Emmanuel Etoundi, GM of Douala Port Authority Slammed 3 Years by Mfoundi High Court

The verdict against Emmanuel Etoundi Oyono fell Tuesday at 22:30 at Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde. When Gilbert Schlick, the presiding judge announced that Emmanuel Etoundi Oyono was sentenced to three years imprisonment, suspended for five years from holding any public office, some family members expressed a little relief in the courtroom where they were present from 13h to follow the verdict. "God could not accept that our brother go to jail because of the battles of some personalities in this country who want him," says a young lady in the room. Convicted of complicity in forgery from 2009 to 2010, Emmanuel Etoundi Oyono, former CEO of Maetur who now heads of the Douala Port Authority was also fined FCFA 2 million and 400,000 F.Cfa court charges. The accused also benefited extenuating circumstances as a first offender.
Prosecution had started in July 2013. The prosecution said that the man who was a witness against the Harrys Mintya Nko'o Mvondo and journalists in the same case, was the instigator of the false document involving Laurent Esso, the former Secretary General of the Presidency the Republic (Sg / pr), current Minister of State for Justice. It is alleged that it is that same document that was caused the arrest of late journalist Bibi Ngota, who died in April 2010 at the Kondengui prison. The printed document allegedly evoked sharing kickbacks to certain persons in connection with the purchase of a boat hotel (Rio del Rey) by the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) where Laurent Esso, as Sg / pr, officiated as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Etoundi Oyono who spoke a few minutes before his conviction, said: "I expect that before the bar shows me how I gave a false document to a journalist for publication. But this is the court that made me know that Nko'o Mvondo came back to me with the document. Mr. President, I have done no harm to anyone, I know that I am dying because of the Port of Douala Authority, I leave my fate in your hands of those who are my critics and know that I am a child of God ".
This statement was accompanied by a burst of applause in the courtroom. However, this did not prevent the court from slamming him the heavy sentence. However, Emmanuel Etoundi’s lawyers say they will file an appeal to the Supreme Court. Yet pundits are skeptical given that when Zachs Forjimdam, former General of the Cameroon Ship Yard filed in an appeal, his 25 years jail term was raised to life imprisonment. This has been the bitter pile that many who have been caught in matters with the state have found themselves being messed up.

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Former Mayor of Ndu, Councilor DK Nfor Laid to Rest

By Tamngwa Marcel Kwalar

The former mayor of Ndu council the venerated Nfor David Karngong who passed away last December 1, 2013 was laid to rest at his Ntumbaw Residence on December 21, 2013. The mortal remains of the highly profiled former mayor of Ndu council that have spent close to three weeks at the Banso Baptist Hospital Mortuary were removed and converged to the Ndu council premises where the public was given the last opportunity to pay their last respect to the man who has spent 8 years at the helm of the council. It was there after that Late DK Nfor was escorted to Ntumbaw village for the funeral rite and burial.

Speaking at the funeral of the late mayor, the present mayor of Ndu council and successor of the deceased described DK Nfor as “simple and straightforward man who was always bent to see things done properly”. According to Bunyui Emmanuel, the former mayor “managed the Ndu council prudently and achieved much though not all can be objective enough to see”. Bunyui Emmanuel also remarked that the former mayor died at a striking moment-December a month that also saw the dead of the world hero Nelson Mandela. This to Bunyui Emmanuel is proof of how Great DK Nfor was. Bunyui Emmanuel ended up by calling on those on the both sides of the political divide to close ranks behind the current Ndu council executive so as to enable them continue from where the Late DK Nfor ended.

Ex.Ministers, Colleagues mayors, MPs, SDOs other

On the other hand, the Senior Divisional Officer for Bui Division, “Ta Nformi” Nzeki Theophile who travelled all the way from Kumbo to Ndu to pay his last respect to the fallen hero, described DK Nfor as a man of difference, a man of determination, courage and patience, and a man who has spent his entire life serving the people. He illustrated DK Nfor as a great lost not just to the Ndu municipality but to the entire Donga Mantung Division. He called on mourners to emulate the virtues of determination, courage and patience as evident in the life of DK Nfor.

In his religious message, Rev. Gideon Jumbam stressed on the fact that DK Nfor finished God’s work before he died, he did not die before he finished.

It should be noted that Councilor DK Nfor died just barely few months after he was brillianly reelected councilor of Ntumbaw into the Ndu council. He had served as first and second deputy mayor under late Bunyui Jonathan and succeeded him when the later passed away. He was later voted mayor of Ndu council on July 31, 2007. Due to health problems, even though elected councilor, he could not contest for the mayoral position. His mark of greatness at the helm of Ndu council for the past 8 years has earned him considerable recognitions. He was voted as the Best Mayor of Donga Mantung by readers of The Eye newspaper in 2011, in 2012, DK Nfor was again voted on the national category as Best Innovative Mayor(The Eye newspaper), Best Mayor of The Year (Life Time Newspaper), Best North West Mayor by Watchdog Tribune Newspaper, Best for NW by FEICOM and more than 9 other awards from different instittutions and media outlets.  He is in my opinion the lone mayor of the region who has received an award from FEICOM right now.  

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Fireworks at Nkambe Council Budgetary Session

By FC Ndi with inputs from Haruna Mohammadou

Hands up? its hot i here

A budget of over FCFA 800 million has been adopted by 34 councilors out of the 41 who finally attended the budgetary session that took place under the watchful eyes of the Senior Divisional Officer for Donga Mantung Division, Ngone Ndodemesape Bernard on December 20, 2013 at the Nkambe Community Hall. As to whether some of those councilors who could not show up early enough at the session were stuck in the dust somewhere along the ring road still remains another mystery given that during the roll-call, 17 councilors were not yet at hand. Those who surfaced after the roll-call sneaked in to the hall at silence admiration.  Even though some of them arrived the council very late, the quorum was not the problem since deliberations could not wait for them and no way could they go back to what had been discussed. Political pundits are of the opinion that if at the beginning of a council session 17 councilors are absent, there much to it. A school of thought holds that this is just the beginning of many other surprises.

The problem that ignited fireworks was that the councilors wanted to set aside the five years development plan earlier initiated by the former and his team who were voted out obnoxiously. This attempt met serious resistance from PNDP representative who threatened to withdraw their support and working relationship with the Nkambe council. The councilors finally understood that loosing PNDP for greedy purposes wasn’t the solution to the political divide in Nkambe. And they all finally agreed to maintain the five years program. This was purely an intellectual exercise that the lost ones couldn’t make it out.

Confusion again set in when councilors couldn’t reach a consensus and tempers almost flared on the amount allocated for payment of electricity bills at the mayor’s residence. Paul Ngabir got a bitter experience when the same councilors raised motions on the amount budgeted for the payment of the mayor’s electricity bills at his residence. Just for a sum of FCFA 600.000, many held the robe tied with the intention as if that it would make the mayor richer. Yet theirs was just to endorse a budget that was already formulated by others in the five years development plan.

However, the most interesting thing is that the councilors showed a little bit of maturity during deliberations,

Council excecutive

which many an observer suddenly gave them a positive note. It was their first participation and seemingly a recorded improvement looms large. As priorities, the Nkambe council would need to purchase vehicles and not just one, construct the Nkambe market and the most interesting one is to install street lights. Perhaps without casting doubts on the street lights using solar energy, a meager sum of FCFA 2 million was budgeted. Insignificant observers say but yet only mayor Paul Ngabir knows how feasible it is going to be. Besides, councilors also resolved that Nkambe town needs a modern TV channel, construction of more farms to market roads and it could only be achieved if revenue collected locally is improved. Therefore, studies would be carried out to improve council revenue collection. Speaking to this reporter after the session the mayor of Nkambe Paul Ngabir sounded optimistic on the realistic budget.

He also used the opportunity to throw light on the reasons why he boycotted the civic reception of the MPs for Donga Mantung Centre. Mayor Ngabir Paul pointed out that the invitation handed to him was not an official one. He disclosed that he saw copies of the invitation that were handed to other authorities but his was just like a piece of paper.

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That Landmark Speech by the President of Kuta Fons Union at Hon. Abe Michael’s Homecoming

The Member of Parliament for Ako/Misaje and Entourage

The Traditional/Religious authorities-Kuta

Leaders of political parties here present

The Municipal councilors of Kuta here present

Service heads

Internal and External elite

Dear Kuta Community, Ladies and Gentlemen,

HRH Fon Asenge Ignatius Ebah

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you here in Mbande for this solemn occasion, which to the best of my knowledge is the first of its kind in this community. I know many of you have put aside so many other things that would have been of paramount importance to you in your individual homes and families but have sacrificed money and time, and have suffered some or all the traveling inconveniences to be here personally to give this occasion the grandeur it deserves. I say welcome and thank you. The Hon. MP you are welcome.

Dear MP, yesterday you were Mr. Abe Michael Ndra of Mbande village in Kuta Zone of Ako Sub Division. But today, you are no longer that person, but Hon. Member of Parliament for Ako/Misaje Special Constituency and your village today is Kuta as a whole.

Biblically, the scriptures according to the Book of Joshua 1:1-19 has all that the fons of Kuta have to tell you amongst others. We are told in this passage that when Moses died when he had not completed his journey from Egypt to the Promised Land with the Israelites, God called Joshua who was Moses’ helper and gave him powers and authority to continue with the journey as their leader until they crossed the River Jordan and entered the Promised Land. From here, Joshua started with the Israelites from where Moses ended. You should therefore remember that you have been Hon. Ntoi-your father’s helper in Yaounde for many things and for many years. Your call by God and people to serve the constituency therefore is not a mistake. You should therefore continue from where Hon. JKE Ntoi ended until we get to the Promised Land-which is the attainment of a considerable and appreciable level of development to measure up with communities by 2035 during the Cameroon’s economic emergence. In this passage, God enjoined Joshua to be determined, be confident and to be sure that he obeyed the whole law which his servant Moses gave them. We are therefore advising you, Honourable, that you should work with the fear of God Almighty and exercise justice so that God will not abandon you but you will be prosperous and successful. This because in the 19^th verse of that quotation, it says “Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident. Do not be afraid or discourage, for I, Lord your God, am with you wherever you go”. We are therefore advising here that you should not discriminate in your work. Political debates and campaigns came and passed and you have emerged victorious. It is your output during this five years mandate that will be enough campaign either for or against you at the end of the mandate. Therefore, now is time for work. In development, everybody is involved no matter your political inclination. Once you emerge victorious, you are for all. You are in Yaounde-the MP of the ruling CPDM party, but you have your brothers and sisters of Kuta who are municipal councilors in Ako Council of the SDF party. All of you are hunting dogs for the Kuta community during this five years mandate. Remember that there will be many things meant for Kuta to be recommended by the council following decentralization process currently going on in Cameroon and the council authority will want to do otherwise since the party performed very poorly in this zone and these are the people who will quickly signal you for the interest of the Kuta community. It should be noted that in the anal of political history of our time, Nelson Mandela once said in South Africa when Bill Clinton consulted him during the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the White House that “In African politics, we don’t distant ourselves from our political enemies or opponents, rather we bring them closer, get their views and resolve our differences amicably-therefore what personal problem is there between Clinton and Ghadafi my brother that sanctions imposed on Libya by the United Nations will never be off-lifted”. Here we are advising that now is time for reconciliation, unity, peace so that we shall carry on with our development.

The Hon. MP, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Permit me also remind ourselves why Kuta community almost unanimously voted for Hon. Abe Michael Ndra as our hunting dog and why God heard our cry.

1)      Kuta is the CPDM stronghold in Ako Sub Division but it is instead the most enclaved with the shortest distance from the Divisional Headquarters though it is the furthest from the sub Divisional headquarter by way of road infrastructure and the media-ie radio transmitters, television images, mobile telephone networks etc.

2)      Basic Education: acute shortage of teachers in all the schools and some are functioning even without a single teacher. Most of the classes do not have buildings and operate in very deplorable situations.

3)      Secondary Education: The story here is not different from above

4)      Health: following the health situation in our society today, health facilities are supposed to be at door-steps rather than patients covering several kilometers of distances through bushtracks to get to health post. There are virtually no equipment in the lone existing health centre with only one worker and one council worker. We wish that each village be given a health post.

Hon. MP; because of these acute and pertinent problems above, we saw in you the following qualities as on who will be able to remove us from bondage;

·         Your long stay in Yaounde and your openness which gave you the opportunity of having very powerful network and connections with almost all the ministries or sectors in Yaounde.

·         Your personal love and concern for your home and people being the reason why you frequently visit this land whenever need be.

My people, not to take much of your time, I wish everybody a very happy stay and celebration, the Almighty God who safely brought us together here should be the one to safely take us back to our various destinations.

Long Live Kuta Community

Long Live the Hon. Member of Parliament

Long Live the Republic of Cameroon

Speech by HRH Fon Asenge Ignatius Ebah

Fon of Mbande

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