Society

Rita Akana

Cavaye Yeguire Djibril Speaker of the lower house of parliament recently surprised Cameroonians by launching his own version of a national generosity campaign which he noted "is geared towards helping the Cameroon military" as they continue to wage the war against Boko Haram insurgence.  The veteran politician who hails from the Far North Region that has been under constant Boko Haram terrorists attacks, limited his “operation coup de Coeur” only to the honorable members of parliament.

In a soul-searching speech Cavaya Yeguire Djibril appealed to the 180 members of the National Assembly to make financial contributions to the Cameroon army. Cavaye told the MPS that he will channel whatever amount is collected to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization to procure the necessary amenities needed by military. It is not the first time a senior official in the ruling CPDM government is making such an appeal. During the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA, former Prime Minister Simon Achidi Achu carried out a similar measure. But all what the CPDM government did with the hundreds of millions collected ranged from plain fiction to the most absurd. Cameroon Concord intelligence officers in Yaounde are reporting that the country is broke and can no longer sustained the numerous wars along its borders. House Speaker made a clarion call for the MPS to put their hands “deep down their pockets” to support the men and women in uniform.

We of this publication stand shoulder to shoulder with the Speaker of the Lower House and we call on every Cameroonian in the Diaspora to support the Cameroon army. As they fight in the Far North Region against Boko Haram and in the East against rebels from the Central African Republic, they do not fight defending CPDM, SDF or UPC!!! And when they die under those Boko Haram rockets, they do not die serving President Biya and the CPDM. They die serving the Republic of Cameroon.

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Ngwa Bertrand

28.Nov.2014

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In Ebola-hit Sierra Leone people abide by a chaste new set of social norms which can be broken down to an easily remembered mantra: no touching, and definitely no kissing. Yet aid workers and health professionals worry that under the surface the epidemic is giving rise to a darker trend -- spiralling teenage pregnancies and violence against women. The closures of schools, stadiums and entertainment venues coupled with a ban on public gatherings have left young people idle and disaffected, and their parents worried. The ABC of Ebola -- "Avoid Body Contact" -- is now deeply ingrained, with people renouncing handshakes and hugs, but the rule stops at the bedroom door. Maternity wards in Freetown have been deserted by women who fear being infected by Ebola, yet nurses report seeing an increase in pregnant teenage girls, some aged as young as 13. "If you were expecting a decline in the birth rate, it is quite the opposite," says Musab Sillah, director of the Kuntorloh clinic in the capital Freetown. "Everyone recommends avoiding contact but at the same time schools are closed and there is no more social activity. The girls stay at home and meet the boys," he said. "As you see fewer and fewer women coming to deliver their babies there are more girls coming in (who are) two months, three months pregnant," said Eugenia Bodkin, a nurse at the Mabella clinic overlooking the Freetown slum of Susan's Bay.

The evidence is anecdotal but UNICEF, the United Nations' children's fund, expects the experience of medical personnel to be borne out eventually by the data. "We have no evidence or currently no way to conduct a statistical study due to Ebola, but we can expect a large increase in teenage pregnancies," said Matthew Dalling, UNICEF's head of child protection in Sierra Leone. "This is a logical assumption, as 2.8 million young people are out of school," he added, noting that even before Ebola, 38 percent of girls were getting pregnant before 18 and half were married before 15. Sierra Leone languishes in 183rd place on the UN's human development index of 187 countries and is also near the bottom in terms of GDP per capita. Hunger has given rise to what Dalling calls "transactional sex" among young people -- not quite prostitution "but a relationship in exchange for a favour, a mobile phone, bread, some food". "We know there was a problem before. It's hard to estimate how much it has increased, but combined with the levels of vulnerability, the lack of schools, the impossibility of going anywhere, it makes sense that it must be growing," he said. Sierra Leone, like its neighbour Liberia, is struggling to recover barely a decade after the end of a brutal civil war.

The conflict left the world with images of child soldiers and rebels funded by "blood diamonds" hacking off limbs, and by 2002 some 50,000 people had died. The teenagers coping with Ebola were born during the 11-year conflict, in many cases to parents who were themselves in their young teens. The epidemic, with its accompanying military roadblocks, curfews and all-pervading fear of other people, has opened old wounds. "Sierra Leone is experiencing a collective trauma with Ebola. That is a big stress on people and people are in pain and getting frustrated and angry," Dalling said. "We are expecting to see a surge of gender-based violence and exploitation and abuse in the coming months." Rights group Humanist Watch Salone said it has seen a spike in sexual and gender-based violence in eastern Sierra Leone, the area hit hardest as the epidemic began to spiral out of control in July and August. The head of the agency, Christopher Braima, told a recent news conference his staff had recorded 33 cases of sex attacks, mostly on girls aged under 14, in the last four months, according to local media. Meanwhile, parents agonise over how much freedom to give their children and whether they are safe -- parents like Michael, a driver in Freetown who has blown his savings on an expensive television for his 13-year-old daughter. "I'm afraid she's going to get herself into trouble. I'd prefer that she stays at home and watches films," he said.

Culled from Agence France Presse

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Ngwa Bertrand

28.Nov.2014

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The former Government Delegate to the Limbe urban council has been arrested by the forces of law and order. Lifanda Samuel will be charged this morning for corruption and embezzlement during his time at the Limbe Urban Council. Our intelligence officer in Limbe reported that Mayor Lifanda owns and runs a church Christian Mission Fellowship International that has nearly all council workers as its members and 10 per cent of their salaries regularly deducted by the council pay master and handed to the church.

Cameroon Concord also learnt that those doing contracts with the council under Lifanda were compelled to pay 10 per cent of their earnings to Christian Mission Fellowship International. An informant who spoke to Cameroon Concord earlier today, hinted that Lifanda Samuel's wife owns one of the best nursery and primary school in Limbe known as Spring of Wisdom.

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Ngwa Bertrand

25.Nov.2014

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Yaoundé, the nation’s capital is experiencing an unprecedented blackout ever since the major explosion that occurred at Etoudi on Saturday leaving many families in total confusion. Though ENEO announced in a release read over state radio and television that most parts of the capital will not have electricity due to the rationing process the company is undertaking, many couldn’t still understand how principal residential areas in Yaounde can continue to function without electricity. But workers of ENEO claimed they were carrying out maintenance work and some delays have been recorded in mechanical issues. Our Chief intelligence officer in Yaounde reported that ENEO as a company is run like a CPDM Section in Anglophone Cameroon.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Nov.2014

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A violent explosion was heard at the Etoudi residential area nearer the presidency late last night. The incident that occurred precisely behind Makombe Hotel caused great panic as residence thought something unusual was happening around the presidential palace.Cameroon Concord gathered elements of the elite republican guards rushed to the scene immediately after the massive explosion rocked the area.

A resident who spoke to Cameroon Concord this morning observed that many felt it was a Boko Haram attack aimed at the presidency. Our intelligence officers who visited the scene early this morning have confirmed the explosion happened in an illegal gas depot operated by a highly placed Cameroon government official.

The explosion has disrupted electricity and water supplies to Ngousso and Kondengui localities. Colonel Garka of the fire brigade unit revealed "many gas bottles exploded at a go making it sound as if it was a terrorist attack".

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Ngwa Bertrand

23.Nov.2014

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Rita Akana

Bernard Messengue Avom former Minister of Public Works may be the next Cameroonian big name to be sent to jail. Messengue who some reports suggest was supposed to appear in front of the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde yesterday had long been indicted by the National Anti-corruption Commission. Cameroon Concord gathered the anti-corruption uncovered what could have passed as the biggest ever single fraud in the country’s history. In a report which the Ministry of Public Works and the Prime Minister’s Office would very much had loved to keep secret, Minister Messengue and his acolytes at the Ministry of Public Works in connivance with the Prime Minister’s Office attempted to con government into paying double for road construction projects that had already been completed and paid for. The road projects involved in the attempted fraud were partially financed by the Kuwait Economic Development Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the public investment budget of Cameroon. The misappropriated public funds were estimated to the tune of 15.4 billion FCFA which the Special Criminal Court now wants Bernard Messengue Avom to answer.

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Ngwa Bertrand

21.Nov.2014

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