Cameroon:Paul Biya like Kamuzu Banda!

  By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaounde

 

Paul Biya

   This time around in Paris, Paul Biya was not faced with any complicated, philosophical question which would allow him to give the demeaning response of “best pupil...”One of the questions concerned his longevity in office. In response, he repeated what he has been saying for a long time: the ballot box is there; it is the people that decide.

  Such answers echo what Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the Malawian dictator who was worshipped like a God used to say at political rallies: “People outside this country call me dictator. But I tell them this: if I am a dictator I am a dictator by the people’s will...” Who can beat that? Which dictator will not borrow such a leaf from him?

   The formidable Hosni Mubarack of Egypt was 82 years old and had stayed in power for 32 years when the Arab Spring caught up with him. He was elected in 1987, 1993, and 1999 each time with over 95% of “the people’s votes.” In 2005, he was elected with 88.6% of “the people’s votes.” If you wanted to listen, you were told that Mubarack was there because of the people’s design; because the people wanted him to be there! Yet, Hosni Mubarak was chased from power by the people on February 10, 2011!

  At least Kamuzu and Mubarack learned before they quit the stage that the people were not really the malleable people they thought they were. One expected their still surviving Presidential comrades to learn the hard lesson from them. But for lack of any other convincing reason for hanging onto the presidency when their time is long past, the people remain their only reason. How much they look foolish and funny whenever they make these pronouncements about the people!

  These dictators that continue to misuse the will of the people always ensure that the people live in fear. Indeed, Nikita Khrushchev has attested to that. The Arab Spring is a testimony of that. The dictators always remember to boast that they do not have political prisoners in their countries. Yet they always have political prisoner in all colours. It is like Clinton having a romantic affair with a woman and yet declaring with a straight face that he did not have “sex” with the woman. Our dictators have many people in prison for veiled political reason, yet they always declare with a straight face that they have no political prisoners – probably like, Bebey Eyidi and others of the Ahidjo days. No use hiding in the desert!

  They also always declare that the citizens are “free.” Yet, imagine the tragedy in Mimboman where some dozen young girls were murdered under the watchful eyes of a so-called “chef de terre,” a D.O. The same D.O. had the audacity to refuse some citizens from going to Mimboman to find out what was going on. Interesting that the government abandoned the people of Mimboman to themselves; and they abandoned themselves to fate! Yet, they see on television everyday what “the people” of other countries do if as many as a single woman is abused by marauding criminal men. The people should always remember to take such problems into their own hands instead of abandoning themselves to fate or to an indolent government.

  In 1982, “the people,” including Paul Biya wanted Ahidjo to stay on; for whatever reason, he refused, stating that he did not feel that he was still in total control of the affairs of the state. Mwalimu Nyerere followed suit in 1985, then Mandela in 1999, and this time, the Pope! “The people” still wanted all these people not to relinquish power, but they did. After these lessons from his peers, there is no need for Paul Biya to give the impression that he is still around because “the people” want him to be there. No use trying to hide in the desert! 

  Cameroon is on its knees because of rampant corruption, mismanagement, and generalised neglect. It needs new leadership to get the country moving again. Paul Biya's stay in power does not depend on how much “strength” he still has to continue; it doe not depend on "the people" as he claims. In the present state of the country, it all depends on him!

Cameroon: Put Under “House Arrest” For Planning To Grant A Press Conference, Njoh Litumbe, 86, Is Now Free.

*He was set free after discovery he held a tele-press conference while still under house arrest.

*Security and administration officials were all shocked that the purpose of their mission to prevent him from addressing the media was defeated

By Christopher Ambe

Litumbe who  was placed under house arrest is now free

 Armed troops( police and gendarmes ) at about 6:PM  on Saturday February 23 set free Mola Njoh Litmbe, 86, and chairman of Liberal Democratic Alliance(LDA),a political party in Cameroon, after he was placed under what many  here  have likened to a house  arrest for  about 10 hours.

 It was the third time Mola Njoh was placed under house arrest by the Biya regime.

Mola Njoh, also widely known as Anglophone Cameroon’s committed rights campaigner and some relatives of his who had passed the night in his residence and were planning to attend a funeral were trapped in the residence.  Nobody was allowed to get in or out.

 If this reporter who was invited to moderate the press conference had come a few minutes earlier, he too would have been detained together with Mola Njoh inside the residence; your reporter’s arrival at Mola Njoh’s gate coincided with the coming of the armed troops who immediately stopped me from getting into the residence, informing me that the Divisional Officer for Buea Abraham Chekem, had instructed them to block the entrance of the house.

Mola  Njoh was prevented from coming out of his gated Bokwaongo-Buea residence ( a  section of which also serves  as his party’s headquarters) as from 7:00 am that Saturday after he  notified  the Buea Local Administration as required by law  three days earlier about his intention to hold a  press conference .

The theme of the press conference was “Electronic Voter Registration and other recent political development”

But upon receipt of the notification from Mola Njoh, the Local administrator Abraham Chekem, banned the press conference on grounds that Mola Njoh was not explicit on what he meant by recent political developments.

 Mola Njoh challenged the ban saying it was uncalled for and based on a flimsy excuse -especially as he had, in his letter to the DO, requested him to send a representative to attend the press conference as required by law.

Reliable Sources told The Recorder that the ban on the press conference was because the   Government feared that, Mola Njoh would use the press conference to continue publicizing the TRUTH about the so-called union between Southern Cameroons and La Republic du Cameroun on October 1, 1961.

According to Mola Njoh, Southern Cameroons and La Republic du Cameroun never legally joined to form one country as stipulated in Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

He has maintained that La Republic du Cameroun is only colonizing Southern Cameroons, whereas colonialism had since been abolished.Mola Njoh has equally challenged anybody to show documentary evidence as required by the United Nations that Southern Cameroons and La Republic du Cameroun are in a legal union.

Feeling that Anglophones are grossly discriminated against in what is today called Cameroon, Mola Njoh, supported by a good proportion of English-speaking Cameroonians (Anglophones), has been, at home and abroad, campaigning for the restoration of the Independence of Southern Cameroons.

Despite the fact that Mola Njoh was last Saturday placed under house arrest and the over invited 20 media organs prevented from having access into the LDA conference hall, the press conference still held.

The journalists quickly thought about a tele-press conference, and since the telephone line of Mola Njoh was not cut off, they drove away into a business premises in a neighborhood, Molyko.

Well-seated and using a phone put on speaker the journalists asked their questions to Mola Njoh and got responses. 

Addressing journalists, Mola Njoh, regretted that “police men and gendarmes have surrounded my compound and nobody comes in or goes out”

He said he convened the press conference for two reasons: first, to advise Cameroonians especially Southern Cameroonians to get enrolled in the current electronic registration, which minimizes fraud and multiple -voting .He said massive registration will provide people with various grievances to choose the right candidates who will defend their interests in Council, parliament or Senate. For example, he “I have a grievance that Southern Cameroons never legally joined La Republic du Cameroun; that we are two separate countries”

Mola Njoh continued, “But if you complain and you don’t register you strike yourself completely out of the political equation…When you register massively it is not automatic that you must necessarily vote; that situation will be examined in the future as events unfold. If we find that despite the fact that you have registered electronically the outcome of the election is not likely to reflect your intentions when you vote, we will tell you.

“We have the added problem that in this country the judiciary is not independent. On a previous occasion the Chief Justice of Cameroon, who is constitutionally the person who declares results of elections, announced that his hands were tied and he had to do as he was told. His hands are still tied-so the outcome whether or not we register electronically can not be determined unless we had an independent judiciary. So there may be problems ahead but at least to start with, let people register electronically so that they have the weapon in their hands to be able to select a candidate of their choice in the various elections. That is my principal purpose for calling this press conference so that the media could diffuse my message to all Cameroonians.

 “I understand that the mechanism for rigging election here is so water-tight that whatever we do the results are a foregone conclusion; but I would request that please register; whether or not you will use your voter card is a decision to be made when the electorate is convened; and, on that occasion we will advise you as to who for whom to vote. If love Paul Biya so much because his close collaborators were a gang of thieves and it is only now that they are being prosecuted one by one, vote for him. If you like the attitude of Hon .Paul Ayah, that as a lone star in parliament he would stand up and challenge the regime, then you should vote the people who are of like minds to him. If you admire what I say that to join any two persons, there  has to be a contract. There is no contract joining Southern Cameroons to La Republique du Cameroun. They are two separate countries except that La Republique du Cameroon is colonizing Southern Cameroons.

“Former UN SG, Kofi Annan on a previous visit to Cameroon advised President Biya to dialogue with the SCNC; the Human Rights Tribunal in Bangul has also done the same .They advised the Biya Government to go into constructive dialogue with Southern Cameroons…I think the time is now for us to explore all avenues open to us in order to redress the issue as to whether we have a legitimate government governing us in Southern Cameroons or they are not being colonized by La Republic du Cameroun”

The tele-press conference held at a time that the Nigerian Government is being pressured by Southern Cameroons lawyers to respect a ruling of the Federal High of Abuja, Nigeria, which had ordered  that Nigeria shall present the Southern Cameroons Matter to the United Nations.

Many Southern Cameroonians here believe that if the matter is heard by the UN, Southern Cameroons will be granted its full independence.

Cameroon:Gays learning their lessons!

                              By Tanji Ntonifor 

    Homosexuality may appear fashionable to some Cameroonians but the reality is that it remains a crime in the country.    

    According to Section 347 of Cameroon penal code, "Whoever has sexual relationship with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine from 20.000Fcfa to 200.000 Fcfa"

     Yet many young Cameroonians are now copying blindly the same-sex relation (lesbianism and homosexuality), which is a legally accepted in some parts of the USA, Europe and elsewhere.

       Advocates of homosexuality say, as long as Human Rights are concerned gays have the right to choose whatever sexual orientation they like and those who are against the same-sex relationship should be considered as Human Rights violators.

      In some Cameroonian villages, those found guilty of homosexuality or lesbianism are treated as outcasts- and people have reportedly been banished when identified as gays and lesbians. They are even likened to witches and wizards.

     Many young Cameroonians have been molested, accused, arrested, and detained or being prosecuted for allegedly being gay.  

     Surprisingly,   Amnesty International, a world-wide Human Rights organization, has repeatedly condemned Cameroon for prosecuting persons perceived to be homosexual or lesbian, and called on Cameroon to de-criminalize homosexuality, a thing the country is yet consider as worthwhile.

Shalanyuy Yenwo  Molo

      Yet, many are not deterred. Cameroonian gays continue to bring enormous shame to their parents and communities. Some get engaged in the abominable act for

 Occultist reasons-to become rich and influential in their localities.

      The story is told of one Peter Nkgrafu, who traveled to the UK in 2012 and reportedly fell in love with a UK resident Mr. Shalanyuy Yenwo  Molo, after they met in a night club in Birmingham in September .Their night club meeting was the beginning of the same-sex relationship.

     When Peter Nkgrafu returned to Cameroon in December in the hope of renewing his visa, his same-sex sexual orientation spread like wild fire in his locality.

 But his parents were skeptical until they had cause to confirm that their son was actually a homosexual: they reportedly found in his keeping homosexual pictures love letters and were scandalized.

    Reports say Peter Nkgrafu  died this February from injuries he sustained  when residents of his community beat him for attempting to convert others into gays.

               

Cameroon:Dismissed SONARA General Manager Charles Metouck detained at Buea Judicial Police

He reportedly sneaked into his former office and was destroying sensitive documents

By Christopher Ambe 

Charles Metouck, dismissed as General Manager of  Cameroon’s  Oil Refinery Company (SONARA) last Friday after  the company’s Board of Directors meeting in Limbe, was last Monday arrested and since then has been in detention at the Buea Judicial Police. 

Mr.Charles Metouck

He is being detained alongside six of his former collaborators.

Mr. Metouck who was GM of SONARA since 2002 until last Friday was replaced by Ibrahim Talba Malla. Until his appointment, Ibrahim Talba Mala was the General Manager of the Hydrocarbons Price Stabilization Fund (CSPH)

Why Charles Metouck Was Arrested

He was arrested because last Monday he “sneaked” into his former office without his successor Mr. Talba Malla and was spotted destroying sensitive documents, apparently to do away with evidence that could later implicate him in wrongdoing.

He was arrested on the instruction of the Procureur-General (Attorney-General) of the Southwest Region, along six others and detained for questioning. They were expected to be brought before state prosecutors yesterday but this did not happen.

The Counsel for Metouck has expressed surprise at the arrest, noting that his client had access into his former SONARA office based on a written authorization from John Ebong Ngole, Chairman of SONARA Board of Directors and Talba Malla, the new GM.

According to Mr.Metouck’s lawyer, the agreement was to enable the dismissed GM prepare some documents for a technical handing over to the new GM. 

But Mr. Ebong Ngolle and Mr. Talba Malla are yet to confirm that they gave the dismissed GM the green light into his former office 

The suspicion is heightened by the fact that Mr. Talba Malla got commissioned into his new office the very Friday the Board appointed. And he was installed by the minister in charge and installation is usually done after technical handing over.

As at now Mr. Metouck is being accused of attempting to do away with sensitive documents and transfer funds.

Before Mr. Metouck’s dismissal, there were allegations of shady deals at SONARA.