National Communication Council: Peter Essoka needs rest!

On the 4th of June 2015 and following Decision No. 00015 / NCC, the National Communication Council, NCC headed by veteran Anglophone Cameroon journalist, Peter Essoka in his dual capacity as vice president and "acting president" announced the suspension of some media organizations in Cameroon including some journalists. The popular pan-African television channel was banned from broadcasting for a period of one month while two of its journalists: Juliana Magne Tadda and Bashir Ladan were suspended for six-months.

Some few days after the Peter Essoka-NCC sanctions were made public,a senior official at African Media lampooned the decision, claiming CRTV and Canal 2 cannot compete in the market place of ideas and were using Peter Esoka and his CPDM acolytes to stifle free speech and freedom of press. The pan African TV official Mr. Albert Patrick Eya'a observed that his media organization will continue business as usual until "it receives the suspension letter." The National Communication Council made its decision on June the 4th 2015 as earlier stated but it was only on Thursday the 6th of August 2015 that a man call Sub Prefect of Yaounde II decided to shut down the station.

Peter Essoka, echoed the view that the role of the board was to ensure the profession's ethics. The honorary minister of communication as he is now being referred to was quoted recently as saying  "The sub-prefect of Yaoundé II has done his work and the television building is now sealed." But just last night and as we write, the TV channel is going on with business and broadcasting more than ever before including a 24 hours news coverage. So, who now is fooling who here? 

The reasons for the penalty imposed on African Media in the month of June, ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd. The members of the National Communication Council noted a recurrence of professional blunders on Pan-African television, revealed Mr. Essoka and guests on the channel were accused of uttering unjustified accusations and hate speech intended to harm the image and hard earn reputation of highly placed Cameroon government officials, foreign institutions and countries.

So, after more than two months, Hon. Peter Essoka is now satisfied that the doors of a French Cameroun television channel has been sealed by a retired Anglophone journalist. Great achievement for the Southern Cameroons National Council. The facilities of the Africa Media under the direct supervision of  Police Commissioner Evelyn Ngoe Besumbu accompanied by some elements of her unit on the instructions of the sub-prefect of the district of Yaoundé II and in the presence of Gustave Sing, the Director of Africa Media "closed" the building while broadcasting was still going on inside. This is the journalism and its ethics that Peter Essoka brought from the US to Cameroon with his English With A Difference. We of this publication are saying that the gentleman needs rest.