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25, October 2016

Day of National Mourning: Biya shies away from inter religious services ⁰

President Biya declared Monday a day of national mourning in honour of the close to 100 people who died in the Eseka train disaster. But did not take part in any of the ceremonies held in and around the country. Some areas of the country observed a moment of silence in loving memory of the victims of the intercity train 152 and the more than 560 injured persons.

At the train station in Yaounde, the staffs of the Cameroon Railway Company simply dressed in black and also did observe a minute of silence at 1 pm local time; the only permitted activities were public religious services. Correspondingly, inter religious services held in churches and prayers in mosques mainly in Yaounde, Douala and Eséka.

In the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, a handful of people converged at symbolic places and wrongfully thought that there were going to be a special events with the 83 year dictator in attendance. But nothing happened. Cameroon-info.net reported that Cameroonians who wanted to go to the Independence Square to pray were prevented by the police. Police officers were stationed at all entrances to the historic site located at the Hippodrome district.

There only significant event in Yaounde was a Holy Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady by Bishop Jean Mbarga, Archbishop of Yaoundé. As usual, the Head of State was personally represented by René Emmanuel Sadi, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.

By Sama Ernest

25, October 2016

Race for the White House: Early voting has begun in a number of states ⁰

Early voting has begun in a number of US states two weeks ahead of Election Day after more than 18 months of intensive battle between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

Thirty-six states and Washington, DC, offer some form of early voting. According to the rules in those states, voters can cast their ballots before Election Day without having to give an excuse to vote early. In addition, unlike standard voting, voters are not bound to a specific location for early voting.

People vote at a public library in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, as early voting polling places open on October 24, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Americans started voting Monday in Alaska, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, and some parts of Florida, with the last three states being some of the battleground ones up for grabs.

In Harris County, Texas, 15,205 ballots were cast during the first 2.5 hours of early voting, the Harris County Clerk’s office said, adding, the number is equal to one third of the total cast all day on the first day of early voting in 2012, about 47,000.

In Broward County, Florida, over 18,840 residents voted at early voting sites by 3 pm, according to the elections office. “I think people are excited about the presidential election,” said Susan Bucher, elections supervisor for Palm Beach County. “We hope it keeps up like this.”

According to local media outlets, more voters have been choosing an early option in recent election cycles. Up to 40% of voters may go for early voting this year, CBS News estimated.

Democratic nominee Clinton speaks at a campaign rally on October 24, 2016 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Photo by AFP)

According to a recent poll, Clinton holds a 12-point lead over Trump nationally, with the business mogul campaign denouncing “biased” media surveys.

Clinton had the support of 50 percent of likely voters as opposed to Trump’s 38 percent, said the ABC News 2016 tracking poll released on Sunday.

Trump speaks during a rally at the St. Augustine Amphitheater on October 24, 2016 in St. Augustine, Florida. (Photo by AFP)

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received 5 percent support among likely voters, while Green Party nominee Jill Stein got 2 percent, the poll showed.

Trump’s campaign said Sunday that the candidate would “break up the new media conglomerate oligopolies” if elected president and denounced Clinton as “the official candidate of the multinational ruling elite.” He has called the US election process rigged, saying that the media is colluding with Clinton in order to beat him.

Presstv

25, October 2016

Camrail intercity train accident: Cameroon ends rescue mission ⁰

The search for victims trapped in the wagons of the Camrail Intercity train that derailed at Eseka has ended after the body of a baby was found in the last wagon lifted on Monday, 24th October 2014. After four days of intensive and productive rescue efforts, the search exercise has officially come to an end with the CPDM government reporting that more than 90 dead bodies were pulled out the wreckage and taken to mortuaries in Yaoundé and Douala.

Emergency communication units have been opened in the train stations in Yaoundé and Douala to help relatives of victims to easily identify the corpses. The over 500 injured are now receiving treatment in hospitals in the Centre and Littoral Regions. Telephones numbers have been made public for relatives to call and get information about their love ones: Yaoundé – 699113333 and Douala- 699114444.

At the crash site, a security cordon has been placed around the rubble preventing the public from gaining access pending a mixed police and gendarmerie investigation. The stench from the crash site remains a sad reminded of the gravity of the crash which is so far the worst railway disaster in the country’s history.

CRTV

24, October 2016

French aircraft on surveillance mission crashes in Malta ⁰

A small aircraft conducting a surveillance mission over the Mediterranean for France’s Defense Ministry has crashed in Malta, killing all five people on board. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that the twin-prop Fairchild Metroliner went down near the runway of the southern Mediterranean island nation’s main airport on Monday morning.

“A light reconnaissance aircraft … carrying out surveillance operations over the Mediterranean for the defense ministry crashed this morning at 0630 at Malta’s Luqa airport, during take-off,” the defense minister said.

The minister noted that three of the victims were ministry staff while the other two were contractors. The French daily Le Monde reported that the officials belonged to France’s intelligence services. Video footage showed flames and thick black smoke billowing from the site of the crash, next to the runway.

The Maltese government said in a statement that inquiries were under way to determine what had caused the crash. “Official information, footage and eyewitnesses … clearly indicate that there was no explosion prior to impact.” The officials have not yet ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the crash.

Airport officials said the plane had been heading for the city of Misrata in Libya, where some countries have sent teams of Special Forces to support the new UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in its ongoing fight against the Takfiri Daesh militant group. Malta’s government said that the flight had been due to return to Malta within hours without landing in any other countries.

Presstv

24, October 2016

Governor Otto Wilson passes on ⁰

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Emmanuel René Sadi has confirmed through a statement the death of Governor Otto Joseph Wilson of the Centre region. According to René Sadi, the Governor

died early Monday morning at the American Hospital in Paris. The late Joseph Otto Wilson who hailed from Isangele district in the Bakassi peninsula was born March 19, 1964 in Douala. After high school in Douala, he studied at the University of Yaounde, where he obtained a Masters in Economics. He was admitted in 1987 into the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) in Yaounde and graduated two years later.

Otto Wilson Joseph had a brilliant career in the ministry of territorial administration where he held several positions as DO, SDO and finally Governor. Before his appointment as governor of the North region in April 2012, was the only civil administrator in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD) who served as inspector general in charge of electoral matters.

He will be remembered in the North following his skilful management of the 2012 floods, the highway robbery phenomenon and cross-border insecurity. On the 4^th of June 2014, President Biya gave him the honour to serve as governor of the Centre region with headquarters in Yaounde.

The death of his daughter in 2016 reportedly weakened the seasoned administrator who had been diagnosed with cancer. His health condition worsened and he was evacuated on October the 8th, 2016 to the American Hospital in Paris, France where he died this morning.

By Rita Akana

24, October 2016

Trump says Clinton is the official candidate of multinational ruling elite ⁰

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds a 12-point lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump nationally, according to a new poll, but the Trump campaign denounces “biased” media surveys.

The former secretary of state has the support of 50 percent of likely voters, while the billionaire businessman has 38 percent support, claimed the ABC News 2016 tracking poll released on Sunday.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has 5 percent support among likely voters, while Green Party nominee Jill Stein has 2 percent support. According to ABC News, Clinton is at her highest level of support in any ABC News/Washington Post poll, while Trump is at his lowest.

Sixty-nine percent of likely voters reject Trump’s response to accusations about his alleged remarks about women, according to pollsters. Pollsters also claimed that 59 percent of voters disapprove of the billionaire’s claim that the election is rigged in favor of Clinton, and 65 percent dislike his comments that he might not accept vote results.

The poll was conducted from October 20 to 22 of 1,391 adults, including 874 likely voters. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. Trump rejects the polls coming from mainstream media outlets as fabricated and says the media wants to get Clinton as president at any cost.

Presstv

24, October 2016

Eseka train disaster: Ministry of Transport suffering from a criminal neglect ⁰

After more than four decades after independence, the United Republic of Cameroon still struggles to operate part of the railway inherited from the German colonial masters even with French support from the Bolloré Transport & Logistics Group amid failed CPDM numerous contracts. This is also true of the road network in the country that still suffers intermittent breakdown.

There were high expectations when the Chairman and CEO of the Bolloré Transport & Logistics Group, Vincent Bolloré met with President Biya some months ago and promised a Cameroonian version of the TGV-a high speed train between Yaounde and Douala. With more than a hundred people dead and more than 600 injured after a train derailed at Eseka on Friday the 21^st of October 2016, it has now turn out to be that of a dashed hope. Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, born 22 January 1957 is a chartered member of the Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime now running the transport sector of the country. For a man who sees himself as the next-of-kin to President Biya, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o is now stagger-a-staggering.

Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o was removed as minister for defence and demoted to the transport department by the 83 year old President Biya. Undertaking a visit round some agencies under the ministry of transport, including the Cameroon Railway Corporation, Camrail, any observer could realize that this loud sounding nothing Francophone cabinet minister did not know if a functional train really exists in Cameroon. The fault is not that of Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o. It is also not that of the millions of Cameroonians who have never had a ride or drive on the trains and roads within the country. It is that of the government and the ministry of transport.

Ever since Cameroon Concord News was founded in Essen in Germany in 2000, we have been asking which professional school trains the technical force needed at the Ministry of Transport. To be sure, IRIC is responsible for grooming Cameroonian diplomats, Ecole de Postes trains our telecom engineers, Ecole Normale takes charge of our secondary and higher education teaching staffs, Ecole des police makes available some decent corrupt police officers and ESSTIC sends out pro Biya and CPDM comedians to the state radio and television. Which government academic establishment has the responsibility of training the manpower that runs the ministry of transport?

The Ministry of Transport is credited to have performed reasonably well under the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo. Analysts also credit the Ahidjo regime as playing a pivotal role in increasing the tempo of commercial activities in the many towns and cities in Cameroon along the motorways and rail routes. The success of Cameroon Shipping Lines, Cameroon Railways Corporation and Cameroon Airlines boosted inter-ethnic marriages, acquisition of new dressing habits, food and languages and caused the emergence of mega towns referred to as T-junctions such as Mbanga, Kumba, Ngaoundere, Bali, Akawaya, Maroua and Tiko.

But a steady process of decline was said to have crept into its operation after President Biya took over as head of state. This, according to experts, became worse with the systemic decay of the country’s entire infrastructure and manpower. The disaster that recently occurred on the Yaounde-Douala highway followed by the Eseka train derailment crisis has been attributed to the lack of maintenance, policy inconsistency, corruption and management inefficiency. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group believe and fervently too that it all hails from the workforce at the ministry of transport. The ministry has become a dumping pit for civil servants who fail to climb up the administrative ladder in other ministries.

Frankly speaking, the late President Ahidjo did not perform any magic in running our roads, railways and Airlines Company. He succeeded only because he appointed those who had adequate training in transportation and logistics and provided the ministry of transport with adequate funds. The Ministry of Transport reportedly is the busiest in the entire Cameroon government set-up. It has never had any bad publicity because the workers render only one service to the nation and which is that of collecting money from the Cameroon people.

They collect money for number plates, they collect from toll gates, they collect from weighing heavy vehicles, they collect wind screen tax, they collect road tax, and they collect from our airline company and also from Camrail and our maritime sector. It is all about money.

From the current minister of transport right down to divisional delegates, none of them has successfully executed a transportation and logistics project in any part of the country let alone knowing what prevails in our railways and maritime industry. The Ministry of Transport in Cameroon is the only government department where technical directors and regional delegates have university degrees in Biology and Home Economics and we expect them to manage more complex railway, airlines, roads and maritime projects in the country. So, it is easy to understand why no one thought of establishing a heavy security presence around the train station in Yaounde immediately when news of the collapsed bridge on the Yaounde-Douala highway had been made public.

The military administration currently running the ministry of transport has been applauded for transporting three cabinet ministers by helicopter to the scene but failed to use the same helicopter to help victims of the derailment who were seriously injured. When Biya conceived the idea of Emergence 2035, many thought the strategic vision involved the roads, the railways, the shipping industry and the airlines.

To be sure, emergence 2035 was meant to be a systematic development of the health, education, transport and housing sectors of the country. It was specifically designed to provide a global framework and benchmark for the expansion and modernisation of Cameroon as a nation. And Biya reportedly paid a princely sum to a panel that delivered the package. After the recent incidents, the emergence 2035 plan can best be described as an ambitious plan that was never implemented. So, our so called emergence 2035 project has now been abandoned by the Biya regime after some people have pocketed huge amounts of money being the initial payment made by the government for the design of the scheme.

With too many manual blunders and Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o fighting for his political survival, only a new head of state will give a considerable attention to our roads and railway infrastructures. Biya has finally admitted that the ministry of transport has suffered from a criminal neglect ever since he took office as president.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

23, October 2016

South Africa: ANC taking the last kicks of a dying horse ⁰

Rifts continue to widen within South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) as a senior member of the party has called on its top leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, to quit after fraud charges were brought up against the country’s finance minister.

Jackson Mthembu, who serves as ANC parliamentary chief, said Sunday that court action against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan reflected an abuse of power to settle political scores within the ANC and that the top leaders of the party, including himself, were no longer fit to control the situation.

“President Jacob Zuma is the president of the ANC. When I said the entire ANC leadership that has already taken collective responsibility must take the fall, I meant everybody, myself included, including President Zuma,” Mthembu told a local television.

Gordhan faces charges of wrongdoing and fraud and should appear in court on November 2. Many say the prosecution is an attempt by a wealthy family close to Zuma to muzzle a Treasury chief who has been acclaimed for his disciplinary efforts to revive South Africa’s economy.

Mthembu said prosecuting Gordhan, which he said was politically motivated, was a further blow to the ANC amid the falling rate of public approval for the party. “In my view, a minister is being pursued for political reasons, and then charged with fraud. That’s why I’ve then said, perhaps we are not the leadership that can take the ANC forward under these conditions,” he added.

ANC, a liberation movement of Nelson Mandela which has been in power in South Africa since 1994, suffered its worst electoral performance in August. Experts said the local government elections changed the outlook for national elections in 2019 and showed that voters were becoming increasingly unhappy with issues like unemployment, economic stagnation and scandals around Zuma.

Presstv

23, October 2016

Biya expected in Yaounde today ⁰

President Paul Biya is expected in Yaounde today Sunday, October 23, 2016, Cameroon Concord News has learned from sources at the presidency of the republic. The Right Royal President is reportedly jetting back home via a chartered flight and will then end the controversy over his long absence from the country.

The 83 year old leader left Yaounde on Friday, September 16, 2016 for New York City in the United States to attend the 71st session of the UN General Assembly. But well before the closing session of the UN general assembly, Biya left the US for a destination that was never communicated to the Cameroonian people.

For over 37 days now, he has been appointing and dismissing top government officials from a five star hotel apartment in Geneva, Switzerland. Governing with the support of a tribal constituted military and secret service, none of the major disasters that recently happened in the country could force his return home. Our chief political editor observed at the time of filing this report that “the nation is at the mercy of Biya and his appointees.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

22, October 2016

The Drama of the Intercity train derailment: A Cameroon Concord News Production ⁰

The Intercity train service 152 left the nation’s capital at 11:15 am for Douala the economic metropolis. The technical service of Camrail- a subsidiary of the Bolloré Transport & Logistics Group operating the rail sector in Cameroon did not check the front wheels of the locomotive to see if they had the ability to pull a surplus of 8 additional coaches which were added hastily after the disaster on the Douala- Yaoundé highway that made transportation by road impossible.

The brakes of the train were checked before the 8 wagons were added. A rail technician sounded a note of caution and reportedly opposed the idea of additional coaches. A Camrail carrier with 88 seats and 20 standing places was now code named Intercity service with 8 new coaches and on that Good Friday, had 1350 passengers on board.

The tragedy happened around 11:45 am at Eseka- a small town located some 120km from Yaoundé. Camrail was quick to set up a crisis unit led by its senior management and it mobilized rescue teams. Three cabinet ministers: Transport, Public Health and Territorial Administration arrived the scene by helicopter and claimed they were sent by the President of the Republic, who is on holiday with his wife and kids in a five star hotel in Geneva for 35 days now.

Minister Edgar Alain Mebo Ngoo, the Minister of Transport attempted to score some political points for himself in order to buttress his case of becoming Cameroon’s next head of state. He announced earlier that no train had derailed and after some 55 minutes, Edgar Alain again came back on the airwaves of the state radio and television to provide a fictitious death toll.

70 people died and 600 were injured. The bodies of our departed citizens were taken to mortuaries in Edea, Douala, Eseka and Pouma. Our cream of reporters covering this story have all opined that the toll is expected to rise, given the many serious injuries recorded and the several passengers who are still trapped in the carriages that fell apart. The bodies of 14 passengers are still inside some of the wagons in the ravines. The government has ordered special equipment from the military headquarters to help pulled out the coaches.

Some big men in Yaounde call the ministers have announced the opening of a judicial inquiry to establish what caused the accident. The independent media has been barred from the scene and no one is allowed to take photos. Some reliable sources including travellers have stated that more than a hundred were killed in the incident. However, President Biya in a condolence message to the bereaved families agreed with our intelligence officers that 70 people have died as a result of the derailment.

By Sama Ernest, Rita Akana and Eyong Johnson