Society

The fiancé of a Cameroonian soldier serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion killed herself yesterday in Limbe in the South West region of Cameroon. Our Victoria correspondent who visited the scene observed that she was suffering emotionally in the relationship with the soldier.

Cameroon Concord gathered that the lady (whose name we are withholding) and who was 3 months pregnant called her husband-to-be to return home or will meet but her corpse. Her fiancé later returned only to find her hanging on a rope behind their apartment. The circumstances surrounding her sudden suicide remains a mystery to the population of Limbe.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

24.Feb.2015

Hits: 2999

Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Minister of State in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization sentenced in a case of embezzlement of public funds by the CPDM regime, has again seen his land located in the Mboro area deep within Kribi seized. The expropriation order was made by Jacqueline Kung A Bessike, Minister of Lands. Cameroon Concord learnt that the government has decided to build a five star hotel on the Marafa Hamidou Yaya piece of land.

The disgraced former minister had reacted to the government decision confiscating his land in his sixth letter written in December 2012 in which he observed that his land located some 35 km from the port of Kribi “remains his property until he receives compensation in cash, cheque or bank transfer from whosoever is interested”.

With the mantra of war against corruption from which former Minister Marafa (seen here on this photo when he was top in those days) carefully insulated President Biya through a constitutional amendment, Biya has vandalized his expendable lackeys like him with the zeal and brutality of a wounded lion. With this immunity, a purported war against corruption, an unrestrained access and control over state resources reminiscent of an Alibaba, Paul Biya acquired enormous powers to dismantle and establish new instruments of power to sustain his eternal imperial reign.

The rallying war cry against corruption has since become the explanation and justification for thirty-two years of misrule, oppressive policies, failed economic policies, nepotism and the politicisation of national ethnicities. These mantra precarious political and economic policies that have been the signpost of his three decades in power have driven the polity to the edge of a collapse into inter-ethnic conflict with wide ranging ramifications.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

23.Feb.2015

Hits: 1948

A 19-year-old boy has told a shocking story on radio in Ghana about a ring he found on the ground and put on his index finger but the ring cannot be removed, eating into his flesh to the point that he risks losing his finger.  The boy named Eric Boabeng said he found the ring by the roadside on his way home from church in November last year. After getting home that day, he slipped the ring on his right index finger but felt that the ring was tightening strangely around his finger. He then tried to remove it but all his effort to remove the ring was unsuccessful. “I saw the ring on the floor on my way from church and I took it, I don’t know the type of ring but it was like a golden ring and it was shining on my hand. When I picked it up, my hand was shaking and when I tried to throw it away, I could not because my hand was shaking and something forced me not to throw it away and I could hear some voice asking me to go home’’, Boabeng told Starr FM.

His parents said they have taken him to numerous hospitals for the ring to be removed but to no avail. They then decided to turn to churches and spiritual homes since the issue seems to be spiritual but yet still, the ring cannot be removed. Images circulated on Social Media showed Boabeng’s hand almost eaten off by the ring. Boabeng said when he got home the day he found the ring; he felt something invisible was speaking to him to follow instructions. “When I took it home, I sat on my bed and put it on my hand but when I tried to remove it, I could not and it’s on my right index finger and now I cannot sleep when I go to bed. Now I hear voices asking me to come out of my room at night. I have been hearing human voices in my ears but I cannot see them”, he added.

Last month, rumor about his finger was circulated on Social Media. It was speculated that he had consulted some spirit for ritual money and that the spirit had given him the ring which he would never be able to remove until his finger eats off as a price he has to pay for the ritual money. But Boabeng’s appearance on the radio to tell his story on Thursday morning has refuted those allegations. In fact, he had not made any money as being rumored initially. He is still a poor boy from underprivileged family. His parents are appealing to any individual who could help them remove the ring from their son’s finger to save his life.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

20.Feb.2015

Hits: 1672

The NGO ETAYA derived its name from the Ejagham language. ETAYA – Etum Akuwa Ya Akpak, roughly translated  means “Work for Orphans and the Poor”. With head quarter in Kembong and a branch office in Muea-Buea, ETAYA is able to manage and coordinate projects efficiently.

ETAYA is a community-based NGO that aims to transform the lives of children and women in remote rural communities in Cameroon, Africa. “Through micro-programmes we hope not only to empower, but to also provide opportunities, support, guidance and assistance to enable them meet their basic needs”, says the director of ETAYA Mr. Felix Tanyi Nkongho. Maintaining good relations with the local communities is essential for productivity, he emphasized.

ETAYA and its partners use practical solutions to meet the basic/primary needs in education, health/sanitation, skills and income generation, environmental conservation awareness in collaboration with other organizations.

Contrary to governmental NGOs in Cameroon, ETAYA speaks little but does volumes; advancing the livelihood of the rural masses by breathing innovating human capacity building. Infrastructural development through the construction and renovation of classrooms for primary and secondary schools, health centers, community facilities, etc. Health and sanitation improvement is fostered through educative seminars and building of clean toilets; just to name a few in the broad spectrum of the activities of ETAYA.

The director of ETAYA believes that the future of Cameroon is in the hands of our kids and says thus, « lets provide them with basic learning environment at the primary school ». To that effect a constant donation of books to primary schools has been on the agenda of the NGO.

Agricultural activities and farming are the main sources of income and subsistence in the rural areas of Cameroon. ETAYA supports common initiative groups and farmers with farming equipment to ascertain continuous growth and sustainability of such activities.

The success of ETAYA has been mainly dependent on sincere hardwork, transparent and accountable distribution of donated resources as well as in the execution of earmarked projects. These exceptional qualities earned ETAYA reliable cooperation partnerships in England, Germany, China, USA and other African countries. The volume of projects executed in the rural areas speak for themselves.

The doors of ETAYA are always open to new ideas and partnership possibilities, in as much as it fosters the need to serve the interest of orphans and the poor.

For more information about the NGO and its activities, you can reach the director of Etaya (Mr. Felix Tanyi Nkongho) through the contact indicate here. Tel.:+237 677407572 | Facebook | ETAYA | Skype:Tanyi Nkongho

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

20.Feb.2015

Hits: 2008

Heavy fighting between the Chadian army and the Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram on Tuesday in Dikwa locality in north-eastern Nigeria claimed the lives of two Chadian servicemen and 117 Boko Haram fighters.The Chief of General Staff of the Chadian armed forces  Brahim Mahamat Seid confirmed the news on Wednesday that two Chadian soldiers died and 9 others injured in violent clashes in Dikwa. Boko Haram in Nigeria is a child of Nigerian history and the impunity of Northern Nigeria’s Military establishment. Armed conflict is part of Nigeria history. It is also a business which has enriched many.  People including generations unborn learn from history. The savaged brutality meted on civilians and civilian objects in Nigeria pre-exist Boko Haram. These acts of impunity were some of the methods deployed by successive military regimes, most of them from Northern Generals to accede and sustain power. The ongoing slaughter by Boko Haram follows the same pattern which in 1966 led to the Nigeria/Biafra War. The underlying cause of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Southerners, mainly of the Ibo ethnic groups in the North was never comprehensively investigated, if at all.  There is no gainsaying that had the crimes been investigated, the result would have pointed to some powerful individuals within the Nigerian Military structure of Northern origin. For these, political power and control of the economy could only be attained through scapegoating communities whom they perceived as serious competitors.

The Nigerian/Biafra War was a curse on the conscience of the nation but a blessing to the Northern Military establishment. Many of these Generals made fortunes from the war and took the opportunity to entrench themselves in power. Olusegun Obasanjo like Good luck Jonathan came to power during that period as a beneficiary of the sad spoils of death. They were considered outsiders or trespassers to their god ordained power. For this reason, the country had to be made ungovernable to prove them and any person outside the North unfit to defend the constitutional order, national cohesion and republican values.  Under these dire circumstances, the Northern Military establishment, their feudal and religious confederacy would step in and take back power through democratic or other means. This is the rationale of the unfolding drama in the election taking place on 14 February 2015.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

19.Feb.2015

Hits: 1548

A Cameroonian soldier has died from injuries he sustained on Monday night following a Boko Haram ambush in Waza. It should be recalled that Boko Haram militants killed four Cameroon servicemen during the ambush on Monday morning in Gnam Gnam in the Logone and Chari Division in the Far North region. The death of the soldier brings to five the number of Cameroonian soldiers killed during the attack on Waza. Cameroon Concord understands 120 Boko Haram fighters were captured during the Monday night operation and the army also seized an armoured vehicle from the Islamic militants. The Waza incident occurred some ten days after the attack on Fotokol that claimed the lives of six Cameroonian soldiers and 26 Chadians.

In another developing story, residents of the nation’s capital Yaoundé have launched scathing attacks on President Biya as a consequence of President Idriss Deby’s visit to the Chadian troops wounded at the war front who are receiving treatment at the military hospital in Yaoundé. Some members of the Cameroonian civil society have demanded that President Biya should visit with immediate effect the wounded Cameroonian soldiers in hospitals in Yaoundé and in Maroua. It is vital to include in this report that Cameroon Concord has come under vicious attack from some of our readers over our coverage of the war on terror. Minister Issa Tchiroma is saying one thing and the Defence Minister Alain Edgar Mebo Ngo’o is saying another!! With the dust now settled following the actions of the Chadian leader in Yaoundé, Cameroonians can see clearly.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

17.Feb.2015

Hits: 3188