Editorial

The dust is yet to settle on the much talk about disputed presidential election in Gabon. The election did not only attract international observers, it was closely monitored by Cameroonians who took keen interest in the pre elections, elections and post elections. In fact Gabon is the second country after Cote d’Ivoire (2010-2011) whose presidential elections kept Cameroonians divided over who becomes the next president.

Gabon and Cameroon: Two Countries, same culture

A number of factors including geopolitical, linguistic and socio-economic aspects played a major role in the attention. Geographically Gabon is located just south of Cameroon, hence making movement to and from Gabon very easy. Many Cameroonian businessmen sell their goods in Gabon; several others live there and have established empires.
The people speak one language and have almost same way of life, even though many have been quick to say Gabonese are lazy.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of late president, Omar Bongo whose stay in power and long standing friendship with Paul Biya, made them birds of the same feathers. Paul Biya is seen as the political god father to Ali Bongo whom his father before dying is said to have told Mr Biya that he should take care of his son.

Cameroonian media also played a huge role in the elections, reporting live and setting the agenda, giving rendezvous to homes .Elections in Gabon now became a must watch event thanks to the afore mentioned aspects.

But Cameroon Concord noticed that away from these aspects, they were more issues that made the elections unprecedented in the history of Gabon’s presidential polls.

Enter Ping and The Ping Pong Game

Perhaps what made the elections more interesting were the men who stood as candidates. The fact that Jean Ping, former AU chairman had succeeded to bring closer to him former prime minister , Casmir Oye Mba and former National Assembly Speaker, Guy Nzouba who are forces to reckon with. Jean Ping was seen as the man who will put an end to the Bongo dynasty by stopping Ali Bongo from winning a second term. Majority of Gabonese therefore paid less attention to the Chinese origin of Mr Ping to give a sanction vote against Bongo, whom they think incarnates the Bongo dynasty, a name they want to erase from their dictionary. The opposition coalition led by Ping brought fears within the PDG of Mr Bongo who was forced to cancel the Franksville campaign.

But Ping began his Ping-Pong game when he unilaterally announced his victory even before official results from CENAP, the country’s electoral commission. Ping will the next day explain to the press what he meant by his declaration which was already seen as a speech geared at fuelling violence.

The attempt by Ping to also bring foreign forces into Gabon to make him win by hook or crook shows how desperate he was to have power at 73, his telephone discussion with Ivorian adviser at the presidency, MAMADI Diane, has widely gained him the title, Sellout Even if Mr Ping had won the elections, his call on the international community and his allegiance towards France goes without saying that he is the candidate of the international community.

Mr Ping was equally caught in his own cobweb when he was reminded how in 2011 when he was still the AU Chairman, he refused a recount of the Ivorian polls despite calls from Gbagbo, saying it will be injustice to Ouattara who according to him had won.
This international community, especially France which has been at the origin of several presidential choices has gone into work since the results were disputed. French Television have been shamelessly portraying Gabon as a failed state and going as far as saying Ali Bongo is not from Gabon, that he stole the polls. What power does France have to ask for a recount of votes in Gabon or any other African Country?

Even though it is very evident that Ali Bongo might have rigged the elections in his favour, especially in his home city Haut Ougue, with startling results of 99.98% of participation, only compared to North Korean elections, the fact that the dynamic president whose 7 year development program has beaten the over 40 years spent by his father, did not or not openly solicited help from France gives him more support than someone who has put Gabon on Sale.

Ali Bongos victory however came to confirm that it is very difficult and will remain difficult to beat an incumbent from the Central African sub region. Sit tight leaders who will use any means to rig elections. Gabon just like Cameroon, Congo, Chad and Equatorial Guinea have beaten records for longest serving presidents in Africa starting from late Omar Bongo to Paul Biya.

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Prince Hanson Nfor

06.Sep.2016

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In advance societies like USA, UK, Germany, China, Japan, etc, you will see a lot of industries and less number of religious worships centres. In poor societies like Nigeria, Haiti, Jamaica, Liberia, Cameroon, etc, you will see a lot of religious centres and very few industries.
Any country that has more religious worship centres than industries will automatically go poor.
To savage Nigeria economic problem we need more of industries that can go into more exportations and less importations. This will bring more dollar into circulation and strengthen the naira value against the dollar. Unfortunately, while India is exporting technology, Nigeria is exporting religion - Africa is doom. 

We as a nation need to look inward because change have to start within.
It is very clear that religion is not helping Africa it is only destroying what we are paying taxes for. We should start discouraging our able body men and women from becoming clerics let them start industries or put their brains into other profitable things. We have had religious centres enough. Let the rest go start industries. Why will our good brains be diverted?

Poor mentalities is affecting us seriously; the more the religious centres the more evil the society is becoming. Sometimes we thought Africa is serving God more than others but we are actually serving the devil if we really search inward. God have mercy!
I think Karl Marx is right when he said religion is the opium of the masses.

It is poverty and bad leadership in Africa that is oppressing us making us flocking religious centres for help.
This is a time to plan. We do not have to continue doing the same thing over and over and expect a change, that is insanity. If we fail to plan for the future, the future can disappoint us.

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Christopher O. Theodore

29.Aug.2016

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Considering that Cameroon signed and ratified the Charter of the United Nations which is based on the principles of the dignity and equality of all human beings and seeks, among other basic objectives, to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

Considering that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that all human beings, Nso people inclusive, are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set out in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, in particular as to race, colour or national origin,

Considering that the United Nations has condemned colonialism, and all practices of segregation and discrimination associated therewith,

Taking into account the failing top-bottom approach to governance in Cameroon, the misuse of public funds, the abuse of public institutions, and the irrational privatization of institutions that provide the basic rights such as access to safe water and sanitation,

Taking into account the fact that, the people of Nso are citizens of Cameroon and have the inalienable rights to cultural and community development activities that provide for their basic needs including safe water, health, sanitation, and food,

Alarmed by the manifestations of administrative blunders, secretive privatization and bypass of traditional authority still in evidence in Nso, as imposed by the 34-year ruining and ruling regime by means of legislative, administrative, judiciary or other measures, in the form, inter alia, of bad governance, segregation, and separation,

Convinced that the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) clearly protects and promotes cultural rights in Africa and for all Africans and that culture is an integral bond that factors into effective growth and development strategies,

Convinced that all forms of discrimination against culture, still more so, governmental policies based on the prejudice of tribal superiority or on hatred, besides constituting a violation of fundamental human rights, tend to jeopardize friendly cultural relations among peoples, cooperation between tribes and national peace and security,

Convinced further that the building of a Cameroon society -- free from all forms of segregation and discrimination -- factors which create hatred and division among men, is one of the fundamental objectives of the United Nations and the Cameroon constitution,

1. I solemnly affirm the rights of the people of Nso to keep managing their community development project -- Kumbo Water Authority -- which they have been relying on to successfully supply safe water and sanitation to entire communities for more than 40 years;

2. I solemnly affirm the importance of adopting community-base approaches to governance, development, and growth, citing the case of Nso in particular. It is important that decentralization is seen in every stratum of the society and that culture should be promoted as a development strategy while recognizing the pivotal role played by traditional rulers and opinion leaders in their communities;

3. I solemnly support the Fon of Nso for standing for the rights of the people. I support every action to promote individual and collective rights. The Nso water project is a collective right and the people have a say in every decision taken by the regime;

4. I solemnly encourage open and inclusive dialogue, negotiations that bring together every relevant stakeholder identified in growth processes within the society. We cannot keep up with a top-bottom approach when it keeps failing us ever since we gained independence in 1961. We must learn to empower the local communities to manage their own affairs, support those communities and not rip them off with harsh and dubious policies;

3. Opinion leader and traditional rules in the African culture are pivotal in peace and security with any sovereign state. and for a fragile state like Cameroon, with increasing threats of terrorism, swelling grievances against the regime's loopholes, it is imperative that the HRH Fon Sehm Mbinglo must be seen as a citizen and a pivot seeking to promote unity and cohesion in his Fondom.

Fon Sehm Mbinglo, you have the motion of support from the youths who stand behind you. You have my support. Remain blessed and steadfast with your drive. You are a nation builder.

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Tapang Ivo

27.Aug.2016

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A cloud of mystery surrounds the goals of those behind the recent release from prison of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the assassinated Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Prof. Yehudit Ronen, a leading expert on Libya and the African Sahel region at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post that Gaddafi, who was the designated heir to lead Libya, is still wanted by the International Criminal Court and a Libyan death sentence still hovers over his head.

“His recent release has aroused discussion in Libya and abroad. Does the Zintan armed militia that released him envisage his return to the center of the Libyan political stage?” asked Ronen, a political scientist and author of the acclaimed Qaddafi’s Libya in World Politics.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, while hiding in the vast southern Libyan desert, was captured by the powerful Zintan armed militia in November 2011, several months after the collapse of the regime in Tripoli. 

About five years later, Ronen elaborates, “after being imprisoned in a well-guarded jail in a town in the Western Zintan region, the Zintan militia, which adamantly refused to turn him over to the Libyan government, released him from prison.”

The Zintan militia, along with its powerful political and military rival, the Misrata militia, controlled the foci of power in post-Gaddafi Libya.

The surprising move was reportedly made under a general amnesty.

“The release of Saif al-Islam brought him again to the political forefront, notwithstanding his well-known and hateful statements during the 2011 bloody war against the fighting rebels, including the Zintan forces, vowing to fight them down to ‘the very last bullet’ and threatening that ‘rivers of blood will flow through all cities of Libya.’ “Does the Zintan armed militia, whose members were once allied with his father and served in Libya’s army, wish to seize his political charisma, experience and diplomatic talents and connections to gain the upper hand in Libya’s chaotic and violent struggle, which has reached in fact a tragic stalemate?” she asked.

The Libya expert added that other questions remain, such as the place of his current hiding as well as whether other Libyan and non-Libyan players were behind the release.

“What were their goals in releasing Saif al-Islam?” Whatever the answers, says Ronen, the disintegrating and dysfunctional Libyan state, which is torn up by civil war as well as by a determined war by Islamic State, which seeks to deepen its hold on the oil-rich and strategic Sirte region, “requires the utmost creative moves to help post-Gaddafi Libya curb its slide into the abyss.” 

JP

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Rita Akana

24.Aug.2016

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Within two months alone, Cameroon, a poor underdeveloped West African nation has wowed the public with massive amounts of money either borrowed from international banks, stolen from the homes of alleged state thieves or spent wastefully in few days. I will explain.

1. In June, FCFA 555 million ($956,464 USD) was reportedly stolen from the home of current health minister, Andre Mama Fouda. It has not been recovered, according to reports. Mr. Fouda has not been investigated for keeping such a huge amount of money.

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Tapang Ivo

22.Aug.2016

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When President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office on 29 May last year, many people believed change had finally come. Mr. Buhari pulled ahead of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan with close to three million votes. He won 21 states while President Jonathan defeated him in 15 states as well as the Federal capital territory Abuja.

It was the first time that an opposition party candidate had defeated a sitting Nigerian President since democracy returned in 1999.

During the campaign, Mr. Buhari and his All Progressives Congress, APC, promised to create millions of jobs, end corruption, defeat Boko Haram, free the Chibok girls and give a new direction to a country that had been despised in the comity of nations.

But in his second year in office, many find it hard to say in a concrete way what he has achieved. While some progress has been made in the fight against Boko Haram, Mr. Buhari declared during his inaugural speech in Abuja that the war against the terrorists would not be said to have been won if the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped in their school in April 2014, were not released.Mr. Buhari and the APC lambasted Mr. Jonathan when the kidnapping took place and repeatedly said his failure to rescue them should send him out of office and propel them to power to do what he could not do.

But since Mr. Buhari took over power, the economy has virtually collapsed, with the naira now one of the worst currencies on the continent. Thousands of people have been sacked as the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians continued to crash. Companies have closed shop and the jobs Mr. Buhari promised are nowhere to be seen.

Worse, electricity has crashed to its lowest level in many decades and with high oil fuel prices at the pump, many businessmen find it hard to afford the product to power their electricity generating sets.

Mr. Buhari has continually blamed the administration of Mr. Jonathan for massive looting and corruption and has said he found an empty treasury and a deluge of problems.

While many Nigerians understand his lamentations, millions of people are getting tired of excuses in his second year in office.

Mr. Buhari’s party members have been engaged in internal wrangling from the Senate to the House of representatives and the APC does not even have a Board of Trustees Chairman as at now.

It seems to many Nigerians that it is not about the people but about who gets what, about their personal interests.

It also seems that Mr. Buhari does not have a clear economic roadmap and decisions sometimes are not well thought before implementing them. The decision to sponsor pilgrims when the country is broke has also left many people wondering whether his priorities were upside down or not.

With low oil prices at the international market and his failure to solve the agitation in the Niger Delta that has crumbled oil production by at least 700, 000 barrels of oil a day, things have been made things worse for Nigerians.

Many people now believe that things have never been this bad since independence from the United Kingdom in 1960.

Excuses by Mr. Buhari are beginning to annoy many. The President should realise that he is in charge and should solve problems Nigerians sent him from his Daura farm to the country’s seat of power in Abuja to resolve.

Failure to do that will make him a failure just like Mr. Jonathan who also did not fix electricity, or our refineries or our dead factories.

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Simon Ateba

16.Aug.2016

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