Society

As part of efforts to check entry into the country by foreigners without right papers, the authorities in Ekondo-Titi Subdivision, Ndian Division of the South West Region, recently arrested and deported 15 illegal immigrants. The Divisional Officer, DO, for Ekondo-Titi Sub-division, Edwin Nkenya Ngwana, disclosed this at a recent coordination meeting with service heads and traditional rulers. He said the immigrants from Nigeria, Guinea Conakry, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, were arrested on various beaches as they landed in the country. 

They were later presented to the State Counsel in Mundemba and after interrogation, were deported to their countries of origin. Edwin Nkenya also disclosed that the beaches that were used by the repatriated immigrants to enter the country have since been shut down because of their illegal activities. The DO attributed the success of the operation to collaboration between him and security forces, explaining that clandestine aliens often take advantage of the vast maritime frontier to try to enter the country.

Edwin Nkenya Ngwana also congratulated security forces, whose relentless efforts, in collaboration with the Divisional Office, have led to total calm and serenity in Ekondo-Titi today. As a result, most criminals who hitherto operated in the subdivision have been arrested and are now in prison custody while awaiting trial. During the coordination meeting, the sixth this year, service heads presented reports on their activities. At the end, they resolved to work harder in 2016.

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Ngwa Bertrand

11.Dec.2015

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Tactical vehicles including pickups, a trailer, tanks for refuelling and generators were among the gifts presented on December the 9th, 2015 in Yaoundé to Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo by US Ambassador Stephen Michael Hoza. The war materials are suitable for land and extreme conditions in the Far North region desert.

The boss of the US diplomatic mission in Yaounde, Ambassador Stephen Hoza on the occasion reiterated US support for the Cameroon Armed Forces. "We are all in this war",he told Minister Beti Assomo who did not hesitate to show Cameroon's government gratitude. This is the second gift offered by the Obama adminsitration to Cameroon this year. Our chief military correspondent who contributed to this report hinted that the equipments had been used in Afghanistan.

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11.Dec.2015

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The National Commission charged with the Evaluation of Certificates Obtained from Foreign Schools has identified about 12 fake Baccalaureat Certificates.

The information was made public during the Commission’s 78th session in Yaounde on 9th December 2015. Higher Education Minister and President of the Commission, Jacques Fame Ndongo presided over the meeting.

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11.Dec.2015

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Clandestine transportation is still a pain in the neck in big cities like Douala. As a result numerous transporter syndicates, who are at the losing end threatened to go on strike, arguing that illegal transporters have invaded the sector. One of the grievances they presented to the Minister of Labour and Social Security in the presence of the Delegate General for National Security was the fight against clandestine transportation.

To respect their side of the deal that called off the impending strike action, authorities intensified the fight in Douala following instructions from the Senior Divisional Officer. Last week, some 238 vehicles were impounded by law enforcement officers in collaboration with administrative and municipal authorities. Most of the vehicles lacked documents like badges, road worthiness certificate, CEMAC number plate, driver’s license, and windscreen license among others. Some of the vehicles were also impounded for overloading, while others were not painted yellow.

The impounded vehicles are placed in different Municipal Impoundment Centres in Bonamoussadi, Youpwe, PK 12 and Ndogbong among others. For each offence, car owners pay FCFA 25,000 plus FCFA 15,000 impoundment charges. Additional FCFA15,000 is added each day an impounded car spends the night in the centre. Thought the measures to fight clandestine transportation are good, a Taxi Driver, Lowa Jean Calvin, who paid FCFA 40,000 for overloading, regretted that the documents for which the cars are impounded for are not presented upon retrieving the vehicles. Paying the fines is all the Impoundment Centres care for, he said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Dec.2015

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Two individuals from  Kumbo North West Region were recently arrested for allegedly selling off women as sex slaves to people in Kuwait at FCFA 1.2 million each.

Demia Burinyuy Mbon and Rene Fonyuy, both tailors in Kumbo, Bui Division of the North West Region, were recently arrested by men from the Public Security Police Station in Kumbo on charges of human trafficking. They were nabbed following a complaint to the Justice and Peace Commission of Kumbo Diocese by a former victim, Claudette Kemoka. The complaint was forwarded to the police for investigations.

One Kadija, a paternal aunt to Demia Burinyuy Mbon, who is married to someone living in Kuwait, sent Demia Burinyuy’s wife, Bongnke Sidonie and the sister, Marie Claire, to work in Kuwait. Rene Fonyuy, another tailor, having learned of the opportunity and assisted by Demia Burinyuy, sent his wife, Ngong Hostencia to Kuwait. Thereafter, Demia and Rene Fonyuy started acting as facilitators in Kumbo for those intending to travel to Kuwait.

The cost for each woman was said to have been FCFA 1.2 million, while that for men stood at FCFA 1.3 million. People simply referred to as Prosper, Christopher and Emma, said to be a policeman, were agents, while Mrs. Kadija is said to have been the coordinator in Kuwait.

The matter came to the lime light when Claudette Kemoka, who had travelled to Kuwait to work as an English teacher, was given the job of a house help. Given the ordeal she underwent in the hands of one Emer Abdulai and wife, she turned down the job and decided to return home. Emer’s wife reportedly told Claudette she was bought from Demia at FCFA 1.2 million and if she wanted to go back to Cameroon, she should repay the money. Since Demia did not send her return ticket, she was taken to ‘Kadama,’ a slave market.

She finally managed to get in touch with people back home and FCFA 400,000 was sent for her return ticket. Claudette Kemoka was repatriated to Cameroon on August 25, 2015. She later lodged a complaint against Demia for having sold her to a couple in Kuwait, claiming FCFA 400,000, being the cost of her return ticket. On the other hand, one Wirba Hassan approached Rene Fonyuy to help his younger brother, Halisu, travel to Kuwait. Fonyuy asked and received FCFA 1.3 million from Halisu, which he forwarded to one Christopher in Yaounde to process his papers.

Eventually, Halisu was assisted to travel to Dubai instead. But on arrival, he did not meet the person who was supposed to receive him. He then decided to look for a job without understanding the terms. Like Claudette Kemoka, he was eventually repatriated. When he came back to Kumbo, his older brother, Wirba Hassan, who handed over the money to Rene Fonyuy, lodged a complaint against him, asking for the refund of FCFA 1.3 million. Demia Burinyuy Mbon is said to have admitted facilitating the travel of seven girls to Kuwait. He reportedly told police that most of them were his relatives or relations of friends and business partners.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Dec.2015

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The 2015 corruption barometer report published in Yaounde on December 9, 2015 indexes the Police and Taxation departments as most corrupt.

An international corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI) Cameroon has published a report on the “Barometer of Corruption in Cameroon” based on the opinion of citizens through a survey of 1, 182 Cameroonians conducted between January and February 2015. The report published in Yaounde on December 9, 2015 states that corruption has risen in the last 12 months. According to the report presented by TI-Cameroon Vice President, Barrister Njoh Manga, 44 per cent of individuals sampled affirmed that corruption has increased within the past one year and that 57 per cent of survey participants indicated that the government is not effective in the fight against corruption.

The 2015 corruption barometer report indexed the taxation and the police as the most corrupt sectors in the country. 48 per cent of public service users for the past year according to the TI report testified that they bribed in return for services rendered with the police and the judiciary being more susceptible to bribe.

TI also notes that denunciation mechanisms are risky and inefficient with one out of three persons indicating in the survey that whistle blowers are exposed to negative consequences. The fight against corruption according to Barrister Njoh Manga should be inclusive with all and sundry implicated. Corruption if not eradicated slows down development and economic growth reason why TI-Cameroon proposed far reaching recommendations such as the adoption of an anti-corruption law, independence of anti-corruption organs and the judiciary as well as protection of whistle blowers amongst others.

While citizens believe that corruption is the third preoccupation after unemployment and health, 56 per cent of Cameroonians according to the TI report, are ready at individual levels to fight the scourge.

(Cameroon Tribune)

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Dec.2015

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