X-Maleya has announced a series of concerts to mark the group’s ten years of existence. Cameroon Concord News learned that the trio: Roger, Auguste and Haïs, popularly known as X-Maleya will be touring the United States of America in what has been dubbed “USA Dream Tour”.

X-Maleya recorded huge success in Europe including their victory tour of Germany and Olympia-Paris in 2014.  The US X-Maleya tour is expected to last for a month. The “boy band” will float the Cameroonian flag in Uncle Sam and their first stop is scheduled for October 16 at Fillmore Silver Spring, in the State of Maryland. After Silver Spring, the group will jet to Preston Bradley Centre in Chicago on 22 October.

A spokesman for the group recently observed that the conquest of the United States is a new challenge and preparations have taken a serious dimension as regards to synchronization of choreography and development of the directory.

The main ten years ritual will be performed in Cameroon in December although the date has not been disclosed. For the record, X-Maleya came to the lime light in 2006 through the Exile album. Since then, they have not disappeared from the music scene. The small group has made a name in Africa, Europe and are now heading to the US. They have five albums to their credit.

By Rita Akana with files from Cameroon Tribune

Petit Pays has followed his normal Christmas tradition by announcing a new album to be released on Friday the 28^th of October 2016. The Cameroonian music legend hinted through his US based producer Eyong Eyong Ebot that the album will have 5 main songs including 2 bonus tracks. In the promo handed exclusively to the Cameroon Concord News Group, Le Turbo, Rabbi Rabba, Adonai performed ballads and club-worthy makossa songs for a devoted African and world audience.

Petit Pays has become one of Africa’s most successful artists and has managed to find success deep within the Cameroonian diaspora both in Europe and the US.  Petit Pays released more than ten platinum-selling records in Africa and has sold more than 35 million albums internationally, a feat that helped him eclipse the popularity of Soukous titans like the late Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide and the late Pepe Kale. The new album Effatta includes a duet with popular Manyu solo singer, Bate Nico. A Moh KuKouri Production is an album Africans cannot afford to miss. By Soter Agbaw-Ebai 

Just what ARE they moaning about? Revealed, the humble origins of Cameroon migrants on £44k benefits (44 million FCFA) who’ve rejected three offers of larger homes

• Arnold and Jeanne Mballe Sube have eight children
• Pair used to live in cramped bungalows in Buea, with no running water
• Mrs Sube’s childhood home is near active volcano at end of a mud track
• Mr Sube grew up a five-minute drive away in a wooden bungalow

They have branded their three-bedroom council house the ‘worst place’ they have ever lived. But Arnold and Jeanne Mballe Sube, who have rejected three offers of a bigger taxpayer-funded property, grew up in conditions that make their home look like a palace, the Mail can reveal.

The Cameroon-born couple, who have eight children, spent much of their youth in cramped bungalows with no running water, and only the share of an outside kitchen and toilet with other families.

Cramped: Jeanne Mballe Sube’s family of seven lived in this two-bedroom building, with outdoor shower and toilet in Buea, Cameroon

Basic: The outside cooking area Jeanne Sube’s parents shared with six families

 Beginnings: Buea, South-West Cameroon, where Mr and Mrs Sube lived before migrating

The Cameroon-born couple, who have eight children, spent much of their youth in cramped bungalows with no running water. Mrs Sube’s family of seven squeezed into a two-bedroom home rented for £35 a month – a fraction of the £1,278 monthly bill to taxpayers for the house in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, where she now resides.

Despite not working, she and her husband, who receive an estimated £44,000 a year in state handouts, are sending money back to relatives in Cameroon. Tory MPs have branded the Subes’ demands ‘shameless’ after they insisted their house was too small and spurned three offers of a more spacious home.

Before migrating to Europe in the early 2000s, the couple lived in Buea, South-West Cameroon. Mrs Sube’s childhood home is in the shadow of an active volcano at the end of a mud track, where several families live in a compound of six two-bedroom buildings. Tangled wires are strung across the yard, attached to a broken fascia board on Mrs Sube’s former home – which is built from breeze blocks and corrugated iron.

Tory MPs have branded the Subes’ demands ‘shameless’ after they insisted their house was too small and spurned three offers of a more spacious home

In 2012, Mr and Mrs Sube moved from Paris to Luton after he got a place on a Bedfordshire University nursing course, funded by the NHS. The couple are also believed to receive housing and child benefits, as well as child tax credits. They have branded their three-bedroom council house the ‘worst place’ they have ever lived

The two small bedrooms inside have only a narrow living room between them, with stained stone walls. The outside toilet, shower and kitchen are shared by six families.  Water for the kitchen must be carried from an outdoor tap, with waste water washing into an open drain through the compound. The only utensils are a handful of pots, pans and buckets, and women scrub clothes on a stone block.

The authority said it will offer one more five-bedroom house. If the family reject this, they will be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ and could face eviction. The wooden door to the shared kitchen has a gaping hole at the bottom. The outside shower has an open entrance without even a curtain for modesty.

Mrs Sube’s father, Zachary Nkwo, was one of Cameroon’s best-known broadcasters, after reporting for the equivalent of the BBC during the country’s first football World Cup in 1982.  But despite his fame, Mr Nkwo said he struggled to support his family. ‘It was tough financially … I got a housing subsidy equivalent to my position in the station, but it often wasn’t enough,’ he said.

The 62-year-old, who lives near the former family home, said his daughter sends about £250 around every three months. He added: ‘They went to Europe to seek greener pastures … My daughter is a hard worker and I know she wants to contribute to society.’ Sylvia Ndahne, who knew Mrs Sube as a child, said: ‘They moved here when Jeanne was about ten and stayed for a very long time. Jeanne had to leave secondary school after falling pregnant.’

She added that ‘all the cooking and washing has to be done in the outhouses because there is no running water in the main property’.

Mr Sube grew up a five-minute drive away in a wooden bungalow at the end of a muddy track. It had no running water in the main home and only an outside toilet, shower and kitchen.  Friends said the family lived in two parallel homes, with Mr Sube and his siblings in one and his parents in the other.

In 2012, Mr and Mrs Sube moved from Paris to Luton after he got a place on a Bedfordshire University nursing course, funded by the NHS. The couple are also believed to receive housing and child benefits, as well as child tax credits.

They have a laptop, a 60in flatscreen TV and Sky HD box, plus a 52in TV in their bedroom. The children, aged three months to 16 years, also have a TV and an Xbox. But last week Mr Sube, who uses one bedroom as a gym and office, insisted he had been ‘neglected’ by Luton council, which is trying to rehouse them.

The authority said it will offer one more five-bedroom house. If the family reject this, they will be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ and could face eviction. Mr Sube said: ‘My lawyers have told me not to say anything.’

Culled from the Daily Mail

Cameroonian bikutsi singer, Roger Bekono has passed away age 62. Roger Bekono died on Thursday in Yaounde following a long illness. The news was made public through a joint statement issued by his relative, Ottou Marcellin and his daughter Marie-Christine. The author of the greatest hit Jolie Poupee was reportedly sick for more than six years. He spent the last two weeks in a hospital in Mfou and finally left for the land of his ancestors on Thursday.

Born in 1954, Roger Bekono emerged in the 80s as a renowned bikutsi singer and went ahead and recorded 33 hit singles including “Jolie poupee”, “Etam”, “Enying Moni”, “Ye wo kombel” and also “Oget Mongi”. He worked with the likes of the great Zanzibar, Jean Marie Ahanda, Atebas, “Big” Ngole Pokossy and Mystic Jim.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of influencing the arrest and incarceration of the man, Joachim Chinakwe, who named his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari. A section of Nigerians reacting to the arrest and incarceration alleged that Buhari was masterminding the travails of the man. Joachim Iroko, was remanded on Monday, August 22, at the Ibara Prison following his arraignment at the Ota Magistrate Court 2, Ogun state. He was charged to court by the police with conduct likely to cause breach of the peace, in a case with suit number MOT/617c/2016.

According to the prosecutor, Inspector Itaita Ebibomini, the accused committed the offence on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at the Hausa section of Ketere Market in Sango-Ota in the Ota Magisterial District. But the accused, who was represented by a counsel, U. Michael, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The chief magistrate, B. J. Ojikutu, admitted Iroko to bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum, adding that the sureties must be regular tax payers in the state. The accused was subsequently taken to the Ibara Prison pending when he fulfills his bail condition.

However, the jailing of the trader has fueled the narrative that President Buhari might have masterminded the incarceration of the man to teach him a lesson. Some Nigerians have accused the president of displaying dictatorial tendencies for persecuting the man because he named his dog ‘Buhari’.

Naij.com

20 years after their last performance on Cameroon soil, the musical group, Kassav will begin a victory tour of Cameroon from the 16^th to the 22^nd of December 2016. The first live concert is scheduled for Hotel Sawa (Douala) on December 20, 2016 and the second live concert will be held at the Sports Palace (Yaounde) December 22, 2016.

Cameroon Concord News has been reliably informed that after show performances will be hosted in two renowned nightclubs in Yaounde and Douala with the participation of some local artists.

The tour of Cameroon has been dedicated to the fight against cancer and it will be also to celebrate Kassav ‘ 37 years of existence. The organizers are planning a series of activities notably, a visit to the Chantal Biya Foundation.

By Chi Prudence Asong

President Paul Biya has been crowned “Most loved politician” among four other politicians in the country. Meanwhile, First Lady Chantal Biya was crowned “Most enterprising woman of action” among four other women. They were awarded the “Most Patriotic Excellence Award” at a ceremony in the headquarters of the “Roi de la Ferraille Koloko Levis-Claude” Foundation in Bonaberi, Douala, on July 30, 2016.

Immediately following the presidential couple were the SDF Vice Chairman, Joshua Osih, President of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, former Minister and President of MRC party, Maurice Kamto, Banda Kani as well as Elimbi Lobe, for the “Most loved politician” category. Libom li Likeng Minette, Courtès Ketcha, Caroline Ngo Banseck and Jacqueline Mbarga, won the “Most enterprising woman of action” prize.

The award follows several months of voting by television viewers on Dan Broadcasting Corporation, DBS TV and further research by the “Roi de la Ferraille Koloko Levis-Claude” Foundation. Speaking at the event in Bonaberi, Douala, Hubert Etoundi, DBS General Manager and promoter of the award, said it reflects the views of the people confirmed through intense research.

“It is very necessary to recognise these people for their patience, stamina, peace, etc. They contribute to the peace and development of the nation,” he underscored. Some 45 other people received awards in the categories for economic-political patriotism, patriotic investors, living together and petty trades. The presidential couple, like some of the recipients, was not present. Those who were present either in person or represented did receive their awards.

Cameroon Tribune

The new general manager of CRTV has announced technical changes on programs in the corporation. Charles Ndongo recently decreed that the 7:30 and 8:30 news bulletins will henceforth have just one anchor person. Correspondingly, Benn Meno Pufong was appointed to host the 7:30 English language news while Adele Mballa was accorded the 8:30 news in the French language.

The Charles Ndongo order also nominated Atta Badyne Oumar and Esther Kima Tabot to deputize for Benn Pufong and Adele Mballa over the weekends.   Ibrahim Cherif,  the Chief of Information on national television defended the Ndongo move saying the duo presentation was no longer popular.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Concord News Group)

Nguimfack Cheugueu Frankline Julie, 24, an MA student, Department of Management in the University of Douala who hails from Menoua in the West region like the great Jacob Nguni was crowned on Saturday as Miss Cameroon 2016 succeeding Jessica Ngoua Nseme who won the contest in 2015.

By Rita Akana

While a court reportedly extended Koffi Olomide’s detention period to 15 additional days, the artist announced on his Face Book page late last night that he has been released and is back home with his family. Koffi added a thank you message to all his friends and fans and observed that he was humbled and grateful for the unwavering support.

On Friday the 29^th of July, a collegiality of judges rejected the bail application made by Koffi’s counsel. The court remanded him in custody for 15 days. Koffi’s lawyers we learned, appealed the decision.

He is pursued by the justice of his country for a violent kick on one of his dancers in Nairobi in front of television cameras. The video raised a stir in the world. The Congolese star was expelled from Kenya and saw his concert canceled in Lusaka (Zambia).

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)