Deadly Tornado Hits NW: 70 Households Go Homeless in Donga Mantung

The population of Ntaba-Sop village in Ndu Sub Division of Donga Mantung Division, North West Region is still wondering which crime they committed that the gods poured their anger on them last weekend. Over 70 households are actually homeless in the agricultural area of Ntaba following a hard strike by tornado. Even though no human causality was recorded, damages in terms of perennial crops and houses are estimated in millions of FCFA. Speaking to this reporter after a visit to the disaster area, the Mayor of Ndu Council, Bunyui Emmanuel said that the council in the days ahead he will donate 10 bundles of zinc to the affected families. He said when he visited the area; he discovered the houses were poorly constructed. “You know this is the effect of poverty”, he continued.

He revealed that over 70 houses felt prey to this visiting tornado. According to Bunyui Emmanuel, mayor of Ndu Council the roof of some houses were completely destroyed while others only few sheets of zinc were taken away. In a crisis meeting with the population, Mayor Bunyui Emmanuel advised that those who were not affected should share their houses with others while waiting for the council to come to their assistance. Houses that were able to withstand the tornado were left with cracks just to indicate another potential danger to the occupants.

He however, thanked God that no human causality was recorded but lamented that household utensils were destroyed and some carted away. One of the victims Mama Ngwafes Lydia (82) said cannot understand how she found herself on a veranda when her kitchen collapsed on her. She said all her past harvest and little savings were carried away by the rain. It is feared that hunger my strike soon given that 75% of the population of Ntaba lost all their harvests (maize, beans, soya beans) as some were socked. In fact almost everything that was harvested and kept was destroyed and socked. "I do not know what my parents will eat. Our corn ban was destroyed completely", Timothy told this reporter on phone. 

  It should be recalled that the Member of Parliament for Ndu, Hon Ngala Esther, Mayor Bunyui Emmanuel and the D.O for Ndu Sub Division Achu George visited the disaster village to assess the damages. Fon of Sop, Fon Ndanga ll thanked the delegation for their prompt visit and expressed his desire for government to give a helping hand to the affected population.

The Divisional Officer for Ndu on his part promised that he will send his report to the government and that hopefully the government will look into their problem. He furthers advised that house should always be constructed using some bit of modern techniques like iron rots. He further called on neighbours assist their peers in providing them with shelter.

            It should be noted that two years ago a similar tornado hit Sop village rendering over 800 people homeless. Prime Minister Yang Philemon donated FCFA 5.000.000 while Wimbum sons and daughters in the diasopras also donated huge sums of money for the reconstruction of the village. The same tornado also destroyed house at Taku and Ntundip villages that year. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Senator Simon Achidi Achu: The Thorn in the Flesh of North West (1)

Reve Tambeng Jr

Senator Simon Achidi Achu

One of the major challenges and debate nationwide has been the capability of some elected officials (senators especially) to tackle development process in their sphere of influence. The aging political class that incessantly does hang to power has also been considered as another obstacle to Cameroon’s emergence. Since time memorial, Northwesterners have been suffocating under the pangs of Senator Simon Achidi Achu, one time Prime Minister, Head of Government. This untold situation and state of nature is quite glaring if a critical judgment analysis is made on his persistent nature of always enticing the masses that “politics na njangi”. The question as to whether Achidi Achu would ever give way for any other person to benefit from that “politics weh na njangi” concept which he planted remains another great wretchedness of the century. This is so because the njangi politics only has a meaning when he (Achidi Achu Simon) is the one to chop. Meaning, that every time you scratch his back, never look back for him to scratch your own back. On the contrary, you might receive a slab on the back at the time you would be expecting a scratch on your back from him politically.

Our interest is that in the present political dispensation where Senator Simon Achidi Achu is being worshiped by sycophants, Northwest continues to suffer from that code of belief of his. His political gimmicks and tricks have been such that there is always a Roman Arch to keep potential North West rising politicians from excelling. To him, Santa captures the tenets of the entire region. This state of nature could best be captured for us by Thomas Hobbs who like Jean Jacque Rouasseau in the theory of political legitimacy demonstrated that the notion of general will is wholly central but it is however, an unfortunately obscure and controversial believe. In the Discourse on Political Economy, Rousseau emphasizes that the general will exists to protect overzealous individuals against the masses, not to require them to be sacrificed to it. He was aware that men have selfish and sectional interests which they will always use to suppress others. Hobbs wrote that when absolute power is trusted in a single individual, there is bound to be chaos. “The fruits thereof will be uncertain” and everything will sink into the doldrums.

It is for this reason that loyalty to the good of all alike must be supreme. Not only if a truly general will is to be heeded but also if it is to be formulated successfully in the first place. The Right Honourable Senator Achidi Achu is a senator, Vice President of the Senate, Member of the Central Committee of the CPDM and Board member of one of the state corporation which I have just forgotten the name. Entirely, everything is in his own pocket.  The legendary Bob Marley once said that “Money is like numbers that never ends”. The question many have started asking is whether Achidi Achu’s political dominance is like numbers that will never end. Implicitly, if the quest for money is to induce happiness, that happiness will never come given that it will be endless. It is alleged that Senator Achidi Achu has made himself the only cock that crows in the North West Region by always keeping others in disarray.

When Simon Achidi Achu was appointed Prime Minister, Head of Government, he told the people of Donga Mantung, Bui and Menchum who were glamouring for the tarring of the Bamenda Ring Road that (he) Achidi Achu is the ring road. To him, Northwesterners should forget about the Bamenda Ring Road because by his being appointed Prime Minister, that position was synonymous to the ring road. The population foolishly believed him but it came to past that by the time he was dismissed from office not a kilometer of that road was tarred. Close sources say late Nshalai has never forgiven Simon Achidi Achu for masterminding the success of the SDF in Bui he never wanted Nshalai to enter into his shoes. Yet a school of thought holds that Simon Achidi Achu has succeeded in his political gimmicks because aligned to his side are a handful of position hungry North West elite(s) who like the bitches in Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” are experts in influence peddling. They are as would be unveiled the real promoters of a destructive game which unfortunately made the Northwesterner the worst enemy of the Northwesterner.

 Sometimes ago, in Bafia, Achidi Achu was presented to the public as a traditional ruler from the North West Region. He was even spotted in the North decorating an elite with a traditional title yet he parades himself as adviser to the North West Fons Union-NOWEFU. It is on record that Late Catherine Abena was decorated with the title of “Mafor” at Achidi’s rock farm. He even masterminded the creation of “Special Envoy” at NOWEFU that died naturally. The self-proclaimed fon of Santa, “Fon” Achidi Achu would be remembered as one of those who promoted the prostitution of traditional titles in the North West Region which finally landed North West Fons in the Hall of Fame as “Royal Beggars”.

How he frustrated potential candidates during the Senatorial elections to come out with his own list remains an ugly thing. However, every politician has ambitions and one of them is to be appointed. The question as to whether at his age, Senator Achidi Achu is still looking forth for appointment cannot be clearly identified as he is always maneuvering like the witches in Macbeth.  But since it is legitimate for everyone to aspire, age too matters.

The most interesting thing about Senator Achidi Achu Simon lies in the fact that he has demonstrated that he is Mr. Everybody. When Inoni was appointed Prime Minister, he tarred all the roads in Bakingili, many South Westerners were recruited into the public service and even the young men who use to steal in his farm were picked up to send to the Police school at Mutengene where they were trained and later transferred to distant places. On the contrary, Achidi Achu on his part demonstrated that politics and development can never go in one basket. The issue of the demise of WADA, Marketing Board, Dumbu Ranch happened when he was there and what he did, only God alone knows. Whether he ever made any attempt to rescue Forjindam from the hawks remain another cynical thing, no serious Northwesterner would ever love to contemplate on. His muteness over the Forjindam issue has left many speechless even those in the corridors of power in Yaounde given that back in Bamenda, he claims to be the only one who has the hot line to President Paul Biya.

When the Wum Area Development Authority was closed untimely, the equipment from the Islamic Bank for the rehabilitation of the Menchum Rural Development Integrated Project-MIRUDEP were still at the Douala Seaport. It came to past that these heavy duty equipment didnot reach Wum. Some of the caterpillars ended up in the premises of some politicians. By then, Right Hon. Senator Achidi Achu was the Prime Minister of Cameroon. It is alleged that some of these machines were shared under the dictate of Simon Achidi Achu. The question as to where Achidi Achu bought caterpillars to be sharing today still abound. Is he giving to Cesar what is Cesar’s? How does someone who has been unable to deliver on one of his promises started delivering at an old age. Thank God, that one of the caterpillars that left WADA through the window was recently brought back through the door as a gift to a youth group in Wum. It is at the backdrop of this recent happening that youths of Donga Mantung Division have started whispering that the cattle that left SODEPA Ranch Dumbu under abhorrent circumstances should come up to them before Achidi Achu passes for Judy Judge. Many have opined that in the face of such erratic unfavorable aims and means, the challenges of the charade remains clear, that sooner or later Senator Achidi Achu should take to the rostrum to tell the world what happened to the heavy equipment that were destined for MIRUDEP (WADA) as well as the untold story of the migration of the cattle population of SODEPA (Dumbu). 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Barrister Buno Innocent is No More

The venerated lawyer and member of the Cameroon Bar Council, Barrister Buno Innocent has passed unto eternity on April 17, 2014 at the CNPS Hospital in Yaounde. According to information gathered, the celebrated South West based Barrister at Law died after a brief illness. Even though the immediate cause of his demise has not been made public, allegations abound that Buno Innocent felt ill while in Yaounde. He was part of the crime of venerated lawyers who were correcting scripts of the entrance into the Cameroon Bar Council. Colleagues hinted that legal mind caught fever on April 14 and unfortunately he passed unto eternity. News from the regional headquarter of the South West Region, Buea indicated that the capital city came to a standstill when his mortal remains arrived. Hundreds of thousands made up of colleagues, friends and sympathizers storm the Buea mortuary to witness the heartbreaking exit of a great mind. Apart from being the Representative of the Bar Council in the South West Region, Barrister Buno Innocent was also a sport promoter and business man. Besides, he was also a diehard militant of the SDF party who once a thorn in the flesh of CPDM bigwigs in Limbe. The multifaceted Buno Innocent it should be noted once worked as a reporter for the National Daily, Cameroon Tribune and later founded with others Cameroon Life Magazine.

Is reputation as a lawyer stood unchallenged both in Cameroon and abroad especially in Nigeria where he studied. Buno Innocent hails from Bambui, Mezam Division in the North West Region of Cameroon.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

President Biya’s 13 Days Abroad: Over FCFA 1 Billion Spent, Media Reports Say

African and European heads of states who attended the Africa-EU summit in Bruxelle returned to their countries immediately the meeting ended but President Paul Biya of Cameroon has gone missing newspapers say. Speculations as to whether President Paul Biya is actually on holidays have been casted. Newspaper reports last week speculated that during the past 13 days stay in Europe, President Biya has spent close to a billion FCFA. One French Daily, Le Messenger reported last weekend that ever since the Africa-EU Summit ended in Belgium, President Biya and wife, Chantal Biya are yet to return to Cameroon. According to the news report, the prolonged visit has gulped the state treasury about FCFA 1 billion. Le Messenger went further to expose that information on the website of the Hotel where the head of state and First Lady are lodging in Switzerland have also shown how much the couple is spending of the tax payers’ money. It is alleged that an ordinary room at the Intercontinental hotel is estimated at FCFA 440,061, yet President Biya’s delegation is made of 15 security officials, 5 personal hotel staff, 10 attaché and 02 technical advisers. Globally, his entourage is made up of 32 persons. According to Le Messenger, a hotel bill for the head of state’s entourage for the 13 days is about FCFA 183,065,376. The paper also speculates that the head of state and wife must be living in a Presidential suit which cost FCFA 1.2 million per night and when multiplied by 13 sums up to FCFA 15.6. However, according to Le Messenger, the above expenses cover only lodging. Yet when the cost of renting a plane for the trip and feeding is added to the above expenditures, the total money consumed from the state treasury will be above a billion FCFA. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Driver Disappears After Ghastly Motor Accident

The Sabga Hill has of late been transformed into a slaughter house given the frequency of motor accidents. This is partly due to the poor state of the road (pot holes) and Two weeks ago, a four wheel drive transport vehicle mark Toyota Carina matriculated No NW 407 C had brakes failure on the Sabga hill, some 10 kilometers away from Bamenda and 5 kilometers away from Ndop. Given the stiffness of the hill, the driver struggled for over a kilometre before the car was crashed on one right side of the road. The shock was so violent that four passengers died on the spot while others who were severely wounded were taken to Ndop for medical attention. It was on that spot that some of the passengers who were on their way to Ndu in Donga Mantung Division ended their lifetime journey at the Sabga hill. The problem as we gathered from some of the victims steams from the fact that the car was overloaded. Instead of four passengers, the vehicle had nine passengers on board. The issue of over loading especially on the Bamenda-Ndop-Kumbo-Ndu-Nkambe stretch of the ring road is so unchecked yet there are over 12 police and 8 Gendarmerie checkpoints on this road. The most pathetic thing is that all these fellows including the so-called road safety guys are more concern with collecting money from drivers than ensuring their safety. The quest for money by the police, gendarmes and road safety contributes to the over loading on the highway given that whether overloaded or not, all the transport cars pay FCFA 500 to all the checkpoints. And inorder to make also have something at the end of the day, majority of the drivers go for overloading. This explains why every time an accident occurs, the number of injuries and deaths are always more than required number in a car. However, the regional chief of Land Transport in the North West Region is of the opinion that anyone staff of his delegation that allows an overloaded vehicle to pass will be sanctioned. The accident at the Sabga hill has also ignited the delegation of transport to sit up. However, it has not calmed flaring tempers in the families of the victims since it is said that when the passengers who were in critical conditions were taken to the Ndop District Hospital where two others reportedly died, the driver of the transport car was no way found. One of the passengers is quoted to have revealed to the astonishment of mourners that she discovered that the driver disappeared from the steering wheel when he could no more control it. Rumours abound that Clement the driver disappeared. It was confirmed that he disappeared mysteriously as confessed at Nkwen Park by one of his colleagues that they saw him in town without a scratch. Tempers flared when the news was finally confirmed that the driver was alive and kicking. It is alleged that families of the victims have threatened to teach him a lesson. Duh Meh Clement we gathered is currently on a hot stole given the controversy that surrounds his disappearing from the car. It is thanks to North West Governor, Lele Lafrique Adolph the remains of the bashed vehicle were not set on fire. Worthy to note that North West Governor also visited the hospital and the site of the accident to restore hopes, yet hub-hub sources say some families who lost their love ones are bent on giving Duh Meh Clement a lesson of life. It is told that he has lost almost everything that he had worked during his life during the crisis. On the other hand, the delegation of Transport has threatened to withhold his driving license for at least four years, an official of that delegation told us. The question as to whether the driver is a victim of corrupt practices and the money collection points on the high way looms large. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

President Biya’s 13 Days Abroad: Over FCFA 1 Billion Spent, Media Reports Say

African and European heads of states who attended the Africa-EU summit in Bruxelle returned to their countries immediately the meeting ended but President Paul Biya of Cameroon has gone missing newspapers say. Speculations as to whether President Paul Biya is actually on holidays have been casted. Newspaper reports last week speculated that during the past 13 days stay in Europe, President Biya has spent close to a billion FCFA. One French Daily, Le Messenger reported last weekend that ever since the Africa-EU Summit ended in Belgium, President Biya and wife, Chantal Biya are yet to return to Cameroon. According to the news report, the prolonged visit has gulped the state treasury about FCFA 1 billion. Le Messenger went further to expose that information on the website of the Hotel where the head of state and First Lady are lodging in Switzerland have also shown how much the couple is spending of the tax payers’ money. It is alleged that an ordinary room at the Intercontinental hotel is estimated at FCFA 440,061, yet President Biya’s delegation is made of 15 security officials, 5 personal hotel staff, 10 attaché and 02 technical advisers. Globally, his entourage is made up of 32 persons. According to Le Messenger, a hotel bill for the head of state’s entourage for the 13 days is about FCFA 183,065,376. The paper also speculates that the head of state and wife must be living in a Presidential suit which cost FCFA 1.2 million per night and when multiplied by 13 sums up to FCFA 15.6. However, according to Le Messenger, the above expenses cover only lodging. Yet when the cost of renting a plane for the trip and feeding is added to the above expenditures, the total money consumed from the state treasury will be above a billion FCFA. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Prof. Tafah Splits University of Bamenda to Seven Divisions of NW

By FC Junior

The University of Bamenda, UBa, one of the newly created state universities in Cameroon is in the news again. A document captioned “The University of Bamenda Strategic Development Plan 2014-2018” (University of the Future) has met sharp criticism from the public. Public opinion is the North West Region is worried over this document which recommends several options in organizing and structuring of the University of Bamenda to function with collegial system whereby the university establishments are grouped under functional colleges. Critical minds are hard on the point that the Vice Chancellery placed under Prof. Edukat Tafah intends to create a college of Arts and Culture in Santa, and the college of Geological and Earth Sciences at Nyos (under Boyo Division). Expressionists are wondering whether Nyos is already safer for people to live there and not to talk of a college of Geological and Earth Sciences. As for the case of Santa, another school of thought is very bitter about the proposal. Yet impressionists say the distribution was poorly done given that Donga Mantung Division which has the enough land to offer and space would have hosted the Planning and Design, not Mankon. This is so because Nkambe has few hotels whereas Bamenda has the highest number of hotels. The point is that students will have it vry difficult to carryout their research in Nkambe due to the lack of hotels and restaurants. “How and where will students do the internship”, elite questioned. However, the College of Planning and Design would have been better for Nkambe given the available infrastructure. Another headache is that the University of Bamenda lacks lecturers yet Prof. Educate and co and hurriedly carrying to decentralize.

Henceforth, each college shall have faculties, schools, institutes and departments headed respectively by Provost, Deans, Directors and heads of academic and professional departments. Accordingly, the strategic and development plan also proposes an option to locate each University college and components on separate sites, locate related colleges on one Campus, locate a campus in each Division of the North West Region and locate the Vice Chancellery and Central offices on the main campus.

According to the proposal that was submitted to the senate of the University of Bamenda, the following programmes were seemingly approved.

Approved Programmes

·         College of Educational Sciences and Management: Bambili

HTTC, HTTTC, Educational Science, Education Planning, Education Administration, University Administration and Management, Postgraduate school of education

·         College of Science: Bambili

Natural Sciences, Applied Sciences, and Postgraduate school of Natural and Applied Sciences

·         College of Health Sciences and Medicine: Bambili

Tropical Medicine, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, Postgraduate research in Tropical medicine.

·         College of Technology: Bambili

·         College of Social Sciences and Management: Bambili

HICM, Economics and Management Sciences, Law and Political Sciences, Postgraduate school of social sciences and management

College of Arts and Culture: Santa

Performing arts, languages, linguistics, history, postgraduate school of arts and culture

Proposed Programmes

College of Planning and Design: Mankon

·         Faculty of Planning and Development Studies

Department of Urban Development planning, department of regional development planning, department of rural development planning, and, department of transportation planning.

·         Faculty of Environment Design

Department of architecture, landscape design, department of urban design, department of network design

·         Faculty of Land Economics and Management

Department of land economics, department of real estate management, department of quantity survey, property valuation, land law and administration

·         Faculty of Environment Studies and Engineering

Environment sciences, environment engineering

·         Faculty of Engineering

Department of civil engineering, department of building construction and materials, department hydrologic and engineering, department of electronic engineering, department of mechanical engineering, department of industrial engineering.

·         Faculty of Geomatics(Surveying) and Geo-spatial studies

Engineering surveying, geographic information system, photogrammetry, cartography and visualization, hydrographic surveying, mine surveying and geodetic surveying

College of Information and Communication Science and Engineering

·         Faculty of Information and Communication Engineering

Information and communication sciences, telecommunication engineering, computer science, management and maintenance of information and communication technology

College of Agriculture and Rural Development: Wum- Menchum 

·         Faculty of Agriculture and Rural Development

Agricultural sciences, rural engineering, community development, photo-sanitary sciences, plant sciences, agronomy, agricultural production, agricultural business and marketing, agricultural infrastructure and technology

College of Veterinary and Livestock Production: Jakiri-Bui

·         Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Livestock Production

Veterinary sciences, veterinary pharmacy and pharmacology, livestock production science and technology, livestock infrastructure and technology

College of Natural Resources Management and Conservation: Mbengwi-Momo

·         Faculty of Forest and Natural Resource Management, and Conservation

Forestry management, natural resource management and conservation, wildlife management and protection, agro-forestry, water resource management, inland fisheries.

College of Geological and Earth Sciences: Nyos Boyo

·         Faculty Geological and Earth Sciences

Earth Sciences, geological sciences and environment

College of Tourism and Leisure: Nkambe, Donga Mantung Division

·         Faculty of Tourism and Leisure Management

Tourism and Leisure planning, tourism and leisure management, Tourism and leisure infrastructure and facilities, Hotel management, eco-tourism development and management

College of Craft and Textile: Ndop, Ngoketunjia

·         Faculty of Craft and Textile

Sculpture, textile

Postgraduate Schools

Social Sciences: Bambili, Administration and management sciences: Bambili, Natural Sciences: Bambili, Health sciences, Veterinary sciences, Applied Sciences: Bambili, Applied Technology: Mankon, Planning and Developmnt: Mankon. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Dr. Nick Ngwanyam Takes A Critical Look At Political Parties, Politicians And The Economy

Interviewed by the Chronicle

Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, a Surgeon and CEO of St Louis Group who of recent has been very critical about political happenings not only in Cameroon but in Africa and the world over has once more made a succinct appraisal of political parties in Cameroon;  their functioning, their strengths/weaknesses and the economy.

According to him, political parties and politicians who are not people centered and have a vision controlled by Divine hands can never make it.  It is impossible for a state to function without a political party, he says, but that political party must be there as a platform for economic development not for people to use it to lord it over others.

  

Dr.  Let us look at our country and political changes across Africa. How do you evaluate the strength of a political party? Is it by the number of its militants, the test of time or an ideology?

A common thing to do is to evaluate a political party by its numerical strength. That numerical strength expresses itself through the elections. That is how many votes or places they got during an election. In the circular world, you can use that to say this party is stronger than the other one. But there is something wrong with that because the majority is not always right.

Just because you are in the majority does not mean you are right. Right means truth according to God’s standards not man’s thinking. When we of the world  get that power, yes we would evaluate ourselves based on numerical strength. But there is a strength that goes beyond numerical strength which is the strength that is based on the truth, the power to deliver and the capacity to deliver. So, you can be in the majority and win but you do not have the capacity to deliver. You would still fail and so when we judge you numerically, you are strong but when it comes to productivity, you are weak.

Do you think political strength in terms of productivity in this country is strong enough?

No, not yet because we do not have a clarity of issues. That is why senate, parliament, the government and the civil society are working so hard to catch up with the rest of the world. If all were OK, we should be as productive as South Korea with whom we started in 1960. Our president has been condemning inertia, individualism, corruption and the inability to take decisions and to be proactive as some of the cankerworms we have to deal with collectively as Cameroonians so that we can eventually see 2035.

The Bible says my people die for lack of vision and understanding of kingdom principles. The way we define our goals and objectives and so on are bias. Most of us are looking more at personal things and just want to take power for the sake of power. If you ask a senator or parliamentarian why he is a senator or a parliamentarian, he or she would not know why. Most of the time, we are driven by personal goals. We might be on a political platform, but what motivate us from deep within are our personal ambitions and our personal needs. That is the need for ego, power and wealth. We need power just for just throwing weight around and so on. But we are not driven by common good.

The only thing that makes a party successful is when its members and everybody that grasp power are driven by common good; when they work to enhance common good and when they do not try to separate the sheep from the goats. That is, when everybody is treated equally and they are working with a God given understanding that power is meant to be used for common good and to glorify His name. We must make sure we work well in God’s vineyard. This is the key and that is the foundation. If you are working in any political party or whatever and following the teachings of Christ that you are the light of the earth, you are the salt of the earth and each time you seek to be the salt and the light of the earth and each other’s keeper, then it would be well.

But when we have our own personal agendas, when we want to get money to build our houses, buy cars and to throw weight around we are off target. I got wind of one of our senators who was quarreling about a sitting position in one of the public manifestations. He wanted to sit next to the SDO. They quarrel over things that are not important arguing like the apostles of Jesus; who is the greatest and who seats to the right or left; that is not it. The issue should be what you have done for the common good. The greatest is the servant who gives and not the master who wants to receive all the time.

To link that aspect of political vision with Christianity or religion, what would you say about the clergy and the civil society, that we know are election observers and who are spiritually moved. How do assess their contributions to the progress of democracy in our nation?

Some of them are good while others are just human beings. Human nature is very strong. You can see Bishops managing the electoral process and that electoral process would still be flawed. It is not because somebody wears the cassock of a Bishop that makes him pious. It boils down to the spirit that is in the person. I have come to understand that the human being needs spiritual guidance every day. I need it every day. I have to realize that I have to dwell in the presence of the lord all the time, otherwise my human weaknesses would tend to override me and I make some stupid mistakes. If you are going to do something and leave God out of it, it would never work. To let us understand this better, a lot of people think that politics is of the world and God is out of politics. No it is not true.

Let me put it this way. Politics is a platform from which we get power to be able to administer in God’s vineyard. If you take America for instance it is God’s vineyard. America does not belong to the Republican or Democratic Party. America does not belong to President Obama, nor to George Bush. America belongs to Americans and above all she belongs to God. Therefore, when the CPDM is in charge, when President Paul Biya is in charge he is just a servant in God’s vineyard. And therefore, if he wants Cameroon to progress, he is not going to run Cameroon with his own thinking. That is why he prays for wisdom to understand God’s will for him and this nation.

 If we are going to run Cameroon with our own human thinking, it would never work. We have to run Cameroon based on what God wants for his people and for his vineyard.  We cannot be servants in somebody’s house and we set our own agendas and dictate our own rules. It would never work. No matter how long it takes, it would crash. Therefore, the only sensible thing we should be doing is to find out what our master wants, do them and we would be blessed. So you can only succeed if you do what the master wants. There is no way you can do contrary to the master and make it.

This is why I was so happy when our president went to pray with the whole government at the cathedral in Yaounde soon after he was sworn in as President. This is wisdom.

In other words, do you think this country is blessed?

As I just said, our president did something that gave me a lot of joy. He took his ministers, the army and the Cameroon flag to the cathedral and prayed and asked for God’s blessings. That was a sign that there was some illumination of the spirit in our country. You know inherently the human being is very ignorant. The bible says in the beginning the world was without form. There was darkness and there was nothing. The spirit of God went over that void on the first day of creation, God said let there be light and there was light. President Paul Biya seeks the light, the Spirit of God, Understanding and Wisdom from above.

When you begin to hook up with the spirit of God then you get light. If you do not hook up with the spirit of God, you are in darkness just like in the beginning the world was without form and was void. When you operate in ignorance, you are operating in that void. When the light of God shines its spirit, then you begin to operate in a manner that is productive.

Talking about political parties, let us say that in Cameroon there are three hundred parties. It is a shame. For the sake of the argument let me tell you that there are only two political parties in Cameroon. Forget about the others which I cannot possibly name for want of space and time. Let us reduce everything to two parties for the sake of proper argument so that this country can move forward.

If you go to the US, a country that is a lot bigger and more mature than ours, they have two political parties-the Republicans and the Democrats. In Great Britain there are three, the Labour party, the Green party and the other one. So you begin to see that in mature democracies, it is not the number of parties that make for democracy. In the circular world, we are defining those platforms and any political party usually comes up with a working strategy. They promise the people if we get to power, we are doing this and that for you.

Again as we were saying, we have only two political parties in this country. If you look into their manifestoes, none of them says they would kill, none of them says they would steal and none of them says the bad things. If you go to all the three hundred parties, all of them are giving you the good side of themselves. There is no way you can be going to the market to sell your coco yams or pawpaw or anything and you rub shit on it. You try to polish them so that they are good looking. The parties are selling themselves. Therefore, everybody tries to give you a beautiful part of them.

But this is the problem, when you actually give them the power or when they have the power, they do not do as they said especially in weak democracies. So it is the doing part that messes us up. Therefore, how do you evaluate a political party to find out whether they are worth their salt?  They must not necessarily be in power for you to evaluate them. Keep an eye on what they say and do. The doing must outmatch the saying. That is the most important thing.

But in Africa, there is more talking than actually doing.  You see, Christ came up with this parable where the master gave one talent to one of the servants, two to another servant and five to the other. The one who had five talents multiplied them and the one with two also multiplied them but the one who had one talent buried it.

So now, if God has given somebody two talents, evaluate him on the two talents and if God has given one five talents, evaluate him on the five talents. If we come to our country for example, the CPDM has the five talents because they have the treasury and they are responsible for constructing the schools, roads and so on. So when you are evaluating them, evaluate them and find out whether they have constructed the roads they said they would do. If they did not, then there is a problem.

Now when you come to the SDF, the SDF has two talents. The SDF does not have the state treasury, so to begin to say that the SDF has not constructed roads is a wrong measure. Why? Because, they were not given five talents. They were given two talents. If you want to evaluate the SDF, find out whether with the two talents given them, they are doing the right thing. How do we find out whether they are doing the right thing? Are they doing the basic things they are supposed to do? Are they concerned about their neighbors? Look at the leadership. Do they give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s? When you have a problem like that which erupted in Bambili, where the rules are not respected; there is a cause for concern. It is thus possible to cry about a stolen victory here but you create a stolen victory situation when you have the yam and the knife. Then are you using your two talents right?

 So what is the common thing we should be looking for in somebody who has one talent, two talents or five talents? It is the truth. Truth is the thing. It does not matter if somebody has five talents, ten talents, look for truth. The number of talents does not alter your truth. Truth is your truth. If we are looking for the right people, we are looking for the truth. When somebody makes a declaration, watch them and see the things they do. Do they seize things from others? What is their capacity for giving? That is where you can judge them.

What is the difference between the state activities and a political party activity? Looking at the ruling party and the SDF as our examples, when does a state act and when does a political party act?

There is something that we must understand. There is no where a state can act without a political party. It is not possible. The question is when are you acting as a state and when are you acting as a political party and with whose resources?

When you have two parties say the SDF and the CPDM, they are vying for political power and political positions. They want the people, the population to mandate them so that they can do things on behalf of the people using the people’s resources. When you have that power, then you have to choose people from amongst you whom you trust that can deliver the goods and put them in the positions of power.  They would use the resources judiciously and bring to the people what they want to solve their daily and developmental problems. So technically, you need a party in power that uses the power from the people and the resources of the people to carry out the business of the people. The problems only come when you get to power and then use the resources of the people to solve other problems rather than the people’s problems.

Apart from political analyses, let us look at political development. Let us look at the economy. Most political parties in this country and their economic policies are still very much complicated. What is your take on that?

If you do not address economic issues then, you have got it completely wrong. For a country to move forward, you need three or four things. The first thing is that you need security which is very important. There is nowhere in the world that you can achieve anything without security. So peace and security are the first and foremost things that we need in a country. That is why we have the gendarmes, the army and so on. But it is not just the army and the gendarmes that bring about peace; it is the level of understanding of a people that actually brings peace. It is how much you educate your people that brings peace. You do not get peace by the gun. Peace by the gun is not peace. The real peace comes from the education and understanding of a people. If you can educate your people, you would get peace.

This is where political parties come in. Whether they are in power or not, whether they are in the electoral process or not, they should be educating the public so that concepts are well understood; So that darkness becomes light. What Ngwanyam is doing now is trying to bring that education so that we understand things better. The more people understand what I am saying the less there would be strive and the more there would be peace and success. We need peace in the country, in the home and everywhere. Peace is the foundation. There is no peace without God. There is no peace without truth. There is no peace when you do not treat your neighbor as yourself. Peace means treating others like you would like to be treated. Peace means giving.

The second thing is, you must have economic development. The economy of the country must grow. The economy looks at the resources of the country and gives those resources a multiplier effect. Then you use the resources from the economy like money and human resources to be able to bring development like the roads, the schools, the health infrastructure, and the homes.  People need to live decent lives. If it were possible, everybody should live in a house with air conditioning, tiles on the floor, nice windows, good lighting, water flowing, water system toilets and nobody goes to the bush. That would be good if we could get there. But when you begin to have some people living a very decent life and some are still living in squalor and in shacks, there is a problem.

Therefore, the economy has to grow and that economic growth has to trickle to everybody. Common goods like roads and hospitals must be there. Even if somebody is living in a shack and is able to ride on a good road he would feel better. The road to Nkambe for instance, instead of paying 6000FCFA you should pay 3000FCFA because the road is good. So peace is important, economic growth is important and that economic growth should not be only for a particular people. Economic growth in Cameroon should not only be for the Bamilekes. It should be for the Anglophones, the Betis and the northerners. Government should create an enabling environment in which people express themselves and change the elements they get from the environment to add value to the system.  Everybody should have access to that economic growth which is very important.

The next thing of course is the development of the human capacity. You have to help people to develop their human capacities so that they can express themselves in a creative manner. What we lack in Cameroon is the power of creativity because it has not been developed. The power of creativity is developed through intuition and education. Our education has not allowed for creativity in our youths. That is why; when you see that a lot of people are trying to create a business; everybody creates a micro financial institution.

Everybody wants to keep someone’s money but they do not know how to generate money. If you increase the number of micro financial institution in the country, that does not increase the general wealth. You need to increase the general wealth of the community by sowing seeds and growing them. That is by building up your productive capacity. As long as you have not built up your production capacity, it will not augur well. Production capacity is only built through technology, building the youth and training them in a manner that they are creative, and working to add value to the system. We have to build our own industries and cause the transformation of our own raw materials before selling. We should reduce importation and increase exportation of finish goods not raw materials. Importing rice and corn is not a good sign.

You give people the opportunity to be able to work. All youths should have work. If you are going to have a lot of youth that are not working, that is going to be a time bomb.

Apart from political moment of elections, what else would you suggest political parties should do?

As we said, political parties want to grab power and then use that power for the good of the community. But we have seen that the concept of common good is still farfetched in our country. That is what the President was condemning in his New Year speech that individualism has taken over collective good. We need to come back to the drawing board and make sure that we work to enhance collective good.

Therefore, whether a party is in power or not, it is not about waiting for elections and then you jump on the streets with bands and start campaigning and insulting each other. There is something that you ought to be doing, whether it is an election year or not. Continue the education of the people so that they know what is true and what is false. And when you are educating the people, make sure that you are also practicing truth. While we condemn others and probably say a few truths here and there, we do not practice truth. So I am sure we need to take some lessons on practicing truth.

  

DR NICK NGWANYAM, MD

CEO ST LOUIS GROUP

POB 661 BAMENDA

NORTH WEST REGION
REP OF CAMEROON

TEL( CELL) 237- 7776 46 74

www.saintlouisgroup.cm

stlouisclinicbamenda@yahoo.co.uk

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Family Successor Trapped in Homosexual Act Hunted

By Marvine Bikeh Amuno

Homosexuality and or lesbianism are considered is taboo in Africa. Not only the law punishes it, the church and the tradition on the other side denounces it with a lot of brutality.

Asobo Divine

On April 14, 2014, the population of Small Mankon in Bamenda, North West Region could not believe their eyes when a young man (names withheld) was hospitalized after he revealed that had anal sex with his partner in crime. When news spread in the neighbourhood, irate family members and members of the quarter vigilant group launched a manhunt for the perpetrator whose name we got as Asobo Divine Nde. When the irate youths could not lay hands on the perpetrator, they released their anger by ransacking his two room house. His belongings were removed and burnt. “We will not admit a ritualist in our midst”, he shouted. Jean Claude Mbenka, a member of the quarter vigilant group whispered to this reporter that he had suspected Asobo for being a ritualist yet had no evidences to pin him down. “He is lucky; we would have taken that devil out of him. The police would have only come to carry his corpse to their cell”, he fumed. Asobo’s closest neighbours hinted us at weekend that since April 14, police have continuously interrogated them on the where-about of Asobo. “I am looking for a new house to quit this vicinity. Last year, it was a Christian Sect that was uncovered here where several men shared several wives but this one is the worst”, he continued. “I use to think that these young boys usually come here to play foot pools, I didn't know that they were a group of outcast. I was wondering what kind of a man this boy was because I have never seen him with a girl. I thought he was a very good boy. God forbid”.

The story goes that Asobo Divine was a very hardworking young man but was reserved. One of his neighbours narrated how Asobo was a kind and handsome young man but added that when the information of him being gay became public, he couldn’t believe that God should allow such a devil to take away the young man. The hospitalized innocent victim is quoted by close family members to have revealed that he was attracted to practicing homosexuality when Asobo Divine told him the high merits of being gay which includes wealth and popularity. He added that he convinced by the luxurious lifestyle of offender who has been so generous to some of his mates. He also revealed that he used to receive FCFA 20.000 after each sex spree. And he was using the money in playing foot pool, allegations abound. One of his classmates is also quoted to have said that he observed that his friend was always absent from school and at time passes time sleeping, he started questioning what was wrong but his friend was mute.

Even though many stories have been told about the incident, on which is on every lip goes that the alleged innocent student only revealed his tribulation of being gay to the parents when he could not bear the pains. The angry parents were in shock and took the matter to the police. Before the police could launch a manhunt for Asobo, the vigilant group have searched almost all the homes in the quarter for the culprit to no avail.  Divine had disappeared when he probably sensed danger, a school of thought holds. Asobo’s friends on the hand, though talking in hiding are also afraid that their friend might have been eliminated even by his own family members given that he was tipped as the family head. One of them who spoke to us on grounds of animosity hinted that Asobo’s family is more furious than the family of the innocent student. “His phone is not going through and I am afraid of his life”, he murmured. It is even alleged that the kwifon of his village has already banished him from stepping his leg on his father’s land. The “kwifon” we gathered has given Asobo’s family members one week to give them seven goats, seven fowls and seven calabashes of mimbo as fined for abomination committed by their son.    

Many young men and women have suffocated in silence for being gay or lesbians in Cameroon. Even gay activists have been having tough times with government, traditionalists and even the church. In some traditions, young boys and girls have been expelled from their villages as soon as they are suspected to practice the same sex activities. Section 347 of the Penal Code in Cameroon states that: "whoever has sexual relationships with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine from 20.000 FCFA to 200.000 FCFA".   In November 2011, the Yaounde Courts sentenced two young men to five years simply for being gay. Another one was slammed five years for texting a message to a friend declaring his love. In Douala, mob justice took away the life of a young man at Makepe when he was suspected of being a homosexual. Award winning Human Rights activist Me Alice Nkom, recently declared that "violence against gay people in Cameroon has skyrocketed to unprecedented level", this is indicative due to the fact that even gay activists have been beaten and tortured to death. 

 When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)