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30, June 2016

Penal Code Palaver: No more immunity for cabinet ministers ⁰

The Constitutional Law Committee of the National Assembly met recently in the so called Glass Palace at Ngoa Ekellé Yaounde. The CPDM MPs examined changes to the bill on the Penal Code by the Senate. The members of the Commission led by Zondol Hersesse found themselves once again facing the all powerful Minister of State, Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso to review a text that the whole house had voted for in a plenary session held on 22 June.

This reconsideration of a bill is consistent with the provisions of Article 30 of the Constitution of Cameroon. What is this new examination of the text? An amendment was made to Article 127 of the draft law on the Penal Code at the plenary session which was adopted by the Senate. At the center of many debates, the article concerned in particular “the encroachments of the court on certain immunities.” Clearly, the text adopted and sent to the Senate indicated that any magistrate or police officer who, in violation of laws on immunity stops or prosecute a member of government or parliament shall be imprisoned for one to five years.

The new formulation of the text, according to Senator David Siegfried Etame Massoma, President of the Constitution Acts Commission of the Senate now reads: “is punished with imprisonment of one to five years, magistrate or police officer who continues, stop or judge anyone, in violation of laws on immunity.” Clearly, the CPDM crime syndicate has once again moved the goal post and members of government are no longer covered by this provision.

Senator Etame Massoma also pointed out that the amendment to this article was introduced by the government following the debate that had aroused from this provision in the Penal Code. Pursuant to section 3-B of Article 30 of the Constitution, the text which was discussed yesterday in the Committee of the National Assembly will be again be adopted by the entire chamber. After this exercise, the Speaker of the National Assembly will pass the final version of the text to the President of the Republic for promulgation. The political calendar promises to be very heavy on the side of those pro Biya comedians at the Ngoa Ekellé glass house. The end of the current session is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday 1 July 2016.

Sama Ernest with files from Cameroon Tribune

29, June 2016

Controversial Penal Code adopted despite SDF disapproval ⁰

The National Assembly after scrutinizing the new penal code transmitted it to the Upper House where senators worked for five hours unending to examine the text. It was adopted despite the disapproval of the Social Democratic Front whose members staged a walk out. During the 28th June 2016 session the SDF Senators once again expressed discontentment with certain articles of the bill tabled for adoption.

The party insisted for some articles to be dropped but their views were not taken into consideration. Even though they abandoned the discussion table, deliberations continued and after five hours, the bill was adopted. Those who disapproved of the new penal code pointed out to specific articles therein. Most of those against, argued that the new law favours the rich.

A critical reading of the new text gives the impression that the Ministers are being emboldened unlike the former law where immunity was restricted only to parliamentarians, but now the law extends this immunity to members of government. The two months unpaid rents which leads to an eviction of the tenant, the con say, have been tailored to favor the landlord. The issue of adultery which many believe is a private family affair do not favor the husband who is considered the all powerful within the family circles.

These and other articles of the penal code especially that which relates to religious deceit are some issues that have not gained total approval. That notwithstanding, the Senate worked long hours this Tuesday, June 28 and adopted all 370 articles of the bill that was defended by the Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seal, Laurent Esso.

CRTV

29, June 2016

Mendo Zenising: 33 Kumba inmates complete course in theological studies ⁰

Some 33 inmates of the Kumba Main Prison were recently awarded attestations after completing a course in Theological studies. The certificates were presented by a non-denominational institution, “Discipline the Nation Ministry,” at the graduation ceremony that held in prison. It was the maiden batch of inmates in the school and the first ever occasion for the prisoners as stated by the Prison Superintendent in his address.

While presenting the certificates to the graduating inmates, the head of the institution urged them to be ambassadors for Christ by preaching the gospel across the globe when they complete their prison terms. It was a timely study program given that the first batch comprises mostly inmates who were either rounding up their jail terms or those with longer terms. To those who were to quit the prison, the training equipped them to become transformed persons as they return to their various communities to restart normal life.

From the various biblical topics studied, it was clear that the inmates were already transformed into God’s servants to preach His word. The various pastors who spoke to the inmates cited the Biblical passage where Joseph was imprisoned for years but later emerged as a great leader. The prisoners were comforted and made to understand that their stay in prison was for a purpose and immediately it was attained, their release will be imminent. The graduating prison inmates were offered Christian literature and other gospel teaching aid to assist them in their new vocation of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sama Ernest with files from CRTV

29, June 2016

GCE Board Registrar en route to Bamenda as marking enters Day II ⁰

The Registrar of the Cameroon GCE Board has left Buea this morning for Bamenda, the chief city in the North West region as the marking session of the 2016 session of the General Certificate Examination enters Day II. Sir Humphrey Ekema Monono is expected to arrive Bamenda in just under 3 hours.

In a telephone conversation he had with Cameroon Concord News earlier today, Sir Monono revealed that the board operates marking centers in Bamenda and Buea. The astute manager added that 9 marking centers are in BUEA and 7 in Bamenda .

The GCE Board Registrar also noted that an exhaustive marking guide have been made available to all examiners. Humphrey Monono hinted that the board staged a mechanism for effective marking which was aimed at evaluating the state of preparedness of the examiners.

EWANG John, one of the GCE assessors who confirmed that the mechanism for effective marking had indeed been carried out said it was to discover the strength and weaknesses of the examiners so as to adjust them. More than 6000 examiners are expected to mark at least 200 scripts each within 9 and 10 days respectively.

By Besong Esther Agbor

29, June 2016

At graduation ceremony: Buea IVTC Director says vocational training promotes economic growth ⁰

The Intensive Vocational Training College Buea has graduated its joined 35th, 36th, and 37th batches of trainees amidst high unemployment rate in Cameroon. The graduation ceremony took place on Friday June 24, 2016 in Buea, Fako division of the South West Region. The over 400 graduates were trainees of the 2013, 2014 and 2015 academic years pending graduation from the vocational training center.

In an effort to promote the training of bilingual secretary ship as a major tool to emergence, the government of Cameroon through the Employment and Vocational Training Ministry created six (6) public vocational training centers nationwide. The Intensive Vocational Training Centre, IVTC, Buea is the lone English center in Cameroon with five others spread across the country. The director of the center Becky Effoe Limunga revealed that vocational training promotes positive work ethics and enhance economic growth which is a prerequisite to gainful employment, asserting that, it was a golden opportunity for the public and employers to make material use of the facilities and training programs offered.

The South West Regional delegate for Employment and Vocational Training urged the students to meet up with contemporary challenges of the professional. The students were schooled on computerized accountancy, bilingual secretary ship and other lucrative courses. It is a one year training program upon which the trainee is issued an academic diploma.

Cham Victor Bama (Cameroon Concord News)

29, June 2016

Cameroon says over 20 billion of ill-gotten wealth revovered ⁰

Alfred Etom, is the Coordinator of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a body operating within the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) In a recent conversation with Cameroon Tribune, he speaks of the National Anti-Corruption Commission 2014 report! He says over 20 billion FCFA has been recovered.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s 2014 Anti-Corruption Status Report unveils fabulous sums of State funds embezzled. How much of these embezzled funds have been recovered?

Alfred Etom: Let me first recall that this report does not only contain activities carried out by the NACC, but also by other ministries and institutions with the aim of fighting corruption. In 2014, the Special Criminal Court recovered more than FCFA 7 billion. More than FCFA 3 billion was recovered by the Supreme Court. The Council for Financial and Budgetary Discipline also recovered more than FCFA 3 billion.

Vote holders were fined to the tune of FCFA 70 million, while NACC recovered FCFA 6 billion this year. So, nearly FCFA 20 billion of ill-gotten funds have been recovered since 2014. Specifically, the funds were recovered on the national territory. Although the process of recovering ill-gotten wealth hidden abroad is complex, it is ongoing.

Does this indicate an evolution in the recovery of embezzled State’s assets?

Alfred Etom: Yes, because Cameroonians are more and more cooperative. At the beginning, it was not easy, but they have noticed that we are committed. Once NACC is after you, we do not give up until we have the expected results. Now that we have developed our visibility, Cameroonians have a greater tendency to trust us. And this trust is motivation for us to keep working. This also accounts for the results achieved so far.

What are some of the challenges in this task?

Alfred Etom: One of the challenges we have to overcome is that we do not have regional branches. For us to carry out an effective fight to downscale corruption, we have to be close to the population. When people send us their tip-offs, it takes time for NACC to react just because we are far from them. It slows down the process and frustrates those who report corruption cases.

The report also talks of only 27 per cent rate of implementation of Regional Anti-Corruption Action Plans. What is your take on this?

Alfred Etom: The 27.3 per cent was in 2014. Then, we thought there was no real will to tackle the issue of corruption in the regions for many reasons. One of the reasons is that Regional Inspectorates of Service were not well-equipped to carry out anti-corruption actions, initiatives and investigations. Secondly, there was also lack of will to combat corruption because they thought that NACC only fought against big corruption, which is wrong. The third reason is that they themselves fed on corruption. It is difficult for somebody who feeds on corruption to fight corruption. Ever since, the situation has improved to about 30 per cent today. Things have improved.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Cameroon Tribune

28, June 2016

28 killed and 60 injured in a gun and bomb attack in Istanbul Ataturk airport ⁰

At least 28 people have been killed and 60 more injured in a gun and bomb attack in Istanbul’s Atatürk international airport.

Late on Tuesday night, two terrorists blew themselves up as security forces were trying to block their progress into the airport.

According to Turkish officials, police forces started firing at suspects when they tried to pass the international terminal’s entry, before the security check.

Presstv

28, June 2016

Minister of Foreign Affairs tells parliament Biya is examining the issue of dual nationality ⁰

The National Assembly has adopted two more bills in the ongoing 2nd Ordinary Session. The first bill authorizes the President of the Republic to ratify the agreement between the Government of Cameroon and that of Italy on the reciprocal exemption from the obligation to holders of diplomatic or service passports to obtain short-term visas.

This agreement was signed in Yaounde on the 17^th of March 2016 and that governing undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities in Cameroon. Before the adoption of bills, the House Chamber debated on the bills with the bill on visas exemption between Cameroon and Italy attracting more questions from the Members of Parliament to the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella.

MPs raised issues such as the issuance of diplomatic passports to all members of the National Assembly, poor treatment of Cameroonians including those with diplomatic passports in some countries and dual nationality for Cameroonians abroad amongst others. Minister Mbella Mbella explained that the issuance of diplomatic passports is regulated by the Vienna Treaty on Diplomacy which does not provide for diplomatic passports for MPs.

While stating that the issue of dual nationality is being examined, the Minister also announced that plans are underway for other agreements to be negotiated with some other countries like China and Germany on visa exemption for short-term stay. The second bill defended by the Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey clarified MPs on the functioning of the Douala Stock Exchange and measures such as the increase in the number and capacity of the Custom Administration to live up to expectation within the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

It emerged that the bill on regulating undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities in Cameroon seeks to establish a legal framework in pursuant to Section 4(2) of Law No. 99/15 of 22 December 1999 to establish and organize a financial market.

28, June 2016

Nicolas Nkoulou: Olympique Lyonnais or Barcelona? ⁰

Cameroon Concord News has learnt from reliable sources in France that, Nicolas Nkoulou is expected to sign a contract with Olympique Lyonnais. Nkoulou, one of Cameroon’s key defenders reportedly had a medical yesterday.

The 26 years old footballer has played 33 League 1 matches with Olympique de Marseille and he is currently out of contract with the French giants. Our source hinted that there may be a kind of last minute change as Spanish heavyweight, Barcelona have signaled interest in the defender.

Fon Lawrence (Cameroon Concord News Group)

28, June 2016

No more secrecy about handling and treatment of patients with HIV in Cameroon ⁰

The decision by the Minister for Public Health to systemize the screening of all patients who turn up for consultations in all public hospitals for their HIV status has raised quite some dust within the national healthcare community. Even if the Minister did not say it directly, it will virtually be compulsory to obtain the status of each patient reporting for any health problem. This move is revolutionary by the fact that all the secrecy about the handling and treatment of patients with HIV infections will henceforth be removed, making it easier to know who carries the virus and those who do not and in so doing better manage the situation because of a better knowledge of the situation and the availability of statistics.

One must sincerely observe that strategies to fight HIV/AIDS have not been very successful seen from the little impact various initiatives have had in the final result. The desire to keep patient’s condition private by preventing them from stigmatization has not helped matters at the end of the day. Policy makers cannot do effective planning because they do not have the necessary statistics on which to build a robust strategy. This is because for too long many citizens have been left to go about without even knowing their condition while carriers of the virus, unknown to them continue to spread it simply because they were not aware.

As long as the HIV/AIDS management chain was not opened up and continued to be run in near secrecy, results, especially the mass positive results expected, could never be attained That is why even with very efficient systems and information campaigns, the scourge has continued to develop in disturbing proportions. Moreover, an early discovery of one’s serology status will help manage the condition and obviously prevent the virus from developing into more disastrous condition of AIDS with its multifarious accompanying afflictions.

Early detection can also help minimize costs, especially for the dispossessed segments of the population from within which many cases of infection are registered. Many Human Rights groups will obviously jump into the scene to condemn violation of privacy. But the gravity of the situation posed by the growing spread of HIV/AIDS and, above all, the need to preserve the health of Cameroonians from the scourge of this killer disease justify the government decision. The population must, in its own interest, adhere to this salutary initiative which will certainly have an immediate impact on the management of the disease.

Cameroon Tribune