The African Bar Association, AFBA, has strongly condemned the use of force on striking Common Law Lawyers in the North West and South West regions and has called on France, the former colonial master of French Cameroon to use their leverage to bring the government of Cameroon to order.

In a release signed by its President Hannibal Uwaifo, the AFBA said, “The brutalization of lawyers in their legitimate demand for justice in their country and attempt to gag the press and curtail the right to freedom of expressions and peaceful assembly in Cameroon is an evil wind that will blow the Government of President Paul Biya no good, instead as history has taught us all, victory for the oppressed people of Anglophone Cameroon is certain.”

The African Bar Association described the regime of Paul Biya as recalcitrant and maintained that the bilingual and bi cultural nature of the country must be respected to the last letter.

Culled from Cameroun Info.Net

The leaders of the Anglophone teachers trade unions have in a statement issued on the 13th of December 2016 condemned the actions of Justice Ayah Paul including that of the Francophone government aimed at sabotaging the strike action. The teachers sounded a note a caution to Justice Ayah Paul Abine to stop meddling in their affairs. Below is the press release:

PRESS RELEASE, 13/12/2016

Meeting this 13th day of December, 2016, we , leaders of the teacher trade unions and initiators of the Anglophone education strike of 21/11/2016, noted with indignation that the press outing of H.E the Minister, Director of Civil Cabinet was a manifest display of bad faith aimed at vilifying us and painting us as intransigent, vacillating and instrumentalised. We saw the urgent need to decry this and came up with the following observations in guise of reaction.

1. That verily, we had asked for the creation of a new broad-based institutional framework with a neutral chairperson, which committee had been created and the chairperson appointed.

2. That for sure we had requested and had been granted the concession that this committee be allowed to work in Bamenda and prepare an implementation framework for the grievances within the shortest possible time-frame.
3. Furthermore, that we had actually said when at least one other issue was implemented in good faith on or before 30/11/2016, the strike would be suspended, to be revoked in due course in case of any breach. Suffice is to observe that our mention of “any other issue” was tacitly understood to mean “any other core issue” in this identity struggle, and the issue of subvention did not qualify as a core issue, since it was a measure for private schools all over the republic. And if there was any need to respect a gentleman’s agreement because of the subvention palliative that reason was vitiated by the corollary core issue, which stressed the recruitment of “bilingual science and technical teachers”, a clear indication that the government was pretending to resolve the contentious issues while at the same time recycling the very causes of the contention.

 We equally dismissed as spurious the Minister Director’s claim that we had raised other extraneous issues, especially of political note, because we did not do any such thing. We challenge him to show any document that we tabled, to prove the veracity of his claim. We begin to doubt how neutral he will be as a chairperson when he draws conclusions and makes official assertions on the basis of rumour. We are stupefied that the chairperson thinks we should suspend before committee work begins, another sign of BAD FAITH that might force the CONCLUSION without fear of contradiction that government is still up to its OLD BAG OF TRICKS.

Our stupefaction is under-propped by the fact that our situation can be likened to the plight of a wailing child who has a nail lodged in the sole of his leg and his father chooses to pressurize him to stop crying instead of taking him to the hospital for the malaise to be handled with dispatch! We take the opportunity to address two other

TOPICAL ISSUES:

1. That we decry the attempt by Chairman Ayah Paul to include some of us into an Anglophone Leadership team he has arrogated to himself the right to create. We assert that we were neither consulted nor did we give our consent to such posturing and observe that while we are interested in helping to solve political problems, we are not necessarily interested in making personal gains from the outcomes.
2. That we are not aware that a team of persons visited Ndawara Ranch to discuss our educational options, amongst a complex of other issues, as social media messages gone viral insinuate. As far as we know, we have not ceded to anyone our right of control over the strike that we initiated.

Done in Bamenda, Tuesday, 13th December, in the year of Our Lord 2016.

SIGNATORIES

 CATTU: Tassang Wilfred F

 PEATTU

 BATTUC: Ayeah Emmanuel

 TAC: VALENTINE NFON

CEWOTU: K. Michael

A rumour that spread widely on Wednesday night in Yaounde, the nation’s capital, announced the death of Gregoire Owona, the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance.

The rumour invaded the social networks but was denied by some close collaborators of  the minister who also moonlights as the assistant secretary general of the central committee of the ruling CPDM party.

Minister Gregoire reportedly attended a meeting of the ruling party late on Wednesday evening. Cameroon Concord News understands, the minister’s health has been failing recently. He was in France of late for medical reasons and has drastically reduced his public appearances.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

The Regional Delegate of Communication for the South West Region, Muma Rosette Bih, has banned all debate programs related to the Anglophone problem in both Radio and Television stations. The decision to ban all talks was made known to private media men who were convened by South West Governor on Tuesday December 13, 2016 .

In the release, the regional delegate said the region was experiencing political uncertainty and that the social responsibility of the journalists warrants them not to add flames to the issue. Earlier at the Governor’s office, Bernard Okalia Bilai threatened to send Buddih Adams, Kum Leonard and Tilarious Atia to jail if they do not retract from a communiqué made public Sunday which spelt out the modalities and wants of a new Consortium created.

Reacting to the ban on the debate programs, Kum Leonard the president of South West Chapter of Cameroon Journalists Trade Union said, “We feel that media organs in the North West and South West regions are more competent to give real time information, the debate organized by these radio and TV stations can give the best of information, we cannot understand why we are not given opportunity to do this. It is a slap on face of Press Freedom. We are going to respect the decision because Cameroon is a state of law but we are going to meet with the regional delegate for Communication to discuss the way forward. This comes after the Journalists planned to boycott all public meetings held without English versions of Press Kits.

Culled from CIN

Anglophone trade union leaders have refuted reports that they took part in a meeting in Ndawara with CPDM business tycoon, Baba Danpullo. The Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, Wilfred TASSANG, told a sister publication, Cameroun info.net that no Anglophone leader ever met with business magnet, Danpullo.

Wilfred Tassang however observed that the negotiators sent by the Philemon Yang administration come with a hidden agenda which to him will not lead to a fruitful negotiation between them and the Government The firebrand unionist says the fact that the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee put in place by Prime Minister, is demanding the striking teachers to call off the strike before going to the negotiation table is an indication that the Government is playing a game with them.

Meeting in Bamenda on Wednesday December 14, 2016, the teachers maintained the strike while welcoming the putting in place of committee and members to sit on negotiation table. The Executive Secretary of CATTU, Wilfred TASSANG, told Cameroon-Info.Net that “The trade Unions have met and we have taken cognizance of the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee. We are just waiting on the committee to go to work, however we are also expressing our disappointment with the Chairperson of the committee, Paul Ghogumo, who declared that the committee will not be convened until we call off the strike. If the committee is convened we will go to work. Government has not given us any reason to call off the strike, however if the committee does its work as we expect and the Prime Minister gives a timeline for implementation, that could lead to suspension of the strike. If that is not done, then there is a possibility that schools may not resume coming January.”

Culled from CIN

He is known as a Cameroonian and also as a Nigerian-born doctor in the UK.  However, Wilson Odume is simply a former student of the Cameroon College of Arts and Science, CCAS Kumba. He has been jailed for 5 years with another medical issue still pending.

Medical tribunal told Dr Odume ‘demonstrated considerable tenacity’ in trying to provide evidence he was fit to practice. Wilson Odume backed his application to be allowed to practise in the UK by saying he often watches medical dramas on telly. ‘I never miss medical programmes on BBC and other stations, for example Casualty, Scrubs and others’

“These also help keep me in-line with things happening in the medical world.” Dr Odume trained after coming to Britain in 2001. He has had six clinical attachments in Leicester. But he was refused registration by the General Medical Council in 2013 for concealing ten minor ­driving offences.

An appeal hearing in Manchester yesterday was told he had three failures before passing tests for ­foreign doctors, and that eventual pass had now expired. The panel said mention of the TV shows was “worrying” and “displays a very concerning lack of insight”. He admitted: “To have even mentioned this was a nonsense, and frankly rather light-hearted. It did not reflect my real thinking. It was a silly thing to put.”

He also claimed to have attempted to “understand UK culture” further and had taken a course in ethics. The tribunal was told Dr Odume had “demonstrated considerable tenacity” in trying to provide evidence he was fit to practise the “profession he loves”. Judgment was reserved with a decision due in four weeks.

Dr Odume again orchestrated a sham marriage scam

Wilson Odume (45), a Cameroonian national, and Martin Okoko (31), a Nigerian national, organised bogus weddings in an attempt to by-pass immigrations rules. The marriages between Hungarians, Nigerians and Cameroonians took place in Gretna and Leicester between 2007 and 2012.

Odume also took part in a fake marriage of his own in order to gain residency in the UK. Sarah Knight, prosecuting, told Leicester Crown Court the pair were caught following an inquiry by Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations officers, which began when intelligence was received that Okoko was arranging sham marriages from a shop he ran in Woodgate, Leicester.

There were also separate reports from registrars in Gretna of suspicious marriages involving individuals from the Leicester area. At the end of a six week trial, a jury found Okoko, of Aikman Avenue, New Parks, Leicester, guilty of two offences of assisting unlawful immigration and Odume, of Loughborough Road, Leicester, of three counts. Odume was jailed for five years, and Okoko for four years.

Culled from the SUN and Leicester Mercury

Cameroon Concord News has learnt that the army has opened fired into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Kumbo, in Bui Division. The crowd refused to disperse after an anti-La Republique demonstration was held.

The demonstrators took to the streets in several important places including on college campuses across Kumbo condemning the killing of their son by troops loyal to the Yaounde regime in Bameda.

A huge crowd of protesters assembled downtown early this morning chanting pro secessionist slogans. Troops have blocked the entrances and exit from Kumbo. The protest has been mostly peaceful.

By Fru James in Kumbo

Teachers and Lawyers consortium have declared that the strike is no more a Lawyer or Teachers strike but one that should involve all the peoples of Southern Cameroons. Unconfirmed sources have hinted Cameroon Concord News that the consortium of teachers and lawyers are now calling on all Anglophones to join the strike action.

 A spokesman for the Anglophone lawyers and teachers consortium was quoted as saying that “the army of La Republique du Cameroun can kill us but they cannot kill our spirits.” Our reporters in Bamenda and Buea are yet to confirm the correctness of this latest development in the Anglophone uprising.

However, a very flippant but reliable source in Buea revealed at the time of writing this report that a return to the ghost town operation is likely possible as the lawyers and teachers have called on the transporters unions, taxis drivers, students and the business community  to stay at home beginning today Monday the 12 of December 2016.

Anglophones have been cautioned not to go against the decision by the consortium. In a statement made public recently in Bamenda and Buea, the teachers and the lawyers noted that anyone going against the ghost town directives will be tracked, declared an enemy of the struggle and severely dealt with.

By Sama Ernest

Zigoto Tchaya, a journalist with the Paris based international news network, France 24 has been arrested in Bamenda by plain cloth police officers. Cameroon Concord News gathered that Zigoto was picked up immediately after he conducted an interview with Barrister Bobga on the happenings in British Southern Cameroons.

France 24 is yet to confirm the arrest but what we do know from our sources in Bamenda is that the journalist was taken to the national gendermarie headquarters in Bamenda and was later on transferred to an unknown destination.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cardinal Christian Tumi has reacted publicly to the crisis that is shaking the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. In an interview on Radio Balafon, a Douala-based radio station the prelate said that there is indeed an Anglophone problem in Cameroon. The former Archbishop of Garoua and Douala believes it is possible that those who govern us unconsciously may not know that there is an Anglophone problem. He recounted to illustrate his anecdote about the former French leader Charles de Gaulle who reportedly questioned his Cameroon interlocutor: “English for what?”

Christian Tumi argued that the fate of Anglophones in Cameroon has changed.  Said the prelate “Since then, we have tried to erase what is Anglo-Saxon unconsciously. I continue to say unconsciously.” The retired Cardinal added that Ni John Fru Ndi would have led Cameroon in 1992 if he was a francophone. “You know very well what happened in 1992. Many Cameroonians are now convinced that the winner of the elections in 1992 was an anglophone: Fru Ndi. And many are convinced that if Fru Ndi was francophone he would be President of Cameroon at least since 1992. True or false I do not know.

Returning to the crisis in recent weeks in the North-West and South-West, Christian Tumi noted that it is not well managed.  “The Archbishop of Bamenda told me that the Prime Minister had received them. And he told me that he thought they were willing to sacrifice all day to thoroughly discuss this problem. The Prime Minister received the leaders of the religious denominations for about thirty minutes. He told me that he said, “This is what we should not do, that’s what we have to do.” It is not dialogue. In dialogue one must assume that the other can have the truth that saves. We must listen to it and have what I would call intellectual honesty and accept the truth, whatever its origin. Whether it comes from the opposition or the people who are on strike, you have to be open. Not coming as an authority.”

The Cardinal criticized the fact that Philemon Yang received during his first mission to Bamenda the groups affected by the crisis on an individual basis. The Cardinal would have liked to see the Prime Minister received those who went on strike, talk to them, and listen to their grievances.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN