Life

5, June 2018

Monkeypox outbreak spreads to five regions in Cameroon ⁰

The number of cumulative Monkeypox cases in Cameroon has risen to 16 since the detection of the first two cases in the North-West region on April 30.

In its latest analysis of the disease outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said nine new cases – including one confirmed – had been reported by May 30.

Although no deaths have been reported, the diseases has been confirmed in the North-West, South-West Region, Central, Eastern and Far-North Regions.

The cases are being reported from remote rural areas where occupational activities such as farming and hunting are increasing animal-human interaction.

“The ages of the affected people range from one month to 58 years, with a median age of 13 years, and the gender distribution is proportionate. In addition to the two initial health districts, three others from three different regions have been affected.

“The outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed by the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC) on 14 May 2018 when one of two specimens obtained from the initial cases tested positive for orthopoxvirus/monkeypox virus by real-time polymerase chain reaction,” the WHO said.

Samples from 11 other suspected cases have been collected and tested at the CPC. With the help of the WHO, the Cameroon government has activated its Incident Management System. This includes active surveillance and case investigations across the country.

Training of healthcare workers on using personal protective equipment and proper hand hygiene has been conducted. This is part of a broader public awareness campaign that includes sharing of information on the isolation and management of suspected new cases.

Source: Outbreaknewstoday

4, June 2018

Yaounde: MINESEC adopts MTN mobile money for school fee payments ⁰

MTN Cameroon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINESEC) for the use of its mobile money system for the payment of school fees and related charges in Cameroonian secondary schools.

Parents will no longer have to move and spend hours in queues to pay their children’s school fees, but will be able to pay remotely through their mobile phone, at any time and from any location.

This will enhance transparency and traceability in the collection of fees by secondary schools. This will enable the Ministry of Secondary Education to improve the quality of services provided to the Educative Community.

Source: Telecompaper

3, June 2018

US states resist Trump administration’s bid to replace ObamaCare ⁰

Some US states are defying the Trump administration’s plans to replace the ObamaCare insurance scheme in their bid to protect the Obama era health care policy and keep their insurance markets stable.

A number of states, including California and Maryland, are making efforts to impose limits on short-term insurance plans, even as the Trump administration intends to expand access to them throughout the country, US news outlets reported Saturday.

According to the reports, the states are taking the measure out of concerns that the availability of the newly-prescribed short-term plans will drive up premium costs for ObamaCare.

This is while northeastern states of Vermont and New Jersey have already passed state laws that require their residents to purchase health insurance. These individual mandate laws are aimed at replacing the now-repealed federal requirement.

Advocacy groups and state authorities backing such measures further underline that the states are seeking to protect advances made under ObamaCare from harassment by the Trump administration, which tried to repeal and replace the law and, failing that, initiated efforts to chip away at it.

US states are resisting Trump administration’s efforts to replace ObamaCare.

High costs are reportedly the major incentive behind the efforts by the largely Democratic states.

The administration proposed rules back in February that would allow people to purchase short-term health insurance for up to 12 months, lifting restrictions from the Obama administration that limited the coverage to a maximum of three months.

The short-term plans don’t need to meet ObamaCare’s consumer protections, so they would potentially be much cheaper than a traditional plan. But people with pre-existing conditions can be charged more.

The cost of health insurance premiums on the ObamaCare exchanges is expected to climb in the coming weeks and months. Several states may face major double-digit hikes next year.

The high costs are blamed on measures the Trump administration has taken that could cut into ObamaCare’s enrollment.

“There’s been a series of actions taken by the current administration that have undermined enrollment,” said president and CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Chet Burrell, as he declared a potential 26-percent premium rise for next year in the state of Maryland.

Meanwhile, California also passed a bill that would completely ban the sale of short-term plans beginning in 2019, though it has yet to be signed into law.

Moreover, Hawaii lawmakers passed a bill that would essentially eliminate the state’s short-term health plan market by prohibiting their sale to anyone eligible for a plan on the ObamaCare exchange. That bill is also pending the governor’s signature.

Source: Presstv

1, June 2018

CAMEROON BILINGUALISM: A MIGHTY FRAUD AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS! ⁰

One of the things imperial Cameroon brandishes to the world as a success is its bilingualism. No one seems to see that Cameroon bilingualism is an act of fraud; that it disrespects the Anglophone component of the imposed nation; that it is an arch example of colonization and assimilation; that nowhere else in the whole wide world is this form of bilingualism practiced. Today, we lift the veil, so that the fraud may be exposed.

2. What is bilingualism? Bilingualism is a situation in which the administration of a country uses two languages to serve two groups of its users, each of which uses only one of the two languages in question. A country adopts bilingualism only when it has two groups of its population, each of which understands or is presumed to understand only one of the two languages in question, and not both. In that situation, the government makes it its responsibility to serve every user in one of the two languages of the country.

3. Bilingualism exists to honour and respect the identity of each of the linguistic groups of users; it recognizes the language of each of the groups as part of its identity and therefore will never impose upon each of the groups the language of the other group. Whether you take the example of Canada or of Switzerland, this is what you will find. In Canada for example, the official language in Quebec is French, not the English of the majority. It is only in imperial Cameroon that English is not the official language of the English speaking peoples! Nowhere else in the world is this form of fraud practised.

4. In Cameroon, bilingualism has taken the form of the imposition of French on the English speaking peoples of the Southern Cameroons; the refusal to recognize their own language, English, as the official language in the Southern Cameroons; the absence of any law which makes texts issued only in French illegal in the Southern Cameroons and therefore virtually no responsibility for the government even to translate official texts. No citizen can sue the government for issuing a text only in one language or reject a document served to him in French. Translation by government is done on an optional basis. They say that English is also used in La Republique du Cameroun, but this is a mere hoax since no English administrator dares serve anyone there a text in English. On the contrary, French is the language in which most administrative texts are served to Southern Cameroonians within the Southern Cameroons; French is the official language in the military and polices forces and virtually all professional schools; everywhere in the Southern Cameroons you find government sign boards in French, but you cannot see one single government sign board in English in Republique du Cameroun.

5. The absolute and primary condition for the existence of bilingualism (or the use of two languages in the administration of a country) is that each linguistic group should keep its own language as its official language and not be imposed the language of the other group. Once the two groups are forced to learn each other’s language, the administration is bound to become monolingual. It is the language of the minority group that will die, for the simple reason that the minority must first learn the language of the majority and thus establish communication in that language!

6. For bilingualism to exist in Cameroon (and not the assimilation that is now called bilingualism), English must become the official language in the Southern Cameroons and French to be the official language in
La Republique du Cameroun. This would dramatically increase the need for bilingual services, because all French documents must be translated into the official language in the Southern Cameroons and all English documents be translated into the official language in La Republique du Cameroun. Interpretation services will also increase because all conferences must be interpreted.

7. It is the monolingualism of individuals which forces the administration to be bilingual. That is to say, for the administration to be bilingual, those who use that administration must be monolingual or at least have the choice of using only their own language! Bilingualism of individuals must necessarily end the bilingualism of the administration or the state! If all or most citizens are bilingual, what need would there be for the government to translate any texts? In Cameroon, bilingualism was introduced only because there are Anglophones who don’t understand French. If Anglophones who don’t understand French continue to diminish in number every year, the need for bilingualism must also decrease! Translation of government texts is done only for this group! As you can see, it is only a matter of time before the generation of Southern Cameroonians who don’t understand French is phased out. When that happens, all Southern Cameroonians will be speaking French. At that point, it would be completely useless to use English in the Cameroon administration.

8. Language is simply a tool for communication. Once communication is established, there is no need for another language! The more so-called Anglophones learn French, the more communication is established in French, and the less need there is to use English any more, especially in the administration. Always remember that English was introduced into the colonial Cameroon administration only for the colonized Anglophones who could not yet speak French! It was not introduced so that Francophones should learn English! No, it was a measure to accommodate their colonized Anglophones while their assimilation is completed. Consequently, once communication is established through French, English must naturally cease to be valid as a means of communication in the administration.

9. If I can speak your language, what would be the need for you to learn my own? Even if you can learn my own, what purpose would it serve since we are already able to communicate in your own language?

10. In the current imperial Cameroon situation, translation and interpretation services must naturally dwindle and finally die. It is an impossibility to continue to translate texts and interpret conferences for those who already understand the original language in which the texts were written or conferences held! It would not be long before everyone would discover the enormous waste of time and resources, and also the hypocrisy involved.

11. When Southern Cameroonians meet people from La Republique du Cameroun, what language do they speak? French, of course! Why? Because Anglophones are the first to learn French and so communication must occur only in the language which both sides understand.

12. If most or all Southern Cameroonians begin to speak or even merely understand French, what would be the need to use English in the Cameroon administration? And if Anglophones continue to speak in French, who will speak their own language? Does this not tell you that English is programmed to die in the Cameroon administration?

13. Yes, only the language that is used in the administration counts as an official language or as part of the bilingualism. A sizeable portion of English people speak French; that does not make England a bilingual
nation. Similarly, a sizeable portion of Germans speak English, that does not make English one of the official languages of Germany. Many French people speak English, that does not make English an official language in France. An official language of a nation is only a language that is used in the administration or in public offices.

14. As further proof, let me ask you this question: In 1961 or even 1972 what percentage of Southern Cameroonians understood French? What is the percentage today? Probably in 1961 and later on in 1972, less than 20% of Southern Cameroonians understood French. Today, probably 70%! Does that percentage that understands French today need any translation or interpretation? If the need for translation and interpretation is constantly dwindling, what does that tell you about the future of bilingual services in colonial Cameroon?

15. The questions above prove to you that Cameroon is moving towards a single language, not bilingualism. Colonial Cameroon is therefore guilty of fraud, misrepresentation, swindle and cheating. Its version of bilingualism is an act of fraud against the people of the Southern Cameroons; it is part of its colonial and assimilation policy, not bilingualism at all.

16. The only way for bilingualism to survive is for English to be the official language in the southern Cameroons and French to be the official language in La Republique du Cameroun. That is what will promote bilingual services such as translation and interpretation.

17. Southern Cameroonians, you now see the gigantic fraud, the misrepresentation, the hoax, the swindle that is practiced on you by colonial Cameroon! Wake up and claim the right to your own language. No more should French be accepted as the official language in the Southern Cameroons; no more should French sign boards be accepted; no more should administrative texts be served in French in the Southern Cameroons.

18. Francophones learn English today, not so that it can be used in the Cameroon administration, but for the enormous advantages that English gives them in the world. Do not be deceived. Even Francophone Ministers who study in English countries use only the French language when serving in the Cameroon administration. The Anglophone Prime Minister uses only French and so do all other Anglophones in the administration. They must do this, to prove to their Francophone bosses that they have been thoroughly assimilated; to pretend to belong, to gain favours and so on. No one dares point out the programmed end of bilingualism in Cameroon.

19. There you have your so-called bilingualism, one more crime against the people of the Southern Cameroons

By Denis Atabong

30, May 2018

Southern Cameroons: Human Rights Watch warns separatists to quit attacks on education facilities ⁰

International rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) have warned separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions to quit attacks on education facilities and anything that obstructs education.

The group has subsequently called for the safe and immediate release of a female school head who was abducted by suspected separatists late last week.

Madam Georgiana Enanga Sanga of Government High School Bolifamba Mile 16 was abducted along with another head teacher on 25 May in capital of the restive Southwest region, Buea.

According to reports, the taxi they were travelling in was intercepted and they were specifically picked whiles other passengers were allowed to continue their journey.

Her colleague head teacher has since been released with machete wounds, but Ms Sanga has yet to be accounted for. The action of the abductors is believed to be connected with ongoing nationwide examinations – GCE Ordinary and Advance Level Examinations.

“Enanga’s kidnappers should release her immediately, and separatist groups should put a decisive end to all attacks meant to obstruct children’s education,” HRW’s deputy director of global advocacym Philippe Bolopio said .

“Attacks against students, teachers, and schools inflict long-term harm on children, and sully the reputation of those who carry them out.”

Separatists have long used attacks on schools as a measure to ground life in the affected regions. The move is seen as part of a wider plan to put pressure on government in the ongoing fight for secession.

The Catholic Church and the United States have recently expressed disquiet about the attacks on both sides and its effects on lives of people living in the two regions. Abductions are not uncommon as separatists have used it as a means to put pressure on government.

What has become known as the Anglophone crisis affects the North West and South West regions of the Central African country with a section of the English-speaking minority pushing to secede under the so-called Ambazonia Republic.

Source: Africa News

28, May 2018

School heads kidnapped in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The latest round of abduction by alleged separatists in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region has claimed two school heads in the Southwest region.

The two were reportedly abducted late last week in the capital of the region, Buea. Sources gave their identities as Georgina Enanga Sanga, headmaster of the public high school (GHS) Bolifamba Mile 16-Buea and Eric Ngoumba, head of the Cameroon Baptist Academy Yoke-Muyuka.

According to witnesses quoted by local media, the two officials were in a public transport that was intercepted by four armed assailants. The attackers are said to have fished out Georgiana and Eric despite incessant pleas from other passengers.

State security forces deployed in the area are said to have arrived late thus the inability to track the armed men. The authorities have, however, reassured students and parents about the smooth running of the end-of-year exams.

Most security watchers following the crisis have stressed that it bears the modus operandi of separatists operating under the so-called Ambazonia Republic.

The crisis which started in November 2016 in Cameroons English-speaking areas was in protest against marginalization and demand for more participation in French-dominated Central government.

The separatists have since October 2017 mounted guerilla style attacks that have killed about 45 security forces – police, soldiers and gendarmes. It is estimated that more than 600 civilians have already died as a result of the Anglophone crisis, according to NGOs.

In addition, some 160,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the violence, according to the UN. Thousands of these people are currently seeking asylum in neighbouring Nigeria.
Source: Africa News

28, May 2018

Cameroonian children with sickle-cell disease face death ⁰

Sitting on a stool outside her wood-plank house in Cameroon, indifferent to the light rain falling, Diane described how she killed her five-year-old “sorcerer” son.

They boy had suffered from episodes of severe pain his whole life, and was weak and thin, she said. As is the custom in the Central African country, she and his father consulted traditional healers known as marabouts about what to do.

“Madam, your child is a sorcerer,” they said. “He came into the world to torture you. He will die one day,” recalled Diane, who asked not to be identified by her real name. The marabouts told her it was useless to seek medical help.

So on a Thursday morning in February last year, at the rooster’s crow, she suffocated her son with an old pillow.

“I kept the pressure on like in movies and he died,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, with no sign of remorse.

“I killed my child because he was going to die anyway. Before, he was suffering greatly. Now he is at peace.”

What the boy really suffered from was sickle-cell disease, a genetic condition that causes abnormally shaped red blood cells and a variety of complications. It can be treated but not cured.

Diane had learned that she and her partner carried the disease trait during a hospital visit with their first child, who died. But she believed the marabouts over the doctors.

“They told us we couldn’t have more children because we would give them the disease. It was false. The marabouts showed us that sickle-cell children came into the world to torture us and spend all our money,” said the frail 32-year-old.

It took seven months for Diane to agree to tell her story, on the condition that her real name and location not be revealed.

Of the 19 people with sickle-cell disease the Thomson Reuters Foundation interviewed for this story, 16 said they were called “sorcerers” and “devils” as children, abandoned by their fathers and subjected to “demystification” rituals that could have killed them.

Eleven mothers said they believed their children were sorcerers.

“In Cameroon, sickle-cell disease is synonymous with discrimination, the disease of shame, something mystical,” said Fernand Tekoua, president of the national association of people with sickle-cell disease.

“It is ingrained in habits and in society. Even the family thinks you are worthless and just waiting for your day to die,” he said.

LIVING DEAD

Sickle-cell disease is most common in Africa, and affects up to two percent of the population in tropical countries such as Cameroon, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The main symptoms are pain attacks which can last up to a week, a susceptibility to infections, and anemia, which causes weakness and fatigue. Most children with the most severe form die before the age of five, according to WHO.

Like Diane, other parents interviewed described their children as having been constantly sick since birth.

“Sickle-cell crises are frequent and a week of hospitalization can cost over 200,000 CFA francs ($350). The majority of families don’t even have money to eat,” said Tekoua of the national association.

“The child with sickle-cell disease is thus seen as the one that ruins the family.”

Although there is no evidence that children with sickle-cell disease are regularly murdered in Cameroon, interviews with doctors, patients, and parents suggested that it is possible, and that others die of intentional neglect.

“He’s a monster, he deserves to die,” said one mother in the capital Yaounde of her nine-year-old son. When she found out he had sickle-cell disease two years ago, her partner abandoned her and she never took the boy to the hospital again.

“I wouldn’t shed a tear at the death of this child that separated me from my husband,” she said.

Several people with the disease said their parents would tell them: “Why did I bring you into the world? You shouldn’t be alive. Die and leave us in peace.”

They were referred to as “living dead”, “revenants”, “disciples of the devil” and “guardians of hell”, they said.

Hans Edgar, 24, who is living with the disease, said that his father walked out on the family after refusing to spend a penny on his “sorcerer son”.

His mother then took him to a marabout, who one day put him on a grate over burning coals to rid his body of the bad spirit.

“I was little and I jumped with all the force of desperation to save my skin,” he said. “He wanted to grill me like a chicken.”

PREVENTION

Cameroon’s health ministry estimates that sickle-cell disease is responsible for 16 percent of all deaths of children under five, said Etoundi Mballa, head of the division for diseases and epidemics.

“This is a lot. It’s a really worrying problem,” he said.

In 2014, the first treatment center devoted to the disease was opened in a hospital in Cameroon’s second city Douala. But unlike HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programs, it is not subsidized by the government.

Mballa said the health ministry’s plan for fighting the disease included awareness-raising, free vaccines for certain infections and free iron tablets and antibiotics.

The ministry also recommends that young adults get tested for the trait before marrying and having children, he said.

But people living with the disease said much more must be done to spread correct information and make treatment affordable.

In Douala, those who have survived into adolescence and adulthood meet twice a week to console one another, discuss the future, and share concerns and advice.

To end the disease, they think the government should make blood tests free and mandatory.

“If my parents had done this test, I would not be going around today with this disease that destroyed my life,” said Allan, a 17-year-old student.

“We must give all Cameroonians a chance to save the next generation of children.”

Source: Reuters

25, May 2018

Actor Morgan Freeman accused of inappropriate behavior, harassment ⁰

At least eight women have accused Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman of subjecting them to inappropriate behavior or harassment on film sets or at promotional events, CNN reported on Thursday.

As part of its investigation of the 80-year-old actor, CNN said it had spoken with 16 people, some of whom also alleged inappropriate behavior by Freeman at his production company, Revelations Entertainment.

Freeman said in a statement that he was sorry to anyone who had been made to feel uncomfortable or disrespected.

“Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy,” he said. “I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.”

Representatives for Freeman and Revelations Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment beyond the statement. Reuters was unable to independently confirm any of the accusations.

Following the CNN report, credit card company Visa said in a statement that it was suspending its “marketing in which the actor is featured.” Freeman has been the longtime voice of Visa television advertisements.

A torrent of accusations of sexual misconduct against male actors, filmmakers and agents have roiled Hollywood since last fall, leading in some cases to resignations and the halting of projects.

Similar accusations have also engulfed powerful men in US politics and business, and inspired a #MeToo social media movement by people publicly sharing their stories of sexual harassment or abuse.

CNN reported that eight people told the network they were victims of what some labeled harassment and others called inappropriate behavior by Freeman. It said eight others told the network that they witnessed the actor’s alleged misconduct.

CNN also reported that other sources denied having seen any questionable behavior by the actor, and that those sources described him as behaving professionally on set and in the office.

Freeman, whose career has spanned 50 years and more than 100 movies, won a Oscar in 2005 as best supporting actor for his role as a former boxer in “Million Dollar Baby.”

(Source: Reuters)

24, May 2018

Nigeria: Cholera outbreak kills 12 ⁰

Twelve people have died of cholera in northeast Nigeria’s Adamawa state, the health commissioner said on Wednesday, in the latest outbreak of the disease in the region.

The outbreak has infected 142 people in Mubi district since Sunday, Ahmad Sajo told AFP.

“We have recorded 12 deaths from (a) cholera outbreak in Mubi north and Mubi south local government areas in the past four days,” he said.

“A total of 142 people were infected and medical teams have been dispatched to the affected communities to contain the rapid spread of the disease,” Sajo said.

He said the medical teams were yet to find out the cause of the outbreak.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season in Nigeria.

Last month 13 people were killed in a similar outbreak in nearby Yobe state, which the authorities blamed on contaminated water.

(Source: AFP)

22, May 2018

Biya’s 36 years of annoying Southern Cameroonians ⁰

Southern Cameroonians have always been fed stories about this little Roman Catholic seminarian from Mvomeka’a who eventually became president of the then United Republic on November 6^th 1982. President Biya is now very far from the image conveyed by his autobiographers- that he was a modest man with a decent lifestyle. The 85 year old dictator has added a rolling fortress to his convoy of expensive cars. This time around, it is a Range Rover Klassen convertible.

Nothing can best represent an immoral and a failed society than the fact that an 85 year old leader is still excited about cars. Paul Biya arrived the 20th May Boulevard in Yaoundé to preside over the civil and military parade of the 46th edition of the so-called national day in armored and customized version of a Range Rover KLASSEN.

The car is extremely long and among the most expensive on the planet. It is also currently the most luxurious, sophisticated and ultra secure automobiles mankind ever produced. President Biya’s new Range Rover has a bulletproof capacity capable of withstanding 7.62 calibers and any violent explosion of approximately 15 kilograms or a DM51 grenade. It has all sought of electronic devices and its special 20-inch alloy wheels allow the vehicle to roll even with flat tires.

The passenger compartment was specially designed at the King’s command and is shielded with 6 pieces of steel. Its price far exceeds 400,000 Euros excluding taxes. All this for the Right Royal President

By Sessekou Asu Isong, London