Headline News

5, December 2016

Revealed: 232 agents of ELECAM were recruited with fake university certificates ⁰

Two hundred and thirty-two (232), agents holding false diplomas, have just been uncovered at ELECAM (Elections Cameroon), the body in charge of the electoral process in the country.

The 232 election officers, 36 from the Far North, 8 in the North, 57 in the Center region and several from other regions were recruited in ELECAM with False diplomas by the commission evaluating training provided abroad.

The situation hinted Cameroon Concord News Yaoundé city reporter has cast doubt on the level of ethics of agents of ELECAM and the institution in charge of the electoral process in Cameroon.

This is not the first time that false diplomas are detected in a Cameroon administration. In Cameroon, the utilization false diploma is now a way of life practiced by young people.

Many have been recruited within the Cameroon administration and in countries around the world which do not have a mechanism to enable them to verify the diplomas awarded in Cameroon.

By Rita Akana

5, December 2016

John Kerry says State Department’s recommendations have no “value” in the eyes of Donald Trump ⁰

US Secretary of State John Kerry says his department’s recommendations have no “value” in the eyes of President-elect Donald Trump, who has been making phone calls to world leaders since his election on November 8, a policy which the State Department considers as controversial. Speaking at the Saban Forum in Washington on Sunday, Kerry said neither Trump nor his transition team had contacted the State Department before speaking to leaders of other countries. “We have not been contacted before any of these conversations. We have not been requested to provide talking points,” Kerry said, in an attempt to distance President Barack Obama’s administration from some of Trump’s phone calls that may anger longtime allies. Trump risked China’s wrath on Friday, when he talked to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, a move that made him the first US president or president-elect to hold a conversation with Taiwan’s leader since severing ties with the territory in 1979.

The Republican president-elect also called Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an “amazing” leader during a phone conversation on Wednesday, a praise that was looked unfavorably by India, Pakistan’s arch-rival. “I do think there’s a value, obviously, on having at least the recommendations, whether you choose to follow them or not is a different issue, but I think it’s valuable to ask people, who’ve worked the desk and have worked it for a long period of time, their input on what’s the current state, is there some particular issue at the moment,” Kerry said. “I think that’s valuable and I would certainly recommend it, but obviously that hasn’t happened in a few cases.” Unlike Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence has been using the State Department’s recommendations regularly, Kerry said.

The outgoing secretary of state noted that he was trying to stay “a thousand miles away from the Trump transition process” and hoped that communications with the team would improve once Trump picked his secretary of state. “I think it’s important for me to be able to brief whoever the final nominee is going to be for secretary of state and I don’t want to come at it with any engagements, with any of the choices they are making publicly,” he added. According to Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway, the New York billionaire was considering at least four candidates for the job. Kerry’s comments underscore Trump’s reluctance to receive advice from the Obama administration.

Presstv

5, December 2016

Italian PM Renzi resigns ⁰

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced his resignation after exit polls showed he had lost the constitutional reform referendum. “My experience of government finishes here,” said Renzi during a press conference held after the No campaign won what he referred to as an “extraordinarily clear” victory in the referendum.

An exit poll by Italian state broadcaster RAI showed that the 42-46 percent of participants in the referendum had voted to back the reforms, while 54-58 percent voted against them. “Good luck to us all,” added Renzi, noting that he would officially present his resignation to the country’s President Sergio Mattarella on Monday, after a final meeting of his cabinet.

After that, Mattarella will be charged with negotiating the appointment of a new government or with ordering early elections. If Renzi’s proposed changes to the constitution had won, they would have reduced the role of the Senate and limited the powers of regional governments.

Analysts say the victorious No vote will further boost the country’s opposition parties — among them the eurosceptic Five Star Movement — all of which favor exiting the eurozone. Italy is the eurozone’s third-largest economy, but its stock market has been performing the worst in Europe this year due to problems in its banking system and concerns over political instability.

Presstv

4, December 2016

Fake US embassy in Ghana shut down after a decade ⁰

Washington says a fake US embassy run by organized crime gangs has been shut down in Ghana’s capital, Accra, following almost 10 years of issuing counterfeit visas and counterfeit identification documents. According to a statement released by the US Department of State late on Friday, the sham embassy was operated by “figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings” along with a Ghanaian lawyer specializing in immigration and criminal law.

The statement added that the fake diplomatic mission, with a run-down, pink two-storey building, was raided by Ghana’s security forces in summer after the real embassy in the capital received a tip-off from an informant about the matter. Several suspects were arrested, including “Turkish citizens,” who played the role of “consular officers” at the building and who spoke English and Dutch. Authorities also seized legitimate and counterfeit US, Indian, South African and Schengen Zone visas and 150 passports from 10 different countries, a laptop, a number of smart phones and counterfeit identity documents.

The criminals, according to the statement, managed to run the fake embassy unhindered during the past decade by bribing corrupt officials as well as obtaining blank bank documents to be doctored. The crime ring provided prearranged customers with authentic, but illegally obtained, US visas and fabricated identification documents, including birth certificates, at a cost of $6,000 each, the statement added. In an attempt to make the sham embassy look real, the criminals had also raised an American flag outside the building and inside they had hung a photo of US President Barack Obama. They had also placed signs indicating that applicants were in the US embassy in Ghana.

The statement also revealed that further investigations led to uncovering a fake Dutch embassy in Ghana’s capital. Visa market is a tempting target for organized crime in Africa as visas for Western countries are in high demand in the continent.

Presstv

4, December 2016

Iran vows firm response to US ⁰

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has denounced a recent US Senate vote on a piece of anti-Iran legislation as a blatant infringement of last year’s nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, saying the Islamic Republic will give a firm response to the move.

President Rouhani made the remarks in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) on Sunday as he submitted the government’s proposed budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins on March 21, to the legislative body.

The Iranian chief executive further said the Islamic Republic would never violate last July’s nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which he described as “a signed and sealed international document.”

Iran “will not tolerate the JCPOA’s violation by any of the P5+1 group of countries,” adding that the US Senate’s vote to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for a decade is “in blatant contravention of the JCPOA, and will be followed by Iran’s decisive response.”

The US Senate approved the ISA renewal 99-0 on Thursday after it easily cleared the House of Representatives last month. The sanctions law, which would authorize the US president to impose sanctions on Iran, was first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

The ISA now needs President Barack Obama’s signature to be turned into law. Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany started to implement the JCPOA on January 16.

Under the deal, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related bans imposed against Tehran. Since January, when the JCPOA took effect, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors the deal’s implementation process, has in numerous reports confirmed Iran’s commitment.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in April that Iran had even gone beyond its obligations under the JCPOA. Reacting to the Senate vote on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the ISA’s extension would have no “executive effect” and would merely be a sign of the US government’s unreliability.

Last month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that Iran would consider the extension of the ISA a breach of the JCPOA and would respond accordingly.

Presstv

4, December 2016

Biya and Philemon Yang are taking the last kicks of a dying horse ⁰

The Prime Minister, Head of Government will travel to Limbe & Buea on Tuesday for a government propaganda rally. It has been confirmed that he’ll be making that journey with top-ranking government officials, like Jean KUETE et al. Yang Philemon and his CPDM gang plans to use the CPDM party structures and militants to stage a “Unity March” painting Cameroon as a unitary state, one and indivisible.

The CPDM barons intend to organize a march in Buea, and after that in Bamenda the following week. They want the world to see that “Anglophone Cameroonians” (Those paid to march) want “peace and unity”, and do not want to federate or secede!*

Biya has approved the plan even though some major disagreements were recorded from highly placed CPDM Section presidents whose children were beaten, molested, and presently out of school. However, some have received money and are preparing to march with T-SHIRTS carrying Peace, Unity, Oneness propaganda.

Cameroon Concord News has learnt that there will be severe consequences on all those who will dare participate in such pro Francophone march in British Southern Cameroons territory.

They’re planning a similar propaganda rally in Bamenda, to inform the international community that Anglophones want to remain with La Republique du Cameroun. Inside sources say they need 10000 boys and girls militants to wear the T-SHIRTS and participate in the march! The Anglophone lawyers and teachers unions have sounded a note of caution calling on parents to keep their children at home.

Anglophones leaders have however opined that British Southern Cameroons does not need political rallies and a peace march, what it needs is development that can only come through the creation of a Southern Cameroons state with its own army.

3, December 2016

Anglophone Problem: CRTV is an important tool of blackmail, misinformation and Paul Biya’s image laundering ⁰

The recent announcement by the Cameroon Radio and Television, CRTV that Anglophone lawyers and teachers have agreed to end the strikes in British Southern Cameroons breaks no new grounds. The timing of the announcement was intended to change the focus from the ongoing debate on the Anglophone problem and ramifications from the massive Anglophone Diaspora protest in Western Europe, the USA and Canada.

The Anglophone Spring, coming so close to Paul Biya’s decision time on whether to run in 2018 has evoked sad memories. It has reminded the citizenry particular those of La Republique and Paul Biya himself that his end is near and may not be a happy one. The steadfastness of our lawyers and teachers and the support and respect they have so far gained from the French Cameroon political elites has reminded Paul Biya in particular, about his own potential ouster from power. His recent meeting with the US ambassador featuring the Anglophone uprising has also reminded him of the illusions of absolute power and its consequential unpredictability. Mobutu Seseko’s last meeting in Congo-Kinshasa was with a US envoy known as Bill Richardson.

Biya’s attempt at using the veteran lawyers to instill fear and refocus the national debate to good governance and to consolidate power which seems to be slipping away due to consequences and factors beyond his control has failed woefully. The actions taken by the presidency of the republic and imposed on the Cameroonian public opinion via a prime ministerial order has reminded Philemon Yang that power in Cameroon is in the Unity Palace and not in the so-called Star Building located opposite a noisy market and behind a five star hotel.

The announcement made by CRTV against the new generation of Anglophone leaders and the strike actions surprises only those who may not be paying attention to Paul Biya’s politics of personal power and his Francophone domination policy. Like many French Cameroun corrupt media organizations owned by the CPDM crime syndicate, the state radio and television is an important tool of blackmail, misinformation and Paul Biya’s image laundering used by pro Biya comedians like Paul Atanga Nji.

CRTV like Cameroon Tribune are used to perpetrate crimes against Anglophones far worse than the Lake Nyos Disaster or the numerous deaths recorded on the Tiko-Douala highway. They are instruments of mass mobilization through falsehood, corruption of the popular conscience and the deification of the 83 year old dictator who has finally destroyed the tribal tolerance miraculously put in place by the late President Ahidjo. CRTV was and is the conduit through which egregious violations and crimes of unimaginable magnitude are perpetrated against British Southern Cameroonians.

It is the conduit through which fraud is celebrated and the flames of the North West/ South West divide are fanned and Francophones in Mfoundi Division are incited to take up arms against their neighbours. It remains the voice of hate, sycophancy and intimidation. The question one may ask, is, who benefits from these crimes? The answer points to Paul Biya. This does not absolve Paul Atanga Nji for the crimes he perpetrated or for accepting to perpetrate or oversee the use of CRTV to perpetrate crimes against the Anglophone community in which alleged “enemies dans la maisons” “biafrais” “anglobami” “Opposants” and now are blackmailed and targeted on account of their ethnicity or valid claims for self determination.

University students will be having their day in court if there is enough evidence to proceed against them. On a matter of principle and legality, however, the problem is not with the arrest of the students but with the political calculation surrounding the arrest. However, if the Anglophone Spring will lead to Paul Biya finally realizing that his 32 years in power were mired in systemic corruption and unprecedented criminality, and peacefully step down without being forced to do so, then it is significant development. CRTV will henceforth serve La Republique du Cameroun with pride.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group believe and fervently too that the time to boycott CRTV radio and television including Cameroon Tribune is now.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Editor-in-Chief)

Cameroon Concord News Group

3, December 2016

Ambassador Hoza says Cameroon-US relations will witness a significant growth in Trump’s admin ¹

The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Stephen HOZA, has announced that Cameroon-U.S. relations will witness a significant growth in Donald Trump’s administration. He made this revelation on Friday 02 December 2016 at the Unity Palace after an audience with the Cameroonian dictator, Paul BIYA.

Ambassador HOZA said his meeting with the Head of State was aimed at reassuring Cameroonians that the U.S. will continue its trajectory with the next administration come 20 January 2017. Thus, efforts will be made to support Cameroon in; the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group, peace and stability in the Central African Republic, and the promotion of maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

The U.S. diplomat equally expatiated on a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on the strike actions led by Anglophone lawyers and teachers in Cameroon. He said the issue was raised during the audience and the Head of State shared the same viewpoint like him. Hence, he explained to journalists why Cameroonians need to preserve their great strength of unity in diversity, based on the principles of tolerance and dialogue.

Culled from the presidency of the republic

3, December 2016

US: Clinton allies plot against Trump presidency ⁰

The bitter 2016 US presidential race is turning into a battle even as elections are over, with the campaign aides of defeated Democratic presidential nominee vowing a four-year insurgency against incoming President Donald Trump. Clinton’s vast network of supporters, staffers and operatives, enraged by the victory of a president-elect they view as disgraceful, are plotting an anti-Trump resistance and venting with a fury they never could have expressed during the presidential campaign of their flawed and awkward candidate, Polititco reported.

“Clinton allies like David Brock have been actively recruiting Democratic donors to fund an anti-Trump movement modeled on the armada of organizations that sued, flacked, opposition-researched and insulted Clinton into a 55 percent disapproval rating,” Politico said.

“Brock and other Democratic operatives are contemplating a Freedom of Information Act barrage against the president-elect comparable to the one undertaken against Clinton by the conservative group Judicial Watch,” it added. Other left-leaning groups, including the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based advocacy organization, are looking into ways of holding Trump accountable for his job-creating promises during his campaign.

“We’re going to throw everything at him that he threw at us,” said one longtime Democratic operative active in the effort. During a discussion on Thursday at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, tensions erupted between top operatives of Trump and Clinton. The forum was intended to record history by drawing out the internal deliberations of both campaigns four weeks after the election.

There were many moments where tempers flared and advisers on the opposing sides shouted over each other, with acrimony echoing the 2016 White House race. “Hey guys, we won,” Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway said at one point, challenging Clinton’s team to “accept the results of the election.” “He was the better candidate. That’s why we won.”

Trump won the US presidency despite extreme unpopularity among minorities, underscoring deep national divisions that have fuelled incidents of racial and political confrontation across the country. Large protests have erupted nationwide in response to Trump’s election victory following a contentious presidential campaign involving two of the least popular major-party candidates in recent US history.

Presstv

3, December 2016

CPDM government reacts to US State Department human rights allegations ⁰

The so-called Cameroonian government spokesman and Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has reacted to allegations made by the US State Department which accused Yaoundé of “various violations of fundamental freedoms in Cameroon”, specifically in the management of the demonstrations in Bamenda and in Buea deep within the English-speaking part of the country .

Minister Tchiroma observed that the police acted in strict respect for the international commitments that bind Cameroon. The corrupt government official added that “The government has sought to maintain dialogue and consultation with a view to finding appropriate solutions to the demands of Anglophone lawyers and English-speaking teachers.”

In this regard, Tchiroma said, appropriate measures had been taken, namely: – the working visit to Bamenda by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, from the 25^th to the 27^th of November 2016, to discuss with representatives of lawyers and teachers; – the creation by the Prime Minister, Head of Government of an inter-ministerial committee to examine the problems of teachers.

The controversial politician chanted the same old CPDM slogans no longer listened too in British Southern Cameroons and enlisted “the opening of sectoral negotiations, to the respective diligence of the Minister of Justice, on the one hand, and the Minister of Higher Education on the other as positive steps taken by the Francophone government.”

Issa Tchiroma also noted that the special donation of 2 billion FCFA to private sector teachers, the announced recruitment of 1000 young bilingual teachers and even the creation of an ad hoc committee, are signs of openness to dialogue. It is of vital importance to include in this report that Minister Issa Tchiroma was addressing the wrong audience and that the Anglophone leaders have rejected all government proposals not linked to a new constitution for the country that will guarantee Anglophone autonomy.

By Rita Akana