Breaking News: Nelson Mandela Dies at 95

Courtesy of CNN-- Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to

lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, South African President Jacob Zuma announced late Thursday.

Mandela was 95.

"He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."

"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," the president said in his late-night address. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."

Mandela will have a state funeral. Zuma ordered all flags in the nation to be flown at half-staff from Friday through that funeral.

Mandela, a former president, battled health issues in recent months, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations.

With advancing age and bouts of illness, Mandela retreated to a quiet life at his boyhood home in the nation's Eastern Cape Province, where he said he was most at peace.

Despite rare public appearances, he held a special place in the consciousness of the nation and the world.

A hero to blacks and whites

In a nation healing from the scars of apartheid, Mandela became a moral compass.

His defiance of white minority rule and incarceration for fighting against segregation focused the world's attention on apartheid, the legalized racial segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994.

In his lifetime, he was a man of complexities. He went from a militant freedom fighter, to a prisoner, to a unifying figure, to an elder statesman.

Years after his 1999 retirement from the presidency, Mandela was considered the ideal head of state. He became a yardstick for African leaders, who consistently fell short when measured against him.

Warm, lanky and charismatic in his silk, earth-toned dashikis, he was quick to admit to his shortcomings, endearing him further in a culture in which leaders rarely do.

His steely gaze disarmed opponents. So did his flashy smile.

Former South African President F.W. de Klerk, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in 1993 for transitioning the nation from a system of racial segregation, described their first meeting.

"I had read, of course, everything I could read about him beforehand. I was well-briefed," he said last year.

"I was impressed, however, by how tall he was. By the ramrod straightness of his stature, and realized that this is a very special man. He had an aura around him. He's truly a very dignified and a very admirable person."

For many South Africans, he was simply Madiba, his traditional clan name. Others affectionately called him Tata, the Xhosa word for father.

A nation on edge

Mandela last appeared in public during the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa. His absences from the limelight and frequent hospitalizations left the nation on edge, prompting Zuma to reassure citizens every time he fell sick.

"Mandela is woven into the fabric of the country and the world," said Ayo Johnson, director of Viewpoint Africa, which sells content about the continent to media outlets.

When he was around, South Africans had faith that their leaders would live up to the nation's ideals, according to Johnson.

"He was a father figure, elder statesman and global ambassador," Johnson said. "He was the guarantee, almost like an insurance policy, that South Africa's young democracy and its leaders will pursue the nation's best interests."

There are telling nuggets of Mandela's character in the many autobiographies about him.

An unmovable stubbornness. A quick, easy smile. An even quicker frown when accosted with a discussion he wanted no part of.

War averted

Despite chronic political violence in the years preceding the vote that put him in office in 1994, South Africa avoided a full-fledged civil war in its transition from apartheid to multiparty democracy. The peace was due in large part to the leadership and vision of Mandela and de Klerk.

"We were expected by the world to self-destruct in the bloodiest civil war along racial grounds," Mandela said during a 2004 celebration to mark a decade of democracy in South Africa.

"Not only did we avert such racial conflagration, we created amongst ourselves one of the most exemplary and progressive nonracial and nonsexist democratic orders in the contemporary world."

Mandela represented a new breed of African liberation leaders, breaking from others of his era such as Robert Mugabe by serving one term.

In neighboring Zimbabwe, Mugabe has been president since 1987. A lot of African leaders overstayed their welcomes and remained in office for years, sometimes decades, making Mandela an anomaly.

But he was not always popular in world capitals.

Until 2008, the United States had placed him and other members of the African National Congress on its terror list because of their militant fight against the apartheid regime.

Humble beginnings

Rolihlahla Mandela started his journey in the tiny village of Mvezo, in the hills of the Eastern Cape, where he was born on July 18, 1918. His teacher later named him Nelson as part of a custom to give all schoolchildren Christian names.

His father died when he was 9, and the local tribal chief took him in and educated him.

Mandela attended school in rural Qunu, where he retreated in 2011 before returning to Johannesburg and later Pretoria to be near medical facilities.

He briefly attended University College of Fort Hare but was expelled after taking part in a protest with Oliver Tambo, with whom he later operated the nation's first black law firm.

In subsequent years, he completed a bachelor's degree through correspondence courses and studied law at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, but left without graduating in 1948.

Four years before he left the university, he helped form the youth league of the African National Congress, hoping to transform the organization into a more radical movement. He was dissatisfied with the ANC and its old-guard politics.

And so began Mandela's civil disobedience and lifelong commitment to breaking the shackles of segregation in South Africa.

Escalating trouble

In 1956, Mandela and dozens of other political activists were charged with high treason for activities against the government. His trial lasted five years, but he was ultimately acquitted.

Meanwhile, the fight for equality got bloodier.

Four years after his treason charges, police shot 69 unarmed black protesters in Sharpeville township as they demonstrated outside a station. The Sharpeville Massacre was condemned worldwide, and it spurred Mandela to take a more militant tone in the fight against apartheid.

The South African government outlawed the ANC after the massacre, and an angry Mandela went underground to form a new military wing of the organization.

"There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and nonviolence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people," Mandela said during his time on the run.

During that period, he left South Africa and secretly traveled under a fake name. The press nicknamed him "the Black Pimpernel" because of his police evasion tactics.

Militant resistance

The African National Congress heeded calls for stronger action against the apartheid regime, and Mandela helped launch an armed wing to attack government symbols, including post offices and offices.

The armed struggle was a defense mechanism against government violence, he said.

"My people, Africans, are turning to deliberate acts of violence and of force against the government, in order to persuade the government, in the only language which this government shows by its own behavior that it understands," Mandela said during a hearing in 1962.

"If there is no dawning of sanity on the part of the government -- ultimately, the dispute between the government and my people will finish up by being settled in violence and by force. "

The campaign of violence against the state resulted in civilian casualties.

Long imprisonment

In 1962, Mandela secretly received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia. When he returned home later that year, he was arrested and charged with illegal exit of the country and incitement to strike.

Mandela represented himself at the trial and was briefly imprisoned before being returned to court. In 1964, after the famous Rivonia trial, he was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government.

At the trial, instead of testifying, he opted to give a speech that was more than four hours long, and ended with a defiant statement.

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he said. "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

His next stop was the Robben Island prison, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in detention. He described his early days there as harsh.

"There was a lot of physical abuse, and many of my colleagues went through that humiliation," he said.

One of those colleagues was Khehla Shubane, 57, who was imprisoned in Robben Island during Mandela's last years there. Though they were in different sections of the prison, he said, Mandela was a towering figure.

"He demanded better rights for us all in prison. The right to get more letters, get newspapers, listen to the radio, better food, right to study," Shubane said. "It may not sound like much to the outside world, but when you are in prison, that's all you have."

And Mandela's khaki prison pants, he said, were always crisp and ironed.

"Most of us chaps were lazy, we would hang our clothes out to dry and wear them with creases. We were in a prison, we didn't care. But Mandela, every time I saw him, he looked sharp."

After 18 years, he was transferred to other prisons, where he experienced better conditions until he was freed in 1990.

Months before his release, he obtained a bachelor's in law in absentia from the University of South Africa.

Calls for release

His freedom followed years of an international outcry led by Winnie Mandela, a social worker whom he married in 1958, three months after divorcing his first wife.

Mandela was banned from reading newspapers, but his wife provided a link to the outside world.

She told him of the growing calls for his release and updated him on the fight against apartheid.

World pressure mounted to free Mandela with the imposition of political, economic and sporting sanctions, and the white minority government became more isolated.

In 1988 at age 70, Mandela was hospitalized with tuberculosis, a disease whose effects plagued him until the day he died. He recovered and was sent to a minimum security prison farm, where he was given his own quarters and could receive additional visitors.

Among them, in an unprecedented meeting, was South Africa's president, P.W. Botha.

Change was in the air.

When Botha's successor, de Klerk, took over, he pledged to negotiate an end to apartheid.

Free at last

On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of prison to thunderous applause, his clenched right fist raised above his head.

Still as upright and proud, he would say, as the day he walked into prison nearly three decades earlier.

"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison," he said at the time.

He reassured ANC supporters that his release was not part of a government deal and informed whites that he intended to work toward reconciliation.

Four years after his release, in South Africa's first multiracial elections, he became the nation's first black president.

"The day he was inducted as president, we stood on the terraces of the Union Building," de Klerk remembered years later. "He took my hand and lifted it up. He put his arm around me, and we showed a unity that resounded through South Africa and the world."

Broken marriage, then love

His union to Winnie Mandela, however, did not have such a happy ending. They officially divorced in 1996 after several years of separation.

For the two, it was a fiery love story, derailed by his ambition to end apartheid. During his time in prison, Mandela wrote his wife long letters, expressing his guilt at putting political activism before family. Before the separation, Winnie Mandela was implicated in violence, including a conviction for being an accessory to assault in the death of a teenage township activist.

Mandela found love again two years after the divorce.

On his 80th birthday, he married Graca Machel, the widow of former Mozambique president, Samora Machel.

Only three of Mandela's children are still alive. He has 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren

Symbolic rugby

South Africa's fight for reconciliation was epitomized at the 1995 rugby World Cup Final in Johannesburg, when it played heavily favored New Zealand.

As the dominant sport of white Afrikaners, rugby was reviled by blacks in South Africa. They often cheered for rivals playing their national team.

Mandela's deft use of the national team to heal South Africa was captured in director Clint Eastwood's 2009 feature film "Invictus," starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the white South African captain of the rugby team.

Before the real-life game, Mandela walked onto the pitch, wearing a green-and-gold South African jersey bearing Pienaar's number on the back.

"I will never forget the goosebumps that stood on my arms when he walked out onto the pitch before the game started," said Rory Steyn, his bodyguard for most of his presidency.

"That crowd, which was almost exclusively white ... started to chant his name. That one act of putting on a No. 6 jersey did more than any other statement in bringing white South Africans and Afrikaners on side with new South Africa."

During his presidency, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights abuses during apartheid. He also introduced housing, education and economic development initiatives designed to improve the living standards of the black majority.

A promise honored

In 1999, Mandela did not seek a second term as president, keeping his promise to serve only one term. Thabo Mbeki succeeded him in June of the same year.

After leaving the presidency, he retired from active politics, but remained in the public eye, championing causes such as human rights, world peace and the fight against AIDS.

It was a decision born of tragedy: His only surviving son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS at age 55 in 2005. Another son, Madiba Thembekile, was killed in a car crash in 1969.

Mandela's 90th birthday party in London's Hyde Park was dedicated to HIV awareness and prevention, and was titled 46664, his prison number on Robben Island.

A resounding voice

Mandela continued to be a voice for developing nations.

He criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for launching the 2003 war against Iraq, and accused the United States of "wanting to plunge the world into a Holocaust."

And as he was acclaimed as the force behind ending apartheid, he made it clear he was only one of many who helped transform South Africa into a democracy.

In 2004, a few weeks before he turned 86, he announced his retirement from public life to spend more time with his loved ones.

"Don't call me, I'll call you," he said as he stepped away from his hectic schedule.

'Like a boy of 15'

But there was a big treat in store for the avid sportsman.

When South Africa was awarded the 2010 football World Cup, Mandela said he felt "like a boy of 15."

In July that year, he beamed and waved at fans during the final of the tournament in Johannesburg's Soccer City. It was his last public appearance.

"I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries," he said. "The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall."

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

The Guardian Post Publisher Ngah Christian Mbipgo Writes to NCC, Raises Pertinent Issues

Ngah Christian Mbipgo, Publisher of the Most Authoritatve English Newspaper

I received with shock; a taken by the National Communication Council (NCC) on November 21, 2013 to again suspend our widely-read and authoritative daily newspaper, The Guardian Post. The Guardian Post, it should be clarified, is published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Going by the UNESCO definition of a daily newspaper, The Guardian Post is rightly qualified as a daily newspaper.

The Guardian Post, it should be recalled, just resumed publication on November 6, 2013;after serving a two-month suspension that was slammed by the NCC. In serving us that suspension, the key accusation was that we were advertising the activities of the tradi-practitioner called Dr. Dewah. We accepted the punishment with all humility; because we thought we were guilty of the ‘’crime’’.
But great has been our shock that to this today, local newspapers, radio and TV stations have continued to run advertisements on tradi-practitioners and their products without the NCC issuing them even a verbal warning! About the interview that has caused the second suspension
That The Guardian Post is served a three-month suspension because of an interview l granted the newspaper without mention of any name leaves one wondering whether some people are not using the NCC to settle personal scores and silence their competitors in the media market.

After we came back from our two months suspension, we thought it a good business strategy that the Publisher should at least clarify public opinion on the circumstances that caused the newspaper to disappear from the kiosks for a period of two months.
In answering one of the questions, l made a generalized statement that ‘’If those who WANTED The Guardian Post suspended even for a week were still leaving with their wives or have even a single biological child to carter for, they would have known what it means to live for two months without a job, with a wife and children to feed, clothe, educate and provide them health care’’.

I would like to be told how in anyway l would have been directing the above statement at the two Anglophone representatives at the NCC as was mentioned in the November 21, 2013 suspension decision. If the NCC were fair in their interpretation of the above statement for which The Guardian Post and its Publisher have been sanctioned, they would have interpreted it to mean that ‘’Those who WANTED The Guardian Post suspended even for a week…’’ were those who wrote a complaint to the NCC against the newspaper and NOT those who voted (NCC members) infavour of The Guardian Post suspension.

If I had said ‘’ lf those who voted for The Guardian Post suspension were still leaving with their wives or have even a single biological child to carter for, they would have known what it means to live for two months without a job, with a wife and children to feed, clothe, educate and provide them health care’’, the NCC would have been considered right in reasoning that I was indirectly referring to the two Anglophone members there.

I might just have been unfortunate that one or both of the Anglophone members at the NCC identified themselves with the above statement, but honestly, in my heart of hearts, I was NOT in any way directing the statement at them.

Even though by my humble up-bringing, I could not have thought of directing such statements at my senior colleagues at the NCC, I remember reading French Language newspaper reports ( with the pictures of the NCC President on the front page) in which he was terribly insulted and called all kinds of names. But to this day, I have NEVER heard that the Publishers of the said French Language newspapers have ever been called up at the NCC to defend what they published. Would one therefore be wrong in reasoning that the interpretation given my interview was just a way of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it? Would l be judged wrong if I reason that our crime is that The Guardian Post is fast growing ( being the only English Language daily in Cameroon and the most widely-read) against the wishes of some of our Anglophone competitors? Should one not now go away with the unshaken belief that some people are using the NCC which the President of the Republic painfully put in place to regulate the media sector in Cameroon; to settle personal scores and silence journalists and media organs which they consider a mighty threat to the survival of their own news organs? Otherwise, how on earth would someone be slammed a three-month suspension for granting an interview in which no name was mentioned?

I think being the true man of God that the President of the NCC is, he should have and should for the interest of the media in Cameroon preach ceaselessly to the other NCC members NOT to use a public office entrusted to them by the Powers That Be to settle personal scores and fight their personal battles. I equally do urge the President of the media regulator organ to remind those NCC members using the institution to settle personal scores that each and every one of us shall be answerable to the living and good God on the last day; about all our actions, in this sinful world. Irregularities of the November 21, 2013 Suspension
To begin with, we find it very unjust for the NCC to have gone ahead to suspend The Guardian Post for a period of three months without at least giving us a chance to defend ourselves; either by writing or in person. The decision by the NCC to sanction us without trial is repugnant to the preamble of the 1996 constitution of the Republic of Cameroon which states that every citizen shall have the right to a fair trial and judgment.

Going by the suspension decision, the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists- CAMASEJ, Yaounde deposited a complaint against The Guardian Post and its Publisher on November 14, 2013. But even though the suspension decision carries the date November 21, 2013, the NCC met and deliberated on the complaint on November 15, 2013; that is, just a day after it was deposited! This, we must point out, was in violation of the NCC internal rules and regulations; decision No. 00005/PC/CNC/ DU 25 AVRIL 2013. Article 29 (2) of that decision states that ‘’ The NCC Ordinary or Extraordinary session MUST be summoned at least 10 days before to hear a complaint pending before them’’.

Going by that same decision, upon reception of a complaint, Article 24 (3) states that ‘’ The Council shall appreciate the form, the legality and the proceeding opportunities then transfer the complaint to a Commission for examination’’; Sub (4) states that ‘’ After examination, the Commission presents its proposal to the Council which examines and adopts it if necessary’’. We will greatly appreciate if the President of the NCC can enlighten us on how the Council followed the above steps as stated in your internal rules and regulations within 24hours before proceeding to sanction us.

We are aware of a legal provision which states that a complaint can only be entertained if it is drafted by the individual(s) concerned or his counsel. We remember vividly and as a matter of jurisprudence the case of a Divisional Officer from the East Region whose complaint against Mutations Newspaper was rejected by the NCC on grounds that it was drafted by his wife and not the DO himself.

With respect to the above, we would wish to understand the form and legality under which the NCC entertained a complaint from a few members of CAMASEJ- Yaounde( who in the first place were not mandated by the general assembly of the association ) against The Guardian Post and its Publisher on behalf of the two Anglophone members of the NCC referred to in the suspension decision.

Article 39 of the NCC internal rules and regulations states inter-alia ‘’When a member of the NCC is party to a conflict or is concerned in a matter brought before the Council, the said member(s) shall not participate in the hearing and voting on the matter. Could it have been possible that the NCC could proceed to give a fair judgment in a matter pitting The Guardian Post and two members of the institution who part-took in the deliberations?

We are certain ipso- facto that in our case, the two Anglophone members mentioned in the suspension decision did not only actively take part in hearing the complaint against us but were among the four members who voted for the suspension of The Guardian Post and its Publisher against four others. We may like to be proven wrong if the NCC makes available to us a copy of the resolutions of that November 15, 2013 session. We would as a matter of right and for the sake of equity, also wish to have a copy of the CAMASEJ complaint against us.

We want to inform the general public that one week before the suspension decision was announced, one of the signatories of the complaint against The Guardian Post told two of our reporters that he already agreed with two of the NCC members on The Guardian Post suspension procedure. He disclosed that the NCC was going to go ahead with The Guardian Post suspension without summoning the Publisher for hearing. To substantiate his statement, he even went on a bet with our reporters that December 2013 will not meet The Guardian Post on newsstands. Days before The Guardian Post suspension was announced, the same signatories of the complaint caused CRTV management to suspend the review of the newspaper on grounds that it was pending suspension from the NCC. All of which came to pass.

It may sound difficult to believe that hours before the suspension decision was read on State Radio on November 21, 2013, one of the signatories of the complaint against us called one of our desk editors; precisely at 16:09 to announce that The Guardian Post has been suspended for three months.

This same individual was not only in possession of the suspension decision but was seen reproducing and distributing it on the streets of Yaounde even before it was officially read on State Radio during the 5 PM news. We would want the NCC to open up an investigation into how this individual got the decision even before it was made official. We observed that it was the first time in the history of sanctions taken by the NCC that beer quavers got copies before the concerned were served copies; more than 24 hours later!

In the light of the above, we can therefore conclude without any fear of contradiction that:
1). The dignity and reputation of The Guardian Post and its Publisher have been greatly belittled and damaged by the NCC in the eyes of every right-thinking member of the society;
2). The damages caused our Publisher and The Guardian Post are estimated in tens of millions.
With respect to the above, we are requesting the NCC to revoke its decision No: 00027/PC/SG of 21 November 2013; suspending The Guardian Post Newspaper and its Publisher, NGAH Christian MBIPGO; for a period of three months.

NGAH Christian MBIPGO
Publisher/Editor
CC.
-SG/PR;
-SG/PM;
- Governor, Centre Region;
- All Diplomatic Missions Accredited to Cameroon
-MINCOM
-CONAC
-The National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon
-The National and International Media

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Ngum Jerome Installed to Succeed Self as Mayor of Elak-Oku

By Mohammadou Haruna 

Ngum Jerome, Mayor of Elak Oku council

The Senior Divisional Officer for Bui Division Nzeki Theophile was categorical in his installation speech by stating clearly that borrowed water cannot cook beans given that times are changing and the people of Elak Oku must adapt to it and as well admit reconciliation. Before commisioning Ngum Jerome and his four deputies, the SDO called on the population to stay off intoxication and give total support to the councilors as well as the council executive headed by Ngum Jerome. He also challenged the newly installed council executive to revamp clean up campaigns in Elak Oku adding that cleanliness is close to Godliness. One of the major challenges of the Elak Oku council, the SDO said is for the council to promote the white honey sector which has already had an international recognition.

Talking to this reporter after the installation rite, the mayor of Oku council Ngum Jerome said that his being

elected and installed as mayor of Elak Oku for the second time marks another historical step in the history of his municipality. According to Ngum Jerome, the election that result to their victory was highly competitive. “I therefore owe a duty to the entire Oku electorate and on my behalf, that of my deputies and councilors, I sincerely thank them for renewing their confidence on us”. He said he is also indebted to the entire election stakeholders in Bui for their respect of the electoral laws. He expressed gratitude to the entire population of Oku for voting him to the position of mayor emphasizing that “ thank you for reconducting me to this apparent admirable position even though with a lot of obstacle before it. Since to me I see a miracle in every obstacle, I promise you to be up to the task and to develop the entire Oku municipality, God being my helper”. 

Harping on modern politics and it present day challenges, Ngum Jerome said that “in modern politics, development is the main focus” yet in Oku some people still practices politics of blackmail, slandering, backbiting, lies telling and witch hunting. “I have the singular option to distance myself from that form and nature of politics”. He said he is a replica of modern politics and does not practice the 15^th century primitive politics full of negative tendencies. He said as a result, all hands must be on deck for progress, development and true democratic practices. In a rhetorical question, he

Ngum Jerom flanked by the SDO, DO, fon of Oku and deputies

asked whether there is any Oku man or woman, boy or girl, who does not like good roads, good structures, a clean environment , good and accessible health structures and educational establishments?, he asked. He argued that those who ate five loaves of bread yesterday in the dark and underdeveloped Oku must accept to eat one loaf today to permit Oku to see the tenets of modern civilization.

On the Internal and External Elite of Oku

Ngum Jerome said it is time for those in high positions to contribute significantly to the development of the municipality. Hear him: “regrettable, in the conduct of some internal and external elite of this tribe today, you are strong in the corridors of power, we expect you to fetch all forms of development projects and direct them to Oku, rather than come home regularly to misdirect people, let your positions be felt by the man power geometric growth in Oku. Permit me look at the internal and external elite in their eyes and in doing so, I would ask them whether confusion, lies telling, back biting and defamation is what is needed to bring roads to Oku”. He challenged the elite to look into the staffing situation of schools and health services because by so doing they would have contribute to changing lives in the municipality and not vice-versa.

On the Death of Councilor Sunju Idrssu Nyinchia:

Mayor Ngum Jerome lamented that the passing away of Councilor Sunju Idrissu  Nyinchia who was snatched by the cold hands of death in a ghastly motor accident along the Douala highway. With a sign of remorse sadness, he said he is conscious of the controversy over his colleague’s death. “We are all Oku and I am Oku just like those who made stories about me. I stand here to say that I would have desired that those who accused and made stories and even documents, very embarrassing documents against me would have been honest people. Oku tradition demands that if a person is accused of the brother’s death, his plea of guilt or innocent is taken over the corps and then the person is armed and buried. For those who accused, tried and convicted me in absentia, God and God alone knows the truth. And I must end here by wondering why the family of my regrettable fallen brother and the authorities acceptably charged with the maintenance of public peace and order has remained mute after several trips to sooth-sayers or “ngambe” people. Oku politicians of my era will not only drive but fly in planes. And the magic that my persecutors said I have, if I had such primitive magic, I will rather convert it to a useful one, such that I can lay on my bed and bring from Yaounde all development to Oku in a single day. I will not like to win any victory which will either me or my opponent.

On the development Challenges of Oku

Harping on the numerous development challenges of the municipality, Jerome Ngum emphasized that “the road to success is climbing and not descending. In climbing,” he added that one is “bound to work against the common force of gravity” reasons why he said that “those who have to work with me to develop Oku must all be ready to serve 24/24 and not to be masters” because “they will drive caterpillars in suits, carry building blocks daily on emergency and develop Oku out of the dark of yesteryears”. Accordingly, he disclosed that his present mandate is about action which entails that no stone will be left unturned and no lazy complaints will be accepted. Haven been elected and installed as the mayor of Elak Oku, Ngum Jerome says time for politics is over and it is time for all and sundry to join hands in order to make the Elak Oku municipality and enjoyable enviable place irrespective of their political leniency. “There is no CPDM bridge, no SDF hospital, and no UPC and or NUDP school. All the development is that of Oku for the industrious sons and daughters of “ Mnkong Moteh”. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Groundbreaking Installation Ceremony: Wache Francis Installed Mayor of Nkor

By Fai Cassian

Bui SDO Flanked by  DO Noni, Wache Francis and his two deputies,

Thousands gathered at the Nkor Municipal Grandstand on December 3, 2013 to witness the groundbreaking installation ceremony of the newly elected mayor of Nkor Council, Wache Francis. Before commissioning Wache Francis into his new function as mayor of Nkor Council, the Senior Divisional Officer for Bui Division, Nzeki Theophile expressed joy to the population of the municipality for the massive turn out. According to Nzeki Theophile, the massive turnout is not only a pointer to the fact that the entire community supports the incoming executive of the council but it also shows the importance they attach to the development of the municipality. To the SDO for the Bui, the installation rite is not far from the commissioning of an officer, the induction of a pastor, the enthronement of a fon and or the empowering of an administrator.  He also reiterated that the action of the mayor shall reflect the commitment of a militant of a noble cause.  Mr. Nzeki Theophile reminded Wache Francis and his deputies that irrespective of their rich and sound curricula vitae, the success over a decentralized structure is less a question of academic, professional and social background than that of a vision, determination and commitment. He told Wache Francis and his deputies that if their decisions to stand council executive were to make a name, aggrandize their complimentary cards and or make money for their families etc, so as to use all strategies to manipulate the population not to implement projects but gain confidence, they entire executive will go down the history of Noni as prominent mayor but not as nation builders.

But according to Mr. Nzeki, if Wache Francis and his team stand for development despite the controversies, the criticism, the blackmail and the inner cycle fighting which will surely occur, they will not only be great Noni Municipality builders, but their names will enter the record of Noni history for life. He challenged the entire executive and councilors to foster development efforts and that they should hang their political jackets and lore ahead to the development of the municipality as one. “In other words, you are henceforth the mayor of all citizens; weak, strong, poor and wealthy”.  He reminded Wache Francis that after 23 years of teaching at the Local Government Training Center-CEFAM, he (Wache) is starting a new adventure as mayor, whereby he is expected to make a quantitative jump from theory to practice, noting that after all, theory without practice is empty, sterile and practice without theory is blind. Nzeki Theophile ended his installation speech by calling on the population to collaborate with the council by paying their taxes. It should be noted that the 1^st Deputy Mayor is Mme Eveline Kinyuy Tatah while the 2^nd Deputy Mayor is Bambo Pius Kiney

Who Is Kongnyuy Francis Wache

Born on December 31, 1955 at Noni Nkor, Kongnyuy Francis Wache after a successful and brilliant primary education got admission into Bishop Rogan College Soppo-Buea where he obtained the GCE “O”Level in flying colours. The quest for more knowledge took him to CCAST Bambili where in 1993; he obtained the GCE “A” level. He later traveled to France at the Universite d’Avignon where he bagged a Language Proficiency Diploma. After the brilliant study in France, he came back to Cameroon and continued at the Yaounde University where he obtained a Bachelor Degree in Modern Letters in 1978. In 2008, he added the Pan African Institute for Development Diploma to his list of certificates and since 1978, he has been teaching at CEFAM. He is above all, an asset in the media world given that he is the Publisher of The Post Newspaper. (This is however a brief summary of the man Wache Francis) the new Mayor of Nkor Council in the North West Region.

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Elation at Sammy Mbgata Installation as Mayor

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa