But Cameroon Government Fights Back
By Chrsitopher Ambe Shu
Cameroon President, Paul Biya , who was recently cited by a French NGO of having enormous ill-gotten wealth hidden abroad,has again been a subject of harsh media attack.
French media have just reported that the Cameroonian president and co. who are in France since Mid -August ,have been spending each day 27 million 300 hundred thousand francs on hotel bills.But Cameroon Minister of Communication has dismissed the report as false.
Following is a press release issued by the Minister of Communication.
«The Minister of Communication is hereby informing both national and international opinion that on 28 August 2009, some French based media, France Inter, Radio Fidélité Nantes and a cybernetic journal published articles on the Head of State's visit to France. The articles were taken over by some national newspapers.
Essentially, the articles hold that for the Head of State's stay in Hôtel Lucien Barrière de La Baule, a daily amount of 27 million 300 hundred thousand francs is spent on hotel bills.
In detail, the articles recall that after the ill-gotten wealth, here comes very costly vacations, in spite of the economic crisis which is ravaging the country and which led to a civil unrest of February 2008.
The Minister of Communication wishes to inform opinion that the very first reactions to these accusations came from France.
First of all, there was a right of reply by the Managing Director of Hôtel Lucien Barrière, which was published in the accusing media, in which he underlined the in-exactitude and false nature of the information earlier published. The right to reply was followed by a strong editorial from the French journalist, Yannick Urrien, which was published in "La Baule +». Here are some extracts of the editorial:
Quotation N°1: «Some people are still surprised to know that the profession of journalism is losing its value to the point where a recent survey shows that the French people place journalists and prostitutes on the same level This says it all: The people of La Baule in general and business persons in La Baule in particular have just lived a good example of media manipulation». End of quote.
Quotation N°2: «Of cause, this is about the vacation of a Head of State who benefits from every regard due his rang, through the image perceived by the people of La Baule is not that of expenditure or of eccentricity». End of quote.
Quotation N°3: «The question is whether the journalists who write these things have been to La Baule to find out from the business people». End of quote.
Quotation N°4: «Beside, commentaries heard are contrary to what is written in the media The stay of President Biya's delegation pales into insignificance besides the trip of an Emir with his close guards, or beside that of an international rock star To lie to one's readers or to one's listeners in order to serve political or malicious interests, does not serve the profession of journalism». End of quote.
With these two reactions, we can conclude that the mass has been said.
However, the Minister of Communication who believes in the words of the French journalist, Yannick Urrien, thinks that once more the Cameroonian Head of State is a victim of assault from underground forces which manipulate the media, even beyond our national frontiers.
It is worth mentioning that, like any other worker, President Paul Biya has a right to his vacations. This is not a privilege but a right, which he can exercise wherever he wishes to do so, with the means put at his disposal by the sovereign people, by the electors, to cloth himself, for his accommodation, for his feeding, for his healthcare, to provide his needs.
The question has to be posed without bias: Why does the Cameroonian President's recent visit to La Baule cause a problem? Is it his first visit to France or to the West? Is President Paul Biya the only Head of State to have spent his vacation out of his country?
We cannot provide answers to these questions without agreeing with the French journalist, Yannick Urrien that it is a manipulation which aims at serving malicious political interest.
The Minister of Communication hereby takes the national and international opinion as witnesses and strongly holds that in the face of such manipulations, the Cameroonian people will provide appropriate answers in order to challenge such de-stabilizers and to defend the Republic".
The Minister of Communication,
Issa Tchiroma Bakary
No comments:
Post a Comment