Cameroon: Verdict Slated For June 7, 2013 on Olanguena Case

By Elizabeth Mosima

Yaounde -Urbain Olanguena Awono's fate in the embezzlement case pitting him against the State of Cameroon against the former Minister of Public Health will soon be known. The last but one session of the trial took place at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde on Friday, May 24, 2013.

Olanguena Awono is accused of embezzling FCFA 222 million and attempting to embezzle FCFA 60 million sometime between 2002 and 2006. The sum was meant for various programmes sponsored by the World Bank, the Global Fund and the State of Cameroon to combat AIDS and Malaria. Friday's court session focused on submissions by defence lawyers to prove the innocence of the accused.

On the aspect of subventions given to NGOs and associations for the production flyers which served as communication material for the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria, Barrister Joseph Nyaabia said the prosecution and the State of Cameroon have not been able to prove that public contracts were awarded illegally. He argued that the accusation is confused between the issuing of public contracts and the transfer of funds. He explained to the court that a subvention is assistance by the government to associations.
 "How then can we give sums of money to associations through contracts?" he asked. "It is not possible," he added. He said the accusation is not confused but is rather of bad faith. He further explained that subventions given to NGOs and associations respected the terms made by international donors who put in place local fund agents to supervise the activities, in all transparency.

On the aspect of the contract with the Cameroon's Social Marketing Association (ACMS), another defence lawyer, Barrister Marcel Mong, said it was not a public contract and so the prosecution could not talk about violations of the rules of public contract. Because the accords signed by the minister either with the NGOs and associations for the production of flyers or with the ACMS for the promotion of condoms were accords that were signed based on the principle of contractualisation which was already retained in the partnership agreement signed between the Ministry of Public Health and the NGOS and associations.

Concerning the transfer of subventions, Barrister Marcel Mong said that the prosecution wanted to misinform the court or put the court into error. He explained that in Cameroon, there has never been a public contract of subventions. He argued that before Minister Olanguena, there were subventions given out to associations and after Olanguena, there are still subventions. "We are asking why in the case of Olanguena, they want to make us believe that by a signing a decision for the transfer of subventions, he has violated the rules of public contracts. We think that there is some envy or a marginalisation on the part of the accusation," he said.

Olanguena Awono in his declaration after the defence lawyers said the accusation against him by the prosecution was empty in four different ways and concluded that the prosecution rather missed his guilt-Cameroon Tribune

Cameroon: Activists Claim Win As Herakles Halts Cameroon Operation

By Katelyn Fossett and Carey L. Biron

 Washington May 26(IPS)— After coming under fire from environmental and social justice organisations for violations of land protection laws, Herakles Farms, a New York-based agricultural company, has suspended a large, controversial palm oil project in Cameroon.

    The announcement comes after the Cameroonian government ordered the company to halt its operations, saying the project had failed to obtain necessary permits. Critics of Herakles's Cameroon plans are celebrating the decision as a victory for the power of local community activism, though the suspension is currently seen as merely temporary.

"If you think you're going to go into an African country and do as you please to make some quick money, it now turns out you're in over your head." -- Anuradha Mittal of the Oakland Institute

"People on the ground are celebrating, and the suspension is being viewed as recognition of the [Forest] Ministry standing up for what is right," Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S. watchdog group that has followed Herakles Farms' Cameroon project for years, told IPS.

"In fact, what it shows is that it's communities on the ground that will make governments honourable - and that's what democracy is supposed to look like. This is sending a strong message that African countries are open for business, but they're not open for theft."

   In a 2009 agreement, the Cameroonian government authorised a Herakles Farms subsidiary to develop more than 73,000 hectares for new palm oil plantations. Much of this forestland has reportedly already been cleared, and the company says it is currently in the process of transporting saplings to the plantation areas from nurseries.

   Yet local NGOs have increasingly accused Herakles Farms of ignoring community concerns and failing to comply with both court mandates and a government injunction. The company's decision to suspend the operation now comes following a mid-April order from the Forest Ministry that the company halt a logging operation in the Cameroonian southwest.

   A request for comment from Herakles on Friday was not responded to by deadline.

Ministry officials say Herakles has failed to attain two required permits, with Forestry Minister Ngole Philip Ngwesse noting Thursday that previous agreements between the company and government don't "exempt" Herakles from following "legal procedure".

Ngwesse said his office was forced to act following grievances lodged by local communities. Authorisation to resume operations is now based on a "declaration of public usefulness", according to the ministry.

   In announcing the suspension of work, Herakles stated that it "always has and will comply fully and transparently with government regulations in force" and that it "hopes to understand and resolve these actions" by the ministry. Noting that nearly 700 employees involved in the project could now be furloughed or laid off, Herakles said it "finds these events especially tragic".

Need to "safeguard reputation"

Yet according to Mittal, newly released evidence of Herakles's internal operations suggests that moving forward could be complicated for the company, which says it has invested some 350 million dollars in the Cameroon project.

"Given the other evidence that we have of the company's mismanagement, it will be interesting to see how exactly they decide to handle this," she says.

"After all, this could now undermine a misconceived business plan. If you think you're going to go into an African country and do as you please to make some quick money, it now turns out you're in over your head - and there's no way to fix that quickly."

   Earlier this week, the Oakland Institute and Greenpeace International jointly released a report highlighting wide discrepancies between how Herakles was presenting its projects in Cameroon to investors and consumers and the environmental and social impacts on the ground.

   At the heart of the issue is Herakles's presentation of the Cameroon project in a way that emphasised its purported environmental sustainability and beneficial impact on local communities - the company even began its own development group, called All for Africa. Yet internal documents included in the report now show that executives at Herakles were aware of the legal holes in the investment.

   One e-mail between company executives called the management situation in Cameroon "pathetic" with a "grossly overstaffed office", and urged "formal approval from the government for land concession". The e-mail also warned that the situation in Cameroon should be addressed "to safeguard Herakles investments and reputation".

"What's really unique about this [instance] is the web of lies and deceit," Samel Ngiuffo, director of the Center for Environment and Development, a Cameroonian NGO, told reporters this week. "It's not just to consumers ... it's to investors and the Cameroonian government."

   Chief among these allegations is that Herakles, despite denials to the contrary, began clearing forest and developing palm nurseries before obtaining certificates required by Cameroonian law. According to the report, some evidence suggests that the projects have been in violation of those laws since 2010.

   Herakles has also touted the project's employment potential. Its corporate website, for example, states that the company has developed a "staffing plan and will work closely with village leaders to identify and train candidates and employ as many of those seeking employment as possible."

   Yet a convention Herakles signed in 2009 allows the company to pay according to minimum wage scales "fixed on the basis of productivity and efficiency criteria", rather than according to Cameroonian minimum wage laws.

"Small-scale farmers who are already producing cash crops like cocoa are making far more independently operating than they would be as labourers in a Herakles plantation," Brendan Schwartz, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace International, told reporters this week.

Additionally, Herakles Capital, an affiliate company, is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a group designed to set and monitor environmental standards for such investments. The group formally prohibits its members from using so-called high conservation value forests (HCVF), or forests designated as ecologically, economically or culturally vital, for palm plantations.

   Despite this, the new report points out that the Germany Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), among other monitoring groups, has indicated that "part of the [Herakles] concession area has to be considered as HCVF."

   Now, the Cameroonian government's strong position on the Herakles project shouldn't be read as an attempt to close the door on foreign investment, the Oakland Institute's Mittal cautions.

"The ministry is not saying that Cameroon is a bad place to invest," she says. "It's just saying that investors need to follow the proper regulations."

Genital Mutilation Scare in Ayukaba Village

By Mbi Lawrence

Female Genital mutilation (FGM) which involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other parts to the female genital organs for cultural reasons seems to continuously escape the long arm of the law in some of Cameroon.

Despite confirmation by health professionals that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) subjects a woman to both physical and psychological tortures and is widely denounced by Human rights campaigners, the people of Manyu Division of the South West Region of Cameroon still practice this act insisting it is a part and parcel of their culture and tradition.

The primitive act has left the villages to Mamfe Town, the seat of Manyu Division where, according to reports, four girls  including Ashu Victorine and Ako Pauline were genitally mutilated last May 21 on the instruction of a certain traditional chief, Ekwati Ebai of Ayukaba village. The four FGM victims all hail from Ayukaba

 The matter was reported to the police who apprehended the perpetrators but later released them because of the intervention of Chief Ekwati Ebai and his colleague who hold sway in the ruling CPDM party.

Our investigations found out that the said chief is bent not only on upholding the tradition but also  on punishing all those who try to disrespect it. 

The Ashu’s family has particularly been victimized  since one of them, Glory Ashu refused to marry the chief, we gathered. Since then, some members of their family have been circumcised with many running away for their lives. Miss Ako Ashu, sister to one victim whom we met in the health center where she was treated said “she is tired of living in fear and hiding and plans to surrender to the pressure and give in to the practice of female genital mutilation”.

With statements like this many more are going to fall prey to the practice of Genital Mutilation if the perpetrators are not penalized. Many rights activists and feminists have been calling on the international community to bring pressure to bear on the Cameroon government to ensure the protection of the human rights of women and girls by enforcing the law in place. The fact that FGM is a cultural tradition should not deter the international community from asserting that it violates universally recognized rights.

Cameroon:University of Buea Students’ Vandalism and Death Threats Widely Condemned !

 By Christopher Ambe

University of Buea (UB) administration is on red alert, fighting- tooth and nail -to contain a widely denounced  students’ rebellion on campus, barely three months after a similar students’ uprising was quelled there.

The UB students’ rioting -interchangeably referred to as students’ terrorism by some quarters has been widely condemned on account of their violent approach, and demands, most of them said to be unreasonable.

Armed troops deployed to help restore law and order on campus, confronted and arrested several student suspects for prosecution, especially as confrontation between students and staff, left many seriously injured and hospitalized at the Buea Regional Hospital.

The Recorder learned that alleged strike mastermind  Remmy Sigala  was arrested,May 18 and is in police custody,programmed to be arraigned with about  20 others  on May 21

 The University of Buea Students Union (UBSU)-organized rebellion, which started last week, also resulted in the vandalization, by students and reportedly infiltrated by hoodlums, of UB property estimated to cost about FCFA 100 million, bloody assaults on at least 10 staff and death threats from students directed to particular lecturers viz: Dr. Ernest Molua, Dr.Kingsly L. Ngange and Dr. Ekoka Molindo, all from the same tribe with the Vice-Chancellor, Dr.Nalova Lyonga, who has emphatically vowed that, she won’t allow student unionism  promote illegality and disorder,in the UB,Cameroon's first Anglo-saxon varsity

The riot master-minds had chased away other students who disregarded their call for the strike from classrooms.

As at the time of posting this report, reliable UB sources told The Recorder that the Faculty of Agriculture's Poultry Farm House was burnt down to ashes at about midnight, Saturday 18 . It is worthy of note tha,t Dr.Ernest Molua –one of the students’ targets, teaches in Faculty of Agriculture.

The latest act of vandalism and an alleged explosion  by some students of  a locally –made explosive, last Friday, during a football match between  Njala Quan Sports Academy and  UB Football Team, watched by the Vice-Chancellor Dr.Nalova Lyonga, sources said, is an indication that, some of the armed student rebels have merely retreated into their hideouts probably to revise their strategies and to avoid the vigilance of security agents, now still hunting for suspects on the run.

The irate students ,reportedly armed with dangerous weapons such as cutlasses and axes, had earlier burnt the car of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Julius Ngoh, vandalized the property including computers in offices of Dr. Kingsley Ngange and Rev.Dr.Ekoka Molindo, whom they accused of working against of the interest of UBSU,by publicly testifying against them. 

Dr Kingsly Ngange , who is Faculty officer, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, is reportedly still receiving threats in his mobile phone. But he is for now  safe. Reverend Dr Ekoka Molindo, who is the Vice-Dean, Faculty of Education ,is said to have narrowly escaped  death

Other valuable varsity property was equally damaged.  The UBSU- launched rebellion, which continues to attract sharp criticisms from authorities, many UB students, parents and the civil society, is intended to pressure the Vice-Chancellor to grant them certain demands. They include: the withdrawal of all court cases against suspect students, resit for students who did not write first semester examinations due to the previous strike action, permission for UBSU to organize elections, the award of President Biya’s scholarship to students with a GPA of at least 2 on 4, as well as the payment of 3000frs each for students willing to participate in Cameroon National Day (May 20) celebration.

The UB administration, which has always opted for dialogue as a means of resolving any crisis, in addressing the students’ worries, said it could only do what was legally correct, and called on the students to be law-abiding and responsible.

 After the February student rioting, an angry Dr. Nalova Lyonga, had revealed that the UBSU constitution has never been accepted and endorsed by the UB Administration, noting that the student union has been operating due to administrative tolerance

The previous UBSU-organized strike was intended to force the UB administration address some problems negatively affecting students’ welfare. The students’ demands included the reestablishment of on -campus businesses such as photocopiers said to have been suspended; improved online registration, dialogue with students, payment of a certain amount as youth day march past dues, speedy issuance of transcripts, extension of reading time on campus, and quality food in the restaurant.  

 Vice- Chancellor Nalova Lyonga, just as she did during the first student strike under her leadership, has strongly pleaded with the Government to help in restoring total law and order on UB Campus.

 It is widely thought that some lecturers and politicians are the brains behind the repeated rebellions on UB campus for their selfish motives.

In a February press conference, the UB Administration admitted that they had evidence that some lecturers were promoting disorder and lawlessness on campus and threatened to deal with them.

Hon. Ayah Paul Likens Cameroon's Senate to a Sham

 Interview:

    Ayah Paul Abine is an embodiment of many things: he is a magistrate of exceptional class in Cameroon; he is a philanthropist, running an orphanage in Buea;he is the Paramount Chief of Akwaya town ;he’s a  two-term MP for Akwaya,  a 2011 presidential candidate and currently  Secretary-General of People’s action party(PAP).

     Widely noted for his outspokenness on matters of national and common interest, Hon Ayah Paul Abine sat down, Friday May 10, in Buea, for an exclusive interview with Recorder Editor Christopher Ambe.

    He spoke on Cameroon’s pioneer Senate, the new-found love between the ruling CPDM and the SDF, the so-called reunification of Cameroon and more. Following are Excerpts 

How is your party, the People’s Action Party (PAP) faring a few months to Legislative and Municipal elections?

  First of all, I want to thank you for coming to talk with me .It is not our style  to be telling people what we are doing .And that is the trick that worked wonders in the 2011 presidential style elections. If you would recall, we were simply dismissed as a party but the presidential results baffled everybody; so are we today working on the ground without making any noise. We only go to the press when we are pressed; for instance you are here now and we have to talk. But, generally we don’t disclose to people our strategies; we don’t tell people our strength.

Honourable, apart from the fact it is provided for by the 1996 constitution, do you as a political party leader thin that Senate is necessary in Cameroon?

    I don’t know if I am in a position to take a decision in the place of Cameroonians. But if you are asking my opinion –as you rightly said, as an opinion leader, I would say it is unnecessary; unnecessary in the sense that the money we are wasting in the name of senate would be used better elsewhere. I have a friend who just came from Konye and the way he described the road between Konye and kumba is very horrible.

In Cameroon, we leave the substance most of the time and chase the shadow. The National Assembly has never really taken a decision in the interest of Cameroon. The Senate is going to be composed of the same Cameroonians. I see no difference between the National Assembly and Senate, except that we are going to have another place where people will go and sleep all the time and just wake up and clap.

    In the days of the Senate for Cameroon it is going be worse in the sense that the people are too old if you look at the average age. I know, of course that in places like Britain, if you look at the House of Lords you have people who are barely walking, with their hats and pipes on and walking sticks. But then, most often these are people who are very seasoned, retired people who are patriotic, who worked for the betterment of their country. In the case of Cameroon, there are people who will simply go there to sing praises to the President of the Republic-especially those appointed who have -properly speaking- no legitimacy. And like in the National Assembly, I don’t see ever their accepting a private member bill.

What is your opinion about the apparent new-found love between the SDF and the ruling CPDM demonstrated publicly during campaigns for Senatorial election? For example, the CPDM was campaigning for the SDF in the West Region and the SDF was doing same for the CPDM in the Littoral Region.

   If anything has happened  to Cameroon today that can be decried it is the relationship between the SDF and the CPDM.We are on the field and since Monday I have held about six meetings …and in all those meetings each time a question has always come up: if SDF has betrayed the people, do we have any other hope? Are there other parties that are different? That is the worst thing that would have happened to our country.

   When SDF came up it attracted so many Cameroonians. This is because when Mr. Biya took over from Mr.Ahidjo he made us believe that things were going to be different. I was in Bamenda in 1983, when he said one of the first things that he was going to do was to stop the chasing of dossiers.Today, chasing of dossiers-and for non-Cameroonians, that means somebody goes from office to office, from table to table in government offices following up papers. Chasing of dossiers today in Cameroon is an institution, a business. Many are teachers today who have abandoned the classrooms and are only chasing dossiers. They do it for you and they are paid 30% of whatever amount is paid to you eventually. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t see anything that Mr.Biya has promised that has come to pass. To be honest to ourselves we have not seen any. And for any party of the opposition –working for change, to go to bed with the very institution that has grounded Cameroon in all aspects because Cameroon today has embassies that are closed down,  Cameroon has embassies they cannot even fund; in almost every quarter of a  town in Cameroon today you have gendarmes /police harassing everybody to collect money to put in the state coffers; no body today is talking about the HIPC I funds; we were told to wait for the completion point .It is a taboo today to ask what has been done with those funds. So, for anybody who has had the confidence of Cameroon as a party of opposition, to go back to the very evil that we want to get rid of, to me is an abomination.

And so do we tell Cameroonians, that today there is only one opposition party that is most trustworthy and that is Peoples Action party (PAP), which is the Third Option. Third option in the sense that, there is the ruling CPDM, there is the so-called opposition and PAP is the third option.

Honourable, let me bring you now to the appointment of senators by President Biya. What is your reaction to the appointment of 30 senators including Chief Anja Simon who is your own “brother” from your constituency of Akwaya?

Well, I know that I contested elections with Dr.Anja Simon twice -in 2002 and 2011, and I beat him. If, today,Mr. Biya has raised him to the office of senator, well and good for Akwaya, because that is part of the country that has been neglected all along. I congratulate him.

   But on the whole it is pity that Mr.Biya has not opened up. We were hoping that, for the first time if only at the very last minute Mr. Biya was going to open up, bring in  people from the civil society, bring in people from the genuine opposition.  If you look at those he has appointed, all are cronies of the CPDM.All in the sense that if he has gone out of the CPDM it is parties that are said to part of the Presidential Majority. So they are birds of a feather which are flocking together. It is so sad fro Cameroon that we have waited for 17 years to have senate. And we are going to have a sham in the name of Senate.

It is highly rumored that an Anglophone will be selected or elected Speaker of Senate. Do you think that if that comes true it is going to help in addressing the decades-old Anglophone Problem that includes gross marginalization in appointment and development projects?

   You see me laughing before answering the question. Of all the political figures in Cameroon today of Anglophone origin including the SDF there is only one man who has stuck out his neck in favor of the Anglophone cause. And this man is a certain Ayah Paul of PAP.Mr. Biya has already appointed his senators. If one of them is appointed President of Senate tomorrow, he is not going to depart from what he has been before. Whoever that may be I don’t believe that it is now that he will owe allegiance to Mr.Biya by reason of his appointment that he will be able to tell Mr. Biya that my people are suffering or like Moses say “ Pharaoh ,let my people  go” I don’t see any effect of such an appointment on the Anglophone cause.

Let’s address the so-called 50^th anniversary celebration of Cameroon’s reunification coming soon.Recently, there was a Government-sponsored conference-debate in Yaoundé during which renowned historians and constitutionalists publicly admitted that there was no legal union between la Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. What is your take on that?

   I have already told you that among the Anglophone Politicians, I alone have had the courage to say that there no document on reunification. You cannot talk about 50^th anniversary of reunification without talking about the starting point, then the first second, third and up to the fiftieth anniversary

I have challenged the President of the Republic to just refer to any document anywhere to the effect that in the eyes of the law there is reunification between Southern Cameroon and La Republique of Cameroun that was under French Trusteeship. There is no such document and remember that on December 31.2009 in his end of the year address to the nation,Mr .biya himself said the only documents  in the  Secretariat-General of the United Nations on the Independence of Cameroon are those of January 1,1960.What they call reunification is said to have dated from  October 1,1961 but in the UN Charter  any change in the boundaries of La Republique du Cameroun as of January 1,1960 ought to have been notified to the UN in writing ,filed in the Secretariat-General of the UN.In the absence of any  such document there is nothing in the eyes of the law called reunification.

Do you agree with the claim by some very critical minds that La Republique du Cameroun is annexing Southern Cameroons?

   Well we could call it Southern Cameroons…they are there. I don’t know may be on an era. And that is why I have applied a number of times to meet the President of the Republic to impress on him that force has never resolved any problem anywhere in the world. There is no war that has not ended in peace talks. It is incumbent on him if he is a patriot, if he loves peace to dialogue with the Anglophones. Outside that whatever they are doing in this part of the country is not without the law. It is not right.

Cameroon's Reunification Golden Jubilee: Major Projects in Buea near Completion but Water Crisis Persists

By Christopher Ambe

The Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency and Chair of the National Organizing Committee for the 50^th Anniversary of Cameroon’s Reunification, Martin Belinga Eboutou, early this month  in Buea, said major projects earmarked for the event were almost complete, indicative of the fact that the golden jubilee would soon take place this year.

Mr. Eboutou made the remark after an evaluation of the some of the major projects.

He was accompanied to Buea by the Minister of Armed Forces Alain Mebe Ngo’o, the Minister of Tourism Bello Bouba Magairi and Southwest Governor, Bernand Okalia Bilai.

Their evaluation tour took them to project sites such as the new grand stand, Buea Mountain Hotel, Parliamentarian Flat (Hotel), new Buea Council Building, and the two presidential residences in Buea.

Other significant projects such as the construction of the cultural village opposite the new grand stand, estimated to cost 350 million Fcfa and the erection of the reunification monument estimated to cost over 750 million Fcfa  are still to be realized, although officials are hopeful that they will come to fruition as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, residents of Buea continue to face water crisis with some neighborhoods such as Bokwango hardest hit. For almost a year now, residents have been trekking long distances daily just to fetch portable water, following CAMWATER/CDE repeated failures to meet their own deadlines to ensure regular water supply.

 The road network of Buea is being improved. But regrettably, the ridge on the over 8km double-lane road in Buea is being scrapped off, despite widespread condemnation by the public that the removal would provoke more road accidents. Officials say the ridge removal is to ensure the security of the presidential motorcade.

Several Buea streets have been lighted, although many residents doubt whether after President Biya must have come and gone, the street lamps will still be lighted.

Clean-up campaigns in Buea have now become more regular.

For their part, the Peter Mafany Musonge-led Southwest Local Support  committee  for  the golden jubilee , last May  4  in Kumba , ended their  fund-raising  by realizing  198 million FCFA ,up  from their  original target of 150 million FCFA. 

 In another twist, historians and constitutionalists who recently converged on Yaounde for a conference-debate on the theme “The case of Cameroon at the UNO,” organized by the Commission in charge of Studies, Conferences and Debates for the 50^th anniversary of the so- called Reunification of Cameroon, confirmed that there has been no legal union between the state of La Republique du Cameroun with Southern Cameroons

(First published in The Recorder Newspaper,of Cameroon,May 15,2013)