WCPDM Fako III Offers Didactic Materials to Over 300 School Children

By Christopher Ambe 

     As schools resume on Monday September 2, after the long vacation, the WCPDM in Buea as donated some didactic materials worth over FCFA 1. 3million to deserving but needy school children in the subdivision. The WCPDM is women’s wing of the ruling CPDM party in Cameroon

Buea DO handing  over books to a beneficiary

  The donation, in its sixth edition, according to Fako 3 (Buea) WCPDM President Hannah Etonde Mbua, is part of their contribution to the education of Cameroonian youth. The event took place at Buea Youth and Animation Center last August 27.The donation by Fako 3 WCPDM started in 2007.

   The 305 beneficiaries- not only children of CPDM partisans, came from nursery, primary, secondary and high schools. They received didactic materials such as books, rulers and pens.

 The Divisional Officer (DO) for Buea, Wokam Kouam Paul, who chaired the ceremony, lauded the initiative of the WCPDM, adding that it was in line with the blue print of party chairman Paul Biya who, he said, makes sure that the education of the youth is always a priority project.

The DO called on the recipients to count themselves lucky and make good use of the gifts. “You need these items to continue your education, so to have a successful year”, he noted. “If you are here today you are lucky to have been selected because there are many other needy children in the town who have not had this opportunity”

Mr.Wokam Kouam advised parents of the beneficiaries to complete the school needs of the latter and follow them up in their studies.

Mrs. Hannah Etonde Mbua hands books to a pupil

H e said the gesture of the WCPDM indicated that “the party is for the education and progress of the people” and challenged other parties to emulate the example.

   For her part, Hannah Etonde Mbua, WCPDM Fako 3 president said they chose to come to the assistance of the needy but deserving scholars “because education is a worthwhile investment”

  The beneficiaries, through their spokesperson, gave a vote of thanks to the WCPDM.

Cameroon Elections: Supreme Court Misses the Mark Again!

                                           By Asonganyi Tazoacha*

     It is usually said that the history of a nation is created variously, including in law making chambers, executive offices and the law courts. Indeed, “lawmen” usually transform the law to meet what US Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes described as “felt necessities of the times.”

    The electoral laws in Cameroon, now assembled in an electoral code since 2012, fail to define what the laws mean by sociological composition, gender consideration, belonging to a political party, and many others. Most of the electoral disputes that have been taken to court since 1996 have mainly been disputes related to “sociological components” of a constituency, and “candidates who are not members of the party concerned”; more recently, “gender aspects” have been added to these.

   For the upcoming twin elections, more than for any election in the past, election disputes flooded the chambers of the Supreme Court, most based on these same issues that the court failed to definitely resolve in the past. Since election disputes are known to fall within the vicissitudes of political controversy, within the reach of majorities and self-interested officials, their resolution was left in the hands of a Constitutional Council, at least for presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as for referendum operations. This was because the 11 members appointed to the institution are supposed to enjoy at least some independence, not only because they are designated by different institutions like the presidency, the national assembly, the senate, and the higher judicial council, but also because they serve a non-renewable term of office of nine years. In such circumstances, they can at least ensure that in the discharge of their duties, they are indeed governed mainly by the law and their consciences.

  The Constitutional Council has not been put in place since the 1996 constitution that defines the powers of the institution came into force. Leaving the “Supreme Court” to play the role of the Constitutional Council since 1996 is vicious, selfish and unpatriotic. Indeed, since all members of the bench and the judicial department in Cameroon are appointed by “the president of the republic,” he appoints all justices of the Supreme Court, meaning that he can be said to be the jury, prosecution and judge during the examination of electoral disputes by the “Supreme Court” because of the overwhelming power of control he has over such appointees. The opposition political parties are usually left to amuse the court in the gallery of complainants and defendants during the examination of electoral disputes.

   In any case, at the end of the examination of the disputes that ended last week, at least the gender issue was resolved – happily to the benefit of the empowerment of women; I hope once and for all. The issue of membership of political parties usually abused by the CPDM was also resolved to an extent. But the equally important issue of sociological components of constituencies seemed to have been left hanging, unresolved. Since it is the duty of the court to interpret the open-ended language of some clauses in electoral laws, and indeed, all laws, it all looked like the decisions of the court were not really meant to establish legal principles that could be applied in a non-partisan manner in future; they seemed to be just a series of ruses that affected only opposition lists when the CPDM was high and dry, or let everybody off the hook if the CPDM lists would be negatively affected!  

   Indeed, whenever there was overwhelming evidence presented against a list of the CPDM, the court always adjourned the verdict for deliverance at the end of all the cases to reduce the impact of their verdict in favour of the CPDM on the court of public opinion, since the audience at the handing down of the verdict would surely not be the same that followed the evidence first hand, and tempers would have already cooled considerably! This was the case with the Tiko CPDM list for council elections which ELECAM had rejected because it was introduced through the backdoor after the deadline; the court rehabilitated the list! It was also the case with many other disputes that targeted lists of the CPDM. It is incredible that at the end of the whole process, the CPDM is going in for all 180 seats in parliament, and all 360 council areas in the country. If these were the result of political savvy, it would be praiseworthy; but it is the result of political intrigue, political manipulation, judicial and administrative arm-twisting, and brazen abuse of power!  

   It is not just some of the rulings that pricked our consciences. The court also pricked our consciences by tarnishing its own moral authority to punish political parties for breaking the electoral law, since such authority is dependent on a commitment by the court to follow the law too. Without this commitment, the  court would look more like a tool in the hands of the powerful to protect their exercise of power. Indeed, the court left us with a lot of skepticism about its moral authority; like Vaclav Havel once put it, complete skepticism is an understandable consequence of discovering that one’s enthusiasms are based on illusion.  What morality allows a court to punish political parties for not respecting deadlines, while failing to respect legally prescribed deadlines itself?

   And so at the end of it all, the court has once more turned its back on Cameroonian voters and manifested indifference to the needs and aspirations of the voters. The court has missed the mark again. In spite of this, the court has spoken. Whatever we may think and feel about what they have said, we should never lose sight of the fact that the court only plays a small though important part in fighting electoral injustices; the rest is our collective burden – the sum of the little corrective acts of each and everyone of us.

   This is why we should always keep in mind that the electoral playing field in Cameroon is still not level at all. As we scramble towards September 30 and beyond, this fact should neither be ignored nor neglected. We can, and we must continue to pay close attention to electoral injustices. Only by doing so can we make the ballot box what Abraham Lincoln considered it to be – the rightful and peaceful successor to bullets.

* Asonganyi Tazoacha is a science professor at University of Yaoundé I; a former Secretary-General of Cameroon’s leading opposition party, the SDF and a committed political commentator /critic

Cameroonians suffer to earn salaries and they suffer to spend the money they earn

By Njousi Abang*

In the past two months it has been raining cats and dogs in Fako especially in the heart of the Southern Cameroon capital village city of Buea. Yes, Buea, the only regional capital whose divisional headquarters is located elsewhere with the sole purpose of making it remain backward so that some people can’t look back to it with nostalgia. This is Buea, the village city with only one main street that has been turned into a death trap. It was in this town that I boarded a taxi from Buea Town to Bakassi na Cameroon in Bomaka yesterday. While we were riding slowly and discussing about the failure of the UN to grant total independence to Southern Cameroon and thereby exposing us to another form of colonialism and annexation, it started raining heavily. 

The heavy rain drops flew through the open windows of the taxi and soaked us within the taxi. When I asked the driver to whine up the glasses, he complained that the mechanism for achieving that goal was dysfunctional. He however, appealed to me to bear with him until the end of my journey. Since only one side of my body was affected, I was compelled to heed because alighting from the taxi would have meant that I would be soaked entirely before I could seek refuge under someone’s veranda by the road side. While I stayed there contemplating my fate, I began to think about how Cameroonians suffer to work and earn meager wages and suffer to spend the money they earned.

     I also remembered a similar encounter when we got stuck with our beer bottles in our hands in an open air off license when the rain was falling and flowing unto the floor of the building. During that incident, we were forced to stand on our seats to avoid our shoes from being soaked by the waters. Guess what? We were actually thinking that we were enjoying ourselves in that squalid setting. Most Cameroonians don’t watch the setting where they settle down to eat or drink. Most are blinded by suffering to the extent that any thing goes. What is the use of launching complaints when nobody will listen or act in your favour?

    Indeed where do we begin to talk about the woes plaguing Cameroonians? Where is the space in an article like this to state all the details? What can we do to make a difference? To begin with the latter question, it is worth noting that Cameroonians have the wherewithal to change their lot but they lack the courage, spiritual and moral authority to do so. Back to my encounter with the taxi driver as I earlier mentioned, it is worth noting that the driver did not take it kindly when I alighted from the taxi and suggested that I was not going to pay for the horrible treatment which he had given me in his taxi. He rained abuses at me and insisted on getting his due which I had no option but to pay. He said he was not responsible for the misery that Cameroonians were going through and that he was only trying his best to survive and I should not be the one to put sand in his garri. I paid for all the inconveniences which I suffered and got into Bakassi na Cameroon bar, where the blast of the music from the speakers was so horrifying that I had to caution the bar attendant to spare my eardrums from destruction. I noticed that a host of the customers in the bar were unruffled by the wild blast of the music. Some were smoking profusely and drinking themselves to stupor. On one table, I noted that a group five people sitting on it with three bottles of beer each standing in front of them. The bar man had just be ordered to take away empty bottles of similar stuff which indicated that they had been drinking for quite a while. Cheah! I thought deep within that Cameroonians where poised for a healthcare disaster. With very limited means to take care of themselves, most of them are likely going to die early.

    Similarly, Cameroonians who have had the bad luck of traveling in a public transport vehicle know how much they pay for poor quality transport services. Cameroonians know how much they pay for unhealthy foodstuff displayed on the wayside or hawked along the highway. In urban areas, most Cameroonians eat on the streets under very horrible circumstances. Come to think of the shanty towns where the vast majority of our compatriots live in and pay huge amounts of money as rents. MTN and Orange networks, AES SONEL and Camwater take too much money from its clients who are constantly bombarded with adverts and poor goods and services but give so little in return for the customers’ hard earned currency. If you have ever cued up to pay any bills in an AES SONEL center, you will better appreciate what Cameroonians go through in order to pay bills for erratic services.

    In addition, I would like to know if you have ever worked for an employer for a long period without a salary? If you haven’t, then ask a civil servant in Cameroon who after spending so many years without a penny finally gets a bank cheque or payslip. Just let him narrate what he has gone through before getting his arrears of salary paid. It is a story rippled with a lot of bribe-taking sprees from day one to the end where he ends up losing at least 40% of his wages. The story does not end there. He has to continuously go to Yaounde to ‘oil the lips’ of the pay masters or else he will have more hitches on his way to retirement when the dead toll rings.

   Furthermore, who does not know that Cameroonians suffer get a job? Who does not know that Cameroonians suffer to keep the job? Who does not know that Cameroonians suffer to earn retirement benefits when their services are no longer needed? Cameroon has suddenly become synonymous to corruption and suffering. Although things may seem so bleak, there is hope in the pipeline as some people continue to wrestle for the good in Cameroon to stand out. Meg Biram says, “you can’t expect to see change if you never do anything differently.” A negative mind will never give you a positive life. Make a difference wherever you are. Cameroonians deserve a better life.

*Njousi Abang is a senior official of People's Action Party, PAP,Cameroon and a social critic.

US-based Cameroonian Sponsors Football Tournament for Bonavada Youth.

Bova FC(female team in red) & Ages Ladies  of Bwitingi (in blue)

By Christopher Ambe

US-based Cameroonian philanthropist, Dr. David Njie Makongo, has launched a football tournament for youth of the BONAVADA Area in Buea Subdivision.

 The on-going two-category soccer tournament, which began on August 3 and will end on August 31, is dubbed “Dr.Makongo Bonavada Youth Tournament”.

Some eight male teams and six female teams are competing for the trophies, which will carry cash prizes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of FCFA.

   The tournament is taking place in Bokova, village of former Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge.

   The launching of the football tournament this year, comes barely one after the same Dr. Makongo launched a scholarship program for Bonavada university students to encourage academic excellence.

  BONAVADA is a development association of some 13 villages along the slopes of Mt Cameroon in Buea subdivision and Dr. Makongo hails from Bova, one of the villages that make up BONAVADA, whose current president is Dr. Mbome Njie Victor (Southwest Regional Delegate for Public Health).

According to Mbua Emmanuel Mbua, president of the tournament’s organizing committee, Dr. Makongo’s intention is “to foster unity among Bonavada youth, keep them usefully occupied during this long vacation and help develop and expose young talents in the community”

He described Dr. Makongo as an all-time advocate of development, unity and peace, whom Bonavada is proud of.

  The chiefs of the Bonavada area, according to Mbua Emmanuel, have lauded the initiative of their illustrious son Dr. Makongo, who while in far USA is always contributing to the development of the Bonavada area.

   It was not clear whether the football tournament will now become a yearly event, just as the scholarship program.