From the southern tip of the black continent to West Africa and the Horn of Africa, the British Council is actively promoting British interests through ostensibly “cultural” and “educational” programmes.

But why does the British Council have such a strong interest in the African continent and how does it go about using “soft” power to realise both avowed and disavowed British foreign policy objectives in the black continent?

Cultural outreach, or cultural penetration (depending on the reader’s perspective), constitutes a core British Council activity. It is the Council’s bread and butter work.

But whereas the British Council frames its cultural outreach programmes as part of a broader narrative centred on local “empowerment”, the reality is that the Council seeks to identify and manipulate emerging cultural trends with a view to creating political and economic spaces for British interests.

Take East Africa as an example, where the British Council has been exceptionally active since the dawn of the twenty first century.

A recent British Council document entitled “Scoping the Creative Economy in East Africa” gives much insight into the thinking of the Council’s leadership, and by extension, the leadership of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Describing the “creative economy” in a primarily sub-national context, the document essentially calls for interventions at local or community levels in order to effect the greatest change.

The document identifies Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda where the “creative economy” offers the greatest potential. Conveniently, these are also the countries which Britain has aggressively targeted as part of post-Brexit trade deals.

On a trip to the African continent in August 2018, the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that Britain had secured its first post-Brexit trade deal in Africa.

Writing in the Guardian on September 04, 2018, the British-Ghanian writer and broadcaster, Afua Hirsch, heaped scorn on May’s sweeping statements and assumptions in relation to the African continent.

Hirsch wrote: “If Britain wants to be a friend to Africa, it needs to stop looking to the continent to boost its self-esteem – “the shared history and cultural ties” of which May talks allude to Britain’s imperial domination – and its coffers”.

The British Council is also highly active in West Africa where, in recent years, it has aggressively promoted the English language. This strategy is set out in detail in a 2013 British Council document entitled: “The English language in Francophone West Africa”.       

The aggressive promotion of the English language in fragile nation-states, beset by ethnic and cultural divisions, comes at a high political cost.

Take Cameroon for example, where a rebellion in the country’s western Anglophone regions has resulted in the deaths of nearly 2,000 people since October 2017.

Last week a Cameroonian military court sentenced 10 Anglophone separatist leaders to life imprisonment on wide-ranging national security charges, including terrorism and secession.

Source: Presstv

Do you know anyone here

Who has heard of our president Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe

A man of our great revolution

Who spent his life fighting for freedom

Shaming the French and evil neocolonialist

And was abducted from Nera Hotel

Can you tell me what you know about him

For I just went to sleep and he was gone

He stood for a lot of good, equality and justice

As it seems the good and brave get abducted early

Does anybody here

Know of anyone who knows Fidelis Nde Che

A brave warrior, patriot and nationalist

Who courageously said no to demonic France

As they refused to leave our beloved land

Making a sham of what they called independence

Placing their stooges to plunder our land

Chasing and silencing our national hero

Fighting courageously even to abduction

And yet before I was  to look around

He was abducted and a monument of my memory

As it seems the good and brave get abducted young and early

Has anyone here

Seen or heard of our friend and comrade Nalowa Bih

Before I could call her she was taken from us

Deprived from joining her nationalism spirit

And her determination to keep la republique out

Caging the betrayals of political stooges

Who sold the nation for neocolonial games

She bravely fought for our independence and freedom

But before we could turn around she was gone

To became an imprint in our national psyche

As it seems the good and the brave get abducted young and early.

Has any body here

Seen my good old friend and brother Nfor Ngalla Nfor

He stood for and fought many good causes

For our freedom, our justice and our integrity

But before I could hold his hand he was gone

Taken from us just when we needed him most

Can someone please tell me where he’s gone to

For it seems the good and the brave are abducted early.

Has anyone here been to Nigeria

Did you see our hero Wilfred Tassang

Was he looking happy or sad

He stood for and fought many good causes

Same as those at the Nera hotel

But before  I could turn around to put facts together

That he is the new father of our revolution, he was gone

Taken away from me holding his hands to say I know

The tricks of the real devil and the devils in sheep clothing

For I know now only the good and brave are abducted young and early.

Has any of you here heard of our brave ones 

Cornelius Kwanga, Prof Awasum, Henry Kimeng

Eyambe Elias Elango, Ojong Okongho, Ogork Ntui, Blais Beriyuv

Do you know anyone who has seen them

Our brave warriors, patriots and nationalists

Who courageously said no to demonic France and la republique

As they refused to leave our beloved land

Making a sham of what they called independence

Placing their stooges to plunder our land

Chasing and silencing our national heros

Fighting courageously even to abduction

And yet before I was  to look around

They were abducted leaving thoughts in our revolutionary psyche

As it seems the good and brave get abducted young and early

Has any body here

Seen me seeking for the brave and good ones

Who amongst us will take the mantle to lead

To wear the amour of goodness and bravery

Of Julius Ayuk Tabe, Nfor Ngalla Nfor, Nalowa Bih

Orgork Ntui, Blaise Benriyuv, Cornelius Kwanga, Prof Awasum

Henri Kimeng, Wilfred Tassang,Eyango Elias Eyambe

And ofcourse Fidelix Nde Che, Ojong Okongho

Who here would not love the things they stood for

Did they not try to find and do some good

For you, me, us, our nation, our people and our world

As  they started out to set us and our land free

and from their works and memory and sacrifices

we will be free soon and someday when we choose

and  I thought I saw them holding hands over fako mountain

with Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe leading the team in

Singing and praying for us not to forget their sacrifices

As they have just been inconvenient  and are watching over us

As it seems the good and brave get abducted young and early

 By Christmas Ebini

Author Toni Morrison, who won Nobel and Pulitzer prizes for books documenting the African-American experience, has died at age 88.

Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for the publishing company Alfred A. Knopf, announced the death but did not provide an immediate cause.

Morrison’s novels included “The Bluest Eye,” “Beloved,” and its sequel, “Jazz.” She was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993, becoming the first African-American to attain the feat.

Novelist Toni Morrison smiles with U.S. President Barack Obama as he prepares to award her a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, May 29, 2012.

Schools in Cameroon’s troubled Anglophone regions need to re-open at the beginning of the school year, according to the country’s only cardinal.

The country’s North West and South West regions have been suffering an ongoing insurgency by English-speaking rebels complaining of discrimination and marginalization by the French-speaking majority.

The boycotts began in 2016 with a strike by lawyers and teachers protesting the use of French in courts using the Anglo-Saxon common law tradition (practiced in the English-speaking parts of the country) and in Anglophone schools, and it soon boiled over to the general public, with many Anglophones calling for outright secession. Since then, armed rebels have enforced the school boycott, leaving children in the two regions without an education for three years. With barely two months until the start of the 2019/2020 academic year, Cardinal Christian Tumi, the Archbishop emeritus of Douala, has called for the schools to be re-opened.

“It can’t continue this way,” the cardinal told Crux in his Douala residence.

In a recent visit to his hometown Kumbo – located in the North West region – Tumi said he came home with the shocking realization that schools in that part of the country do not function anymore. “A people who go for a single moment without school – what future do they have?”

“Assuming that the ‘amba boys’ become political leaders tomorrow, where will they get the educated manpower to work with for the good of the state?” asked the cardinal, referring to the common term for the rag-tag force fighting for the independence of the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

Tumi noted that most of them are illiterate, and he said he doubted whether they really understand “the importance of education for the human being.”

He also admonished them for kidnapping teachers and students and described such actions as “torture.”

“There is a Catholic school in my village – St. Augustine’s College – where they went and kidnapped 150 students at night. Imagine the school age these days – these were children between 12 and 14 years. They were taken at night without shoes on and forced to trek for several kilometers. It’s torture,” the cardinal said.

“No matter their convictions, even if they are convinced that it’s necessary to continue fighting against established authority, they should allow schools to continue,” Tumi said. Church leaders in Cameroon have accused the government of being heavy-handed in its actions against the separatists, and complained that innocent civilians are the ones suffering the most.

Rather than negotiate, the government opted for military force to quell the tensions, leading to several deaths.

Originally most of the population wanted greater autonomy within Cameroon, as promised in the country’s original constitution, but the actions of the security forces have moved more and more in to the camp of those demanding outright independence for a country they want to call “Ambazonia.”

So far, at least 2,000 people have died in the conflict, and over 400,000 have been driven from their homes.

In 2017, several Anglophone groups called for a stop to the school boycott, calling it counter-productive, but were brandished as traitors by the separatists and school authorities who tried to reopen schools, and students who tried to attend them, were often kidnapped.

UNICEF, The UN’s children’s agency, estimates over 600,000 school-aged children aren’t attending classes in the Anglophone regions.

“Prior to October 2016, more than 6,000 schools were operational within the region. As of December 2018, less than 100 schools were operational; meaning nearly 5,900 schools were closed down with over 40,000 students out of school and over 40 schools burnt down,” said a July 9 statement by the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa.

Other prominent voices are joining the cardinal in urging the rebels to stop their boycott.

Mancho Bibixy Tse, a journalist jailed for his support of the Anglophone movement, originally supported the school boycott.

He signed a document from his prison cell to call for the schools to be reopened.

He said the decision to campaign for an effective start to the new school year is borne “out of our consciences given the injustices our children have suffered for three years as a result of school boycott.”

“Our protest was for an improvement of the living conditions in the Anglophone regions. It was meant to be the voice of the voiceless masses who have been suffering without a way of letting the authorities know. It was meant to improve our educational system and not to destroy it,” Bibixy said in the June 20 statement.

“The Coffin Revolution [the local name for the revolt] is not the cause of the current crisis. Our peaceful course was hijacked, and we are suffering the consequences. We therefore are calling on parents in the two Anglophone regions to send their children back to school in September (2019). We are appealing to all political, religious and traditional authorities, development associations, Parent Teacher Associations, Civil Society Organizations, and human rights groups to join us in sensitizing our parents, children and teachers and all those involved in the education of our children for a total resumption of school in September,” the journalist said.

Tumi told Crux that is the right thing to do, so that “light will chase away the darkness.”

Source: Crux

The SOBA America Annual Convention has come and gone; but SOBA, the world over still remains in turmoil and leaderless. This is mainly because Prof. Ephraim Ngwafor who is gradually making himself a cult personality by arrogating absolute power to himself, continues his quest for relevance, even in America, where his protégé Mafany Itoe rolled out the red carpet to the failed President of SOBA. Even presidential candidates in the just ended SOBA America elections were asked to pledge allegiance to the Ngwafor leadership in exchange for votes, while there now exist a Caretaker Committee headed by Dr Namanga Ngongi that is here to stay as the alternative linchpin in SOBA Cameroon.

The Sasse Old Boys Association is the leading ex-students association in Cameroon and the Cameroon Diaspora community. Since Prof Ngwafor became its leader, he has moulded the once famous and highly respected alumni association into his image. An image of disorder in anything he places his hands on, as recorded in his time as the rector of the University in Yaoundé, his unusually short tenure as a minister in La Republique du Cameroun, and now SOBA. His presence at the SOBA America Convention just shows how toxic and divisive he is, with several senior SOBANs who came from all the nooks and crannies of the America and even beyond to avoid being seen around him. His tenure as SOBA President has been so controversial that, SOBA America had to employ the services of armed police officers to protect him in an ex-school event as reported by our Washington Bureau Chief. He likened the permanent armed police presence at the convention venue to a coup being staged by Prof Ephraim Ndeh Ngwafor. The question that the SOBA America presidential hopefuls were not asked was whether they accepted Ngwafor’s new constitution to diminish the powers of the General Assembly, the same Assembly that has given him the platform to rebuild his shattered reputation.

All of the sudden Prof Ephraim Ngwafor after six years at the helm of SOBA is seeking relevance and recognition by attending Conventions and General Assemblies in the Diaspora (Germany and America).

“This is a man who has never called an ordinary General Assembly in his tenure as President of SOBA and when Chapters deferred decision making to their General Assembly as their constitution requires, he frowns at it. This attitude towards the General Assembly, which was always the ultimate decision making body of SOBA is reflected in his total disregard of the body in his recent so called 2018 Constitution’ noted a senior SOBAN who spoke to our correspondent in the America. This has prompted a  “change.org” petition against Prof Ngwafor that has been signed by close to 130 Sobans and counting.

“In his quest to become the Emperor, he has arrogated all the decision making power to himself and the kangaroo committee he now calls the SOBA General Council. Prof Ngwafor has shown so much disdain for SOBANs and their right to govern themselves where ever they are, to the extent of claiming to dissolve a duly elected Executive in the Diaspora” a SOBAN was heard murmuring privately as he left the well attended SOBA America gala night. Prof Ngwafor has banned all the SOBANs who opposed him for life, by rewriting the constitution and using it even before it has been ratified by SOBANs.

We understand that Prof Ephraim Ngwafor who was seeking for allegiance from SOBA America Presidential Candidates can not show anything he has done for SOBA or Sasse College which has now closed its campus for education, except for the chaos that he has left behind in America, UK, Ireland, Germany and Cameroon. His inappropriate donation of significant sums to wealthy SOBA America whilst SOBA in Cameroon has empty coffers with uncompleted projects in Sasse Campus shows his desperate attempt to buy favour from his host.

The Sasse Old Boys Association now looks like the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement; CPDM which has no platform through a General Assembly in Cameroon where members can express their views, but instead has a SOBA President who has changed the constitution and removed powers from the General Assembly. The Constitution now allows for ordinary members to bypass their Chapter General Assembly and report to the president’s council in Cameroon directly. SOBANs in the Diaspora are asking, how such a management structure could be possible, as SOBA Diaspora chapters exist in different legal jurisdictions.

Prof Ngwafor has nothing to show for, after 6 years at the head of SOBA. His poor record include inter alia:

1. Failure to give accounts for the 75th anniversary celebrations
2. Failure to hold an ordinary general assembly in 6 years
3. Failure in the UK, Ireland and Germany
4. Failure to unite SOBA in Cameroon
5. Failure to ratify constitutional reforms worldwide
6. Failure to complete projects in Sasse College Campus

What next for Ngwafor after 6 years (2013 to 2019)?

Like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Ngwafor shall sleep no more! SOBANS in the South West and North West in Cameroon no longer recognise him as SOBA President. He has blatantly refused to dialogue with the Caretaker Committee in order to settle their differences in Cameroon and bring all Sobans together.

Can Prof Ngwafor square the circle in the UK?

An overwhelming number of SOBANS in the UK and Ireland do not recognize Ngwafor as the legitimate leader and have been annoyed by his constitutional changes and banning for life of those who oppose him.

In the UK, Ngwafor is supporting a dissident group of SOBANs fighting the main group. Prof Ngwafor has misappropriated the name of the Bishop of Buea in his quest to support the UK dissident group.

Will Prof Ngwafor help SOBA Foundation in Germany rebuild?

Following his visit last year to the Federal Republic of Germany, SOBA Foundation Germany has been plunged into an unprecedented fracas over pronouncements that Ngwafor made in the city of Essen in 2018. SOBA Foundation Germany is now in crisis and which threatens it’s very existence.

So, given all the facts presented against Prof Ephraim Ndeh Ngwafor as SOBA President over the past 6 years, his continuous stay in this role will leave Sasse Old Boys more divided and in turmoil, both in Cameroon and in the Diaspora.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

On 28 May, 92 students under the AUDA-NEPAD Decent Rural Jobs project graduated in Yaoundé, Cameroon, after receiving training and mentorship in agribusiness and entrepreneurship. It was the second cohort of students to graduate under the project in Cameroon, which aims at equipping rural youths with skills to engage in entrepreneurship along agriculture and agribusiness value chains.

The project, supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is currently implemented in Benin, Cameroon, Malawi and Niger. In Cameroon, the participating training centres include the Practical School for Agriculture Binguela, the Rural Training Centre, Mbanga and the Multi-Purpose Regional Youth Centre in Buea. 

Before the students were presented with their certificates, Mrs Estherine Fotabong, the AUDA- NEPAD Director of Programmes, expressed joy at the successful outcomes of the project in the four countries.  She commended FAO for its partnership and support in improving the lives of the young men and women in the four countries.  With 2019 dedicated by the African Union to strengthen action towards refugees and displaced persons in order to develop durable solutions, the project contributes to the AU objectives to bring stability amongst its youths.

Mrs Fotabong underscored the value addition of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cameroon to the project. According to the Director, “The coordination role of the Ministry ensured increased participation of the private sector in agriculture and agribusiness activities. We need to continue to build synergies between public and private sectors for transformative growth through integrated programmatic approach”.

In congratulating the graduating students, Mrs Fotabong made reference to the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), which commits African countries to remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods, progressively liberalise trade in services, and address a host of other non-tariff barriers. Accordingly, the AfCFTA will facilitate market access to the students as they embark on their rural enterprises.

The ceremony was graced by H.E Mr Gabriel Mbairobe, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cameroon. The Minister was appreciative of the efforts and commitments of FAO and AUDA-NEPAD, to provide decent rural jobs for the Cameroonian youths. Mr Mbairobe stressed that the project on promoting Decent Rural Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Agribusiness has motivated the government to build more partnerships within the youth populace. According to the Minister, Cameroon has rolled out youth-centred projects to support the agriculture, fisheries and livestock sectors.

Other Ministers in attendance included: H.E Mr Issa Thiroma, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training; H.E Dr Taiga, Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, and; H.E Mr Mounouna Foutson, Minister of Youth and Civic Education. The success of the project is a result of the collaborative and integrated approach, which is reflected by the presence of the Ministers concerned with skills development for youth employment.

Other attendees include government officials, development partners, civil society organisations and members of the media. The event was concluded with an exhibition that showcased products manufactured by the students.

Culled from NEPAD

The MoneyGram Foundation grant funded the transportation of three 40-foot ocean-going containers to Ghana, Cameroon and Ethiopia. Each container, carefully curated by Books For Africa, was filled with 22,000 books, as well as library enhancement supplies such as essential solar lights, e-readers loaded with digital content, computers, maps and projectors. The books and learning materials are intended to enhance the capacity of community libraries, with long-term outcomes of improving school retention and literacy crucial to each country’s ability to produce an educated workforce. The Catholic Universityof Buea in Douala (CIUB) was chosen as the recipient of the books and materials designated for Cameroon.

An event to celebrate the donation of the books was held at the Douala campus of the Catholic University Institute of Buea. CIUB is an entrepreneurial university, whose goal is not only to train professionals, but also to endow them with spiritual and moral values. Forty secondary and primary schools were invited to participate in the festivities, and more than 200 students received their own box of books.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to support literacy efforts in Africa, and we are delighted to select Cameroon as a beneficiary for this program,” said John Gely, MoneyGram’s Head of Africa. “We are proud to join Books For Africa in their mission to improve the availability of books and learning materials, and fulfill the MoneyGram Foundation’s goal of empowering lives through education.”

Carole Patrikakos, Deputy Director of Books For Africa, explained, “Books For Africa is demand driven- we routinely receive orders from groups who have fundraised on behalf of African schools and libraries. However, there are children in locales that do not have sponsors abroad, and those children will not receive books without the intervention of funders such as MoneyGram Foundation, who recognize and support their right to an education.”

In addition to MoneyGram representatives, ceremony attendees included Mr. Job Théophile Kwapnang, Mayor of Douala, Professor Fr. George Nkeze, President of CIUB, and Dr. Fabrice Tonfack Djikeng from the CIUB Douala campus. Also in attendance were key MoneyGram partners, representatives from Afriland First Bank, Express Exchange Transfer, Banque of Atlantic (BACM) and Wafacash.

Similar events have been held this year to celebrate the distribution of books and library supplies in Ethiopia and Ghana. The MoneyGram Foundation grant is expected to provide 30,000 students per year with access to books. To date, the MoneyGram Foundation has awarded over $1,150,000 in grants to support education for children in Africa.

Source: Yahoo Finance