truth twisting in order to justify staying in power forever is not working anymore. Time has run out for the Beti-Ewondo mafia that has administered the Cameroons like a little family grocery shop. Biya has failed himself, his family and his nation miserably. His regrets, crimes and sins are aplenty and he won’t die in peace however benevolent the gods are. The time to come clean and put Brenda and the Cameroons out of their misery is now.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

A few remarkable events in my high school and university education introduced me to some Southern Cameroons Politicians and committed advocates for the reactivation of an independent sovereign Southern Cameroons. During my brief sojourn in the Bilingual Grammar School Molyko, I opposed and disrupted a brainwashing session convened by one Hongla Moma, the Secretary-General in the Governor’s Office to educate us about the green revolution.  Sometime later, I wailked out on one Bidias a Ngon the Minister of education.  Mola Njoh Litumbe was among the elders who were invited to both occasions.

 In the University of Yaounde, the discriminatory humiliation and the cultural genocide we were subjected to, thrust me to the leadership of a protest movement that grounded the University to a halt. Our entreaties to politicians of Southern Cameroons nationality to support our cause were favourably received only by Dr EML Endeley. Mola Njoh Litumbe knew and took note of these developments in the life of a Southern Cameroons student victim of French Cameroun’s cultural genocide.

It was a pleasant surprise shortly after my call to the bar that Mola Njoh Litumbe approached me one day at the premises of the High Court in Buea and briefed me to represent him in a Chamber motion before the Hon Justice T.E Mbuagbaw, bypassing many senior lawyers whom he knew for many years.  From thence a longstanding relationship developed around the Southern Cameroons problem. We spent many hours discussing and developing strategies on how to sensitise lawyers and students to join the struggle.

An opportunity came during the so-called pro-democracy political agitation that led to the creation of the Social Democratic Front. Bate Besong and me were disappointed with the ideological drift of the SDF that did not fully articulate the Southern Cameroons problem. Professor Obenson, was living across the road from Bate Besong and me. We spent many evenings ruminating about the devastation of our mineral resources, the excruciating suffocation of civil liberties and the evisceration of our cultural identity. Professor Obenson listened attentively.  On one occasion, he told us that he was working with committed Southern Cameroons patriots to create a political party that was primarily intended to be used as a vehicle to fight for the Southern Cameroons cause. He invited us to one of such meetings.

In attendance were Mola Njoh Litumbe, Ray Koge, Sam Ekontang Elad, B.T.B Foretia, Charles Oben, Chief Alexander Taku and Chief Ngole. The discussions went on deep into the night about the objectives of the Liberal Democratic Party that fulling aligned with the reactivation of the Southern Cameroons identity.  Unfortunately, Professor Obenson died in a yet to be explained motor accident on his way to Yaounde shortly after the party was legalised. Mola Njoh Litumbe thence piloted  the party but the ideological orientation of the party remained intact until his transition.

Outside the structure of any political party, from the home of Mola Njoh Litumbe, sometime from my law firm or Professor Atang’s residence, we developed strategies on how to mobilise our people to reject the slave status that was imposed on us and rise to assert our liberation and freedom. Mola Njoh Litumbe was with us at the SCARM (formerly CAM) Batassof Hotel conference in Buea in which delegates from all the counties of the Southern Cameroons deliberated on mass mobilization, the signature referendum which overwhelmingly voted for independence and the Buea Peace Initiative to formalize the peaceful redeployment of La Republique du Cameroun and its criminal forces and administration from our territory. The idea to support the convening of the AAC1 which was first developed by George Ngwane, Bate Besong, Vincent Anu, Francis Wache and me was endorsed.

  Mola Njoh Litumbe, from thence prominently helped to established a strong and enduring Southern Cameroons governing authority in our capital of the Southern Cameroons.  His residence became the de facto Southern Cameroons Government House from which meetings were held and demonstrations throughout our national territory were organized and monitored.  The international and national press were on hand to report on our cause and the tensions that were mounted by the enemy to attempt to contain the lava of freedom flowing from the top of Mount Fako.  He became the respected voice of the Southern Cameroons at home and abroad.

In attempting to stop Mola Njoh in his crusading leadership to free his people, the lava of freedom burnt the enemy and catapulted our cause to the international arena.  Mola Njoh Litumbe took our cause to all corners of the globe. He dared the coloniser and its criminal network in our territory on his own terms and left them defeated and humiliated. Enemy attempts to barricade his residence, arrest him or deny him his freedom of speech were defeated because the international media such as the VOA and the BBC were on hand to provide him their platforms to talk to his people while armed soldiers, gendarmes and police were out of his gate to stop him from coming out to speak to his people.

On the 14 May 2014, I submitted a ninety page petition that was authored by Mola Njoh Litumbe, Denis Atemnkeng, Hon Barrister Paul Ayah and me to the President of the United Nations General Assembly and to the Trusteeship Council.  I remember coming all the way from Arusha Tanzania to come and work with Mola Njoh Litumbe on that petition. The time I spent with him in that endeavour was so enriching and rewarding in many ways. He was a very knowledgeable man of wisdom and a passionate god fearing advocate of the truth and justice.

He was a towering fountain of wisdom that inspired and directed our freedom quest. Mola Njoh Litumbe is dead, but he will remain green in our memories and that of posterity. In honour to this great leader and thousands of Southern Cameroons martyrs of the revolution, we must fight on until the lofty mission for which they lived and died is attained.  Njoh Litumbe by his life and times taught us how to be great in humility. He did not seek power for the sake of power of for himself. He dedicated his life for the cause of the freedom of the Southern Cameroons and the people followed him because the truth and justice that he defended are power. He is dead but alive because freedom, justice and love for our people never dies.  He is alive in our spirit and in our determination to secure a free and independent Southern Cameroons. In him Southern Cameroons arose to fall no more.

By Chief Charles A. Taku

Interim Governemnt of Ambazonia Statement on the Release of Barrister Blaise Shu Fai from Yaoundé Military Hospital

Fellow Ambazonians,

Accept revolutionary greetings from the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia at this trying moment of a global pandemic.

At 8:23 pm last night, the Interim Government of Ambazonia was alerted through its legal representatives in Yaoundé that Barrister Blaise Shu Fai, one of its political leaders, detained in the Kondengui principal prison was discharged from the Yaoundé military hospital where he was taken sickly on Saturday the 16^th of May 2020.

The Interim Government was made aware that Barrister Blaise Shu Fai was frail, depressed and in extremely poor health at the time of his discharge from hospital to the detention facility. I have been briefed that the decision to release him from hospital was made by the prison superintendent, Mr AP Isidore Angoule, and this decision was against the advice of medical practitioners.  

The recklessness and viciousness of the Yaoundé regime know no limits. The Ambazonian leader has been discharged without any satisfactory medical report or laboratory tests results interpreted to him, his family or to the Interim Government of Ambazonia. At the time of his release, clinical tests results brought by his family members from the laboratories were still in sealed envelopes pending analysis   by the hospital officials. As a government, we find this state of affairs unacceptable and a continuous violation of the human rights of our political detainees.

I am by this statement putting the government of La Republique du Cameroun on notice that it will bear full responsibility for any negative aftermath that may result as a consequence of this politically motivated inhumane and reckless decision.

Thanks and God Bless You all,

Dabney Yerima, Vice President, Federal Republic of Ambazonia

cc

The UN, the AU and the EU Commission

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland

USA State Department

The exiled leader of the people of Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima has told the Voice newspaper in Yaounde that the government of La Republique du Cameroun will bear full responsibility for any negative aftermath if coronavirus claims the life of any Ambazonian in their detention facilities. Below is the full conversation the Ambazonian Vice President had with the Voice

The Voice: The coronavirus pandemic is devastating communities in the Southern Cameroons, why have you as the Vice President of Ambazonia, not called for a ceasefire so the people can get the aid and resources they need from the government?

Vice President DabneyYerima The global ceasefire that was called by the United Nations in March after the coronavirus became a global pandemic was a great opportunity for the government of La Republique du Cameroun to show responsibility and a respect for international norms but it failed. While the Interim Government heeded to that call and was making preparations, La Republique du Cameroun government sent more troops to our communities like they did in Bafut recently to murder our people indiscriminately. They have used this period of a global pandemic to unleash more terror on a defenceless people.

The Voice: What are you doing as the Vice President to help the people in Southern Cameroons during this pandemic?

Vice President Dabney Yerima: Educating the population on the dos and don’ts concerning this global killer is of paramount importance so we communicated short videos and audios to our people. We supplied over 150,000 masks and over 100,000 sanitisers. We sent packages to the refugees in Nigeria and Ghana too. But more has to be done and we are leaving no stones unturn in our fight against this global killer.

The Voice: Are you satisfied with the measures that the government has taken to curb the spread of Covid-19?

Vice President Dabney Yerima: It is unbelievable that the government of La Republique du Cameroun doesn’t quite appreciate the gravity and deadliness of this pandemic. Ambazonia intelligence officers have informed me that La Republique du Cameroun airports and borders remain sealed as I speak except for a few chattered flights but the bars and off-licences are open.

The Voice: Barrister Blaise Shufai was rushed to the military hospital in Yaoundé on Saturday the 16^th of May. What are your thoughts?

Vice President DabneyYerima: It is a disturbing situation because the man of law has been ill for some weeks now. My attention was drawn to a covert infection in the principal detention facility in Yaoundé which is spreading disturbingly. We are alarmed that many of our prisoners of conscience have been down with this mysterious infection. Our major concern is that despite the global pandemic, the government of La Republique du Cameroun and the prison officials have refused to carry out any COVID-19 tests in the detention facility. This is unacceptable and a continuous violation of the human rights of our political detainees and the government of La Republique du Cameroun will bear full responsibility for any negative aftermath if this virus claims the life of any Ambazonians in their detention facilities. Ambazonian intelligence sources have informed me that Barrister Shufai’s condition is stable but the regime of La Republique du Cameroun has to make public vital information on the bill of health of the Ambazonian leader.

The Voice: Last Sunday the 10^th of May, the mayor of Mamfe was assassinated by Ambazonian gunmen. On Saturday, the people of Mamfe protested against terror. What is your take on that?

Vice President DabneyYerima: The Interim Government of Ambazonia is on record that it banned elections in Southern Cameroons organised by the regime in Yaoundé. So, the people of Southern Cameroons do not recognise the said individual as the legitimate mayor of Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu County. However, the Ambazonia interim government is aware that the La Republique du Cameroun imposed mayor was assassinated by heavily armed gunmen loyal to some barons of the ruling CPDM regime in Yaoundé.

The Voice: Many fighters are heeding the government’s call to drop arms, is a continuation of your cause now not futile? 

Vice President DabneyYerima: Our cause has never been linked to arms. We took up arms as a policy of self-defence after La Republique du Cameroun declared war against our people. For your information, Ambazonia restoration forces are not dropping down their weapons. We understand that the government of La Republique du Cameroun has its Militias that pose as our self-defence forces that have dropped arms. Our Genuine fighters are resolute in ensuring independence or resistance forever.

The Voice: How confident are you that your cause will be successful?

Vice President DabneyYerima One of the things I’ll underscore for your readers is that when the US was fighting for independence against the mighty British; the first country to recognise them was the Kingdom of the Morocco. At the time Morocco was considered an obscured nation in international politics.Correspondingly, the people of Ambazonia will keep fighting until our own Morocco recognises us. Also, the experiences of South Africa, East Timor, South Sudan, Namibia and Eretria are practical examples that Ambazonia’s determination and resilience to restore its independence and total freedom will never be an exception.  History is on our side and we have all what it takes to make our journey back to Buea a reality.

The Voice: Thanks for talking to us.

Vice President DabneyYerima, Thanks for having me.

Covid-19 pandemic responses have suddenly become the major security challenge in all states. Sudden overwhelming need for medical infrastructures for unpredictable large number of patients in life threatening situations, have shown the weakness of most states’ medical emergency architecture. With leading states like United States, France and England buckling down under the stress of this pandemic, nations with failing security structures are expected to experience devastating consequences without outside help.

Nigerian state security environment in the pre-Covid-19 era was predominantly unstable. Three states –Borno, Adamawa and Yobe are reportedly under occupation by ISWAP and Boko Haram Islamic groups Rebels. Reports from Northwest and North central regions is littered with looting, raping and killing by bandits, the whole south is under threats of political uprising  and constant murderous attacks from Fulani Herdsmen.

Nigerian security forces are reportedly overwhelmed, with Nigerian Army in security operations in over 34 of the 36 states in the country. Policing capabilities in Nigeria are mostly elite security based. Catering to the needs of the political class and the less than 5 percent elites. Most locals rely solely on relatively unarmed Private Security Personnels (PSPs) for securing their homes and offices. High occurrence of resort to self-help by locals, leading to extra-judicial mob killing and burning of crime suspects paints the picture of public perception of state judicial processes.

Political tensions fuelled by publicly acclaimed ethnocentric and nepotistic leadership have led to high level of ethnic division in a state with over 300 nations. Regional groups like the Northern, Arewa; Southwest, Oduduwa; Southsouth, MEND and SouthEast, MOSSOP; are in full fledge militant agitations for national independence. 

State’s revenue from crude oil and agriculture plunged by over 40 percent in the period between 2014 and 2019. Recent huge depreciation in global oil prices from above $40pb in December 2019 to less than $30pb in March 2020, has equally depleted national resources. Cutting short national revenue to about less than 50% of budget revenue target in 2020.

Given huge loss of resources, growing casualties from growing Civid19 pandemic coupled with weakening government control of security in some part of the country, national response to Covid19 pandemic is erratic, at best uncoordinated. Lockdown as covid19 control measure have failed in most cities in the state. Government in avoidance of citizen revolts as crime and violent acts, needing federal government intervention spiraled out in major cities, relaxed lockdown and allowed the public to return to work last week.

Expert positioned that economic loss after 8 weeks of continuous lockdown in Nigerian major cities run into millions of Dollars daily. The loss to the Small and Medium Enterprises in market shares might not be regained without the injection of viable stimulus package. The approval of a 500billion Naira economic stimulus package for SMEs by the National Assembly, was hailed by most observers, yet some few voices still warned that it might be too little late. Addressing the short-run problem in the sector might need four times that figure and that was based on the premises of equity and justice in sharing processes.

Given Covid19 infection rates continuous unchecked growth in Nigeria despite low testing rate -over 300% weekly increases were recorded by NCDC since the third week of April- despite full lockdown in major cities till 4th May, 2020 when lockdown was relaxed-and experts warns of lockdown removal leading to higher infection in the state, increased pressure on the health infrastructure in the country might lead to breakdown in law and order. Pockets of protests and disorderly behaviour have been reported in some northern cities like Gombe and Kano where public education on the pandemic remain low.

Security analyst positioned that due to government concerted response to this pandemic, security of lives and property has been neglected and most state’s resources diverted to this source. Government forces offensive against the Boko Haram and ISWAP has faded out of public discus as almost 90% of local news are currently dedicated to the Covid Response Situation Reports.

Increased criminal activities during lockdown in Lagos and other big cities reveals the need for more security resources in Nigerian homeland, but overstretched state’s resources obviously cannot financed such expansions. Attempts by some states government to increase security capacity through recruitment of locals as vigilantes and security corps was set aside as the new challenges of pandemic became the new security challenge.

Nigeria is home to over 200 million people with over 85million in abject poverty according to UN’s 2019 statistics. WHO in its assessment of Nigerian health capacities, declared Nigeria a high-risk environment for Covid19 Pandemic infection since March 2020. Given the overview of the reported situation in the state, it can be posited that the 4000 infection rate as at 5th of May, 2020 is a tip of the iceberg. Facts point at impending breakdown of law and order due to public panic when the big numbers hit Nigerian Covid score sheet.

There is urgent need for direct international intervention in Nigerian health infrastructure development to meet the expected sharp rise in pandemic victims. The state resources though given a lifeline of over $3million by the IMF last week need more resources to manage all sectors of the economy and offset lost oil revenue as a matter of urgency. The government need to refocus on its war with the terrorists and bandits making life uneasy for its citizens hence regional ethnic armies may develop in already impatient regions to secure their people. The economic loses of businesses during these lockdowns will surely lead to loss of businesses and jobs -in a country with over 35% youth unemployment figure- this is a perfect recipe for violent riots and increased criminal activities. International NGOs have a duty of care to respond to the impending implosion of the Nigerian State and be on the ground before the largest humanitarian situation occurs.

The time for concerted actions is now. Let all come together and support the tottering giant of Africa, before it falls and splash to smithereens the surrounding states and bring African economy to its knees.

Don Michael Olalekan Adeniji, MA, C.Med., DRS, fpnm

Director, Security Policy Analysis

African Initiatives for Peace and Human Security, (AIPHD), Ibadan

Contributing Editor Cameroon Concord News Group

Southern Cameroonians are no longer attached to their television sets and radios relaying information from the French Cameroun capital, Yaoundé. They are now on their computers and mobile phones, avidly following the war against French Cameroun occupation and the politics going on in the diaspora. Ambazonians are now fully aware that they made a costly mistake to have rejected the union with Nigeria.

Southern Cameroonians can no longer cope in a French teleguided political system where, a sitting President can never be voted out of office, where the French ambassador is the second most important personality in the country and where even football decisions are made in Paris.

Even French Camerounians are fed up with their leadership but they are not willing to do anything about it. Since 1990, voter turnout in the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon has been very low—less than ten per cent and those who show up often chose the opposition candidates.

In the last election that the leading opposition candidate Prof Maurice Kamto reportedly won, the whole process was disappointingly inefficient, as if the nation hadn’t realized it would actually be having an election that year. Nothing that was put in place by ELECAM worked!   The electoral register didn’t work, and a special registration system that voters had to go through before casting ballots resulted in government officials dishing out money to get votes.

French support for Francophone dictators in French Cameroun, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Togo, Chad and now Equatorial Guinea is indeed making a mockery of education and democracy. No issue can push a Francophone head of state out of office. Not the millions of dollars of oil revenue disappearing; not broken promises to provide electricity and create jobs; not a complete mishandling of the crisis in Southern Cameroons or the Boko Haram insurgency.

Ever since he took office in 1982, Biya’s regime has overseen human-rights abuses and a strangling of personal freedoms. Biya has never distanced himself from the sway of men like Amadou Ali, Laurent Esso and the late Martin Belinga!!  Biya has never appointed competent technocrats, and he has never prevented government officials from enriching themselves on the job. His Special Criminal Court has targeted only regime barons eyeing his job.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a wakeup call for all in Francophone Africa!! Macron has successfully forced all French surrogates including Biya to allow French businesses to operate while France is maintaining strike European Union directives in the lockdown process.

Change is needed in French Cameroun. Change is needed in Etoudi. Change is needed in Yaoundé.  Fallen oil prices, the war in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and a floundering FCFA currency is making life harder for both French and Southern Cameroonians.  But Yaoundé needs a decent man to run its affairs!! Not a man whose wife’s friends are Koffi Olomide and Wizkid but a man with integrity- DAVID ABOUEM À TCHOYI

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

President Paul Biya 88 reportedly displayed senile dementia during his recent meeting with the French ambassador to Cameroon Christophe Guilhou. Ambassador Guilhou said that his meeting on Thursday 14 April was intensive and productive.

“We had a very long discussion,” he added in a brief statement after leaving the presidential palace, during which he also brought up issues relating to French-Cameroonian cooperation, the focus of his conversation with Biya.

Biya hailed his government’s efforts at combating the COVID-19 pandemic in a nation where the virus is still circulating and which according to French Cameroun Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie has now recorded 2579 positive cases of the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 6 with approximately 114 deaths.

Prof Maurice Kamto, the leading French Cameroun opposition leader denounced his stumbling, hesitant performance in front of the French ambassador saying that Mr Paul Biya had finally lost any grasp of Cameroonian reality.

The burning of more than 300 towns and villages in Southern Cameroons by Cameroon government army soldiers has now led to 5,000 Southern Cameroonians being arrested and 500,000 left homeless.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering Southern Cameroons citizens where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

Biya does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaoundé government has diminished the population of Southern Cameroons by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

Yet there has been no stirring of protest or resistance inside French Cameroun signaling  glaring failure by the French Cameroun opposition to stand up to the regime.

This has allowed President Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate to escape any pressure from the international community over his reckless handling of the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Biya rode unmolested from Mvomeka’a to Yaoundé in a gleaming Mercedes Benz once used by the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Biya told the French diplomat that Cameroon was making great strides towards improving relations with Paris after President Macron’s shocking pronouncement during a surprise meeting with a French Cameroun activist in Paris.

In reality, Cameroon is suffering the worst inflation in the CEMAC region and more than half of its economy has been wiped out in the last four years by the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

Biya’s statements to the French ambassador reflect his senile dementia. Any decent doctor will tell you that once you are in your eighties, you lose your memory, you lose your grasp of reality and you have no grip of time or space. That’s what is happening with the old man in Yaoundé.

By Asu Isong in London