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Friday, December 23, 2011

Commonwealth Wants Level Electoral Playing Field in Cameroon.


And is ready to offer support
 By Chrsitopher Ambe Shu
The Commonwealth has issued its Final Report on the October 9, 2011 Presidential Election in Cameroon. According to the report, some benchmarks for democratic elections were met. But there is “the need for a more level electoral playing field in Cameroon”, it said.

Paul Biya, 78, was reelected president with 87.9% at the October 9 presidential election, which was contested by 23 candidates.

The Cameroon opposition said the election was marred by fraud and irregularities, and called for its cancellation, a call which was rejected by the country’s Supreme Court, sitting in for the Constitutional Council, yet to be set up.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma on 22 December 2011 released the Final Report of the Commonwealth Expert Team which observed the 9 October 2011 Presidential Election in Cameroon.

He said: "The Commonwealth Expert Team found that overall, the election was credible and some of the benchmarks for democratic elections were met. The Team noted that, though more could have been done to level the playing field, the election represented further progress for Cameroon in strengthening its democratic processes. 

The Team noted the establishment of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) as a laudable first step and commended its efforts in the overall management of the process, when compared to previous elections. The Team also noted that ELECAM could have done more to affirm its independence and to address the legal, administrative and logistical constraints it faced in managing the campaigning and electoral environment. The Team also offered a number of recommendations for upgrading electoral procedures in Cameroon, particularly with regard to voter registration.”

The Secretary-General stressed that: “The Commonwealth stands ready to assist Cameroon in further strengthening its democratic process.”

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 countries (totaling some two billion people) that support each other and work together towards shared goals in democracy and development.

Cameroon became a member of the Commonwealth in 1995



Sunday, December 18, 2011

Cameroon:Buea Mayor presented with Key of City of Mission, Texas as he’s invited to USA

By Christopher Ambe Shu


L-R:Mrs. Cathy Garcia hands  KEY to Mayor Mok
The Mayor of the City of Mission, Texas, USA Norberto “Beto” Salinas has  gladly presented to the Mayor of Buea, Cameroon, Charles Mbella Moki, “the KEY to the City of Mission “ and invited him to  visit their community as soon as possible.
   According to Mayor Salinas, who was represented at the key handing over ceremony, Thursday 15, 2011 in Buea, by City of Mission Ambassador Mrs. Cathy Garcia, the  key is “a symbol of Friendship, Goodwill and Kindness between Mission, Texas, USA and Buea, SWR, Cameroon, Africa”
    Part of Mayor Salinas’ letter of invitation, which was read in public to Buea Council staff and invitees by Pastor Penny Cruz, member of the City of Mission delegation to Buea, says:
“I would …like to extend a warm South Texas welcome to you Lord Mayor and invite you to visit our community. We have a famous saying here… “Mi Casa es su Casa” which translates to My home is your Home. Come savor the flavor of Mission, Texas”
Mrs .Garcia and co. were in Cameroon primarily for an evangelical mission and to assist an orphanage –HOTPEC I4, Buea realize a bakery project estimated to cost about 20 million Francs.
   The US delegation came to Cameroon under the canopy of Hope Outreach International Ministries, an organization led by Dr.Julius Esunge, a Cameroonian based in the USA.
Pastor Penny Cruz  reads Mayor Salinas' letter to Mayor Moki
It emerged that Mrs. Garcia is not only a caring pastor, but also an invaluable volunteer and respected leader in the City of Mission, presently serving as Chairman of the Board for the Mission Economic Development Corporation, reason why Mayor Salinas felt honored “to have Cathy officially representing my office as Mayor and the entire City of Mission during this visit”
   Mayor Charles Mbella Moki welcomed his visitors and made a presented Buea, the Town of Legendary Hospitality, to them.
“Just as the mayor of City of Mission, Texas, USA has invited us to community, so too we are inviting him; for we are ready to receive him in Buea”,an elated Mayor Mbella Moki  said, emphasizing on the hospitability of his citizens.
   As a token of love, Mayor Mbella Moki also handed to his visitors Buea Council fabric and brochure, wishing them a healthy and fruitful stay in Cameroon and a safe return to the USA.
   The Mayor showered praises on Dr.Julius Esunge, a native of Buea, for serving as a goodwill ambassador of Buea council in the USA and for his constant efforts to improve the lot of the underprivileged
Asked what the City of Mission Texas would benefit from their ties with Buea council, Pastor Mrs.Garcia, said “We can learn much from the hospitality you have given us. We could share development approaches...and a lot more”
Family picture after Key presentation
 “There can be exchange in the area of business, in economic development and education facilities. I would say things are on the table, and the extent to which things can go would depend on the level of cooperation and mutual understanding between the parties involved”, Dr. Esunge added.
Dr. Esunge told reporters that their activities in Cameroon also included: offering a Christmas party to targeted orphans, holding evangelistic meetings in Ekona, organizing medical outreach and the training of pastors.




Cameroon FA confirms Samuel Eto’o’s 15-match international ban

After denying the rumours earlier this week, the Cameroon FA confirmed on Friday the Indomitable Lions’ captain has been suspended following a match bonus row

Getty Images

 This time it’s for real. Samuel Eto’o has been slapped with a 15-match suspension for instigating strike action within the Cameroon national team last month after officials delayed the payment of match bonuses from the LG Cup held in Morocco. The player strike subsequently botched up a scheduled international friendly against Algeria on November 15.

After a disciplinary hearing held by the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecfoot) in Yaounde on December 12, which Eto’o attended personally, the local media immediately revealed that the Anzhi forward had been banned for seven international games, but the body denied saying it was yet to reach a verdict. The Fecafoot confirmed the 15-match ban to Goal.com.

The team’s vice-captain Enoh Eyong, accused of conspiring with Eto’o, was given a two-match ban, while Tottenham’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who has been spurning call-ups, has been fined £1,300.
Eto’o told reporters after the hearing that the reasons for the strike action were deeper and broader than the match bonus affair, assuring that Cameroonians would soon hear “the whole truth” of the matter.

Newly appointed coach Denis Lavagne and his assistant Martin Ndtoungou Mpile, as well as the Fecafoot vice-president Francis Mveng were also heard by the committee.
The Algeria football federation, which is demanding £650,000 in damages incurred from the scrapped meeting, saluted the exemplary decision of the Fecafoot, but did not say whether it would abandon its case against the Cameroonian body.
-Goal.com

Friday, December 16, 2011

Devaluing a controversial currency

By Julie Owono*

 Fourteen African countries use a currency that hurts their economies and benefits their former colonial master, France.




Three weeks ago, a rumour emerged that the CFA franc - two closely-related currencies used by 14 countries in western and central Africa - would be devalued by 35 per cent on January 1, 2012.
As a result, anxiety is taking hold of the 140 million citizens of francophone Africa. The devaluation could create a liquidity crisis and cause inflation rates to soar. Although the two governors of the central banks of Western and Central Africa have dismissed the rumour, the fact that French authorities and African heads of state failed to comment fuels peoples' fears and could result in a massive financial outflow.
The eurozone crisis and France's struggle to maintain its credit rating deepened fears that devaluing the CFA franc could be indirectly used as an instrument to safeguard the euro.

 On November 14, 2011, a not-so-minor diplomatic incident took place on the tarmac of Cotonou International Airport in Benin: One Gabonese presidential aircraft was boarded and inspected by Beninese public forces. Beninese citizen Maixent Acrombessi, who is Gabon President Ali Bongo's Director of Cabinet, was found with a huge amount of currency.

The story was reported by Le Béninois Libéré, a Beninese newspaper. Aboubakar Tacou, who wrote the article, said that the superintendent in charge of the affair stopped the plane over suspicions of illicit currency outflows. Tacou, whose newspaper has been permanently suspended because of this story, added that Benin, which, like other countries in the region, faces liquidity issues and could be affected by this capital flight.
Illicit financial outflows has historically been a scourge for African countries, particularly those in the CFA zone. A study led by the Global Financial Institute in 2010 showed that the amount of illegal financial outflows in the zone between 1970 and 2008 reached US $48bn. Within this period, US $20bn disappeared between 2000 and 2008.

These outflows are made easier by how the currency works. The CFA franc is freely transferable, allowing capital to exit the CFA zone and enter France without any oversight. Furthermore, there are no limits to its convertibility, meaning that African countries cannot create money themselves. In fact, CFA zone countries have to deposit 50 per cent of their currency reserves into a so-called "operations account" managed by the French Treasury, in order to guarantee the convertibility of the CFA franc into euros.

France's annual budget contains a line concerning the CFA franc called the "Account of financial cooperation - International Monetary Agreements". The 2012 French public budget states that: "Given the high levels of reserves held by central banks of the franc zone and the very low probability of a call of guarantee of the State that results, this mission is provided with no credit for 2012, as previous years."

This means that the account in which African countries from the CFA zone deposit part of their financial reserves is usually redundant. This is quite unique in the international monetary system: The issuing of a currency used by 140 million people in 14 different countries is endorsed each year by a foreign parliament - in this case, the French National Assembly and Senate.

By the French parliament's own admission, the monetary system of the CFA franc zone countries is in rather good health. Therefore a devaluation, which is usually justified by the necessity to revive an economically weak state by allowing cheaper exports, does not seem necessary in the case of the 14 western and central African states concerned. (A 15th country, Comoros, has its own central bank that issues Comorian francs, which are pegged to the CFA franc.)

Speculation against the CFA
The devaluation rumour started on November 25, 2011, when a journalist writing for the Ivory Coast's main opposition newspaper, Notre Voie, reported that he had been told such information by a European diplomat and a reliable source in Ivory Coast's capital, Abidjan. The journalist even argued that Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso were told by France to convince their African counterparts that devaluation was a good decision. Three Notre Voie reporters were subsequently held in custody and charged with "attempt to infringe the State economy" before being released on December 7.

This devaluation, if it happens, would be the second in the region. In January 1994, both the Central Bank of West African States and the Bank of Central African States banks, in accordance with the French Central Bank (Banque de France), and the International Monetary Fund, agreed to let the currency lose half of its value. Where one French franc had been worth 50 CFA francs, each French franc was now worth 100 CFA francs.

In this instance, too, the devaluation was preceded by rumours that allowed speculators and companies based in the region to deposit huge amounts of CFA francs in tax havens, patiently waiting for January 1, 1994 to come. This operation was very lucrative: One CFA stored abroad gave them two new CFA as of January 1994.

Moreover, studies have proven that convertibility played a role in the 1994 devaluation: Cecile Richard, a French economist, reported in a 1995 article that in 1992, two years before the devaluation, an average of 730m French francs were converted from CFA francs every month. Before 1984, this amount was less than 284m French francs per month.

In spite of all these similarities, it is worth noting that, this time around, economic indicators in the region are positive. The region grew at a 4.3 per cent rate in 2010. The area's balance of payments has been positive during the last five years.

A devaluation, if real, would thus be eminently political. According to Senegalese economist Sanou Mbaye and a former African Development Bank professional, "the CFA franc does not profit African economies (...). To devalue the CFA Franc would allow France to resist the eurozone crisis". Western and central African countries are resource-rich: The Gulf of Guinea countries are significant oil producers, and Niger is a major source of uranium. According to the National Intelligence Council of the United States, the Gulf of Guinea could provide 25 per cent of US oil needs by 2015.

This has two consequences: Because a devaluation would reduce the price of raw materials produced in CFA zone countries by 35 per cent, France would be able to buy three oil barrels for the price of two. Conversely, CFA zone countries would have to export much more in order to obtain the same amount of money as before the devaluation. Moreover, the prices of most raw materials are denominated in US dollars - the main foreign currency reserves owned by CFA franc zone states. But the French Treasury, as previously mentioned, controls 50 per cent of these reserves.

The CFA's controversial origins
The rumour of the devaluation also reignited debate on the origins of the CFA franc, created after World War II by a 1945 decree signed by Charles de Gaulle.
According to the currency's many detractors, its control by the French treasury, its free transferability, and its unlimited convertibility originate from a monetary policy imposed on France's occupied territories by the Nazi regime. Professor Nicolas Agbohou goes so far as to speak of "monetary Nazism".
During World War II, the French economy became an important part of the German war effort. One of the consequences of the 1940 "armistice" signed between the countries was to force France to pay reparations to Germany for the cost of occupation. Each year during the occupation, nearly 20 per cent of French GDP was transferred to the Third Reich.

After signing the armistice, Germany forced a devaluation of the French franc, causing the currency to lose half its worth. A German commissioner with the right to veto was appointed to the Bank of France's board of directors.
Similarly, no decision can be taken today by central banks of the CFA franc zone without the endorsement of French representatives serving on their boards of directors.

This is a financial anachronism. Healthy countries continue to be baby-sitted monetarily by their former colonial power. Fifty years after African countries' independence, the monetary policy of the CFA franc zone remains decided by France, depending on its own interests. Statements from the French Minister of Finance and by CFA franc zone heads of state would help markets in the region regain confidence - and stanch capital outflows.

A readjustment of principles of free transferability, unlimited convertibility of the CFA would allow to sustainably safeguard the value of this currency. Limited transferability would mean that countries could better control the flight of capital and currency into tax havens. And greater transparency of the operations account would silence critics who see in the CFA franc an instrument of political and economic domination.

*Julie Owono is a Cameroonian freelance journalist and international relations consultant based in Paris. She blogs at Global Voices and is the Africa Desk Cordinator at Internet Sans Frontières, a French NGO which promotes online freedom of expression.
Follow her on Twitter: @JulieOwono

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Cameroon Population Must Grow Quickly


By Chief A.S Ngwana*

Chief Ngwana addressing reporters/file /The Recorder
YOU MUST NOT KILL”. The Cameroon Penal Code stipulates in section 275 that “whoever causes another’s death shall be punished with imprisonment for life”

Section 276 states that “(1) Whoever commits murder – (a) after premeditation or (b) by poisoning or (c} in the preparation,…Shall be punished with death.”

(ARTICLE 3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that `“Everyone has the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND SECURITY of person.” The first and most important right is the right to life. All other rights are depended on this – the right to life.

 Many countries have enacted the death penalty as a deterrent to murderers who are a security risk to the community. With modern maxim-security prisons, it is possible that in future, murderers will no longer be executed, but put away in these prisons for life where they cannot escape and be a threat to other humans. In fact many religious leaders and governments are campaigning seriously to abolish the death sentence. The idea is that some of these criminals may repent in prison.

 In the past the human population could not grow fast because of wars - genocidal wars, eugenic wars, tribal and ethnic wars. In the past human population could not grow fast because of Diseases and famines.

Today wars are controlled, Diseases are controlled and famines controlled. Famines exist because world food production is not equitably distributed. There is enough food for all humans, but because some countries have food piles and stocks others are starving.  Population controllers do not want to know that many countries in the world are worried about what effects their declining populations and the ageing problem is going to have on their economies. Replacement levels are dangerously low and each woman must have at least 2.1 children if the human race must survive. Many industrial countries are paying money etc to their women to have children but they are not succeeding. Their populations are below Replacement Levels.

            
“POPULATION CONTROLLERS” are bent to stop the growth of the human population at all costs.  Their target now is life itself. Humans must not increase and multiply, they must be killed at conception. Population controllers have as their global target - the “PROMOTION OF ABORTION”.  The American Government under Obama is spending millions if not billions of dollars to corrupt, buy or coarse governments over the world to change their laws on abortion.

 The Cameroon Penal Code article 337 states that it is a crime to commit abortion. Cannon Law treats abortion as a very serious crime. Can.1398 states that “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae  sententiae  excommunication.”  That is, she/he is automatically excommunicated from the church.

 WHAT IS ABORTION.

Abortion is the deliberate killing of a Human Being after conception and before birth. Miscarriage  (or spontaneous abortion) is the accidental death of a Human Being after conception and before birth.

Science and religion agree that human life begins at conception, when the ovum (egg) is fertilized by the sperm. After conception, the Human Being is complete, and only grows. From conception the Human Being is only called different names as he or she develops.  He/she develops or grows from an embryo, fetus, baby, toddler, infant, boy or girl, man or woman and finally ends up as an old man or an old woman.

In abortion, a Human Being is deliberately deprived of his/her life before birth.  In the case of murder a Human Being is deliberately deprived of his/her life after birth. In both cases a Human Being is killed before or after birth.

 The 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the United Nations states that the child “needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”, a principle, which is in keeping with a previous declaration by the World Medical Association to “maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of its conception.”

The 1966 International Convention on Civil and Political Rights states that “sentence of death shall not be carried out on pregnant women, and that the express intention of this Article is inspired by consideration of the interest of the unborn child.”

 Abortion is a crime against natural law, abortion is a contravention of the UN Charter on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – “everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person”. Abortion is an abuse of the “Rights of the Child”.  Abortion is an abomination by African culture.  Abortion is a crime against humanity and cannot be justified

 Abortion is the most despicable, callous, heinous and inhuman method of killing. The child is killed by the very persons who are supposed to protect the innocent, harmless child - their parents and doctors. Think of the barbaric and brutal method called “partial-birth abortion”, usually performed in an advance state of pregnancy.  It allows a partial delivery before the baby is killed, in some cases using a small hammer or cudgel to crush the skull of the baby while still crying.

 Every year millions of children are killed by abortion, more than all the people killed during the two world wars, more than all the people killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars put together. More people die by abortion every year than they died during the slave trade. More people die by abortion every year than they have ever died through genocide. More people are killed every day by abortion  than they die by terrorism. More people die every day by abortion than they die from AIDS or malaria. In 2007 UNICEF reported that about 7,000 girls were killed in India every day by abortion. This year more than 4.5 million children were killed in Russia alone by abortion. Globally the figures of children killed yearly by abortion are frightening. 

 Now more than ninety Governments in the world, and even some UN agencies, have approved and legalized abortion-the killing of unborn children.  Population controllers are staging a relentless onslaught against the Human Race. The Human Race must not increase and multiply. Children must be killed before they are delivered – ABORTION.

 Developing countries need their expanding populations to develop quickly. Simplistic as it is, development is by people for people. Where there are no people there is no development. Development is for people. Abortion is the greatest hindrance to development.

 Cameroon must develop quickly. Our population must grow fast.

 May God bless Cameroon

*ChiefA.S.Ngwana is the National Chairman,Cardinal Democratic Party, with headquarters in Douala,Cameroon.




Fecafoot denies Eto'o is banned

The Secretary General of the Cameroon football federation, Thombi Aroko Sidiki has dismissed as false news of the seven match ban on Eto’o by the federation’s disciplinary committee.

Etoo © 2011 Reuters Images
The fecafoot scribe made the statement on Wednesday, December 14 following mounting pressure in the country over the yet to be published verdict of the federation’s disciplinary committee banning Eto’o and two other team mates; Eyong Enoh and Benoit Assou Ekotto for their refusal to play a friendly game against Algeria. Assou Ekotto was however sanctioned for snubbing fecafoot and the team coach after several call ups to play for the Lions. 

“The disciplinary committee is yet to complete its auditioning of other members of the delegation to Marrakech before making public its verdict”, Aroko Sidiki told SuperSport.com. He, however, announced that the verdict would be made public on or before Friday, December 16. His response has however been interpreted by many as pressure from certain quarters not to make public such a decision that may be bad for the country’s image and considering the implication. 

Many argue that Eto’o Fils is a role model, one of the world’s best players. Fans even think such a decision can bring unrest in the country. Opinions are rife that the federation may be pressured to reconsider the decision or not publish it, even though it is already in the public sphere.

Meantime, the implication of the publication of the seven match ban on Samuel Eto’o seems to have halted the publication of the verdict of Fecafoot disciplinary committee. Suspending Samuel Eto’o Fils for seven matches means he would not be part of the Indomitable Lions campaign for the 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifiers. The Lions' away match is billed for February 29 against Guinea Bissau and the return leg on June 17, 2012.
-SuperSport.com

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