Cameroon’s Reunification Golden Jubilee:Buea Traditional Council Implores Biya to Pronounce Buea as Host

By Christopher Ambe Shu.

Buea Traditional Council (BTC)has implored President Paul Biya to pronounce Buea as the official host of this year’s Golden Jubilee of the Reunification of Cameroon, adding that the people of the town have since been anxiously waiting for it.

Professor Kale:BTC Legal Adviser

Since December 31 2009 when President Paul Biya announced in his 2010 New Year Address that Cameroon will this year celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the reunification of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, what is today known as the Republic of Cameroon, he remains undecided as to which town will host the celebrations. Southern Cameroons gained its independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun on October 1, 1961

His delay to announce the venue of the golden jubilee has set lobby groups from different towns of the country into action as every lobby group tries to persuade the president to choose their towns of origin or preference.

There is no doubt that the scrabble for Biya’s ear is because such events also bring about infrastructural development and a general facelift of the town that is host. For example when Bamenda was chosen as host of the 50^th anniversary of Cameroon’s armed forces last year, the state allocated billions of FCFA for immediate facelift of the town. And it took just several months for the facelift to become a reality. Then, during the celebrations proper President Biya made the Northwest region happier: he announced the creation of the University of Bamenda and other huge projects.

Different lobby groups are reportedly praying the head of state to pronounce as venue for the golden jubilee celebrations one of the following towns: Foumban, Kumba, Mamfe, Bamenda or Buea.Whatever arguments they advance, all is intended to make the president side with a group and endorse its request.

But Buea is most likely to be the host of the reunification golden jubilee celebration; evidently, history and common sense are in its favor.

“There is no reason why the venue of the celebrations should not be Buea,”Ndiva kofele kale, distinguished professor of law in the USA and native of Buea told reporters as Buea Traditional Council (BTC) where he is legal counsel last July 20 rose from a session during which they resolved that, President Biya should pronounce Buea as the host of the golden jubilee.

The Buea Traditional Council (BTC) has as Chairman the Paramount Ruler of Buea, retired Justice SML Endeley, although the session calling on President Biya to endorse Buea was chaired by Hon. Peter Ikundi,one- time Mayor of Buea and member of parliament, who noted:

“On October 1, 1961 celebrations marking reunification took place here (Buea).So if you have to celebrate 50 years after, it is logical that you go back to where the first celebrations took place. That is why we are calling on the Head of State to make a pronouncement on this issue now. People have been anxiously waiting for it...”

Buea, which is today the headquarters of the Southwest Region, had been capital of German Cameroon, Seat of British Southern Cameroons and Capital of West Cameroon State .

According to Professor kale, mentioned earlier, when talking about reunification “Buea is the nerve center. It is here that everything radiates”

He recalls: “It was in 1957 that the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly adopted a resolution calling for secession from Nigeria and the granting of full independence. I think that is what set the ball rolling for what eventually became reunification. And all the major players came here from Buea…”

 The Professor said Mr.Dibongue, the man who started the whole idea of reunification was in Buea; and “his house is right here and his wife is still alive”.

“Buea: this was where the reunification idea-in the legal terms, was conceived and consummated,” Professor Kale said with confidence, before adding: “The people of Buea are simply saying ‘come back here and give an account after 50 years”

The Buea traditional council’s call on Paul Biya to endorse Buea comes after repeated calls from the Mayor of Buea, Charles Mbella Moki to that effect. The Mayor says Buea in terms of everything, has all it takes to host such an event.

Cameroon Diaspora Member: Voting Rights Law Falls Short

By James Butty
 Kenneth Ndeh, founder of the American Association of Cameroonians says Cameroonians in Diaspora have been asking for dual citizenship. A leading member of Cameroon’s Diaspora says recent changes in the West African country’s electoral law fall short of their demands.
Cameroon’s National Assembly last week agreed to extend voting rights to the estimated five-million citizens living abroad, but only to those who are registered with their local embassy and who do not hold dual nationality.

Kenneth Ndeh, founder of the American Association of Cameroonians says the Diaspora has been asking for dual citizenship and that the recent changes are only intended to benefit President Paul Biya’s ruling party.

“There are lots of things that most Cameroonians in the Diaspora have asked for from the government both at the executive level and at the legislative level.  Most Cameroonians in the Diaspora have asked for dual citizenship and basic and respectable services at the consulate level of various embassies abroad and none of these things have been implemented,” he said.

Ndeh said dual citizenship is economically beneficial to Cameroon.

“If the government of Cameroon were able to implement dual citizenship, as a matter fact, the government of Cameroon will be the net beneficiary,” Ndeh said.

National Assembly Vice President Emilia Lifaka said last week that the new voting privilege would exclude Cameroonians with dual nationality or those seeking asylum because she said those people be unlikely to go and register with their local embassy.

Ndeh said, while assembly woman Lifaka may be correct in her assessment, Cameroonians living in the Diaspora do so for different reasons.

“There are lots of Cameroonians who are abroad for various reasons.   Political asylum is one of them, but what has driven Cameroonians abroad is economics; we are economic refugees for the most part. There has been little or no opportunity back home and so we go abroad to have economic opportunities that would benefit not only ourselves, but our families back home.”

He cites the tens of thousands of dollars that he said Cameroonians in the Diaspora send home each year in the form remittances.  Ndeh said requiring all Cameroonians to register with their local embassy before they would be allowed to vote is an unreasonable demand.

“When the president of the Republic of Cameroon came to the United States in 1995 during the Golden Jubilee celebration, we had a meeting in Washington, D.C.  We put together a document that had certain requests. One of those requests was that we know that our people are concentrated in Texas and places like California and we requested that we have a consulate in either Texas or California to serve those in the western part of the United States,” Ndeh said-VOANEWS

Cameroon Arabica coffee exports down by a third

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon's Arabica coffee exports were down by a third at the end of May to 1,277 tonnes for the 2010/11 season, compared with the same period in the previous one, according to statistics from two industry boards.


The statistics from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) and the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) sent to Reuters on Monday showed the Central African country exported 1,923 tonnes of arabica coffee for the same period in the 2009/10 season.
The data also showed a milder fall in robusta coffee exports by 13 percent, to 21,873 tonnes, from 25,199 tonnes.

Speaking to Reuters from the economic capital Douala, CCIB chief operations officer Andre Marie Lema said the drop may be due to speculation on the local market buoyed by high world prices.

"It is still too early to say whether there has been a drop in production or not, but what I can say for now is that some farmers may be stocking their produce in the hope that prices on the world market will go up again so they can make more money," he said. "This is what we have observed in the past."

He said Arabica coffee prices hit an all-time high price of 2,500 CFA francs to 2,850 CFA francs per kilogram in May, while Robusta coffee prices also shot up to 1,000-1,100 CFA francs per kilogram.
Cameroon's Arabica coffee is grown only in two of the country's 10 regions, West and North-West, with the season running from October to September, while Robusta is grown in seven regions from December to November.

"Cameroon’s Educational System Needs New Curriculum"

By Christopher Ambe Shu

Cameroon’s present educational system is archaic, anachronistic and inadaptable to meaningful development, the Cameroon Teachers’ Trade Union (CATTU) has declared, insisting that the national curriculum badly needs an overhaul in order for Cameroon to face squarely current technological advancement and global challenges.

CATTU, whose objectives include protecting the working and living conditions of Cameroonian teachers, made the declaration yesterday at MISS BRIGHT Hotel in Buea at the start of a three-day seminar/workshop that assembled educational stakeholders to brainstorm on the theme “Cameroon’s Educational System 50 Years after Independence-The Need for a New Curriculum”.

The seminar/workshop was organized in partnership with the Freidrich Ebert Foundation, in Yaounde

In welcome speech, Simon Nkwenti, National Executive Secretary-General of CATTU noted:

 “After careful and scientific conderations, we hold, and with strong conviction that, our present educational system is archaic, anachronistic, obsolete and inadaptable to any meaningful development.

Further inspired by the Growth and employment Strategic Paper(GESP) presented by the Government and the vision of the Head of State for Cameroon to become an emerging state by the year 2035,we passionately think that a new curriculum needs to be designed for Cameroon to accompany this vision”

Nkwenti  lauded the Cameroon GCE Board which last April reviewed the syllabuses of some subjects in the English sub system, adding: “I think it is time enough for us to push this further by encouraging and accompanying government initiative through a  larger educational forum”

He said 50 years ago Cameroon was at the same development level with Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, and South Korea.

“While these  Asian countries through their curricula have made ambitious strides towards the moon, it is regrettable that Cameroon’s nonchalance on matters of education and  its curriculum in particular, has caused us at best to stagnate, and at worst, to engage a backward move into the forest “

CATTU wished that every well-meaning and patriotic Cameroonian should see that absolute need now to help government realize its vision.

 “CATTU will join the Head of state fight against the enemies of this nation”, Nkwenti vowed, as participants sat down to begin serious reflections on the subject matter, which will culminate in reform proposals

The seminar was officially opened by Mrs. Vivian Nama, representative of the Governor of Southwest Region, who gave the participants words of encouragement for in their efforts towards building a better Cameroon

Cameroon: Female Category Introduced in Dr. Ngongi’s Yearly Inter-quarter Football Tournament



L-R:Mayor Moki,Dr. Ngongi(in sport wear)  at last year's kick off



By Christopher Ambe 

 The third edition of Dr. Amos Namanga Ngongi's Inter-Quarter Football Tournament ,which is  intended to keep the youth and students usefully occupied during long holidays, kicked off yesterday July 10 at the Molyko Omni sport Stadium-Buea.

 The crowd-pulling tournament this year has seen the introduction of a female category and an increase in the cash trophy, which now stands at two million Fcfa, up from Fcfa 1.5 million.

 But the female category that will start on July 13 ,and will be competed for by four teams, has a cash trophy of one million francs

The Governor of the Southwest Region represented by Obame Jean-Claude, the Inspector-general at the Governor’s Office ,presided at the launching ceremony that was  attended by over 3000 football lovers.

 A march- past of participating teams, cultural dances and other side attractions added pomp to the ceremony.

The tournament ,according to the cup donor Dr. Ngongi ,is a yearly.

Mr. Obame did the kick-off in the opening match between Eto'o Fans Club of Sandpit (current cup holders) and Cinyodev FC of Molyko, which ended in a goal less draw.

Dr. Namanga  Ngongi is the President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with residence in Kenya and frontline elite of Fako Division of Cameroon. He is also a noted philanthropist, whose assistance to the needy of society is an open secret.

Fourteen (14) teams in the male category and four in the female category are competing in the tournament, whose finals will be on August 27(female category) and 28 August (male category)

Gover nor's envoy greeting match officals at last year's kick -off

 As in the previous editions, Dr. Ngongi,the cup donor supplied all the participating teams new sets of jerseys .

 Dr. Ngongi, in his opening remarks at the launching said the competition is intended to develop football talents, as well as keep residents of Buea especially students and other young people usefully busy during this long vacation.

A host of dignitaries such as  Ndip  Akem Victor, a former indomitable lions defender; Professor Victor Julius Ngoh, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Buea  and  Ekema  Patrick, Deputy Mayor of Buea  as well as traditional rulers witnessed the opening ceremony.

 Cameroon’s football icon, Milla Roger who was programmed to witness the kick- off of inter-quarter competition could not make it for unexplained reasons. But it is hoped that he will attend the finals. 

Gateway Health Alliances Release Studies That Show That African Mango Helps With Weight Loss

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) July 07, 2011

Recent studies released by Gateway Health Alliances have shown that African Mango actually does promote weight loss in humans. These studies, done at the University of Yaounde I in Camaroon have supported many claims that this hyped weight loss ingredient works.

Dr. Oz was the first all-star celebrity to endorse African Mango as a weight loss supplement, calling it a "miracle in your medicine cabinet." Since then, this new diet pill ingredient from Cameroon, Africa has risen in popularity and has had people wondering if all the media surrounding this ingredient can be trusted.

To support the promises made by African Mango supplement manufacturers, studies were done at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon and have shown African Mango to produce significant weight loss results without any change to diet or exercise patterns.

In one of these studies, 102 healthy, overweight volunteers were split into two groups. One group was given a placebo and the other was given 150 mg of African Mango every day before dinner for 10 weeks. At the end of the study, the placebo group showed little to no improvement in their weight and overall health, while the group receiving the African Mango decreased their weight by approximately 6%. For a person weighing 200 pounds, this means weight loss of 12 pounds with no change in diet or increase in physical activity.
This, and other studies are shown on africanmango.org to shed light on African Mango diet supplements. The website, which has been around for several years now, provides unbiased resources for African Mango, and reviews of African Mango products, in an attempt to help consumers lose weight with African Mango supplements. For more information on African Mango, visit www.africanmango.org.
-San Francisco Chronicle

Cameroon’s Agriculture at Crossroads

Experts say soaring food prices could spark unrest in Cameroon
By Ntaryike Divine Jr
Cameroon’s dependence on food imports has skyrocketed over the last three decades. The Ministry of Finance says last year alone, the country spent about $1.1 million on imports of rice, fish, flour, sugar and other products. That’s about five percent of the national budget.

Agricultural specialists attribute the decline to low levels of investment in agriculture and in rural areas in general. Eighty percent of the population is composed of rural dwellers whose main occupation is farming.
But the government allocates less than 2.5 percent of the national budget to rural development. As a result of the neglect, roads from farms to markets are crumbling, making the distribution and marketing of food nearly impossible

And that’s not all.
The agricultural sector is also plagued by the high cost of inputs like seeds and fertilizers, a lack of conservation infrastructure, such as warehouses to stock harvests before the market, and outdated farming practices that limit productivity. For urban consumers, it’s cheaper to buy imports than to buy locally grown foods.
Godfred Mututu Awa is the government’s regional delegate for agriculture and rural development in Cameroon’s northwest. Injecting more money into the rural sector will significantly reduce the problem according to Mututu.

“ If we must survive and not depend on other countries, we must know that this is a vital sector and it needs a lot of financing. This is the only sector that can create job opportunities for children. What share of our national budget goes to agriculture? If we consider it a priority sector, it means other sectors must find the money to pump into agriculture and guarantee food for the rapidly growing population of this countr,” Mututu says.

It has not always been this way.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Cameroon produced enough food to feed itself and to export. That changed when an economic crisis began in 1986. The emphasis on agriculture dropped as the demand for oil increased.
Prices for exports slumped on the world market. Government subsidies to farmers evaporated and agricultural development programs collapsed. Farmers looked elsewhere for sources of income and poverty increased in the rural areas, with large numbers of people relying on foreign food aid.

In February 2008, thousands of hungry Cameroonians poured into the streets in growing unrest. (OPT) Government statistics reported 40 dead, but civil society activists said some 140 protesters were killed in the riots that swept across the country. (END OPT) The government reacted by announcing a $1 million to improve food production in two years.

But three years later, critics say not much has changed. Food prices remain beyond the reach of average Cameroonians and once again, tension is on the rise.
Experts say the entire agricultural system is in urgent need of an overhaul. Professor Jacob Ngeve Ebua is general manager of the Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, IRAD.  He says Cameroon is utilizing only 12 percent of the arable land for food crop production.

“If we can double the surface area cultivated, then we shall have food surpluses. The land tenure systems are so complex. We’re still dealing with smallholder farmers who plant less than one hectare. Mechanization has to be improved so that farmers can organize themselves into cooperatives and hire agricultural machines like tractors to be able to plant large plots of land,” Ebua explains.

In January, President Paul Biya announced a new plan boost food production. The president is seeking reelection this year after nearly 30 years in power. Among the measures are the creation of a specialized farmers’ bank to provide cheap loans, an agency to monitor food availability and a tractor assembly plant.
But critics say the measures do not go far enough.  According to  Albert Njonga an agronomist and leader of the 11,000-member Association for the Defense of Collective Interests, (ACDIC),  all logical solutions should center on a 2007 World Bank report.

He says it prescribes agriculture as a launching pad for sustained economic growth through increased direct subsidies to the small farmers in rural communities. The most productive farmers would get the biggest shares. He says, “ the poor farmers do not trust banks, some of which have recently collapsed on short notice. They also lack the capital to purchase tractors,  subsidies for costly fertilizers and pesticides will significantly encourage production.”

As food prices spike worldwide, experts warn Cameroon’s heavy dependence on imports makes it increasingly vulnerable to external price fluctuations that could trigger another wave of unrest by hungry people
-VOANEWS

Cameroon fuel truck explosion kills 15

YAOUNDE, Jul (Reuters) - Fifteen people were killed when a vehicle carrying smuggled fuel from Nigeria into Cameroon exploded at a border village, state radio reported on Monday.

All the dead were Cameroonian apart from one Nigerian. The report did not say what caused the blast in the Benue division of Cameroon's North region, but local government sources told Reuters a passenger on the vehicle had lit a cigarette.

Authorities say such incidents are common in Cameroon's three northern regions of Adamawa, North and Far North, because Nigeria's cheap, subsidised fuel known locally as "zoua-zoua" or "funge" can fetch three times the price in Cameroon than it is sold for in its West African neighbour.

Security forces succeeded in eliminating the illicit trade in petrol between Cameroon and Nigeria in English-speaking South-West and North-West regions in the mid-1990s, but failed in the northern part of the country because of porous borders.

At least 230 people were killed when a fuel tanker overturned and exploded in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a year ago.

Accuser's lies jeopardize DSK case, experts say

By COLLEEN LONG- Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault may have inflicted fatal damage on her own case by lying to prosecutors about her life story and what she did in the moments after the suspected attack, legal experts said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office revealed Friday that the 32-year-old woman had committed a host of minor frauds to better her life in the U.S. since arriving in the country seven years ago, including lying on immigration paperwork, cheating on her taxes, and misstating her income so she could live in an apartment reserved for the poor.

In a letter to Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, prosecutors also said she had misrepresented what she did immediately after the alleged attack by Strauss-Kahn — instead of fleeing his luxury suite to a hallway and waiting for a supervisor, she went to clean another room and then returned to clean Strauss-Kahn's suite before reporting the encounter.

That change in her story, and the revelations about her past, wasn't enough to kill the case entirely, but
prosecutors acknowledged their position had been shaken, and agreed to a defense request that Strauss-Kahn be freed immediately from house arrest.
The revelations in a case once considered iron-clad came as a shock; prosecutors and police had said repeatedly that the hotel maid was found to be a credible witness.

"Rape cases are especially difficult to try," said Linda Fairstein, who oversaw the sex crimes prosecution unit in the district attorney's office for 25 years. "But they are nearly impossible to try when you find out the witness has already lied to you. The prosecutors and police, they took her word over the word of one of the most powerful men in the financial world."

Investigators have gathered forensic evidence in the case, including traces of Strauss-Kahn's semen found on the woman's work uniform, but that evidence alone isn't enough, said Fairstein, now a crime novelist.

"The DNA clearly suggests there was some kind of sexual exchange between DSK and woman, but it tells you nothing about whether it was forcible," she said. "It can be deposited by consent or by force. Her credibility is the entire case, you have to believe her story."

But she also said that her transgressions don't mean her story is false.
"Bad people, people who lie, they're still sexually assaulted," she said. "So I think what everybody is trying to do now is bring her back again, and say 'OK, you were dishonest about these things, now we have to figure out what really happened between you and this man.'"

At a minimum, questions about the woman's credibility could leave a jury doubtful that she was telling the truth about what happened. They also raise the possibility that the woman herself could be in legal trouble, if the government decides to seek punishment for her past fibs and fabrications.

District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said the charges, which include attempted rape, will stand for now. But prosecutors had a legal duty to turn over the uncovered information to the defense, and they were continuing their investigation.
In a letter sent to Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, they disclosed several instances in which they believed the woman had lied about herself or the circumstances of her life. They said she'd made up being gang raped and beaten in her homeland of Guinea to enhance her application for political asylum in 2004. She now says she was raped there, but not as she initially said.

U.S. officials are often presented with fabricated stories by people seeking refugee status in the country, and the nation's immigration courts are filled with instances of immigrants who have been caught embellishing personal histories to meet the strict conditions for being granted asylum.

Lori Adams, managing attorney of the legal aid group Human Rights First, said that many people in the immigration system don't have a lawyer, and they blunder through proceedings without fully realizing the potential repercussions of embellishing their life stories.
"A lot of people are on their own, or are poorly advised, and could be tempted to present their story in a certain way that might not be truthful," she said. "Sometimes people get desperate."

She said that if the woman's application was based on fraud, the Justice Department could seek to reopen the case and have her thrown out of the country. Her attorney Kenneth Thompson said she went to prosecutors to tell them the truth, and she had initially feared she'd be deported if she told them why she really left: because she was a victim of genital mutilation and she didn't want her daughter, now 15, to be similarly affected, Thompson said.

Prosecutors said the woman had also been lying on her tax returns about how many dependents she had in  order to increase her tax refund and had misstated her income to avoid losing her apartment.
While it wasn't detailed in the letter, prosecutors have also raised other questions about the woman's credibility.
Prosecutors located a recording of the woman, days after Strauss-Kahn's arrest, the woman, talking about the case and mentioning Strauss-Kahn's wealth in a phone call to a man incarcerated on a drug charge, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not made public in court.
The woman also raised questions by saying she knew little about tens of thousands of dollars others have deposited in bank accounts in her name, the official said. Authorities suspect the money might be drug-related, the official said.
Thompson acknowledged the recording, but said any suggestion she was involved with a known dealer or money launderer was a lie.
"I have not heard that tape," Thompson said. But he said that when he discussed the recording with prosecutors, "I said, 'Did she change her story to this guy in prison?' ... They told me no."

He said that since the start of the case, the woman has been consistent in the most important part of her story, saying that as she began cleaning Strauss-Kahn's suite he grabbed her breast, violently knocked her down and forced her to perform oral sex. He said she suffered bruises and torn ligaments.

Strauss-Kahn, who resigned his post at the powerful monetary organization, has denied the charges. He is due back in court July 18. His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said he believes his client will be vindicated.
The one-time French presidential contender is now free to travel the U.S. while he awaits trial. He had been under a pricey house arrest in a ritzy Tribeca loft after posting a $6 million cash bail and bond. He smiled as he left the court Friday, hand-in-hand with his wife. His attorneys said they are pleased with the decision, and cautioned again not to rush to judgment. His passport remains surrendered and he can't leave the country.

Associated Press writers Matt Moore in Philadelphia and David B. Caruso, Jennifer Peltz, Tom Hays and Chris Hawley in New York contributed to this report

Cameroon:Biya’s re-election bid stokes tensions

DEBATE over Cameroon President Paul Biya’s eligibility in an October presidential poll is stoking tensions in the central African state that could boil over into protests like those seen in 2008.
Biya’s rivals say the 78-year-old, one of Africa’s longest serving leaders, is bound to a 1996 constitution that would make his current seven-year term his last — despite an amendment he orchestrated in 2008 that removes term limits.

Over 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded in 2008 riots after the constitutional rejig.
The debate in Cameroon started after scholar Alain Didier Olinga published an essay in April picked up in Cameroonian newspapers that argued the revised 2008 constitution does not annul legal effects of the previous constitution, according to the legal principle known as non-retroactivity.
Many others have backed his argument, warning the country could be plunged into constitutional crisis if Biya insists on running — a charge Biya’s backers reject.

A similar issue in Senegal triggered riots last week, forcing octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade to back down from proposed constitutional changes the opposition said would have eased his win in February polls.
“Just like in 2008, violent protests will probably be incited in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where Biya’s opposition is strongest,” said Oswald Felli, director of security risk assessments at Damina Advisors.

“A lot of Cameroonians feel President Paul Biya has outlived his usefulness and there is not much he can do for the country,” Felli said, but added that Biya may eventually manoeuvre his way into getting re-elected if he decides to run.

Biya has not said whether he will run but analysts say he is likely to try to extend his 29-year rule in the oil-producing state, a move that looks set to inflame public frustrations over his slow pace of reforms and tight grip on power.
Cameroon’s US$22-billion economy is central Africa’s largest, but its 20 million people suffer from shoddy public services — including a lack of potable water and poor roads — and live on an average of around $3 per day.

“Cameroon appears especially susceptible to a massive popular uprising against its long-standing president,” Business Monitor International said in recent risk analysis.
“We believe the risks of a popular uprising — are still remote, but the government will nonetheless act aggressively to head off any potential ‘spark’ for unrest,” it said.

The ruling CPDM party is planning a congress in July when it is expected that Biya will accept the party’s nomination as the “natural candidate” for the October poll.
Joshua Osih, a vice president of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front,  said his party would ask Cameroon’s highest court to rule on Biya’s eligibility if he eventually decided to seek another mandate.
“It is without a shadow of  doubt that we will exploit this possibility,” Osih told the La Nouvelle Expression newspaper.
But Biya’s backers have rejected arguments against his eligibility, saying the adoption of the 2008 constitution repeals the 1996 constitution.

Opposition threats to launch the legal challenge are also likely to go nowhere, as Biya is believed to have strong influence over the courts.
Roddy Barclay, London-based analyst at Control Risks said challenges to the legality of Biya’s candidacy are likely to stoke political tensions but they are unlikely to stop Biya.
“In the event that the case went to the constitutional court, the ruling would be highly politicised and the judiciary would come under heavy pressure from Biya’s influential allies.”

Top brass from the ruling party have also moved to push back on perceived foreign pressure ahead of the election — after US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton wrote to Biya in May urging free and fair elections.
“Cameroon has no lesson to learn from outside on how to solve its problems,” ruling CPDM party secretary-general Rene Sadi told a recent rally. — Reuters.