About soter

Posts by :

5, September 2021

Afghanistan and Southern Cameroons: Watch, Time, Corruption and Determination ⁰

The Taliban has a saying: “you have the watch; we have the time. We were born here. We will die here. We are not going anywhere.” As the Taliban has demonstrated, if a fighting force, weak on paper, is willing and able to wait its enemy out, it can defeat a much superior force. If the guerrilla can withstand suffering and live to fight another day, many battles can be lost while still achieving ultimate victory. The Vietnam conflict was no different, and the Taliban outlasted the might of US and Western forces for 20 years.

In Afghanistan, the West fought an enemy that will not die. America fought a nemesis that had nowhere else to go. In the Southern Cameroons, French Cameroun army soldiers are also fighting an enemy they cannot see and won’t go away. What are the similarities in both wars? Corruption and Determination! Corruption within the Afghan government and French Cameroun establishment, and Determination from the Taliban and Ambazonia Self-defence forces.

Corruption

The Taliban’s lightning advance was based on dysfunction in the government and armed forces. The same can be said of the successes of Ambazonia self-defence forces in their pursuit of independence. Corruption at the top of the Cameroon government military is doing as much damage to its adventure in Southern Cameroons. A former Afghan diplomat recently said, “From your birth certificate to your death certificate and whatever comes in between, somehow you have to bribe.” Anyone with some knowledge of Cameroon under Biya would think the diplomat was talking about the CPDM crime syndicate.

As the Taliban seized territory after territory, government soldiers dropped their uniforms, firearms and ran. On paper, the Afghan army had hundreds of thousands of US-trained fighters. But the fact is that soldiers in Afghanistan went unpaid as senior military and government officials simply siphoned military finances. Afghanistan fell easily than many expected to the Taliban because corruption was endemic in the government and military. The disease of corruption is so badly embedded in the Francophone dominated political and military establishments and this evil is a blessing to the Southern Cameroons quest for independence.

Just as the Taliban exploited the weaknesses in the Afghan army, Ambazonian self-defence forces have exploited a fragile, fraudulent, and hopeless army that has no belly for the fight. The parading of captured weapons by the Taliban on international media is evocative of the videos on social media posted by Ambazonian self-defence forces.

Procurement fraud was rife in the Afghan government, and the same crime is at a more sophisticated stage in Yaoundé. By the time of the Taliban’s final onslaught, Aghan state officials were so corrupt that most of them cut deals with the Taliban. The Afghan army was in a miserable shape to fight as its numbers were inflated by ghost soldiers. The presence of ghost soldiers deep within the Cameroon government military is very well established as the senior commanders pocket the salaries of these ghost army soldiers. The similarities between Afghanistan and Cameroon are striking, and the results, however long it takes, will be parallel.

Determination:

After the Taliban was toppled in 2001, it maintained a strong presence in parts of Afghanistan and played the long game of prolonged combat. When the Southern Cameroons leadership was abducted in Abuja, Nigeria, in January 2018, it appeared as if the Southern Cameroons liberation struggle was a pipedream that would never be realized, but the Southern Cameroons Diaspora community and self-defence forces have reorganised themselves and are deadlier now than before.

For twenty years, the Taliban maintained its structure and survived the deaths of senior leadership figures. It maintained a base in Pakistan and at home in many provinces. They also received considerable moral and financial support from states in the Middle East. Similarly, despite the leadership of the Southern Cameroons movement being incarcerated in Yaoundé, the Interim Government of Ambazonia has continued to function satisfactorily in exile.

The Taliban did not accept the legitimacy of the US-supported government, and the people of Southern Cameroons do not accept the legitimacy of French Cameroon’s rule over the territory of Southern Cameroons. Since Mr Biya and his regime have ruled out genuine negotiation with the Southern Cameroons leadership in their detention centres, the jungles of Southern Cameroons will be their unending nightmare over the next decades as the mountains, hills and valleys of Afghanistan was to the Americans.

Just as many US right-wing policymakers believed for twenty years that the US would win militarily in Afghanistan, the hawks in Yaoundé are defiantly lying to themselves and anyone who would listen that they will emerge from the jungles of Southern Cameroons victorious and politically stronger. France will soon realise the folly of sustaining a corrupt army in a war that they will not win. Whether the political elite in Yaoundé accepts it or not, the Southern Cameroons struggle would still linger long after Mr Biya exits the scene, and the solution like the one in Afghanistan is not on the battlefield.

Paul Biya will not be the only Francophone Cameroonian president to fight the war in Ambazonia. Like Afghanistan, there is an exit strategy. The Americans talked to the Taliban and exited. Are the French Cameroun elite humble enough to do the sensible thing?

The speed and success of the Taliban shocked both Afghans and the US that had backed the Afghan government with money and military support. The US spent over $88bn on training and equipping Afghan security forces over the years. Conservative estimates say France has spent over $11 billion in equipping the Francophone dominated Cameroon army over the last four years, and the figure is growing as the enemy in the jungles in Southern Cameroons is just not going away.

La Republique du Cameroun has not a fighting chance against a liberating force that has time and nowhere to go. If the success of the Taliban is anything to go by, Southern Cameroonians are unlikely to let this great opportunity to attain freedom pass them by. Having a watch and money doesn’t guarantee that one has time. La Republique du Cameroun and France have the watch and money; Southern Cameroonians must know that, like the Taliban, they have the time.

IsongAsu

London Bureau Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

4, September 2021

SOBA UK Exco says “Thank You Electorate” ⁰

SOBA UK exco have said a big thank you to the Sasse Old Boys electorate for the second term given them to serve. Below are the warm words made public by SOBA UK secretariat.

Dear Members,

Thank You – An Acceptance Statement

We are greatly humbled by the resounding endorsement from you the electorate for this second mandate you have given us to continue to serve SOBA UK. We remark that these voting results represent a record achievement for SOBA UK as never before has any candidate in the history of the association received up to 75 votes for any given position. We recognise this as how far our association has come.

Two years ago, when we took over the reigns of SOBA UK, you put your trust in us to steer the ship onwards. We in turn as a team discovered and accentuated each of our strengths to deliver on the promises made in 2019. That resulted in the change that our association has experienced in the last two years. We have been able to transform the engagement of our membership and our community to greater heights in that time. We truly took significant strides to build a SOBA UK that became Bigger, Brighter and Best-in-Class.

This time, we ran our campaign under the banner of delivering a Stronger, Smarter, Prouder SOBA UK. We plan to improve on the bond within our brotherhood and introduce initiatives like a mentorship scheme; to make our association smarter in its use of technology and to bring the association’s information closer to its members; and we plan to play a bigger role in our community here in the UK as well contribute towards the betterment of the students of Sasse College. The task ahead won’t be easy but we know with your support we will meet the challenges with increased confidence.

Our association, SOBA UK, has had challenges in recent years and we have taken steps towards building bridges. Whilst we recognise the process of reconciliation is a long one, we remain hopeful for a future for SOBA UK where our brand is associated with harmony and where we reclaim our place as the beacon for all within our community to follow. We will face up to the opportunity of maintaining the standards we are known for whilst remaining accommodating of our divergent views and adapting to reflect our combined aspirations. This association has turned crisis in the past into massive growth.

We are confident that we have in our DNA to do the same with every bump in the road ahead and we will. The future is pregnant with possibilities for this esteemed association. We are about to commence a new membership registration period and thereafter, we look forward to the return of our annual residential convention in October. It will be a chance to reconnect again as brothers after the challenging 18-months with the pandemic. We look forward to welcoming you, your families and your guests to the Hilton at St Georges Park. Conventions are a good opportunity to further our brand and raise money for causes that this association cares about. We are going to be re-targeting our fundraising efforts towards helping students back at Sasse College in various aspects such as the School Library. We look forward to the community’s support in realising this objective.

The elections season has come to a close and we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without the meticulous management of the process by our Patrons and the added confidence given by the work of our Elections Observers. We remain greatly indebted for their service to this association. Their combined efforts have shown that SOBA UK has attained the model for suffrage for any similar group to emulate; a model that reflects and embodies the true meaning of One Man, One Vote. We should be proud.

May St Joseph ever near to guide us!

Kind regards,

Franklin Egbe President, Atem Akoh-Arrey Vice President, Asmara Eban Secretary General

On behalf of Benedict Tchantcheu, Executive Treasurer Bah Kobi Jones, Financial Secretary Fritz Esambi Publicity Officer Ralph Mbua Deputy Secretary Genera

4, September 2021

Buea University Sex Scandal: The Augean Stable is messy! ⁰

Ever since the University of Buea came under fire because of a sex scandal that is hurting the institution’s reputation, the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ngomo Horace Manga, has been tight-lipped despite attempts by the Cameroon Concord News Group to obtain his reaction to the mess that might see him out of that institution.

His indifference to the allegations has caused many people in the English-speaking community to think that he might be complicit in the commission of those sex crimes or he could as well be guilty of the same crime. What is Professor Ngomo Horace Manga hiding? Is he trying to protect his accomplices or his protégés?

However, some people hold that the vice chancellor may just be overwhelmed. The Augean Stable is messy. He does not know where to start. When you have people like Prof. Agborbechem and Prof. Ernest Molua to investigate, know that you have a handful. They have had their fair share of the free sex for a very long time in the university and their DNA is all over the hotels in Buea.

For Agborbechem, his crimes are too many. He has been all over the country, and he has been good at sowing his wild oats. Even if you are given the Federal Reserve (American Central Bank) to investigate the learned professor, you will still run out of financially resources. His field of operation is large, and the damage is massive. It is even alleged that even in Nigeria where he studied, he was advised never to return because of his unacceptable sexual escapades.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Bureau Chief in London, a colleague of Prof. Agborbechem in Fontem, Lebialem Division, was quick to point out that he had never met anybody with such unusually high libido. The professor’s former colleague had little kind words for a man who has projected himself in very bad light because of his out-of-control libido.

“Agborbechem is a polished gentleman when women are not involved. Once he sees a beautiful woman, his brain takes French leave of him. He was very energic when we were in Fontem. The female students in that school should regret having known him. Anything in skirt was good enough for Agborbechem. Make no mistake, he is a very bright person, but when you give him a little alcohol and you throw women in the mix, Agborbechem loses his mind. It is unfortunate that such a learned person could be without self-control,” the professor’s former colleague regretted.

“Many people in Fontem thought he had lost his mind. If he is not mentally messed up, then he has been cursed. How can a man love sex to such ridiculous extents? When he looks at a woman, it is as he should just take her to his bedroom. We used to see him in a strange way, and we thought he had something that was really bothering him,” his former colleague said.

Meanwhile in Buea, many people are still looking forward to a thorough investigation into this sex scandal. Prof. Agborbechem and Prof. Molua have set brand new records when it comes to their sex trade. It is being alleged that sometimes they even tell the girls they want to sleep with to go and rent hotel rooms and only advise them of the transaction for them to come over and accomplish their mission. They not even want to spend a dime in the entire process. This is meanness in its superlative degree.

University of Buea lecturers are really staging a show. Instead of imparting knowledge to those students, they are spending their entire time on women. Some students even argue that some of their lecturers have lost their intellectual edge because they have been discharging their intellectualism into women’s thighs. Rather than spend time conducting research, they spend useful time conducting non-intellectual research in women’s thighs. They love playing the beast with two backs as if that is part of their benefits package.

The University of Buea is an Augean Stable that needs to be cleansed. But it cannot be cleansed by those who are responsible for the mess. Some of the lecturers need to be fired if the mess must be retired. It is time to take the bull by the horn and the vice chancellor must act swiftly and decisively if he really wants to save the university’s reputation or whatever is left of it.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, September 2021

BEWARE OF FAKE NEWS ⁰

This is to advise that there is a video being circulated on the Internet which is being erroneously and maliciously attributed to Cameroon’s Permanent Representative to Ethiopia, H.E. Churchill Ewumbwe Monono.

A copy of the video has been sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group which condemns this gross irresponsible behavior on the part of the author known as “Sense Pass King”.

After a thorough examination of the video, the Cameroon Concord News Group’s experts have concluded that the video is that of a popular businessperson in Buea whose phones were stolen by some dishonest Cameroonians and who felt they could use the video to extort money from the honest and hardworking businessman.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s Board of Directors would like to reiterate that it stands by H.E Churchill Ewumbwe Monono who is an honest and decent person and who will never engage in such degrading and dishonorable activities.

The Cameroon Concord News Group urges the public to be vigilant as there are some people with malicious intensions to destabilize and sling mud at a Cameroonian who has served his country with love and honesty both at home and abroad.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman Board of Directors

Cameroon Concord News Group

3, September 2021

Why the Biya government is losing in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Cameroon’s Governors, Senior Divisional Officers, District Heads and even traditional rulers still go around proudly with uniforms that were assigned to them by French colonial officers.

The uniforms that were introduced by Roland Pre, the French Commissioner to French Cameroon, often provides insight into French Cameroon’s history, especially when it comes to how they position themselves in relation to Southern Cameroonians.

The ultimate measuring stick, it turns out, is excessive use of force. And as the Cameroon government military’s efforts appear to be collapsing—or have collapsed in Southern Cameroons, it is evidently clear that the 88-year-old President Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate are losing the war in Southern Cameroons.

The ruling crime syndicate has always made President Biya look invincible, going into political conflicts aiming high, achieving nothing and then going back to Etoudi with as much dignity as possible.

The war in Southern Cameroons has demonstrated that the Biya leadership experiment has all along been rooted in a national myth and many French Cameroon political elites have now realized that Biya and his gang have not lived up to the stories they have told the Cameroonian people.

Is the country’s military losing in Southern Cameroons? We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think the tides are turning against the military. There’s no other way to characterize the 4-year war as anything other than a failure.

The Biya regime and its Francophone dominated army is not losing the war in the sense that the military has been defeated and chased out of Southern Cameroons, but Yaoundé is losing the war given that the human and material costs are high: some 3,000 Cameroon army soldiers have died, 2,500 have been injured, and millions of dollars have been wasted on things that do not have any economic benefits.

The Ambazonia Restoration Groups now look like they are in total control of Southern Cameroons and this is likely to go down in history as a major Biya regime failure.

But prior to the war in Southern Cameroons, Biya and his political party won nearly all the major political wars that they fought.

There are many reasons for this, but the most important one is that after the Social Democratic Front war with Fru Ndi, the nature of Cameroon’s geo-political wars itself changed. But Biya and his men were not aware.

So, the 88-year-old Biya is now really struggling. And the nature of both the Boko Haram and Southern Cameroons wars has shifted just at the moment when Biya is attempting to market his eldest son Franck Biya as his successor.

Biya has been in power for more than 40 years. Why has he not figured out how to relate with Southern Cameroonians?

There are a few things going on in his mind. Biya thinks he has kept Southern Cameroonians frightened enough to enable him govern the country’s two English-speaking regions the way he and his cohorts want! He therefore thought that recruiting light weights such as Paul Atanga Nji, Paul Tasong, Victor Mengot and Paul Elung including the reckless polygamist Joseph Dion Ngute will lead to progress on the Southern Cameroons battlefield which could end in a capitulation of Southern Cameroonian fighters.

In the words of the late Chief John Agbor Tabi, “Biya got it all wrong” and the armed conflict in Southern Cameroons has become a millstone around his neck.

The country’s army soldiers can destroy anything that it can see in Southern Cameroons towns and villages, but what it can’t see is the Ambazonia Restoration Forces whose experience and time has given them an upper hand in the conflict.

After four years into the war that is tearing the country apart, Ambazonia Restoration Forces and the Southern Cameroons Interim Government are more committed to the struggle than the regime in Yaoundé ever thought, because for the Biya regime, the Southern Cameroons crisis is just one of many different challenges around the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.

But for the Ambazonia Restoration Forces, it is the only thing that matters. In this Southern Cameroons crisis, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group believe and fervently too that Biya and his military have the watches, but Amba fighters have the time – an indication that the beleaguered regime in Yaoundé has the military capabilities, but Amba Boys have greater commitment.

This is a synopsis of the Southern Cameroons crisis situation report

•There is a recruitment drive for more gendarmes and soldiers in the country, but the ruling political elite in Yaoundé is concerned that if it recruits more young men from other ethnic groups, there might be a coup against the Biya regime.

• An association (Njangi) of Gendarmerie officers and their wives in Yaoundé has gone from a membership of 210 to 26 as the men have all returned in wooden boxes from Southern Cameroons.

• Most of those who have been sent to Southern Cameroons have visited their medical doctors and have feigned illnesses to obtain 6-month sick-notes.

• Young recruits are quitting daily.

• Many in the military are now handing themselves in to be imprisoned for 6 months (customary prison term for disobeying war orders) instead of going to Southern Cameroons.

• A Memo has been communicated to the army and gendarmes that should they die in combat, their families would receive CFAF 5 million. This financial incentive has not helped.

• The rank and file in the military knows they can’t win the war, but their bosses are insisting that they fight as they (the bosses) are making a fortune from the war.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, September 2021

Football: Wenger calls for World Cup every two years ⁰

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has called for the World Cup to be held every two years in an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe published on Friday.

The 71-year-old Frenchman, who is now director of development at FIFA, also called for a single annual period of international qualifiers in a global football calendar.

“The principle would be a grouping of qualifiers every year, and at the end of the season a major competition, World Cup or continental championship,” said Wenger.

“Between the two qualifying windows, the player would stay in his club all year round.

“There must be less of a mix in the calendar between the periods of club football and periods of international football, and therefore fewer transcontinental trips for the players, for example.”

Wenger said he would like to see a single international window, perhaps in October, with fewer qualifying matches.

“For the players, there will be no more matches, and there will be compulsory rest after the final stages, at least 25 days,” said Wenger who sees his proposed new format coming into action in 2028, two years after the 2026 World Cup in North America and Mexico.

“What people want today are high-stakes, easy-to-understand competitions,” he said, insisting there is “no financial intention behind it”.

“It’s a global project, for men’s football, but also for women’s football and youth competitions,” he added.

Source: AFP

2, September 2021

Political Islam: Biya-Buhari Negotiate Ex-Boko Haram Militants’ Return ⁰

During a visit to Cameroon, Nigerian officials Thursday asked for the return of more than 1,000 former Boko Haram militants to Nigeria. Hundreds of the Islamist group’s former fighters have surrendered in Cameroon since May, when the terrorist group’s leader was killed.

Umar Usman Kadafur, the deputy governor of Nigeria’s Borno state, greeted former Boko Haram militants at the disarmament center in Meri, a town near Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. He spoke with the militants in Hausa, a language used in northern Cameroon and southeast Nigeria.

Kadafur visited Cameroon’s Far North region on Thursday, and led a delegation of 14 Nigerian lawmakers, lawyers, administrators and rights group representatives, to negotiate the voluntary return of former Nigerian Boko Haram militants.

Among the former militants attending the meeting where Kadafur spoke was 34-year-old Kadir Hassan. Hassan said he escaped from the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold on the Cameroon-Nigeria border, in August.

Hassan said Boko Haram commanders deceived him in March of last year, saying he should leave Kukawa, a town in Nigeria’s Borno state, for a job. However, when he arrived in the Sambisa Forest, he was given a gun instead of the job he was promised. He said since the death of the jihadist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in May, several hundred fighters have been struggling to escape from the Sambisa Forest.

Hassan said he escaped alongside 35 combatants and surrendered to the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin that is fighting the jihadist group. The task force is made up of troops from Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. He said the task force later took them to the DDR, or demobilization center in Meri.

Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region that borders Nigeria’s Borno state and is said to be an epicenter for jihadist groups including Boko Haram, says Cameroon has been overwhelmed with former militants since Shekau was killed.

“We have more than 1,000 Nigerians here, all of them from Borno state. At the end of the rainy season, they will go back home. We congratulate Governor Babagana Umara [of Nigeria’s Borno state]. He sent a commission here to accompany those Nigerians to go back home,” he said.

Bakari said the delegation from Borno state will register former militants who are planning to return to Nigeria voluntarily. He said heavy rains on the Cameroon and Nigeria borders make it difficult for the ex-combatants to return this week. Nigeria and Cameroon agreed to facilitate returns during a security meeting held from August 26 to August 28 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Umar Usman Kadafur deputy governor of Borno state says the ex-militants will go back to Nigeria by November, when heavy rains are likely to decrease.

“I know your facilities are overstretched. We will try as much as possible to repatriate these surrendered Boko Haram members back to our land in Nigeria so that you [Cameroon] can have free space in the DDR centers and we remain grateful for all what you have been doing for our people,” Kadafur said.

In August, Cameroon said it was negotiating to return the ex-militants to Nigeria as the DDR centers in northern Cameroon were becoming overcrowded. Cameroonian officials said the centers host former militants from Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Source: VOA

2, September 2021

La Republique: Concern over increased flooding ⁰

In Cameroon, heavy rains in July and August cause devastating floods. The consequences are becoming more serious over the years, even leading to loss of life. This situation worries many observers who are calling for an effective climate-related natural disaster management plan.

On the night of Saturday August 21st, 2021, heavy rain fell on the town of Ngaoundéré in northern Cameroon, causing flooding and resulting in several material damages. The Far North region has not been left out, since the beginning of August 2021; floods have destroyed houses, farms and plantations in several departments of the region. The case of the city of Douala in the south of the country is quite symptomatic of the situation. With an estimated population of more than 3 million and a demographic growth rate of about 3.5% per year, the economic capital of Cameroon lies on the Wouri delta in an area of former swamps and mangroves that is extremely flat. Floods can be very devastating, even causing loss of life.

These floods, which are one of the strongest signs of climate change, are a cause for concern in Cameroon, because of their increase. In 2020 alone, nearly 160,000 people were affected by floods in the Far North of Cameroon, a region already heavily affected by the exactions of the Boko Haram sect and which, like the rest of the world, had to face the Covid 19 pandemic.

An effective climate disaster management plan

It is indeed during each rainy season that Cameroon is plunged under water. But the government’s actions so far do not seem to be bearing fruit. Greenpeace Africa calls on the government of Cameroon to take its responsibilities and reconsider its international commitments in terms of risk management and natural disasters, protection of people and the fight against climate change. “We note that, for cities like Douala and Yaoundé, the outflow of rivers is partly linked to the clogging of drains by plastic bottles. Where are we with the ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging decided in 2014? It is clear that its implementation was limited to the first few weeks of the signing of the decree,” notes Ranèce Jovial Ndjeudja, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.

Source: Afrik21

2, September 2021

War between Biya’s barons: Consultant gets caught up ⁰

A French Cameroun Consultant Lazare Atou has reportedly been caught up in war between Biya’s barons, Africa Intelligence reports.

The consultant was told to stop managing the assets of three former state-owned companies just after he testified in an investigation into the conduct of the general manager of the Port of Douala at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé.

Cyrus Ngo’o, the general manager of the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD) seen here on photo attached to this report was auditioned last Wednesday at the Special Criminal Court.

Ngo.o is a suspect of embezzlement of public funds, as part of an investigation opened at the Special Criminal Court.

More concretely, Cyrus Ngo’o is accused by a bailiff of fraudulent outflow of funds from the coffers of the Douala port following a contract awarded by mutual agreement and endorsed by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic.

According to some opinions, underneath the affair which now involves many financial experts is a war between two camps of powerful members of the Biya regime.

One, embodied by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic and the other by the powerful Minister of State in charge of Justice Laurent Esso.

On August 5, Cyrus Ngo’o was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for five years. He was prosecuted by a private company for “abuse of office” and “misappropriation of funds”.

At the end of the hearing, the general manager of the PAD was also ordered to pay FCFA 1.7 million in fines and FCFA 162 million in legal costs.

By Rita Akana

2, September 2021

Ailing Biya projects economy to grow 4.4 percent in 2022 ⁰

Cameroon’s economy is predicted to grow by 4.4 percent next year while economic activity this year will rebound to 3.4 percent compared with 0.7 percent in 2020, according to the country’s President Paul Biya.

In 2022, based on the assumption that the pandemic will be brought under control and economies will open up, coupled with the fallout from the stimulus measures, Cameroon’s economy is projected to grow by 4.4 percent, with 4.7 percent for the non-oil sector and -1.8 percent for the oil sector. Inflation is expected to be contained at 2 percent, below the community threshold of 3 percent, Biya said in a document addressed to government officials.

The document also outlined the country’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022, providing insight into top priorities for the Central African nation.

The post COVID-19 recovery plan aims to ensure the structural transformation of Cameroon’s economy with particular emphasis on the continuation of the import-substitution policy required to strengthen the resilience of the economy, Biya said in the document that was made public on Tuesday.

“Specifically, special emphasis will be placed on finalization and commissioning of major first-generation projects, strengthening of social cohesion and decentralization, reconstruction of crisis-affected regions, particularly the Northwest, Southwest and Far North, organization of the Africa Cup of Nations and continued implementation of Universal Health Coverage,” Biya said.

The fight against security threats with a view to sustainably overcoming the pertinent challenges facing the country will be strengthened, according to the document.

Source: Xinhuanet