“The People of Mezam are being cheated,” Hon. Fobi

Cameroon - By Chifu Edward - Hon Fobi Simon, vice chair of the Finance committee of the National Assembly, has decried the alarming incongruity in the allocation of parliamentary seats in Cameroon. If a parliamentarian is entitled to about one thousand people, Bamenda with over six hundred thousand people warrants at least six parliamentarians. Unfortunately, he is alone in Bamenda made up four sub divisions.

The MP decried the injustice during a New Year feast he organized at his Ghana street residence in Bamenda to congratulate the chairpersons of the Social Democratic Front for a job well done and in recognition of their efforts which they have put in during the last 21years. Ward chairpersons are the work horses of the party.

The MP attributed the growth of the party to the relentless efforts of the ward chair persons. It is on this premise that “The future of the party still depends on the strength of the work horses –ward chair persons. The stronger the work horses the more the achievements for tomorrow. We must encourage them, congratulate them and focus them towards tomorrow,” he insisted.

He expressed optimism that 2012 will be a very good year for the party. “We must begin it with a lot of optimism,” said he, but warned that militants should be ready for action given the continuous scheme by the ruling party to twist election records via its rigging machinery ELECAM

“They will not get away with it this time,” he warned. “Either ELECAM will shape up or it will shape out. We will not accept the mess they did last year. They are beginning with ELECAM with the same language they used last year before the presidential, which is not acceptable. Our forces must be focused this 2012 on our adversary who doesn’t seem to do justice to Cameroonian people.” While wishing militants of the party a more prosperous and fulfilling year, he lamented that his means are limited given the large number of people placed at his mercy by the state.

It was on this note that he lamented Mezam is being cheated in the allocation of parliamentary seats. He said the constituency needs a maximum of six parliamentarians. He argued that there is an injustice. He opined that the legislative map should be redistributed this year. It must be corrected. The population of Mezam estimated at over six hundred thousand is too much for a single parliamentarian. Otherwise, the people of Mezam are being cheated. “It is a shame, and we cannot continue like that. We must ask for the number of parliamentary seats that are commensurate with number of people,” Fobi advocated.

On the industrial zone, he said 2 billion has been allocated for its creation. He said they are pushing for it to see the light of day. He said it is time for them to sing their song of the party ward chair person because “If SDF is what it is today, it is thanks to the ward chairpersons”. They are those consolidating the grassroot base of the party. It is for this reason that the MP disclosed that micro-project grants of this year will be given to the Ward chairpersons to empower them. The funds will be used on logistics and equipping of their offices to give a new face to the party structures. Feasting and dining characterized activities of the day.

The acting provincial chairman of the party Hon Njong Everistus hailed  Hon Fobi for the initiative which would go a long way to galvanizing party structures. He represented the National Chairnan, John Fru Ndi, who was unavoidably absent.

In attendance was the Government Delegate to Bamenda City Council and the Divisional Officer of Bamenda III sub Division. He also lauded efforts being made by the MP to unite the people and preaching peace and love.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Mayor Shoots D.O. with Bunches of Keys during the Evaluation Meeting

Cameroon - Bamenda - The immediate cause of the abortive fight allegedly emanated when the Secretary of State complained that CFA 500.000 contributed by the Mayor for the campaign was small. The Mayor in reaction questioned the source of the money spent on the campaign. 

According to eye witness accounts the Minister gave figures on how the campaign money was spent. The Mayor questioned the source and the exact amount. It was then that the Minister disclosed that about CFA 12.000.000 millions was allocated for Misaje section. In this regard, the Minister sidelined the Mayor in the management of the CFA 12.000.000. 

This Minister in an attempt to humiliate the Mayor met with furious reaction from the Mayor, who faced the DO of Misaje for fanning the rancour between him and the Minister. He reported shot the DO with a bunch of keys and made advances to fight but was held back.

It should be recalled that the Minister had over the years indicted the population of his village Chungwe and increased that of Kamane, the Mayor’s village, to attract more development projects.

Apart from false accusations and empty pride the Sec. of State’s adversaries have hinted that he is discriminatory in the distribution of political fallouts of the population’s adherence to the CPDM.

Of recent the population of Misaje, the Mayor inclusive, has complained bitterly about the staffing of the Misaje communication centre. Four of the main staff of the structure hail from the Minister’s village. It is apparently on this note and others that the Fon of Ayaba, Cyprain Njong, attacked the Minister last year, shortly after the November 6 celebration in Misaje. 

The Fon complained that the Minister caused him to sign forms and documents from the Ministry of Culture intended to rehabilitate his palace but later on erased his name and inserted that of his village, Chunghe, to enable his Fon reap the harvest when his own village Nfume gave the CPDM 100% at 2007 legislative and municipal elections.

The discriminatory attitude of the Minister was cause to light during the Head Of State visits to Bamenda. According to the source, the Secretary of State used his position as the organizing Secretary to reportedly sideline most Fons of Ndu and Nkambe central in the allocation of seats in the grand stand. Most big Fons of these two sub divisions did not have seats while small chiefs, and even sub chiefs, had places in the grand stand. 

The differences between the Mayor and Secretary of State are reportedly affecting the CPDM party. The Vanguard gathered that CPDM would not have won the presidential election if much money was not used to buy votes. Poorly executed contracts by the Secretary of State’s Company.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Sec. of State Gentry at Daggers Drawn with Misaje Mayor

Cameroon - Nkambe - The battle lines have been drawn as he is poised to replace Mayor Nkenda Simon with Sammy Gwatta, current municipal treasurer of Nkambe council.

The misunderstanding between the Mayor of Misaje, Kenda Simon, and the Secretary of Mines and Techological Development, Fuh Calistus Gentry, is on the verge of explosion.

Glimpses of a fierce battle between the two, who both belong to the ruling  CPDM, were seen during an evaluation meeting held shortly after celebrations marking the 29th anniversary of Biya’s accession to power.

Although the immediate cause of the exchange of bitter words and abortive attempts to exchange blows both between the Mayor, the DO, and Minister emanated from the contribution and management of campaigns funds, the rancour between  Minister and Mayor started years back when the section president Alaji Magaji Misaje died.

This Minister reportedly wanted one retired Head Master to become section president but the Mayor objected on grounds that he was an intellectual dwarf.

The Mayor Kencha insisted on Sammy Nkwata to become the section president. Just like Zacheus Forjindam wanted one intellectual Lilliputian to replace John B. Ndeh in the 2007 reorganisation of Santa CPDM Section (Mezam I) for obvious political manipulation in the long run, so was the case of Misaje. Kenda succeeded in securing the position of the section president for Sammy Nkwanta, much against the will of the secretary of state.

Shortly after his investiture the Minister invited Sammy to Yaoundé, where he is alleged to have promised him the juicy post of Mayor. Since then, both individuals have been suspicious of each other and their conviviality in political meetings considered cosmetic.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Pressure on Biya again to rebury Ahmadou in Cameroon

Cameroon - The first president of Cameroon, Amadou Ahidjo, died in 1989.This November marked 22nd anniversary of his death. The pressure to rebury the former statesman puts the present leader, Paul Biya a headache at the time he badly needs the support of the Northerners to ensure peace.

Ever since, attempts at negotiating the return of his remains from Senegal, where he died, have not worked out. The former president’s family has continuously blame the man he handpicked to succeed him – President Paul Biya - for the non return of his corpse from Senegal fort reburial in Cameroon.

A source has hinted the Vanguard that Biya is under heat as the circumstances that led to his self-exile and final death in Senegal had some miseries.

According to our source, the late president’s son, Mr. Mohamadou Badjika Ahidjo holds that “it is government which must take the initiative to repatriate the remains of the former president, and we are available as a family to collaborate in the effort. I think the initiative should come from the state.”

The widow, Mrs. Germaine Ahidjo, reportedly lamented that President Biya does not think so. It should be recalled that in a 2007 interview granted in France, Biya declared: “The problem of the repatriation of the remains of the former president is, according to me, a family one.”

He continued that: “If the family of my predecessor decides to transfer the remains of President Ahidjo, it is a decision that depends only on them. I don’t have any objection or observation to make.”

This hope of a pleasant end to the saga was rekindled on March 30, 2008 when President Ahidjo’s friend and former Benin leader Emile Zinzou paid Biya a visit.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Terror on Tribesmen in Ngoketunjia

Cameroon - Elhadj Danpullo Intensifies Terror on Tribesmen in Ngoketunjia. Billionaire land owner intensifies terror against tribesmen despite interventions by the United Nations Human Rights Council and several international Human Rights Organizations.

Mr. Baba Danpollo Ahmadou billionaire land owner and commercial rancher in North-West Cameroon, member of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM is alleged to have seized horses from tradesmen in accordance with a recent ‘LAW’ in which ‘His Excellency’ ‘banned’ horse trade in the Region under the pretext that horses are being exterminated through the trade!

According to eye-witnesses at least 38 horses were confiscated by gendarmes and militias acting on Mr. Danpullo’s orders on Sunday 13, November 2011, at Bamukumbit village in Ngokitunjia. The horses were then taken by the gendarmes and militias to Mr. Danpullo’s ELBA Ranch several kilometers away where they are being held illegally.

In a report sent to an Anti-Corruption Hotline in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé and copied the Ministry of Justice and Dignity Campaign, a source has hinted the Vanguard that “Some representatives of the owners of the horses who went to Ndawara next  morning to recover horses met with stiff resistance and threats of imprisonment from Baba Ahmadou Danpullo.

Other unconfirmed sources contradicted that the said individuals have effectively been detained by gendarmes in Ndop town several kilometers from their homes. The detainees join other horse traders, namely Seini Yamsa and two others unlawfully arrested in Babanki by the Gendarme Commander of Ndawara since 7th October and arbitrarily detained at Ndop Gendarmerie Cell without charge – their crime being that they are horse traders – a business ‘banned’ by Mr. Danpullo.

Danpullo’s agents all over the region are allegedly taking the law into their hands by confiscating horses from their owners. One Yaya Juli a.k.a. Jamaica of Tahkui and Ardo Bobbo Sule of Vekovi are said to have attempted to seize horses from traders in the village of Vekovi, North of Bamenda, recently but the State Counsel of the area intervened to stop an ensuing violent conflict, pointing out that there is no law banning horse trade in any part of the country.

In a letter supposedly addressed to the Governor of the North-West Region, which leaked, the horse owners said, “on Sunday 13/11/2011 that our horses were intercepted by gendarmerie services of Ndawara, Ndop and Balikumbat at Bamukumbit village in Balikumbat Sub Division of Ngoketunjia Division, led by their brigade commanders.

Our 38 horses were taken to Ndawara and impounded there. We sent some of our agents to Ndawara this morning and Alhaji Baba Danpullo told them that he will arrest all of us and send us to prison for defying his law abolishing horse trade.

All our herdsmen have been bundled down to the Gendarmerie service Ndop and we do not know what will follow after their interrogation at Ndop Brigade.” In reference to Mr. Danpullo’s ultra the law, the letter further states, “He addressed the said letter to about 40 Ardos in the region.

He later called a meeting of some of the Ardos paying allegiance to him at his Ndawara residence and in Sabga where he told them that he has banned the sales of horses in the entire region. He promised to arrest any person who tries to defy his Marshall Law.” Sources at the Office of the Governor confirmed that a complaint has been received and is ‘being acted upon’ but would not give further details.

This initiative is yet another of Danpullo’s bizarre obsession of control over the Mbororo community and their pastoralist economy and his blatant lack of understanding, bad advice or refusal to follow laid-down administrative procedures and the law. It is unacceptable that an individual who travels on Cameroonian diplomatic passport takes upon themselves to make draconian and stupid rules and then order state security forces to enforce them!

Mr. Danpullo and ‘his’ Gendarmes need to understand that HE is not the State and cannot make bizarre rules and enforce them against the law and the wishes of the Mbororo community!

The Justice and Dignity Campaign condemns this latest strategy of further impoverishing and subjugating the Mbororo pastoralists of North-West Cameroon and call on the authorities to stop Mr. Danpullo and his agents forthwith.

All those involved should be investigated and prosecuted for carrying out unlawful instructions and confiscation of private property. All properties should be returned to their rightful owners who should be compensated for lost earnings and damages suffered.

These abuses give an unfortunate impression of Cameroonas a lawless country where wealthy individuals can preside over life and death of ordinary people! No other Cameroonian economic operator has been the subject of intervention by UN in Cameroon, except Danpullo!

The UN Human Rights Council has intervened more than once to get the Cameroon government to stop these violations to no avail. The matter has also reached the African Commission, the US Senate and many international organizations, all of whom have called on the authorities to stop the human rights abuses against the Mbororo pastoralists by Baba Ahmadou Danpullo.

We again urge the government to fully implement its own Jani Commission finding on Baba Ahmadou Danpullo’s exactions and get all government agents in the Region to stop acting on orders of Mr. Danpullo, as he has no authority to instruct them! The Justice and Dignity Campaign NGO reacting to the unruliness of Danpollo.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Opposing Independence

Bamenda - Opinion and debat desk - Bamileke Oppose to the Restoration of the Independence of the Southern Cameroons. By Prof. Carlson Anyangwe. 

La République du Cameroun, the Bamileke are the chief opponents of our liberation in the hopeless belief that we can continue to be held captive in their country. This is something of a puzzle. We sheltered people from virtually all the ethnic groups in République du Cameroun fleeing bloody French repression and exactions: Bamileke, Ewondo, Bulu, Duala, Bassa, Bafia, and some ‘nordistes’.

People from these various tribes in République du Cameroun did not flee to neighbouring French-speaking countries for reasons they know only too well. They chose to come to us and out of our generosity we welcomed them and settled them among us in a spirit of African brotherhood and solidarity.

This is the pay we get from them, especially the Bamileke who constituted the largest group of refugees. Could they have forgotten so easily?

Even today, our African French-speaking friends opt for the world of the very Anglo-Saxons they and their French Masters lampoon so often: Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States of America. France (or any French-speaking African country for that matter) is not a preferred destination. 

Those who succeed in making the treacherous Mediterranean crossing to France use that country merely as a transit point to other destinations of preference. It is further puzzling why these people should vote with their feet by going to English-speaking countries and yet instinctively reject the very value systems, the very mindset, the very culture and the very governance model that make those countries so attractive and so inviting.

The basic ‘argument’ of the opponents of our freedom is that they too suffer from the same evil we decry; an evil, they say, visited upon everyone by what they themselves admit is a satanic regime; replace that regime with a ‘good’ one, they maintain, and we shall all be happy ever after. That is a fat lie.

The difference between our cause and their case is so patent that even an intellectually weak person can see it. We are a separate and distinct people and country fighting against brutal colonial occupation by a neighbouring country, their country.

The only remedy for our forlorn land and condition of captivity is decolonisation, freedom. The coloniser must pack and go! The Bamileke, Bassa, Ewondo, Bulu etc. etc. etc. are ethnic groups within République du Cameroun.

The remedy for their malady in their country lies in good governance, rule of law, and free and fair elections. How they face up to that challenge is their cup of tea not ours, and attempts to enlist our involvement in it in the name of a sorry and content-less brotherhood must be puerile.

In a sense their task has been made a lot more easy thanks to the various cases we have instituted against their country’s regime as a result of which that regime has time and again been found guilty of gross human rights abuses, including torture and other inhuman treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and extra-judicial killings.

The judiciary in that country has also been found to be a dependent judiciary completely under the boot of the country’s ruler. For us, a new regime that comes to power in that country, even if it is an angelic regime, will not make us discontinue the fight for our manumission so long as that country continues to hold us in terror and captivity.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.

Frank Biya’s inertia on father’s aspiration founded

Bamenda - Frank Biya is the son of President Paul Biya. He is university-groomed in political science. Frank’s purported preference for his current business, timber logging, to offers of joining government indicates sound judgment.

Paul Biya took a somewhat good economy from first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982 and handicapped it. Cameroon today, despite government whitewashing, is heavily indebted (HIPC), corrupt, insecurity-rife, bane to ballot democracy, composite components fragile (SCNC and allied threats). The place can erupt to total chaos at short notice.

It is because of this state of affairs and management style of the country that Frank Biya must have cautioned his father on hovering doom. Hence talks of Frank’s inertia with respect to the idea of rocking him with this setup are understandable.

The media is awash with President Biya’s clandestine preparation to be succeeded by Frank as obtained with many a dictator. Legend has it that heirs of socially accepted parents are not frowned at, but taking the hereditary position of an autocrat is a curse and source of worries. More, here, Cameroon is a Republic and not a monarchy.

Citizens have rejected ministerial and other top government positions to avoid faintest contact with the incumbent CPDM-led government, which administration [CPDM] is considered the cause of the country’s varied woes. Others, meanwhile, embrace the rot looting the commonwealth.

They insult the ordinary folks like mad. Cameroonians of this calibre include Polycarp Abah, Ondongdong, and Fonjindam Z. Their excesses at times exceed Biya-tolerable level thus getting them into trouble.

Further, many more including, Biya himself, are discarded especially at the ballot by particularly the downtrodden and social critics.

We hear Frank Biya has snubbed at offers to enter government. This is laudable considering the derogatory expectations of self-aggrandisement of political and administrative officers in Cameroon.

Should Frank maintain this assumed social posture of hatred for injustice, then he would have propelled himself onto the famous pedestal of good people’s choice and desires.

President Biya, who will be utterly embarrassed by his son’s anti-establishment stance, possibly will solicit help from even his cronies to arm-twist Frank Biya to submit.

©2011 The Vanguard Cameroon, Bamenda. A publication of Media World. All rights reserved.  All are welcome to comment. Leave a comment, speak your mind and take part in any discussion. As exchange of ideas and debates between opinions are fundamental for our democracy. And will push Cameroon forward. Comments with racist, homophobic, sexist, hateful, extreme Christian or extreme Islamic content will be removed. Leave the CAPS-LOCK off, no reason to SHOUT.