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15, December 2024

The Holy Father touches down in Corsica for first papal visit ⁰

Pope Francis’ one-day visit to the French island of Corsica on Sunday, two days before his 88th birthday, puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other.

The visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, will be one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

It is the first papal visit to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.

Corsica stands out from the rest of secularized France as a particularly devout region, with 92 confraternities, or lay associations dedicated to works of charity or piety, with over 4,000 members.

“It means that there is a beautiful, mature, adult and responsible collaboration between civil authorities, mayors, deputies, senators, officials and religious authorities,’’ Ajaccio Cardinal François Bustillo told The Associated Press. “There is no hostility between the two. And that is a very positive aspect because in Corsica there is no ideological hostility.”

Papa Francescu, the pope’s name in Corsican, will address more than 400 participants at the Conference on Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean, organized by the bishop of Ajaccio, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo.

The pope’s remarks will include reflections on local religious traditions, especially strongly held in Corsica, including the cult of the Virgin Mary, known locally as the Madunnuccia, which protected the island from the plague in 1656 when it was still under Genoa.

“The Mediterranean is the backdrop of this trip, surrounded by situations of crisis and conflict,’’ which is expected to be echoed in the pope’s address, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The pope has often referred to the tragedy of migration, which he has said has turned the Mediterranean into “Europe’s largest cemetery.”

After the conference address, he will travel to the 17th-century cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta to meet with clergy, stopping along the way at the statue of the Madunnuccia. Francis will celebrate Mass at the Place d’Austerlitz park, where it is said Napoleon played as a child. Around 7,000 faithful are expected. He will meet privately with Macron at the airport before departing for the 50-minute flight back to Rome.

The pontiff pointedly did not make the trip to Paris earlier this month for the pomp surrounding the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral following the devastating 2019 fire. The visit to Corsica seems far more suited to Francis’ priorities than a grand cathedral reopening, emphasizing the “church of the peripheries.”

It is Francis’ third trip to France, each time avoiding Paris and the protocols that a state visit entails. He visited the port of Marseille in 2023, on an overnight visit to participate in an annual summit of Mediterranean bishops, and went to Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament and Council of Europe.

Corsica is home to more than 340,000 people and has been part of France since 1768. But the island has also seen pro-independence violence and has an influential nationalist movement, and last year Macron proposed granting it limited autonomy.

Source: AP

11, December 2024

Cameroon Concord Person of the Year 2024: Longue Longue, the musician ⁰

In this year’s razor-thin Cameroon Concord News Group contest, singer Longue Longue received the nod over Samuel Eto’o. According to our Yaoundé Bureau Chief, Cameroon Concord readers decided that Longue Longue is the one to receive Cameroon Concord News Group’s annual distinction.

So, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group are today announcing singer Simon Longkana Agno, aka Longue Longue as our annual Person of the Year.

We were preparing to publish a headline “Men of the Year” rather than “Person of the Year” as Samuel Eto’o was reportedly neck-to-neck with Longue Longue. But Eto’o’s boycott of the veteran’s international friendly against Brazil was indeed counterproductive for the man who was one of the world’s best strikers in the 2000s, and who was elected president of the Cameroonian Football Federation on December 12, 2021.

Longue Longue narrowly defeated Samuel Eto’o for the Cameroon Concord Person of the Year title, which recognizes the person who, for better or worse, has had the most impact on the year’s events.

On fighting for human rights in Cameroon, Longue Longue remains a study in resoluteness and mastery.

Cameroon Concord People voted for Longue Longue for midwifing a new human rights order and a new quest for justice in Cameroon that has had a decidedly favorable impact on the course of events in Yaoundé and in Paris.

Longue Longue singlehandedly remade and united the Cameroonian nation by exposing the evil perpetuated on innocent citizens by the regime in Yaoundé.

Longue Longue’s amiable demeanor tapped into a desire to liberate the entire Francophone Africa with his songs earned him huge support from our readers all over the world particularly from the diaspora in Europe and North America.

Longue Longue, renowned for making hits about bad governance in Cameroon, colonialism and other social ills was seen in a video recorded in a Douala gendarmerie station, hands cuffed behind his back, sitting on the floor in his underwear as the soles of his bare feet are beaten with a flat machete.

The ruling CPDM crime syndicate said in a poorly worded statement that they have “opened an investigation into the Longue Longue incident.”

Longue Longue went through all of this for the Cameroonian people and for his freedom of thought.

Cameroonians watched Longue Longue in panic with his underpants underneath a chair!

Cameroonians watched a leg standing on Longue Longue’s knee!

Cameroonians watched the arrest of Longue Longue in 2019 after posting a video saying that the 91-year-old President Biya had rigged the 2018 election and that Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement was the rightful winner of the polls.

Longue Longue’s torture video is indeed a reminiscent of the horrific treatment Cameroonian opposition figures, journalists, Southern Cameroons activists including Roman Catholic clerics are facing under the 42-year- old Biya regime.

The renowned Barrister Akere Muna said Longue Longue’s treatment was a “stark reminder of the depths of depravity to which humanity can descend”.

More than three decades after he left Yabassi to Douala on the back of a truck for a job that eventually gave him nothing; Longue Longue won the Makossa Best Artist Award after his huge success with the album “Ayo Africa”.

He told the Cameroonian people to always wait for God’s time. “There is nothing to do but wait” he said instead of rushing to consult witch doctors to be successful in life.

He is the first Cameroonian singer to get a majority of the Cameroon Concord News vote. Only Archbishop Andrew Nkea had done that in all of our history.

We of the Concord Group are proud of his work as a singer and also as an activist, singing against injustice and fighting for human rights in Cameroon. We today congratulate Longue Longue for the richly deserved recognition accorded him by a tremendous majority of Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report readers. 2025 will bring more success stories to the Cameroonian nation.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

3, December 2024

World Bank says developing countries paid record $1.4 trillion on foreign debt in 2023 ⁰

Developing countries spent a record $1.4 trillion to service their foreign debt as their interest costs climbed to a 20-year high in 2023, the World Bank’s latest International Debt Report shows. Interest payments surged by nearly a third to $406 billion, squeezing the budgets of many countries in critical areas such as health, education, and the environment.

The financial strain was fiercest for the poorest and most vulnerable countries—those eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the data show. These countries paid a record $96.2 billion to service their debt in 2023. Although repayments of principal decreased by nearly 8% to $61.6 billion, interest costs surged to an all-time high of $34.6 billion in 2023, four times the amount a decade ago. On average, interest payments of IDA countries now amount to nearly 6% of the export earnings of IDA-eligible countries—a level that hasn’t been seen since 1999. For some countries, the payments run as high as 38% of export earnings.

As credit conditions tightened, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions became the main lifeline for the poorest economies. Since 2022, foreign private creditors have received nearly $13 billion more in debt-service payments from public sector borrowers in IDA-eligible economies than they disbursed in new financing. Over the same period, the Bank and other multilateral institutions pumped in nearly $51 billion more in 2022 and 2023 than they collected in debt-service payments. The World Bank accounted for a third of that sum—$28.1 billion.

“Multilateral institutions have become the last lifeline for poor economies struggling to balance debt payments with spending on health, education, and other key development priorities,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President. “In highly indebted poor countries, multilateral development banks are now acting as a lender of last resort, a role they were not designed to serve. That reflects a dysfunctional financing system: except for funds from the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, money is flowing out of poor economies when it should be flowing in.”

The COVID-19 pandemic sharply enlarged the debt burdens of all developing countries—and the subsequent surge in global interest rates has made it harder for many to regain their footing. At the end of 2023, the total external debt owed by all low- and middle-income countries stood at a record $8.8 trillion, an 8% increase over 2020. The percentage increase was more than twice as large for IDA-eligible countries, whose total external debt climbed to $1.1 trillion, an increase of nearly 18%.

In 2023, borrowing abroad became considerably more expensive for all developing economies. Interest rates on loans from official creditors doubled to more than 4%. Rates charged by private creditors climbed by more than a point to 6%—a 15-year high. Global interest rates have since begun to subside, although they are expected to remain above the average that prevailed in the decade before COVID-19.

The latest International Debt Report highlights key insights from the World Bank’s International Debt Statistics database—the most comprehensive and transparent source of external debt data of developing countries. It reflects an upgraded effort to ensure accuracy in the debt data of IDA-eligible economies—by matching data these economies report to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System with data held by G7 and Paris Club creditors. This loan-by-loan reconciliation exercise produced a 98 percent match rate in the data, lowering the margin of error from 10 points to just two.

“Comprehensive data on the liabilities of governments can facilitate new investment, reduce corruption, and prevent costly debt crises,” said Haishan Fu, the World Bank Chief Statistician and Director of its Development Data Group. “The World Bank has played a leading role in improving debt transparency across the world, especially in IDA-eligible economies. In 2023, nearly 70% of these economies published fully accessible public-debt data on a government website—a 20-point increase since 2020. That is a hopeful sign for the future.”

Source: World Bank

2, December 2024

ICC says facing threats over arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant ⁰

The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it has faced coercion and intimidation after judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ousted war minister over war crimes in Gaza.

Addressing the ICC members in The Hague, ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court faced “coercive measures, threats, pressure, and acts of sabotage.”

“We are at a turning point in history… International law and international justice are under threat. So is the future of humanity.”

“The International Criminal Court will continue to carry out its lawful mandate, independently and impartially, without giving in to any outside interference.”

The ICC issued the arrest warrants on November 21.

The court determined there were “reasonable grounds” that Israel’s siege and assault on Gaza “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population.”

Following the issuance of the warrants, the United States, Israel’s great benefactor and an accomplice in the Gaza genocide, swiftly rejected the ICC decision.

Some US Republicans called on the Senate to sanction the ICC. President Joe Biden said the warrants were “outrageous.”

“Several elected officials are being severely threatened and are subjected to arrest warrants from a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” the ICC president stated.

“The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions from institutions of another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organization,” she said.

It is “appalling” that countries appear “scandalized” when the ICC hands down arrest warrants based on international law, Akane added.

“If the court collapses, this will inevitably imply the collapse of all situations and cases… The danger for the court is existential.”

DAWN, a US-based rights group that has welcomed the arrest warrants, has warned Biden administration officials – including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin – that they could be next.

Source: Presstv

30, November 2024

419: Cameroonian, Thailand woman arrested in ‘CP’ export scam ⁰

A Cameroonian man and a Thai woman have been arrested for operating a company that deceived buyers into thinking it was affiliated with a major agribusiness company, resulting in more than 3.5 million baht in damages, police say.

Police from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) executed a warrant on Saturday to arrest Etienne Kukwa, 35, and a 36-year-old Kanchanaburi native, identified only as Wipaporn, on charges of defrauding the public and entering fraudulent information into a computer system.

Authorities were acting on reports filed by Thai and Malaysian import-export businesses, which claimed the duo had set up a company named CP Processing to mislead clients into believing it was connected to the well-known Thai conglomerate with a similar name. The real CP is authorised to export raw livestock to Malaysia.

The suspects managed to secure orders for raw chicken worth 3.58 million baht, but the orders were never delivered.

Complainants indicated that the duo’s actions not only caused financial losses but also harmed the reputation of the original company.

Ms Wipaporn was listed as the president of the fraudulent enterprise and was found to have made transfers to Mr Kukwa.

The woman was apprehended in Wang Thong Lang district of Bangkok, while the Cameroon national was apprehended in Bang Phongphang in Yan Nawa district.

Authorities seized 70,500 baht in cash, 14 bank passbooks, two passports, 11 communication devices and 17 credit cards. Bank accounts containing 2 million baht have also been frozen.

Both suspects have denied the charges, but police claim to have strong evidence and will pursue legal action.

Source: Bangkok Post

28, November 2024

Yaoundé: Professor Robinson Mbu in tears after being sacked by Biya ⁰

More than two decades ago, Professor Robinson Mbu then President of the Manyu Elements Cultural Association in Yaoundé told this news reporter that he believed in miracles.

Mbu a very brilliant Southern Cameroons student with more than twenty A level points was refused a place in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Yaoundé by the Francophone dominated regime.

By some strange happenstance, he travelled to neighboring Cross River State and deceived the government there that he was a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And so they allowed him to study medicine in the Federal Republic of Nigeria without paying a penny.

It was indeed a “miracle” for Robinson Mbu who graduated in Nigeria, returned home and became a chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate. His areas of specialization include Obstetrics and Gynecology, Operative laparoscopy in obstetrics and gynecology and Public health.

Robinson Mbu Enow (to use his three names) has been everything in Cameroon’s ministry of health including Director of Family Health. Late today, President Biya did what he does best by firing Professor Robinson Mbu.

Ever since the news came out on state radio and television CRTV, Robinson Mbu has been crying and jumping around at his Yaounde’s residence like a neck less chicken.

Manyu citizens in Yaoundé have been trooping to his home to console the CPDM health criminal and he has been talking ohne ende- boasting how even Biya cannot take away his professorship and that one of his buildings in Buea can keep him going forever.

It’s been clear from the very beginning of his career in Yaoundé that many CPDM barons such Minister Ahmadou Mustapha; the late Dr Ayuk Takem Jacob and even General Elokobi Daniel Njock didn’t trust this physician. That image of a trustworthy medical doctor was eroded long ago over a D and C incident which was never reported.

Today, a frustrated Mbu is crying, seemingly after losing his post in the Ministry of Health.

Stop crying please, Professor!! That is the modus operandi of the CPDM crime syndicate.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Eyong Tabot Enow in Yaoundé

24, November 2024

COP29 final draft proposes ‘at least’ $300 billion for developing countries ⁰

Negotiators will soon decide whether to accept a proposed $300 billion funding package for poor nations to curb and adapt to climate change — a plan hammered out early Sunday by the head of fractured United Nations climate talks.

The deal to be presented to nations of “at least $300 billion by 2035” is a compromise between the $1.3 trillion a year developing countries seek to adapt to climate change and wean off fossil fuels and the current $100 billion amount.

Evans Njewa, the chair of the Least Developed Countries negotiating bloc of nearly 50 countries, wouldn’t comment specifically on the latest figure, but said “it’s a good value and we hope we can do better.”

The latest figure appears to be something that Fiji can live with, its delegation chief Biman Prasad told The Associated Press.

“Everybody is committed to having an agreement,” Prasad said. “They are not necessarily happy about everything, but the bottom line is everybody wants a good agreement.”

“While wealthy, polluting countries should have committed to a higher amount, this is a floor not a ceiling. The pressure to increase funding will only grow over time,” said Manish Bapta, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is not only the right thing to do morally — it is critical for humanity’s survival and prosperity.”

But not everyone was happy.

“The Global North has abandoned the Global South,” Avantika Goswami of New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said. “This was the last remaining window for the North to step up, pay its fair share, and restore some semblance of trust in the multilateral process. They have failed,” Goswami said.

Mohamed Adow, of the think tank Power Shift Africa said the summit “has been a disaster for the developing world.”

“It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries who claim to take climate change seriously,” he said.

Panama’s Juan Carlos Monterrey called it “unacceptable” in a post on X, saying “the text is detrimental to our future and the qualified goal is still very low.”

Earlier on Saturday, negotiators went from one big room where everyone tried to hash out a deal together into several separate huddles of upset nations.

Hallway talk oscillated between hope for shuttle diplomacy to bridge the gap and kicking the can down the road to sometime next year. Negotiators and analysts had mostly given up hope that the host presidency would get the job done.

The Azerbaijan presidency brewed up a new rough draft of $300 billion by Saturday afternoon that was never formally presented, but also dismissed roundly by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside the main meeting room. Then a group of negotiators from the Least Developed Countries bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States left the room.

When asked if the walkout was a protest, Colombia environment minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press: “I would call this dissatisfaction, (we are) highly dissatisfied.”

Activists gathered for a final protest outside the hall where leaders meet before a draft deal was announced Sunday, calling for rich countries to pay up, some with tape over their mouths. Even in the final weary hours, “it’s about life and death for all of us,” said Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan with Climate Action Network International.

“We are all in one ship. When the ship sinks, there’s no first class or second class. We are all gonna sink together,” he added.

Late Saturday, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev gaveled through less contentious parts of negotiations — although the passing of Article 6, a mechanism to cut fossil fuels through a market for buying offsets for polluters was met with some opposition.

“We know that carbon markets have failed to address emissions and what they’ve done essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network, referring to the goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times.

“The flaws of Article 6 have, unfortunately, not been fixed,” said Isa Mulder, Policy Expert on global carbon markets. “It seems countries were more willing to adopt insufficient rules and deal with the consequences later, rather than prevent those consequences in the first place.”

The presidency hailed it as a success, saying its passing ends a decade-long wait to unlock a “critical tool” to slash emissions.

Developing countries accused the rich of trying to get their way — and a small financial aid package — via a war of attrition.

After bidding one of his suitcase-lugging delegation colleagues goodbye and watching the contingent of about 20 enter the meeting room for the European Union, Panama’s Monterrey Gomez had enough.

“Every minute that passes we are going to just keep getting weaker and weaker and weaker. They don’t have that issue. They have massive delegations,” Monterrey Gomez said. “This is what they always do. They break us at the last minute. You know, they push it and push it and push it until our negotiators leave. Until we’re tired, until we’re delusional from not eating, from not sleeping.”

But he added: “If we don’t get a deal I think it will be a fatal wound to this process, to the planet, to people,” he said.

Source: AP

18, October 2024

Biya’s Health: What Yaoundé’s recent silence means for Cameroonians ⁰

The Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé seems to be caught in a dilemma on how to respond to the current Biya health situation in Geneva, which could be a reason why after making public so many uncoordinated press releases and even cancelled a special prayer session, has refrained from commenting on the issue in the last few days.

In recent weeks, the Biya regime has been demonstrating that an Anglophone as prime minister is just window dressing as several Francophone cabinet ministers have been ramping up the development and airing funny press releases including launching a barrage of attacks on the media and citizens for discussing President Biya’s health.

But Yaoundé has refrained from additional press releases on the 91-year-old Biya for a week now.

It was widely anticipated that the so-called Anglophone Prime Minister Chief Dr Dion Ngute would stage a government action to assure Cameroonians that all is well with the dying leader.

Other than calling for prayers and issuing commentaries and statements through its state media condemning the television channels that announced the demise of the president including banning public discussions on the president’s health, Biya’s men are now maintaining a kind of silence of the lamb.

Yaoundé seems to be caught in a dilemma and has yet to decide on what to tell the Cameroonian people in response to the poor health condition of President Paul Biya in Geneva.

Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia Interim Government says the regime in Yaoundé seems to be calculating what steps it should take next.

Dabney Yerima added, “Or, the fact that Yaoundé has already been told that Biya is now a thing of the past could be another reason why it’s been silent for the last week.”

This week’s silence does not mean that Yaoundé will give up its lies on Biya’s health. But the regime’s propaganda that Biya is healthy and doing well in Geneva has now been stopped, due to the fact that it is not achieving anything.

No announcement has been made about Biya’s aborted return or the reasons. But this latest development has heightened doubts about the president’s condition, after September and October saw him cancel his participation in the United Nations General Assembly, the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) summit and the meeting on sustainable development in Hamburg, Germany.

Faced with rumours of the president’s death spread by a television channel close to the Ambazonian separatists and widely reported on social networks, Etoudi and the Star Buildings were forced to make a public statement on 8 October, explaining that the head of state was continuing his stay in Switzerland, was in perfect health and would return to Cameroon “in the very near future”.

Today is Friday 18 October 2024 and President Biya is still not in Yaounde. Cameroonians are now wondering aloud “how near is this very near future.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, October 2024

African Development Bank: Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade named Senior Vice President ⁰

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has appointed Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, née Ndongo-Seh, as its new Senior Vice President, effective retroactively from October 4, 2024. A Cameroonian by origin, she previously served as the Acting Vice President for Regional Development, Integration, and Service Delivery at the AfDB since 2022.

During her tenure, Akin-Olugbade played a key role in promoting regional economic integration, mobilizing resources, and developing innovative financial solutions. She managed a $9 billion portfolio for West Africa and provided leadership in challenging environments like the Sahel region. Her efforts involved working closely with governments and the private sector to drive development.

“Marie Laure is a highly experienced, committed, and effective manager of teams, who brings extensive knowledge of the African Development Bank, its rules, processes and systems, and a well-proven capacity to deliver on bank-wide operations while ensuring team cohesion,” said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina. He expressed confidence that her leadership would bring renewed energy to the bank’s management team.

With 32 years of experience in capital markets, asset management, and debt policy, Akin-Olugbade is known for her results-driven approach. In her new role, she emphasized her commitment to increasing the bank’s impact across its member countries. “I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence that President Adesina has placed in me. I look forward to working closely with the president, senior leadership team, our Boards of Directors and staff to enhance the Bank’s impact and effectiveness in delivering programs that benefit our regional member countries,” she said.

Akin-Olugbade holds a master’s degree in applied economics from Paris-Dauphine University and a higher diploma in management from Panthéon-Sorbonne University. She joined the AfDB in 1991 and has held several key roles, including Country Office Manager for Ghana in 2010, where she managed a $1 billion portfolio.

She replaces South African Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, who stepped down to run for AfDB presidency in 2025.

Source: Business in Cameroon

8, October 2024

CPDM government ministers offer reassurances on Biya’s health ⁰

Ministers Fame Ndongo and Gregoire Owona have reassured Cameroonians about the health of President Paul Biya, 91, and expressed anger at those who announced the demise of the ailing dictator, Cameroon Radio and Television reported on Tuesday after Prime Minister Dion Ngute reportedly cancelled the weekly cabinet meeting.

Cameroon Concord News reported that President Paul Biya had a prostate operation and the dictator is bedridden at the Percy Army Training Hospital known in French as the Hôpital National D’instruction Des Armées Percy located at 2 Rue Lieutenant Raoul, Batamy, 92140 Clamart, France.

Biya has been in power since 1982 and his Francophone dominated government has for years sought to quell speculation over his health.

Last week the presidency disclosed that he was sick and undergoing medical treatment in Paris or Geneva but no one deep within government circle is saying whether he has recovered.

Paul Biya has not been seen in public since leaving Beijing on 8 September after attending the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC).

His time as head of state has been marked by empty ambitious social and economic programs largely managed by corrupt political elites from his Beti-Bulu tribal extraction, many of whom are trying to position themselves as Cameroon’s next head of state.

For 42 years, Biya has also overseen an intense crackdown on dissent that analysts say has helped him consolidate power.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai