Business

Douala as we all know acquired its first red feather as the economic capital of Cameroon many decades ago. This time the same Douala may likely be crowned with another feather as it is fast becoming Cameroon’s waste Capital.                      

The city dwellers are disturbed and tired of what is happening in the city as regards collection and disposal of domestic waste. 

 According to a discontent house wife in Bonaberi, the company in charge of collecting domestic waste, Hysacam, is not doing its job.

"We live with our waste products for as long as 3 weeks without hysacam coming to take them. At times when we even take them to the hysacam trash can, the waste collection company delays a lot before finally carrying the dirt away and this causes a lot of pollution especially around our markets here in Bonaberi” says the grumbling housewife.

Traders around the Grand Hangar Market share the same view point. “At times we cannot conveniently sell with the smell of this dirt” says a buyam sellam.  The dirt is also exposing us to diseases and I don’t understand why it is sometimes kept here for so long". She adds.                                                                

According to a Hysacam staff, it has not been easy as their vehicles are not enough to go round efficiently and at times when some of these trucks get bad, the situation worsens.                                                             

The good news is that the Douala city council and stakeholders of waste management are meeting and seriously discussing strategies to manage waste in order to keep Douala clean.

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Shey Modest Njingi

31.Mar.2017

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According to the 2016 Human Development Index report (HDI) published on 21 March by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Cameroon is in the category of countries with a low level of human development in the world. The country is indeed ranked 153^rd globally, out of 188 countries studied, and gets the 23^rd position in Africa.

Presented as the economic engine of the CEMAC zone, Cameroon is however outranked in the 2016 HDI report by three countries in this community, who are all in the category of countries with a medium level of human development. These are Gabon (109^th globally and 7^th in Africa), Congo (135^th in the world and 13^th in Africa) and Equatorial Guinea (135^th worldwide and 14^th in Africa).

Seychelles win the gold medal in Africa in this UNDP ranking, followed by Mauritius, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, two countries who are however facing many social challenges since the so-called “Arab Spring” period.

Let us recall that HDI is a summary measure of the average level reached in key components of the human development: living a long and healthy life, acquiring knowledge and having from a decent standard of living.

The health/longevity component is evaluated based on the life expectancy at birth; the education dimension is measured through the number of years of schooling for adults aged 25 and over and the expected number of years of schooling for school-aged children. The standard of liv by component is measured by the gross national income per capita. The results for the three HDI component indexes are then aggregated to get a composite index from the geometric mean.

BRM

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Rita Akana

30.Mar.2017

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The Regional Council of the Supreme Audit Institutions of French- Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa (CREFIAF) and the World Bank have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to have the World Bank provide grant to the association.

The grant worth 500 thousand dollars is intended to enhance the institution's capacity to carry out financial auditing in extractive industries.

The MOU was signed this Tuesday 28th March 2017 in Yaounde between the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of the Supreme State Audit, Rose Mbah Acha Fomundam and the Country's Director of the World Bank Elizabeth Huybens.

The memorandum of Understanding will cover a period of 3 years

The Regional Council of the Supreme Audit Institutions of French- Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa (CREFIAF) was established in Cameroon in 1997 with its headquarters in Yaounde.

Its executive body is chaired by Cameroon's Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of the Supreme State Audit Rose Mbah Acha Fomundam.

CRTV

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Rita Akana

29.Mar.2017

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The former minister is prosecuted for complicity in embezzlement of public funds of nearly 1.8 billion FCFA

Essimi Menye is now sought after. An arrest warrant has been issued against the former Minister of Finance and Agriculture and Rural Development by the Special Criminal Court (TCS). He is prosecuted for complicity in embezzlement of public funds in the amount of F CFA 1,756,570,380. 

The TCS accuses the former national financier of having paid this money without consideration to the Cabinet Challenger Corporation belonging to Tchakui François. Facts going back to 2008-2012 when the native of the Lekie division in the Centre region was still at the Ministry of Finance.

The arrest warrant was issued on 14 March 2017 by the investigating judge, Justice Blaise Wo'o Minko. The document instructs any judicial officer or police officer to summon and present Essimi Menye to the Kondengui Central Prison.

Problem, the concerned  is  not in Cameroon. Dismissed from the government on 2 October 2015, Essimi Menye left the country a few months later thanks to a medical evacuation. The former minister has since recovered  and lives in the United States.  It is not the first time the senior finance expert has been issued an arrest warrant. 

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Rita Akana

29.Mar.2017

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60 billion will be borrowed from banks to finance the stimulus plan of the Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair-Co) over 7 years. Debt service is likely to be burdensome. The budget of acquisition of the planes remains to be specified ...

 

7 years to equip 12 aircraft. 7 years to serve 23 cities,That is 8 national and 4 intercontinental destinations and 11 regional destinations. The whole funded to 60 billion CFA francs or 30 billion CFA francs in the course of layoff. It was Monday, March 20, that the stimulus plan of the Cameroon Airlines-Corporation was presented yesterday by Boeing consulting. The ceremony was held in the conference room of the Ministry of Transport in Yaoundé.

They were optimistic. Both the director general of Camair-Co and the transport minister: "this is one of the best stimulus plans I have ever seen," Ernest Dikoum rejoiced. "I do not envisage a failure at all, we will return here in a few years to celebrate the progress of this recovery plan," swore Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o. 

Market dupes?

At the end of this ceremony, several questions remain unanswered. First the acquisition of a plane. During the ceremony, nothing was said about the terms and conditions of aircraft acquisitions so that the Camair-Co fleet would have 12 aircraft by 2024. Does the state not run  the risk of bleeding blank, especially when we know that a dreamliner plane for example costs nearly 70 billion CFA francs?

Camair-Co is also expected to be a source of heavy debt for the State of Cameroon. At the ceremony last Monday, the Minister of Transport announced that Camair-Co is now the owner of its headquarters building. More rental so. What reduced the debt of the already colossal company. However, with this stimulus package, it is the state that this time risks suffering.

International market

Debt service runs the risk of getting heavier. Indeed, Boeing consulting had suggested that the State released 60 billion CFA francs. According to Transport Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o during the ceremony, this amount of money will be borne by a bank consortium headed by EcoBank.

This is therefore an advance on cash which the State will have to bear subsequently with interest in addition that these banks will be entitled to claim. What is around 100 billion CFA francs. Moreover, the government has kept the vagueness around funding arrangements for 12 aircraft by 2024.

Moreover, we are still unaware of the strategy and positioning of Cameroon in relation to market constraints, when we know, for example, that Africa accounts for 1.9% of international transport dominated by major companies such as Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopians Airlines, etc. With the above, is not it better that the management of Camair-Co be given at least 85% to the private history of not exposing the company to the heaviness and defects inherent in the Cameroonian administration?

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Rita Akana

28.Mar.2017

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Abbas Mahamat Tolli, Governor of the Bank of Central African States (Beac), has spoken on the transfer of money via Mobile Money within the Economic Community of Central African States (Cameroon, Congo , Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad)

"You have mobile operators who, without the authorization, or the constraints to which the banks are subject, do exactly the activity of the banks. It's better to ensure that, "Abbas Tolli said. For whom, measures must be taken to avoid the risks of money laundering and tax evasion. Or even the financing of terrorism.

"We're going to have instruments that take all of these parameters into account. We must expand the scope of supervision of these innovations so that these innovations are circumscribed. Our texts do not allow such operations to be carried out, "explained the governor of the Central Bank. 

The intervention of Abbas Mahamat Tolli comes in a context where mobile phone operators in Cameroon have embarked on cash transfers in virtually every country in Africa. MTN Cameroon, for example, is currently sending money to 25 countries in Africa from an MTN Mobile Money account.

Moreover, thanks to WorldRemit, a British actor of new technologies, people living in more than 50 different countries can send money to family and friends in Cameroon with the same ease as through SMS.

The recipient has the choice of the method of collecting the money: bank transfer in any bank in Cameroon, recharge of mobile telephony with a depository MTN or Orange, or even species to be collected in one of the hundreds Partners in Cameroon.

In February 2017, the Telecommunication Regulatory Agency took stock of the data it has on mobile money in Cameroon, since its launch in 2011. Thus, until 2014, this sector has recorded transactions amounting to 72 billion FCFA. According to TRA, these 72 billion FCFA correspond to nine million transactions through SMS. At the moment, more than 6000 payment points exist throughout Cameroon. WorldRemit said cash transfers play a major role in the country's economy as Cameroonians received $ 244 million (about CFAF 134 billion) in 2015, according to figures from the  World Bank. 

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Rita Akana

28.Mar.2017

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