Life

30, December 2016

Petit Pays cancels Buea End of Year concert ²

Legendary artist, Petit Pays has cancelled a concert that was slated for Buea on the 31^st of December by Mayor Ekema Patrick to boost the political image of the 83 year old Cameroonian dictator. The US based manager of the artist; Eyong Eyong Ebot who spoke to Cameroon Concord News by telephone observed that Petit Pays was not properly informed about the prevailing situation in Southern Cameroonians.

We understand the artist was in Buea recently where he made the video of his new album “Peur dans la cite’ and was contacted by the Buea municipal authorities. His manager also revealed that the musician has returned the money that was paid to him for the show.

Pressure actually came from pro Southern Cameroon groups both at home and abroad urging the cancellation of the concert tour in Buea by Petit Pays, whose shows often include many local artists from the South West region.

In a statement issued to a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report, Eyong Eyong Ebot opined that ”conditions are still not conducive for Petit Pays to stage any show on behalf of any political group.” He added that Petit Pays needs a ‘romantic environment and not a hostile climate.”

Petit Pays is scheduled to play in France, Moscow and Japan beginning on the same date of the pro President Biya activity in Buea. His award-winning Peur dans la cite recording featured a duet with Bate Nico, the voice of Manyu.

Anglophone teachers and lawyers have boycotted talks with the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government to end Francophone-majority rule in Southern Cameroons. They say the negotiations were a CPDM government ploy to remain in power and continue to loot Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

24, December 2016

Yaounde: First Lady visits Center for Applied Research ⁰

First Lady, Chantal Biya was on Wednesday 21st December 2016 at the Centre for Applied Research, Endoscopic Surgery and Human Reproduction CHRACERH. Her arrival at the Centre which she inaugurated on 6th May 2016 was followed by a welcome address by the Minister of Public Health Andre Mama Fouda. Thereafter, she was treated to a guided tour to the different wards of the Centre where close to 20 in-vitro babies and their mothers have been waiting.

The First Lady Chantal Biya on each case extended a warm hand of fellowship before distributing the gifts she was carrying along. The mothers and their babies were visibly elated for this mark of generosity and special interest the First Lady has been expressing towards the Centre. The Centre uses advance technology in the endoscopic surgery for women that have problems of pro-creation.

Since its creation on 13th October 2011 CHRACERH has produced close to 25 test-tube babies under the direct supervision of its Director General Professor Jean Marie Kasia. On each stop the First Lady was accompanied by the Director General of the Centre Professor Jean Marie kasia, Public Health Minister Andre Mama Fouda and a host of Cabinet Ministers, dignitaries, special guests and CERAC members.

Culled from CRTV

22, December 2016

Douala CPDM mayor get caught, nude photo made public by wife ⁰

The nude photo of a CPDM Mayor of the Douala city council who got caught has created a buzz on the internet. The local representative had reportedly had a fast one in a hotel with one of his many concubines when his wife stormed the room and took photos of him in Adam and Eve uniform.

Internet users are wondering about the publisher’s interest in releasing on the internet a picture of a man she calls her husband. Many have questioned if is a blackmail that went wrong or an attempt to undermine the image of the deputy mayor?

This phenomenon is increasing in Cameroon despite a new penal code voted into law that prescribes severe punishment on attacks on privacy using the social networks.

Sonne Peter in Douala

16, December 2016

Kassav December concert in Cameroon postponed ⁰

The Kassav music concert that was slated between the 16^th and the 22^nd of December 2016 in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé has been postponed until the end of March 2017, Cameroon Concord News has learnt.

The Minister of Arts and Culture made the decision to postpone the Kassav concert without providing any reasons. However, it is widely believed that the nation is divided and events such as a Kassav concert will only add more wounds to injury.

The reprogramming of the concert has been scheduled for the end of March 2017. The ministry in charge of culture was the main sponsor of the cultural event which many fans already had tickets.

By James Fru

5, December 2016

Cameroon government gives priority to prevention in the fight against HIV/Aids ⁰

The Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda has stated Government’s determination to have two hundred thousand HIV patients get access to free treatment by the end of 2016.Public Health boss made this declaration this Thursday 1st December 2016 in Yaoundé during the commemoration of the 29th edition of the World AIDS Day organized under the theme “Hands up for HIV prevention”. Minister Andre Mama Fouda used the occasion to encourage AIDS patients to strictly follow-up treatment so as to avoid the propagation of the virus.

Commemorative activities in Yaoundé like in other towns of the country were marked by sensitization campaigns, free screening, health talks and distribution of condoms among other activities. Noteworthy is the fact that the disease with still no cure has accounted for the death of many Cameroonians. A number of campaigns spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Health and other stakeholders are being carried out to create awareness of the disease. Also, government now provides free anti-retroviral drugs for patients living with the virus.

Cameroon’s First Lady, Chantal Biya has also been very instrumental in the fight against the disease. According to statistics, about 90% of new infection is as a result of unprotected sexual relations. About 6 % is attributed to mother-to-child transmission, and approximately 4 % as a result of blood transfusion. In Cameroon, the prevalence rate has dropped from is an estimated 4.3% to 3.9.

CRTV

28, November 2016

Academic activities paralyzed as Buea University students begin strike ⁰

Buea University students have started a massive strike action today morning within the campus of the university. The students inter alia have demanded that all French-speaking lecturers who teach only in French be told to leave the university. To contain the peaceful demonstration, police forces have been deployed on campus and shots were reportedly fired to disperse the crowd. The police have also strengthened their anti-riot system around the student residential area in Molyko.

The Francophone governor of the South West region, Okalia Bilai said in a press release that an unidentified group was behind the strike to intimidate parents and students from going about their normal educational activity.

Some SDF parliamentarians decided to march peacefully in Buea to show their solidarity with the Anglophone community in Cameroon. Lawyers and teachers had staged similar demos which were repressed by the police and resulted in the demand for federalism. Biya dispatched his Prime Minister to negotiate a peaceful settlement. But the Yang Philemon mission ended in fiasco. The lawyers and teachers have extended their unlimited strike action.

By Rita Akana

16, November 2016

CPDM miracle: CNPS signs medical evacuation convention for its staffs, patients to be treated in Tunisia ⁰

The National Social Insurance Fund known in French as the Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS) has signed a convention for medical evacuations of its staffs and other patients to Tunisia, while the institution owns and runs many hospitals in the country.

On October 26, 2016, CNPS signed an agreement with Tunisia’s Mediacal Services (TMS) for medical evacuations. The National Social Insurance Fund was represented during the signing ceremony by Alain Noël Mekulu Mvondo, the general manager of the fund and Slim Maraoui who stood for the TMS.

According to the agreement, patients proposed by CNPS will now be evacuated to Tunisia and no longer in France. The management of CNPS justified the decision to sign the agreement saying it was pushed by the desire to reduce the costs of evacuations to France and Tunisia’s modern technical platforms and the very good quality of its medical practitioners.

Cameroon Concord News health correspondent, who contributed to this report, opined that the convention has betrayed the lack of confidence by CNPS with regard to its own hospitals. The main CNPS hospital in Yaoundé created in 1978 is still struggling to meet international standards. CNPS had been evacuating patients to France and Great Britain. Mekulu Mvondo now thinks Tunisia and Europe have identical technical plates.

By Sonne Peter

16, November 2016

Cameroonian singer, Bate Nico will be on stage in London come December ⁰

The Cameroonian singer, Bate Nico will be on stage in London on the 10^th of December 2016. Nico, who is said to have been consistently consistent with his Manyu folklore fascination, has revealed that the London trip will set the stage for his breakthrough. The Semi Bantu artist has reportedly sold thousands of copies and has become the best-selling artist from the South West region of Cameroon after the likes of the late Bebe Manga.

The songs he writes are not strictly songs for Cameroon but songs for the whole world that also covers the entire Cross River State of Nigeria. Bate Nico’s well-received appearance at the MECA-USA conventions and in Ireland fulfilled one of his biggest dreams and earned him a slot on the Cameroon’s top music chart. Speaking to journalists recently in Buea, Bate Nico observed that “Sometimes people would say my music is from Manyu Division but that is actually not true,” Bate Nico said. “It has only been popularized in Manyu but it is not Manyu as such. It is everywhere, but its roots are in Manyu.”

The much anticipated arrival of Bate Nico in London, UK is warming up to be the highlight of the Manyu and Cameroonian community in Great Britain in 2016. On the 10th of December it’s all happening in London. Hundreds of Manyu sons and daughters in continental Europe and in the British Isles will be congregating to witness their music idol live on stage. The venue has been booked and hotel rooms are being reserved for an evening of a lifetime. As one of the best musicians to come out of Manyu Division in the South West Region of Cameroon, it’s a mystery to many that Bate Nico after more than ten years of touring the world hasn’t performed in the United Kingdom.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

14, November 2016

Cameroon army reopens schools in the Far North, soldiers serving as teachers ¹

The weakening of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram by the Cameroonian military made it possible to reopen some of the schools in the Far North Region for the 2016/2017 academic year. A sister publication, Cameroun-info.net has reported that many teachers who fled the war zone have refused to return.

In order to ensure the education of the abandoned pupils, some soldiers have decided to take the chalk. The army recently reopened the Madina Public School (10 km from Fotokol) which currently has 150 pupils and Cameroonian men and women in uniform are now serving as teachers.

It is good news in the avalanche of sadness that for three years has rocked the Far North Region. Last year, the departments in charge of national, primary and secondary education reported that more than five hundred teachers had dropped out of classrooms to escape the war.

By Sama Ernest

12, November 2016

Lagos 3rd All Africa Music Award: Stanley Enow wins again ⁰

Stanley Enow has added an additional feather on his red cap by winning the 3^rd All Africa Music Award (AFRIMA) as best rapper in a ceremony that held in Lagos, Nigeria on Monday November 7^th 2016. One year after winning the prize for best male artist in Central Africa, Stanley Enow won the AFRIMA award beating Daphne, Franko, Locko and Wax Dey.

The renowned Cameroonian artist is loved because of his African American tubes. He won the Afrima Dallas award in 2014 and has many other trophies on the national level. His famous tube “Hein Pere”, launched his career a few years ago.

Sama Ernest