Society

Media reports say two military tucks transporting newly recruited pupil gendarmes to a training camp have overturned at Olembé on the outskirts of Yaoundé leaving several people with injuries.

The accident occurred at about 3pm local time.Three military trucks moving in a convoy, transporting new recruits collided and one of the 3 overturned.  

The main cause of collision is a brake failure of one of the vehicles, which had no choice but to impale on the vehicles ahead of it  inorder to brake its course.

The convoy was descending a hill when the accident occurred. At the moment there is no loss of human life but many serious injuries.

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Rita Akana

15.Feb.2017

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The Secretary General at the Southwest Governor’s office, Clement Fon Ndikum, has asserted that quitters of celebrations to mark the 51 edition of the national youth day are losers.

Fon Ndikum made the assertion at the Kumba City Council Grandstand shortly after presiding over celebrations to mark the 2017 edition of the national youth day.

The administrator declared that those who boycotted the event are losers. To him, persons who boycotted the event have seen that those who threaten and promise mayhem have nothing to offer.

He expressed satisfaction over the peaceful event in Kumba. He admitted that the turnout did not hit general expectations as a result of current happenings in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country.

“I am satisfied that the 51stedition of the national youth day has taken place in Kumba. I acknowledge that the turnout was not impressive as it was supposed to have been, for reasons that we all know. But am glad to note that we live in a republic and there are people who believe in the Government. People who acknowledge the fact that the Government has taken measures to assure their security and they didn’t fear to come out during a national ceremony like the national youth day”.

Regarding the absence of confessional and lay private schools from this year’s event, the administrator described the situation as unfortunate. 

He said Government has taken note and necessary measures will be taken when the time comes. Fon Ndikum said further that the Government has always seen the confessional and lay private schools as partners in the education sector.

To the youth, parents and teachers, the Region’s scribe stated that there should make meaning out of the youth day celebration and return to school.

He said everyone has seen that those who intimidate and threaten the public have nothing to offer. He charged the population to trust the Head of State and the Government and return to school.

Education, the Secretary General went further, remains a fundamental human right that should not be violated.

Teachers Represent students

The march past in Kumba, which lasted about 40 minutes, saw teachers representing students for most of the schools from across the three Subdivisions.  For some schools, principals and other senior tutors held the sign boards and marched past the grandstand.

A handful of students from the bilingual high schools, namely; GBHS Kumba Station, Mambanda and CASS Kumba participated in the exercise.

Students from the Government Bilingual Teachers Training College, GBTTC and  the professional agricultural schools, REDSTS and CDSTS Kumba also took part in the exercise, though, for the very first time the students put on assorted dresses.

Military presence

The commemoration was conducted under high military surveillance with police spotted on some roof tops. The security equally helped guide some officials who took part in the exercise back to their seats as the population watched.

Shortly after the exercise, there was a brief cocktail at the Kumba City Council chambers before the officials quickly dispersed to their homes.

Despite all the activities, shops and other businesses in Kumba remained closed throughout the day.

Cameroonpost

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Rita Akana

14.Feb.2017

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The Cameroonian Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, officially launched on 13 February 2017 the activities of the Société de Transports et Equipments Collectifs de Yaoundé (Stecy SA – Yaoundé Transport and Community Equipment Company), now in charge of ensuring urban mass transport in the capital, with a fare of FCfa 200 per journey.

The result of a public-private partnership between the Portuguese group Eximtrans Sarl/Irmaos Mota and the Urban Community of Yaoundé, the office of the Mayor for the capital, Stecy SA has now started operating with 40 buses, and plans in the long term, to bring its fleet to 150 buses.  

As a start, the company will run 13 routes in the capital, departing from the central post office, and plans to launch two VIP lines. Particularly to transport students from the Yaoundé II-Soa University and travellers going to the Yaoundé Nsimalen international airport. In addition to the introduction of 150 buses, the contract between the State of Cameroon and the Portuguese consortium, who took the commitment of investing FCfa 13 billion over a period of 10 years (the State will pay an annual subsidy of FCfa 1.6 billion), also schedules the construction of 26 ultra-modern terminals, equipped with toilets, newsstands and ticket booths for the purchase of tickets and passes. This contract also takes into account the construction of 65 bush shelters and 579 bus stops, all equipped with user information systems showing at the minimum the frequency and bus timetables. The new mass transport company is the result of the organisation of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations by Cameroon between November and December 2016. But, for various technical reasons, the company was not able to launch its activities before the start of the competition.

Stecy SA thus replaces on Yaoundé roads the company “Le Bus”, a consortium gathering Cameroonian public institutions and the American group Parker International Industries. “Le Bus”, a company created in 2005, has been closed for some months now. Its workforce of 600 employees was then made “redundant. 

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Rita Akana

14.Feb.2017

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After threats of boycotting the 11 February celebrations by Cameroonians of the English Speaking expression as championed by the new Consortium leaders, the governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai on Tuesday January 31, and Tuesday February 7, 2017 held an emergency at his conference hall with civil society stakeholders in the region and Buea division to be particular.

The meeting which was attended by only one political party, the CPDM and boycotted by others had as aim to cajole leaders of the various political parties, organizations and associations to mobilize members to participate at the 11 February celebrations so as to attempt to cover up for the absence of students.

After acknowledging the fact that most school students and pupils will not be present during the celebrations at Bongo square in Buea, South West governor noted that all had to be done to ensure the success of the celebrations.

Addressing attendees in an almost empty hall, governor Okalia who has grown unpopular since the start of the Anglophone strike noted that with some schools out of the picture, it was now left on those of the civil society to uphold the values of national peace and unity. Speaking to the president of taxi drivers syndicate, the governor called on them to ensure that circulation is not disrupted on that day so as to ease the transportation of Cameroonians to and from the ceremonial ground. While congratulating the representatives of the trade union for distancing themselves from the ghost town operation, the governor encouraged them to hold regular talks with their drivers so as to convince them to go back to work.

The governor then passed the microphone to the various representatives of the civil society to give an estimate of how many youths they can mobilize for the youth day celebrations. The representative of the YCPDM promised that with the right motivation he could lead a crowd of 1.000 while Cameroon national Youth council pledge 60. As for the president of the scout movement, he promised to mobilize some 20 scouts as opposed to 100 youths to come from the National Civil Service.

The meeting ended with the governor asking instructing the various CSOs representatives to go back to their communities and mobilize as much members as possible so as to ensure a successful youth Day this year.

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Rita Akana

09.Feb.2017

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The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (Minpostel), Minette Libom Li Likeng, announced on 3 February in Yaoundé that her ministry recently requested a study to produce statistics in the telecoms and information and communications technologies sector (ICT).

“Reliable statistics would help decision-makers to knowingly choose the necessary and favourable investment for the development of this sector. This would allow monitoring over time and space the progress achieved, to identify possible costs in the sectorial policy”, explained the Minpostel. The statistical annual report thus produced, still according to the Minister, will provide information on over 168 factors. Being, landline and mobile telephone networks, large bandwidth subscriptions, landline and mobile traffic, internet, local mobile and landline tariffs, service quality, ICT infrastructure and access, security levels in information systems, etc.

“In practical terms, Mrs Libom Li Likeng specified, you use a radio, or a television, you have a laptop, you have an internet connection, you use a mobile telephone or a landline, this is the information to give to the investigators from the National Institute of Statistics”. The investigators were allotted a budget of FCfa 200 million to carry out this study and present their results for approval, before the end of June 2017.

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Rita Akana

08.Feb.2017

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The inter-urban bus transport sector in Cameroun welcomed a new operator with the launch, on 25 January 2017, of Express United, a company servicing the two main cities in the country with a total of 26 daily trips from Yaoundé and Douala.

In addition to having toilets and food service on board, the new agency, who only offers VIP services, has the particularity of offering a WiFi connection to its passengers on each of the 8 coaches in its current fleet.

The appearance of this operator comes in an environment marked by the suspension of activities for the fast train operated by Cameroon Railways (Camrail) with daily services between the two capitals, and at the centre of the railroad accident which occurred on 21 October 2016 in the town of Eséka.

The absence of the train operator led to a higher demand for travel agencies offering VIP services these past months, even leading to a price hike of approximately 15% for one of them.

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Rita Akana

07.Feb.2017

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