Society

Government is concerned about the standards of private elementary education and the welfare of teachers. Correspondingly, the Ministry of Basic Education has since three years been exploring means and ways of improving productivity in private primary schools by upgrading the working conditions of teachers. The two-year trial phase of the signing of contracts with private school owners began last year. At the end of the process next year, an evaluation will be carried out to know what it will take for government to assist some elementary schools.

Meeting at the Yaounde Conference Centre in a two-day workshop since December 28, 2015, National Secretaries and Education Secretaries discussed administrative and pedagogic management issues in order to boost performance. Speaking at the opening, the Minister of Basic Education, Youssouf Hadidja Alim, stressed that the contracts will boost access to education as well as improve its quality. She noted that this requires profound reforms, disclosing that government, with the support of partners, has already paid off 167 billion FCFA in subvention arrears to private schools while more funds were being sought to complete the process. While appreciating the support of the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO and other partners in preparing contracts with owners of private primary schools, the Minister admitted that 2015 was ending with access to universal basic education still a major challenge.

Sally Mairiga, the Director of Private Education in the Ministry of Basic Education, disclosed that the focus of the contracts will be rural areas where parents are generally poor. With the advent of contracts, tuition fees in partner schools are expected to be drastically reduced, he said. Sally Mairiga dismissed suggestions that the regular payment of subventions to all private primary schools was better than signing contracts only with some. He said after decades of paying subventions, the impact could not be determined because there were no prior terms of reference.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Dec.2015

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Board members of the “Chantal Biya” International Reference Centre for Research on the Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS abbreviated CIRCB in the French Language yesterday, December 29, 2015, held its 7th ordinary meeting of the Management Committee during which focus was on the 2016 budget of the centre. Chairing the session was the President of the Management Committee, Jean Stephane Biatcha. After close to four hours of close-door discussion, Jean Stephane Biatcha told Cameroon Tribune (CT) that the board members could not adopt the 2016 budget of the research centre since they still need more information and analysis about certain aspects of the 2015 budget.

As such, an extra-ordinary meeting of members of the management committee will take place on January 15, 2016 during which the 2016 budget will be adopted. It should be recalled that the 2015 budget of the research centre was estimated at FCFA 6.9 billion. The 7th ordinary session which held after the special session of November 2015 and after the fourth session of the Scientific Council also examined the scientific report of the council. According to the President of the Management Committee, the scientific report of the council was appreciated by the board members.

In 2016, Chantal Biya’s International Reference Centre for Research on the Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS will emphasis research on the mother-to-child transmission of HIV as well as early diagnosis of HIV in children. The board recommended that the Scientific Council should henceforth make public announcements for the recruitment of researchers in the centre so that more applicants can apply. Jean Stephane Biatcha and his team also reviewed the 2015 activities of the research centre and examined the 2016 performance plan.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Dec.2015

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The construction of the site hosting US soldiers in the city of Garoua is almost complete. More than two months ago, the first contingent of 90 US soldiers arrived the city. Cameroon Concord Intelligence Unit has been reliably informed that some 120 US troops are already present in Cameroon of the 300 announced.

US troops are providing a lot in the field of intelligence and aerial reconnaissance in the fight against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. President Paul Biya had announced the deployment of 300 US soldiers on June 14, 2015, as part of a plan strengthening the fight against Boko Haram in the north. Their mission intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Dec.2015

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Buea, Cameroon’s mythical mountain-side town, has not ceased to release the treasures of its rich historical past. Another book titled “Buea: Capital of the Cameroons,” written by Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, has just been published by the Buea-based Center for Research on Democracy and Development in Africa (CEREDDA). Going back to the start of German colonial administration, the author notes that it was on July 3, 1885 that Julius von Soden was sent as Governor of Kamerun. On January 12, 1886, the then German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, proposed a constitutional foundation for the territory as a German protectorate.

However, the existing Treaty of July 12, 1884 between the German Consul, Edward Schimdt and the Chiefs of Cameroon, ended at River Mungo. But this meant nothing to most of the people of the Buea Mountain region who still had relations with the midget British colony in the then Victoria. In prelude to the signing of the Anglo-German Agreement in 1890 that extended German occupation to the Cameroon coast west of the Mungo, Governor Von Soden had purchased 212 hectares in the Mountain region on February 14, 1887 from the natives of Buea. However, attempts to effectively control the town started in 1891 when the Germans launched an attack on the mountain settlement, meeting stiff resistance from Buea people led by their war leader, Kuve Likenye. Another German attack in 1894 led to the effective occupation of the area and its integration into the German Protectorate.

Buea hosted a German Mountain Station in 1895 and knew social, economic and infrastructural development until the Germans moved the capital to Douala in 1909 following an earthquake on Mount Cameroon. Thus, with over 120 years of modern administration, the author, a son of the soil, states that Buea is unquestionably one of the oldest urban settlements in Cameroon, having served as a capital town for government at all levels, various religious bodies, centre for higher learning, a diplomatic and consular centre and a melting pot of the various tribes of the country. In three parts, his study not only puts Buea in its historical perspective, but it equally situates its significance in the building of the Cameroon nation.

Beyond the German era, the study shows the development of the town under British rule between 1916 and 1961, highlighting its contribution as a symbol of the reunification movement, before it became the seat of the West Cameroon Government between 1961 and 1972. The study further highlights the demise of Buea as a capital city between 1972 and 1982 and its renaissance since 1982 under President Paul Biya. In the preface of the 305-page publication, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono expresses hope that the book will be useful to tourists, students of history and Political Science as well as curious readers wishing to uncover the myths and marvels of Buea; a town “where the German, English, French, Nigerian, and the local Bakweri cultures have been cohabiting peacefully with people from other parts of the country.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Dec.2015

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Buea, Cameroon’s mythical mountain-side town, has not ceased to release the treasures of its rich historical past. Another book titled “Buea: Capital of the Cameroons,” written by Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, has just been published by the Buea-based Center for Research on Democracy and Development in Africa (CEREDDA). Going back to the start of German colonial administration, the author notes that it was on July 3, 1885 that Julius von Soden was sent as Governor of Kamerun. On January 12, 1886, the then German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, proposed a constitutional foundation for the territory as a German protectorate.

However, the existing Treaty of July 12, 1884 between the German Consul, Edward Schimdt and the Chiefs of Cameroon, ended at River Mungo. But this meant nothing to most of the people of the Buea Mountain region who still had relations with the midget British colony in the then Victoria. In prelude to the signing of the Anglo-German Agreement in 1890 that extended German occupation to the Cameroon coast west of the Mungo, Governor Von Soden had purchased 212 hectares in the Mountain region on February 14, 1887 from the natives of Buea. However, attempts to effectively control the town started in 1891 when the Germans launched an attack on the mountain settlement, meeting stiff resistance from Buea people led by their war leader, Kuve Likenye. Another German attack in 1894 led to the effective occupation of the area and its integration into the German Protectorate.

Buea hosted a German Mountain Station in 1895 and knew social, economic and infrastructural development until the Germans moved the capital to Douala in 1909 following an earthquake on Mount Cameroon. Thus, with over 120 years of modern administration, the author, a son of the soil, states that Buea is unquestionably one of the oldest urban settlements in Cameroon, having served as a capital town for government at all levels, various religious bodies, centre for higher learning, a diplomatic and consular centre and a melting pot of the various tribes of the country. In three parts, his study not only puts Buea in its historical perspective, but it equally situates its significance in the building of the Cameroon nation.

Beyond the German era, the study shows the development of the town under British rule between 1916 and 1961, highlighting its contribution as a symbol of the reunification movement, before it became the seat of the West Cameroon Government between 1961 and 1972. The study further highlights the demise of Buea as a capital city between 1972 and 1982 and its renaissance since 1982 under President Paul Biya. In the preface of the 305-page publication, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono expresses hope that the book will be useful to tourists, students of history and Political Science as well as curious readers wishing to uncover the myths and marvels of Buea; a town “where the German, English, French, Nigerian, and the local Bakweri cultures have been cohabiting peacefully with people from other parts of the country.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Dec.2015

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54 of the 250 prisoners held at the central prison in Yaounde, waiting to be released gained their freedom on Wednesday December 23rd. They were condemned for fraud or simple theft by the Court of First Instance in Yaoundé and have already served their sentences but remained in prison for lack of financial resources to foot court and prison bills. Many remained in prison three years after serving their sentences because of court delays and remained locked in jail.

Laurent Esso, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, denounced some time ago, the phenomenon of prison overcrowding. Esso invited judges to mobilize to find a solution to the problem. The central prison in Yaoundé has a capacity of 1500 seats. Before the release of the 54, there were 4169 prisoners.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Dec.2015

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