Editorial

Life has tragedies, misfortunes and gloom. Life at the same time offers solace to those in unfortunate circumstances.
The erstwhile Southern Cameroons witnessed tremendous financial uncertainty when E-Commerce,E-Learning and E-jobbing was affected when Mobile companies sided with the state against their clients by switching off internet connectivity.
Young and blooming entrepreneurs were obliged to suffer the crunch and thus billions were lost.
On Friday last week, the head of state of (Cameroun) extended his largess of seventy three million to those whose shops and make shift shalks were gutted by fire. Today the big questions that beg for answers remain unanswered.
Were shops only burnt in Bamenda -Cameroon?
What about those whose shops were burnt in Buea,Kumba and Limbe?
What about the billions lost because people across the erstwhile Southern Cameroons could not communicate via internet and the millions of job opportunities that people could have grabbed if there were internet connections?
When shall these other affected class of persons be compensated either by the state or the thievery mobile companies?
We are waiting and expecting because that will be the right thing in the right direction.

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Rita Akana

11.May.2017

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I have never been dumbfounded, bemused,shocked and stupefied like yesterday,the 10th of May 2017. When the Minister of Secondary Education declared that for the first time in history, unregistered candidates of an Examination could write without registration,it marked the beginning of absurdity. How shall these scripts be marked and how shall their results registered when they don't have any serial number that makes unpublished results confidential? Has the Minister any plan B for those students whose fate awaits them come next academic year because they have to stay put thus mounting pressure on class capacity? This is because these students have not been studying and therefore the GCE shall not be written next academic year because of the vacuum that the stake holders refused to acknowledge existed?
Solutions to every problem can only surface when a very indept analysis and synthesis of the root cause had been discovered and uncovered.
A civil Engineer will tell you that when the very foundation of a structure has cracks, it definitely will be stupidity for the owner to change but the roof the house and a new coat of paint added to the dilapidated structure.
Consciously the issues affecting the Anglos-axon Educational system must be remedied and curricula that is purely theirs allowed entirely in their hands.
Syncretism is what is ruining this Country called the Cameroon's because kerosene and oil can never blend.
The GCE Board stands as the loser should any Examination be conducted this year because its credibility stands a high risk being ruined for life.
No examination board worth the salt can forget and forfeit its future because of the presence.
The GCE Board was not given to the Anglophones on a platter of gold,rather it was and is a child of the Anglophone resistance.
This history of the GCE Board should ring a warning bell on the ears of those who today are reaping where they never sowed. They must remember that lives were lost in that struggle, people were maimed and eyes lost because of the veracious attacks launched on Anglophones by the state Gendarmes using water cannons, hand grenades and Toxic tear-gas. Today those whose duty is to jealously protect the future of the young Anglophobe students have agreed to put it to jeopardy. What an inferno and what a disgrace. History shall be our judge and shall either nail us to the cross of humiliation,disgrace and Shame or venerate us if we shall have clean hands.

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Rita Akana

11.May.2017

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France is facing a second and final round in its presidential election. The winner has the daunting task of reviewing policy on Africa as the former colonies still play a significant role in French national life.

Frances's presidential candidates are all too well aware of the importance that their country attaches to Africa and the former colonies. In the middle of a domestic election campaign, Marine le Pen visited the West African state of Chad and Emmanuel Macron went to Algeria. 

Views on the whys and wherefores of France's Africa policy differ hugely. Incumbent French President Francois Hollande maintains that Frnace does not intervene in Africa to pursue its own interests, nor does it seek to change the rules of African politics or bring about regime change.    

"France supports Africa because we believe it has great potential," Hollande said. 

France's presence in Africa is focused largely on its former colonies. During painful process of decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s, "La Grande Nation" never lost sight of its own interests. Use of the French language in the former French territories remains obligatory. There are still two currency unions in existence - the West African CFA franc and the Central African CFA franc - to which a total of 15 African states belong. Currency reserves are held in France's central bank. It is open to dispute whether the CFA offer greater advantages to France or the African states,            

Strong links

French corporations such as the construction company Bolloré, the oil giant Total and the telecoms group Orange maintain a massive presence in the ex-colonies.

Stefan Brüne, an expert on Franco-African relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, believes nonetheless that French influence in Africa may be waning slightly, but it is still very much in evidence.      

"There are still strong links between Paris and the former colonies,"  he said

French companies import commodities from many West and Central African countries, such as uranium ore from Niger and Gabon or cocoa from Ivory Coast.  About 9,000 French soldiers are stationed in those countries. Their mandate is to fight terrorists and train African troops.

Philippe Hugon, a French Africa specialist, believes the emphasis in French engagement in Africa is shifting  

"France is now less involved in trade, finance and investment, but it is maintaining its influence on monetary policy and its military presence," he said. 

However, the French are facing growing competition. China has established close ties with many African countries and the United States has been also displaying greater commitment to Africa in recent years. 

Growing EU role

It costs France a lot of money to maintain its role a as major player in Africa. Military interventions are not cheap, neither is the development aid which France dispatches to Africa. France has its own domestic economic problems and is therefore finding it increasingly difficult to finance its African operations. Another factor is that the 28-nation European Union, of which France is a member, is becoming more active in Africa. The impact on France's own national policy on Africa could be profound, said Stefan Brüne.                    

"It would mean that part of the Parisian political elite would lose the means to exert influence and I do not think that they would be prepared to accept that," he said.

Several presidents and presidential candidates have promised to reform France's policy on Africa and to move from a position of dominance to that of a partner among equals. In practice, however, such promises have changed very little.     

African politicians, meanwhile, can be heard telling their citizens that their respective countries need to be less dependent on France, the former colonial power. One recent example was President Alpha Conde of Guinea-Conakry, who currently holds the presidency of the 55-nation African Union.        

"We are still closely associated with former colonial power. Let's cut the umbilical cord," Conde said defiantly.

But two weeks later, Condé visited Paris and thanked President Hollande for doing so much for Africa.

Macron on Africa

Emmanuel Macron, the shooting star of the French election campaign, has been giving the impression every now and again that he wants to change France's policy towards its former colonies. During his trip to Algeria in February, he said that colonialism was a part of French history, a crime against humanity and truly barbaric. "We must face up to this part of our history and apologize to those who were at the receiving end," he said.

His remarks were greeted with cries of indignation in France and he quickly backpedalled, returning to a more traditional interpretation of France's Africa policy.

DW   

 

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DW

06.May.2017

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Whether the people respect the law or the law is going to no-go zones is a puzzle that I do not seem to understand. The relationship between the police on the one hand and street vendors on the other leaves much to desire.

There are regular confrontations between the police and street vendors. The police fight on a daily basis to see that the vendors keep some distance from the road. But the business persons are adamant.

On Saturday I witnessed a scene that marveled me. It was 2pm or so at Post Central when I saw a police pick-up drive past. A wave of commotion followed them as they jumped off at the speed of light. The uproar that accompanied the scene attracted people’s attention, and when I looked into that direction, I saw men in a little river-like valley. 

In spite of the water in the river, the vendors looked triumphantly satisfied with piles of cloths, belts and other merchandises, either on their heads or in their armpits. They were looking triumphantly at the police officers who stood helpless beside their vehicle.

I asked myself if it was a new drama. But it was not strange. It is a regular battle between both camps. And I kept wondering whether it was wrong or right for the police to control street vendors.

 If it were not wrong, why would the same people do the same thing over and over? Are Cameroonians too stubborn? Or are the police missing something? Better still it could be a goose that lays the golden egg for one of the parties, given that even when some of the goods are seized the owners sometimes still possess them through a means I do not know how.

Let the powers that be come to terms with the fact that the vendors have a problem that must be looked into as urgently as possible. 

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Tasha Seidou

30.Apr.2017

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The sawdust that the French speaking and French led Government thought was and and shall be pamenent had been washed off and even the blind Southern Cameroonian now sees and the deef now hear. The purported team of those to showcase Bilingualism at several cases said that there was no problem in La Republique Du Cameroun as the Anglophone problem.

How can such naive and narrow minded persons pretend so suddenly that they have become that magic wan that will resolve Political,Economic and Social problems plagueing the Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun? Can such a scam called the commission of Bilingualism and multiculturalism reduce the tention and restore trust for the state that has been eroded?

The truth is it can't and so it will be just like any other commission that has ever been created in the Cameroon. The archives have reports and recommendations that can be reexamined and implemented.

Let's not forget that in 1969,a commission was created to resolve the Anglophone crisis and it was never done.

Is this not a similar scenario aimed at blind folding the Anglophones in Cameroon to once more be robbed and cheated for life?

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Mbi James

28.Apr.2017

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The guy who claims to be Paul Biya's first son Georges Gilbert Baongla (who is rumored to laying the ground work to run as an Independent Candidate and replace his father as President of Cameroon in 2018) rubbishes Government  Ministers, Parliamentarians and other senior CPDM militants for bilking SONARA (in Milliards)  for their selfish interests. He claims (with supporting documentation to justify his assertions that the Cameroon Pipeline is exposed to hazardous conditions like an attack from Terrorists (for example) because it is guarded by a small inconsequential "Fly by Night" Security company (that does not even have batons to chase away a fly) owned by a Government Minister. His own Beti brothers are not left out in his "Tell All" outburst. He further claims that in that amarda of high crimes against the State (of southern Cameroons) are the President of National Assembly, Ministers, other Hausa and Bamileke regime dignitaries. He calls it "Organized Mafia of a dimension not even seen in movies" around SNH, SONARA, SCDP and all others involved in the Petroleum sector including the very lucrative Transportation and sub-contracting SONARA deals that his father (the current President) knows absolutely nothing about. The Southern Cameroonians simply become pawns in a web of intrigue and scheming not knowing exactly what is going on around them while thieves come in, sign deals and fatten their bank accounts in millions of dollars.

I have been saying this for the longest time: The key for Southern Cameroonians emancipation will start and end with the control of our Natural Resources. (Mentchum Waterfalls, Tourism, Buea Mountain, Sonara, Natural Mamfe landscape, Timber, CDC, Tole, Ndian plantations, Yoke, Jutissa, Ngie Wild Life Parks, Alahbukam Gold mines, Lake Pinyin and much more). Southern Cameroons can and will be able to sustain itself.

Think about it: Mentchum Falls alone if well canalized and developed can provide electricity to the whole of West and Central Africa (by all credible analysis).

The North West Province alone is an agricultural untapped oasis & Eldorado once we do away with all those poisoned Eucalyptus implanted by the French in our territory for their SONEL use. Those who have visited Wum, Befang,Kejem Keku, Ndop, Fundong, Jakiri, Nkambe, Batibo, Widikum, Awing, Santa Njong (like me) know exactly what I am talking about. For other researchers, dig deep in your faculties to try to understand why Lake NYOS was bombed by foreign powers. Southern Cameroons is a very RICH soon to be country. Talking about Electricity generation, Nigeria alone with a population of almost 170 million people can sustain our folks for the next 100 years if we put the right people in the right place to the the JOBS they are trained for and pay the commensurate salaries. I think the FRENCH know exactly what they stand to loose; hence their high handedness in using their Military to squash any dissenting voices from Southern Cameroons.

Herewith a bunch of francophone guys and UDC Senator Ms Ndam Njoya (the wife of Party owner Foumban Mayor Adamou Ndam Njoya) discussing about a Southern Cameroonian Refinery with not a single opinion or input from anyone from Southern Cameroons. Ask anyone who claims to be a so-called SC CPDM apparatchik, if they know exactly what is going on in Cameroon with the mostly francophone "Elites" stealing our monies with brazen impunity. While the recording might be a few months old, it was News to me. I don't know what the President's son hopes to achieve (in his 2018 purported Presidential bid) by exposing these humongous theft by many government officials but it takes some amount of guts and courage to do so in front of a National Television. He even ended by challenging those he accused with "Ils ne peuvent rien me faire. J'ai des documents accablants en mains. Je ne parle pas en tant que fils du President. Je suis in citoyen a part entiere et je ne peux pas laisser qu'on lynche mon pere alors qu'il ne maitrisse pas les contours  de cette mafia dangereuse". No more no less.

And so, the 2018 Bafia Dance to replace tonton le President has just started.
Un seul mot!!! You be the judge.

Mishe Fon

DISCLAIMER: Statements and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not reflect in any way those of cameroon-concord.com

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Rita Akana

26.Apr.2017

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