Cameroon:Becky Effoe’s Unalloyed Loyalty To God Pays off

By Christopher Ambe 

Becky Effoe testifying to the Lord's goodness in Church

Recently, her life was seriously threatened by what she and medics described as excruciating leg pain for weeks, so much that she thought her end was near. But doctors battled for her survival by administering drugs to relieve her of the killer pain. For their part, relatives and close friends including the clergy daily prayed for her quick recovery and a return of her peace of mind.

      The combination of medical attention and prayers would, no doubt, restore her health after weeks of pains. 
      Madam  Becky Limunga Effoe, who is the Director of the Intensive vocational Training Center for Office employees (IVTC) Buea-Cameroon, suddenly developed the sharp leg pain while in her office and that happened at a time she was shortlisted by the State of Cameroon for the award of the medal of the Officer of National Order of Valour  medal, for her selfless services to   the nation. 

     Because of her sudden ailment, Auntie Becks, as she is fondly called, missed being publicly decorated with the medal on Cameroon’s National Day, last 20th May, in Buea by the Governor of the Southwest region, Bernard Okala Bilai. 

     But that medal was publicly blessed on Sunday, July 27 during a well-attended thanks-giving service she organized at the Bender Baptist Church –Bokwango,Buea , officiated by Rev.Joseph Ngange .The divine event was to glorify God  who has always been  merciful to Auntie Becks ,in times of trouble. 

     The church service brought Auntie Becks’ relatives and  friends from far and wide to witness her testify to the goodness of the Lord. 

    In her testimony, Auntie Becks, generally described as a devout Christian, humble and generous, narrated the ordeal she passed through when she suddenly developed the sharp leg pain, which many

thought would put a full stop to her existence on earth. But she held firm to God in prayers..

Cross section of invitees at the church service

     In her excruciating pain, which left friends and relatives in a state of fear she recalled that a voice called her and ordered her to stand-up, but she tried in vain. Then, came the voice again with the same order, which she believed was   the Lord‘s voice.  This time, Auntie Becks who then could not walk, confessed, “I rose and walked and since then I have walking and have been relieved of the pains” 

     Auntie Becks, near tears of joy, told the congregation that it was God who released His Mercy on her. She pleaded with Christians to always pray for another “because when we pray to God-who is so generous, He grants us His mercy” 

    Before her testimony, Rev. Joseph Ngange, in a mind-searching sermon titled “Mercy and Power” inspired by Romans 9; 11-14, said God’s mercy goes before his power. .He noted that in the release of God’s mercy, God does not respect human tradition or order.”When God releases his mercy on you, the devil is in trouble”

    Rev. Ngange said all what Auntie Becks passed through was known to God. The pastor said God’s mercy and power are working for the good of all believers. “God’s gift is not by the effort of human beings, it is by God’s mercy”, said the Minister of God, calling on mankind to depend largely on God for their needs.

At the glad party Auntie Becks dances with a VIP

   Worthy of note is the fact that this usually smiling Cameroonian mother, who is now aged about 57,draws specially closer and closer to  God  not only in times of difficulties.

   Two years ago, when Auntie Becks  turned 55, she organized a thanks-giving service to that effect, during which ceremony funds were raised for the construction of the official residence of the parish  pastor of Bender Baptist Church.

    High-profile invitees at the thanks-giving service included: Senator Charles Mbella Moki; Christopher Tambe Tiku, university don and noted Human Rights crusader; Associate Professor Ernest L.Molua of the University of Buea;Bernard Eko,head of CRTV Regional Station, and Ngalle kinge Jacob, retired  senior civil administrator and proprietor of Kingston Memorial Nursery and Primary School,Buea ,who later chaired a sumptuous party at IVTC that followed the church service.

1945 Hiroshima bombing:Last crew member of Enola Gay bomber dies in US

By KATE BRUMBACK 

 ATLANTA (AP) — The last surviving member of the U.S. crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, hastening the end of World War II and moving the world into the atomic age, has died.

Theodore VanKirk died Monday of natural causes at the retirement home where he lived in Georgia, his son Tom VanKirk said. He was 93.

FILE - In this May 21, 2009 file photo, Theodore "Dutch'' VanKirk visits a veteran's group at the Golden Corral in Macon, Ga. The navigator for the Enola Gay spoke about his experience guiding the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb. Tom VanKirk says his 93-year-old father died at the retirement home where he lived in Georgia on Monday, July 28, 2014. He was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew. (AP Photo/The Macon Telegraph, Beau Cabell, File)

VanKirk flew nearly 60 bombing missions, but it was a single mission in the Pacific that secured him a place in history. He was 24 years old when he served as navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

He was teamed with pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee for Special Mission No. 13.
The mission went perfectly, VanKirk told The Associated Press in a 2005 interview. He guided the bomber through the night sky, just 15 seconds behind schedule, he said. As the 9,000-pound (4,080-kilogram) bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" fell toward the sleeping city, he and his crewmates hoped to escape with their lives.

They didn't know whether the bomb would actually work and, if it did, whether its shockwaves would rip their plane to shreds. They counted — one thousand one, one thousand two — reaching the 43 seconds they'd been told it would take for detonation and heard nothing.
"I think everybody in the plane concluded it was a dud. It seemed a lot longer than 43 seconds," VanKirk recalled. 

Then came a bright flash. Then a shockwave. Then another shockwave.
The blast and its aftereffects killed 140,000 in Hiroshima.
Three days after Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The blast and its aftermath claimed 80,000 lives. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered.

Whether the United States should have used the atomic bomb has been debated ever since. VanKirk told the AP he thought it was necessary because it shortened the war and eliminated the need for an Allied land invasion that could have cost more lives on both sides.
"I honestly believe the use of the atomic bomb saved lives in the long run. There were a lot of lives saved. Most of the lives saved were Japanese," VanKirk said.
But it also made him wary of war.

"The whole World War II experience shows that wars don't settle anything. And atomic weapons don't settle anything," he said. "I personally think there shouldn't be any atomic bombs in the world — I'd like to see them all abolished.
"But if anyone has one," he added, "I want to have one more than my enemy."
VanKirk stayed on with the military for a year after the war ended. Then he went to school, earned degrees in chemical engineering and signed on with DuPont, where he stayed until he retired in 1985.

Like many World War II veterans, VanKirk didn't talk much about his service until much later in his life when he spoke to school groups, his son said.
"I didn't even find out that he was on that mission until I was 10 years old and read some old news clippings in my grandmother's attic," Tom VanKirk told the AP in a phone interview Tuesday.
"I know he was recognized as a war hero, but we just knew him as a great father," Tom VanKirk said.

Cameroon: Press Club, Best Programme of CRTV Buea, Banned !

By Christopher Ambe

 In what  looks like a return to censorship, the critical talk show programme of the Southwest Regional Station of state-owned Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV),Buea  ,rated by listeners as the best programme of the station, has ,surprisingly, been banned.

        Although it is the station manager David Chuye Bunyui, who signed the banning order, it is believed that Southwest Governor Bernard Okaka Bilai, must have influenced the ban because of growing criticisms of the latter’s administration by the panelists of the club.

In his banning order, Station Manager David Chuye Bunyui, failed to state the reason for the ban, which has been widely condemned by advocates of press freedom.

“We cannot be moving forward and backward with the fight for a free press in Cameroon”, remarked one angry listener, who learned of the ban. “There is no doubt that what animates democracy in any country is a free press.”

          An official of CRTV Buea who preferred not to be named and who is totally against the ban by his boss told The Recorder that even the National Communication Council (NCC) would not have banned a popular programme as press club without a warning to the accused.

        The ban, styled as Note of Service and dated July 22, 2014, simply reads, “The program “Press Club” broadcast on the regional radio station from 8-9 AM is henceforth suspended from the air till further notice. The head of the regional station is charged with the implementation of this notice”

        Contacted by The Recorder in his office to find out why Press Club was banned, Mr. Chuye Bunyui claimed that “the manner in which the July 12 edition of the programme was done was most unprofessional” but refused to grant  a full interview

He said one of the two guests-who are  both legal experts- on the programme that day used insulting language to refer to some local  administrators, allegedly implicated in what is today known as Fako land –grabbing. The guests were Ikome Ngongi,a retired UN legal consultant and Fako elite, and Tambe Tiku Christopher, a University of Buea law don and Southwest regional coordinator of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms.

      The ban has come amid complaints of anonymous death threats by journalists of the different media houses who constitute panelists of “Press Club”. The journalists reported the death threats following their dissection, on air, of certain sensitive matters of public interest such as illegal land acquisition in Fako  by some administrative officers, who by law are not supposed to own land where they administer.

         The Recorder gathered that after the July 12 edition of Press Club,in which  the Southwest Governor Bernard Okala Bilai,was cited as an alleged land grabber, he angrily invited the station manager of CRTV Buea  and seriously warned him about the critical nature of the programme which he (the governor) thought  was causing hatred or dislike of some people from other parts of the country who have acquired landed property in Fako.

       It is believed that the governor must have pressured Mr.Chuye Bunyui to submission, to suspend the programme, even if the station manager would not disclose it.

       Panelists of Press Club are  Editor Christopher  Ambe   of The Recorder Newspaper, Ayang Mc Donald of Eden Newspaper, Dr.Ernest Molua of The Entrepreneur Online, Nana Walter Wilson and Editor Bouddih Adams of The Post Newspaper, and Senior Journalist Matute Menyoli of CRTV Buea who is the current presenter/moderator of Press Club.

Apart from Matute Menyoli, the rest of the panelists are all from the independent media

        Until the July 22 ban,the programme, which was launched in April 2006, had been running for over eight (8) years uninterrupted despite its critical content, which has been helping defaulting workers of both the public and private sectors sit-up.

        Senior CRTV Journalist Sam Bokuba who conceived Press Club and served as pioneer moderator/presenter said the programme was born out of the desire to provide wider leverage to media professionals “to make informed comments and analysis on news events”

       Worthy of note is the fact that, Press Club’s edition of September 19, 2006 on speculative reporting, got shortlisted for the finals of the 2007 BBC Excellence Radio Awards and the programme has received an award from the Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) for its significant contributions to nation-building.

    Shocking revelations made on Press Club on the illicit acquisition, by some local administrators, of land ceded by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CD) to indigenous communities in Fako, caused the Government of Cameroon to set a commission of inquiry, whose findings are yet to be made public. Investigation into the alleged land grabbing   has left those implicated panicking, and they are believed to be the ones covertly threatening the lives of the panelists.

        So serious is the matter of land grabbing in Fako Division that, the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure,Mrs.Jacqueline Koung A Bessike,has, in a circular dated July 18,2014 and addressed to the Governor of the Southwest Region, the  Senior Divisional Officer(SDO) for Fako among others, stopped any further land surrender  in Fako  by CDC  ,pending the findings of investigations.

      President Biya’s war against corrupt practices has already sent many high-level government ofcials to prison.

Hannah Etonde Mbua: A Leading Educationist, Disciplinarian & Politician

Mrs. Mbua  Hannah Etonde

By Christopher Ambe

Mention discipline in schools and I bet you both ex-students and students of Government High School (GHS) Buea, would say it is synonymous to Mbua Nee Ngoto Hannah Etonde, first ever female principal of Government High School (GHS) Buea.

      This erudite indigene of Fako Division of Cameroon has headed this 27 year- old school now for 12 years, to the admiration of both hierarchy and the general public.

This educational administrator/teacher, who on July 18, 2014 celebrated her 47th birth day in thanks-giving to God, is generally described as an advocate of law and order, when contributing her quota to the development of Cameroon.

    As recognition of her valuable contributions to nation-building, Mrs. Mbua Etonde has been decorated by the State of Cameroon with the Knight of the National Order of Valour medal.

    Asked what inspired her to choose teaching as a career, Mrs.Mbua Etonde, who is holder of an M.Ed in Educational Administration (University of Buea) and is now a PhD research fellow, said:

   “From what my mother told me, I was actually born to be a teacher. As a child, I am told, I used to rally other children in my quarter, teach, advise and lead them.”

    Mrs. Mbua  Etonde who has been a career teacher for 20  years, has no problem blending teaching and administration. “I teach, I administer and lead both teachers and students. And, I perform all these functions smoothly guided by God”, she told this writer, beaming.

     Determined to have a doctorate degree in educational administration, she says “I am doing this not to challenge anybody but as a challenge to my self-because as an administrator and a teacher I cannot stop learning. The day I stop to learn I should probably stop to teach. Teaching is a calling. The teacher does not build structures that crumble, the teacher builds human beings”

                                               A Disciplinarian

    Generally described as a strict disciplinarian- both by teachers and students, as well as party/group fellow, Mrs. Mbua Etonde- who in 1992 earned a B.A (English) from University of Yaoundé and in 1994 graduated as teacher from Higher Teachers’ Training College (ENS) Yaounde, says:

“I am not just strict for nothing. It is that I like students (and others working with me) to do things well and at the right time.  When they do things right, it they who reap the benefits and are happy”

     The strictness of this principal, we gathered, forced some students wanting greater freedom to threaten withdrawal from her school, arguing that such strictness should only be applied in boarding schools, which GHS is not one.

To this Mrs.Mbua Etonde reacted, “Many have complained that we discipline in a manner that they think they are in a boarding school. But I still tell them we do that to make them straight and law-abiding”

     As principal of GHS Buea since 2002, Mrs. Mbua Etonde has reportedly been putting her best to maintain standards.  Hear her :“I don’t know if my best is the best. But I have been here as principal for 12 years and I must be grateful to God for allowing me to share my experience with the stakeholders of this school for this length of time. And if it is God’s wish that I continue here I won’t say No”

     The Recorder has found out that, under Mrs. Mbua Etonde as principal for the past 12 years in collaborations with parents of students of the school and the Government, GHS Buea has recorded many achievements: high discipline in the school, which is now public knowledge; academic excellence, there is improved infrastructure, a computer laboratory/multi-media center, a well-equipped library, a school field, three science laboratories among other things.

                                              School Performace

      Although GHS Buea is yet have a 100 % score at the GGE exams during her tenure as principal ,exam results so far have been quite satisfactory. “Every year when the results are published I feel proud. I lift my head and congratulate my teachers.GHS Buea has never sent out less than 200 students. Our students go out in hundreds-300 and above”, the principal pointed to this writer, adding that, “for a school to register of students of all sorts, I think if we have pass percentages of between 80 and 90,I think we are doing great. And I keep saying that my teachers are wonderful-for teaching  many students who don’t have text books; for teaching  students who come to school without basic didactic materials to learn. That notwithstanding, we are intensifying our efforts to start scoring 100 % soon”

                                               Home Behavior

     At home, Mrs. Mbua Etonde, who is a mother of four, is motherly and “my children know that the time I spend with them are very fruitful hours-hours that I inculcate in them values that will keep them in good standing in society-values of hardwork, tolerance, honesty, humility, fear of the Lord, discipline etc” She is grateful that, she is married to a very understanding and caring husband,Njie Peter Mbua,a court registrar, now on retirement but still very supportive of  the family progress

                                               Etonde, the Politician

       A member of the ruling CPDM since the 1990’s,Mrs. Mbua Etonde,has been  president of Buea WCPDM(WCPDM Fako III) since  March 2007 and  is member of the WCPDM National Bureau since 2011.  She had before held other duty posts in the WCPDM in Buea such as Section Treasurer (May 2002 –march 2007) and Subsection president of WCPDM Soppo Mokongo (1997-2002).

       When the CPDM won municipal elections in Buea in September 2013, Mrs. Mbua Etonde stood against Ekema Patrick Esunge for the post of Mayo of Buea but lost. Yet, she is ambitious. “I aspire to become something more than a mayor. Life is all aspirations and hopes. My first objective was for the CPDM to win. And thank God they did…If I had to be mayor; the Good God whom I serve would have made it possible. God has allowed me to be a councilor and he who is mayor needs my support”

                                               The Teacher

    She taught English Language and Literature in Bilingual Grammar School (BGS)Molyko Buea(December 1994-August 2000);taught ‘The Use of English’ at University of Buea(September  1995- July 2000);taught English & Literature  at Central GCE Evening School Mevick Bilingual Grammar School Yaounde( January 1993 –June 1994) and at Inter Comprehensive College Buea(1992)

Mrs. Mbua  Etonde  has been Assistant Chief Examiner (O’ level Literature in English) from July 2008 to date), and had been a GCE examiner for O’ level in English Literature (1995-2008)

                                               Trust in God

     Believing in the existence of the Almighty God, Mrs.Mbua Etonde is a committed Christian, an elder and lay preacher of Presbyterian Church Molyko –Buea; member of Christian Women Fellowship (CWF Molyko) and second- term President-General of Ndol’a Kristo Choirs Association of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC).

                                             Women’s mentor

     “I would like to advise female teachers, female students, female politicians and our female children that life is not a race; that life is a gentle walk. When you do it gently with the fear of the Lord, and you make sure that you mean what  you say and say what you mean, do what you think is good for you to others, then there is no doubt that God will bless you. Every female has the potentials of becoming a leader”

                                                Legacy

     Mrs.Mbua  Etonde says:“If I were to go on retirement today or even to die (laughs), I would like to be remembered for the things that I have done to impact on the lives of others. There are many. For example, you may know that ,for the past seven years that I have been President of WCPDM in Buea,I have been touching the lives of some children who are deprived-300 of them at least every year ,I donate to them didactic materials and I know that these children will remember me. Recently, two students walked up to me at a conference and greeted me, informing me that I gave them scholarships while they were in primary school. Those children, I think, will tell their children about it.

      “My teachers will remember that I touched their lives-because I don’t make them do work, I work with them and I correct them when necessary and reprimand when necessary; I encourage and motivate them when the need arises.

                                               Hobbies

    Mrs.Mbua Etonde  is an amateur actress, who has been member of both the Musinga Drama Group and the University of Yaounde Theatre. She likes   doing research t on important subjects .She enjoys cooking and singing.

      The foregoing is ample evidence that Mrs.Mbua Etonde is a model to watch.

Cameroon : SCNC To Give Its Fallen Leader 'State Burial'

The Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC),which is fighting for the restoration of the statehood of Southern Cameroons, recently  held an extra-ordinary session in Bamenda, dedicated to the State Burial of the former National Chairman Chief AYAMBA ETTE  OTUN, and national security in general. 

Find below the statement following the meeting of the SCNC national Council:

                                       STATE BURIAL

     Considering the passing into eternity of Chief AYAMBA ETTE OTUN, the former National Chairman of the SCNC; 

    Cognizant of his dedication and commitment to the Restoration of the Statehood of British Southern Cameroons;

    Highly appreciative of his exemplary sacrifices to bequeath a rich legacy and give our descendants the human dignity they deserve and as ordained by the Creator;
   Determined to remain faithful to the struggle for Restoration of our sovereign homeland, British Southern Cameroons, till the colonial occupier is chased out;

The National Council declares:
1.      A STATE BURIAL for Chief Ayamba Ette Otun to be held on July 26, 2014 in Mamfe, the cradle of British Southern Cameroons nationalism. He was a  Grand Patriot.
2.      A week of National Mourning from Monday July 21 - 27, 2014 throughout the national territory of British Southern Cameroons and for all SCNC Diaspora Chapters and patriots. 

    Within this period the British Southern Cameroons Flag shall fly at half-mast both at home and abroad. Even the occupier of our land is called upon to give peace a chance in honour of the grand old man and leader as he joins his ancestors and other patriots gone before after having done his utmost.

The National Council Calls:
On all SCNC members in particular and patriots of our land in general, to mobilise massively and give Chief Ayamba, Ette Otun a befitting State Burial.
    The National Council mindful of the fact that Chief Ayamba, EtteOtun as the National Chairman was the lead representative of the SCNC  in Banjul in the case - Communication 266/2003 - against annexationist la Republique du Cameroun;
    Painfully horrified by the fact that the people's enemy bought some among us who behind our backs held talks with Vice Prime Minister Ahmadou Ali and were ferried several times to Banjul to withdraw the case against la Republique du Cameroun for annexing and colonially occupying our land and making us slaves ;
     Believing that this treacherous crack has strengthened the enemy's policy of divide and rule giving the regime the audacity to, with impunity ignore the Constructive Dialogue as approved by the AU Summit
in Libya since July 2009; 

    Mamfe is declared NO GO ZONE within the week of National Mourning culminating with the State Burial for the traitors, their collaborators and anyone who participated in the discussions that sent the trio - Isaac Oben, Theodore Leke and  Mr. Tita - to Yaounde for the Satanic dialogue.
    They should stop shedding crocodile tears and await the NATIONAL TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION when the right moment comes.
   Mamfe is equally declared a NO GO ZONE within the week of National Mourning culminating with the State Burial to the architects of the infamous Press Release of 9th June, 2014 published in The Median Newspaper No. 119 of Monday 16 June 2014, page 4 by a so-called Interim Administration of the SCNC. 
   These fortune seekers and opportunists should know that the SCNC has never been rudderless, it is not for sale, it has enough room for faithful loyal patriots and not greedy fortune seekers. The SCNC belongs to British Southern  Cameroonians and not a bunch of greedy-mindless clique.

ON NATIONAL SECURITY IN BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

    The National Council frowns and energetically condemns the increase in cost of petrol which has influenced hike in prices of basic commodities and the growing insecurity in the country. The 5 percent salary increase for civil servants is meaningless. If not the tactics of a government that cares less about the common man,what fraction of the population is made up of civil servants? What contribution to the national economy do they account for as compared with the farmers and buyam-sellam that make up a large chunk of the population?
     Such astronomical increase in prices of basic commodities only subjects the growing army of the unemployed, the under employed and farmers to greater misery, on the one hand and rise in crime wave on the other - a direct fuel for unrest.
    The National Council is alarmed at the recent murder of a teenager by name Julius Chai, a bread hawker, on Wednesday July 2, 2014, at the Foncha Street Junction on his way to buy bread for sell.
    Disturbed by the fact that the said soldier has not yet been arrested for necessary interrogation and charge;
    Mindful of the fact that President Paul Biya has declared war on Boko Haram and recalling that we have been victims of states of emergency, curfews and economic blockade, periods within which la Republique du Cameroun occupation forces without restraint maimed and sent unfortunate British Southern Cameroonians to their early graves;

The National Council calls on:
President Paul Biya to put an end to the killing of unarmed and defenseless British Southern Cameroonians.

The authorities to arrest the murderer who is said to have escaped and prosecute him for extra judicial execution of innocent Julius Chai. This soldier has like Boko Haram killed a harmless youth. Any failure  to arrest and prosecute him is tantamount to collaboration with the agents of evil or vandalism to teach the "Anglofool" the unforgettable lesson and perpetrate colonial occupation and subjugation.

President Paul Biya to order adequate compensation to be paid to the family that lives in abject misery and has lost its source of hope.

Considering the growing insecurity in the country and the recent brutal murder of Julius Chai aimed at inciting the population, the National Council frowns at and strongly condemns the provocative establishment of a Gendarmerie Brigade in the Ntambessi Quarter, few meters away from the SCNC National Chairman's residence. This will not in the least force the SCNC and British Southern Cameroonians in general to surrender to annexation and colonial occupation.

The National Council in the supreme interest of fighting for a common destiny calls on all British Southern Cameroonians to avoid giving the occupier of our land the open door to intensify the policy of divide and rule, greater repression and exploitation.

Consequently the National Council calls on the YIVE and OLITI tribes of Akwaya, Manyu County (Division) that have suffered much human casualty and destruction of property and all other communities in
conflict to put an end to all hostilities.

Done in  Bamenda  this 13th Day of July, 2014.

For the SCNC and on behalf the British Southern Cameroonian people,

NFOR, NGALA NFOR
National Chairman, (SCNC)