Headline News

22, November 2023

Ghanaian MP has apologized to Manchester United’s Maguire after mocking him ⁰

A Ghanaian MP has apologised to Manchester United footballer Harry Maguire after mocking him last year.

MP Isaac Adongo was debating the budget when he compared Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia’s economic management to Maguire’s performances on the pitch.

Maguire has come in for heavy criticism from some fans but fellow footballers have come to his defence.

On Tuesday, Mr Adongo said he wanted to correct the record and hailed Maguire as a “transformational footballer”.

He was a “key player” for Manchester United, Mr Adongo said during a budget debate.

But he did not let up in his criticism of Vice-President Bawumia.

“As for our Maguire, he is now at the IMF, with a cup in hand,” he added.

Mr Bawumia is the head of the government’s economic management team as Ghana faces its most severe economic crisis in years.

As government debt has soared, the country had to take a $3bn (£2.4bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In December 2022 inflation in Ghana reached a record 54% but has since fallen to around 35%.

A year ago Mr Adongo compared Mr Bawumia to Harry Maguire, who Mr Adongo said “became the biggest threat at the centre of the Manchester United defence”.

The video of the speech was widely shared on social media.

It came amid a torrent of criticism of the footballer.

England manager Gareth Southgate has condemned the mockery as “ridiculous treatment” and said he’s been “an absolute stalwart” for the team.

Mr Maguire’s mother also defended her son and said the abuse he has faced has been “disgraceful” and “unacceptable”.

Some Ghanaians have been reacting to Mr Adongo’s apology, saying that the Manchester United player has really improved, but the same cannot be said of the managers of the Ghanaian economy.

Others feel such a comparison should not have been made.

According to Mr Adongo, the Ghanaian government has had to increase taxes and tariffs on services as part of the agreement with the IMF.

This caused widespread anger among voters and triggered protests over the rising cost of living and unemployment in the country.

Despite this, Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has selected Mr Bawumia as its candidate for the 2024 elections.

He will be the first Muslim to contest the presidency under the NPP’s banner since multi-party democracy was restored in 1992.

Mr Bawumia has promised to lead a “united and energised” NPP into the election and that it is “the only party that can transform Ghana”.

Source: BBC

22, November 2023

Biya regime receives first shipment of GSK’s Mosquirix malaria vaccine ⁰

Cameroon received its first shipment of Mosquirix malaria vaccines manufactured by British drugmaker GSK Plc late on Tuesday, as the nation struggles with the mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 600,000 each year globally.

A batch of 331,200 doses of the vaccine – also known as RTS,S – was offloaded at Yaounde’s Nsimalen International Airport, making Cameroon the first African country to receive the vaccine after the pilot programmes in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, according to the World Health Organization, killing nearly half a million children under the age of five, and accounting for approximately 95% of global malaria cases in 2021.

The initial consignment of vaccines will go to 42 out of 203 health districts in the country, Cameroon’s health minister Manaouda Malachie said.

“We lose many compatriots who die because of this disease. Today, we have a vaccine which comes to add to the panoply of measures already rolled out,” Malachie told reporters at Nsimalen.

Inoculations will begin next month or early next year, according to a health official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

GSK says more than 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have already received at least one dose of the shot, and that it would be rolled out in another nine malaria-endemic countries, of which Cameroon is one, from early next year.

UNICEF representative Juliette Haenni said it was a historic moment to protect children.

“Children are the most concerned. The ones we are targeting are the six to 24 months old – the most vulnerable,” Haenni said.

The WHO says a second malaria vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford, R21/Matrix-M, will become available by mid-2024.

Source: Reuters

22, November 2023

Ambazonia or La Republique: Nowhere is safe for Cameroonian journalists ⁰

Every media person is running away from the two Cameroons!! Nowhere is safe for Cameroonian journalists whether you are English or French speaking since the 90-year-old President Paul Biya launched his armed response to a strike action staged by lawyers and teachers in Southern Cameroons.

As a Cameroonian journalist, whether you are in Yaoundé, Maroua, Garoua, Douala, Buea or Bamenda working for the state-owned CRTV or a private media organization, reporters who continue to cover the Biya regime are in constant danger of being killed.

Cameroon Intelligence Report recently lost contact with some news men in detention centers in both French and Southern Cameroons who have been making public heartrending accounts of the disturbing situation in major Cameroonian towns and cities including Yaoundé, the nation’s capital.

Cameroonian journalists are under constant pressure with arrest, assassination and torture from every government official including Divisional Officers and Regional Governors.

“There is suffering and pain all over the national territory,” said a reporter for a local radio station in Yaoundé, describing what news reporting in Cameroon under Biya is like for him and his colleagues.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group will continue to help all independent journalists in Cameroon who are risking their lives to keep Cameroonians informed. Be a part of this venture!!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

21, November 2023

Amba fighters kill 9 in raid on French Cameroun village ⁰

Armed anglophone separatists early Tuesday killed nine villagers in western Cameroon, the scene of seven years of unrest, officials said.

Cameroon’s primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared independence in 2017.

That followed decades of grievances over perceived discrimination by the country’s francophone majority.

“There are nine dead,” David Dibango, local prefect for the West Region department of Bamboutos, told local radio after the raid on the village of Bamenyam.

The West region borders the restive Northwest.

A police officer confirmed the toll to AFP and blamed “secessionists” who he said had “entered the village on motorcycles the night before”.

“They circulated a message asking the population to remain indoors the following day but those who were not aware of the warning and ventured out became the victims of secessionists,” he added.

Cameroon’s state television said the dead included a woman, adding that two security guards were wounded in a gunbattle. It said the attackers torched several shops.

A local association, the Development Committee of Bamenyam, said three shopkeepers, including an octogenarian, were killed.

Both the separatists and government forces have been accused of atrocities in the fighting.

Armed groups are regularly accused of abducting, killing or injuring civilians whom they accuse of collaborating with Cameroonian authorities.

Security forces are also often accused by international NGOs and the United Nations of killings and torture against civilians suspected of sympathising with the rebels.

In July, Amnesty International reported that security forces, separatist rebels and ethnic militiamen had committed “atrocities” in the Northwest Region, including executions, torture and rape.

President Paul Biya, 90, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for 41 years, has resisted calls for wider autonomy and responded with a crackdown.

The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.

Source: AFP

21, November 2023

Indomitable Lions: Eto’o plans to convince PSG’s Hugo Ekitike ⁰

PSG’s young striker Hugo Ekitike (21) is in the sights of the Cameroon Football Federation. Samuel Eto’o is considering a meeting with the player, who has already played for France’s U20s.

His lack of playing time with the reigning French champions has not discouraged the Indomitable Lions, who intend to convince him to join their squad for the 2023 African Cup of Nations, according to the French press.

Source: Sports News Africa

21, November 2023

Rome: Archbishop Paul Martin ordains Cameroon deacon ⁰

Wellington Archbishop Paul Martin, SM, was principal celebrant at the ordination of Deacon Clinton Asunkwain Kube, SM, from Cameroon, at Santa Francesca Cabrini church in Rome on October 22.

Archbishop Martin was in Rome for the Synod of Bishops meeting on Synodality. This meeting finished on October 29, and it will be followed by another synod gathering on the same topic next year.

Deacon Kube made his perpetual profession in the Society of Mary at the order’s General House Chapel in Rome on September 30.

Source: NZ Catholic

21, November 2023

Fitch Ratings alters Cameroon’s outlook from stable to negative ⁰

Fitch Ratings has altered Cameroon’s outlook from stable to negative while maintaining its long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at the “B” level.

The adjustment in outlook is attributed to rising liquidity pressures arising from heightened spending requirements, as well as challenging conditions in both domestic and external market financing, as stated in a statement by the rating agency on Friday.

Furthermore, Fitch highlighted structural deficiencies in public finance management and noted the country’s exposure to downside risks in the budget balance stemming from political and social pressures as contributing factors to the outlook revision.

“It was revealed in July that the authorities were late in making external debt service payments to one commercial creditor on four occasions between January and November 2022, underscoring weak debt management capacity and the extent of liquidity pressures,” the report mentioned.

Fitch anticipates that Cameroon will maintain a moderate budget deficit of 1.3 percent of GDP in cash terms in 2023 and 1.4 percent in 2024.

Despite this, the rating agency projects an increase in real GDP growth, reaching 3.8 percent in 2023 compared to 3.6 percent in 2022. Additionally, Fitch foresees a further rise to 4.1 percent in 2024 and 4.4 percent in 2025.

Source: MENAFN

18, November 2023

Pope Francis Meets Cameroonian Migrant Who Survived Tunisia-Libya Desert ⁰

Pope Francis has me with a Cameroonian mgriant who lost his wife and daughter in the desert between Libya and Tunisia last July.

On Friday, November 17, the Holy See Press Office reported that Pope Francis met with Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin (known as Pato), accompanied by Fr. Mattia Ferrari, who serves as chaplain to Mediterranea Saving Humans, also assisting them in many rescue missions.

With them were a number of migrants and collaborators of associations and entities involved in the reception and integration of refugees, who in various ways helped facilitate Pato’s arrival in Italy, as well as Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Pato lost his wife, Matyla and six-year-old daughter, Marie in July this year after being stopped and returned to the desert between Libya and Tunisia by Tunisian authorities.

Amid emotion over his story, Pope Francis listened to words of gratitude for the meeting and painful accounts of the thousands of people who suffer as they attempt to reach Europe.

David, from South Sudan, working alongside prisoners in detention camps in North Africa, thanked the Pope for his encouragement and interventions on behalf of migrants.

He said, “You not only offer us a dream, you welcome us.”

In greeting them, after listening to their words, Pope Francis turned to Pato, with a thought for his wife and daughter, “I have prayed so much for them.”

He thanked them all for their commitment, while recalling that being born in places where one can study and work is a privilege.

“Privilege is a debt,” he said, and added, “what you do is not a plus, it is a duty.”

Finally, before saying goodbye, Pope Francis prayed for those present, asking the Lord to watch over those who “work for others,” the people who could not come, those in detention camps, and “the many, many who suffer.”

Source: aciafrica

18, November 2023

Football: Cameroon sail past Mauritius in World Cup qualifiers ⁰

Cameroon defeated Mauritius 3-0 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at home on Friday night.

The Indomitable Lions put pressure on the visitors right from the start during the game held at the Japoma Stadium in Douala.

It paid off when Bryan Mbeumo scored a late first-half goal, while Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Frank Magri also scored in the second half despite the absence of the injured captain and striker Vincent Aboubakar.

“We are pleased with the result, but the journey ahead is long. We will continue to work hard to achieve our goal of qualifying for the World Cup,” Cameroon’s head coach Rigobert Song told a post-match press conference.

Cameroon face Libya next Tuesday. Group D also includes Cape Verde, Angola and Eswatini.

Source: Xinhuanet

18, November 2023

Liberia’s George Weah concedes presidential election defeat to Joseph Boakai ⁰

Liberian leader and football legend George Weah conceded defeat to opposition leader Joseph Boakai after a tight presidential run-off, saying it was “time to put national interest above personal interest”.

The latest and nearly complete results showed Boakai leading with nearly 51 percent of the votes in Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic founded by freed American slaves.

“The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that… Boakai is in a lead that we cannot surpass,” Weah said in a speech on national radio late on Friday.

He said his CDC party “has lost the election but Liberia has won,” adding: “This is the time for graciousness in defeat”.

The 78-year-old Boakai lost to Weah, 57, by a large margin in the second-round presidential vote in 2017.

With more than 99.5 percent of the polling stations reporting vote tallies after Tuesday’s second-round vote, Boakai had garnered 50.89 percent of ballots cast, according to the election commission.

Boakai was 28,000 votes ahead of Weah, according to Friday’s figures. The two finished neck-and-neck in the first round last month, with a national lead of just 7,126 votes for Weah.

The election of Weah — the first African footballer to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or — had sparked high hopes of change in Liberia, which is still reeling from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

But critics have accused his government of corruption and him of failing to keep a promise to improve the lives of the poorest.

The United States congratulated “president-elect Boakai on his victory and President Weah for his peaceful acceptance of the results”.

“We call on all citizens to follow President Weah’s example and accept the results,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

‘Liberian people have spoken’

Weah said he had spoken to Boakai “to congratulate him on his victory”.

“The Liberian people have spoken, and we have heard their voice. However, the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country,” Weah said in his speech.

“Let us heal the divisions caused by the campaign and come together as one nation and one united people.”

Weah who remains president until the handover of power in January pledged to “continue to work for the good of Liberia”.

It will be the second peaceful handover of power from one democratically-elected government from another in two decades.

The elections were the first since the United Nations in 2018 ended its peacekeeping mission, created after more than 250,000 people died in the two civil wars in Liberia between 1989 and 2003.

International observers, including the European Union, have commended Liberia for holding a peaceful election.

Regional bloc ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, said the poll was “largely” peaceful, but noted isolated incidents that led to “injuries and hospitalisations” in four provinces.

Clashes during the campaign left several dead before the first round and raised fears of post-election violence.

Around 2.4 million Liberians were eligible to vote on Tuesday and the turnout was roughly 66 percent, according to the electoral commission website.

Boakai is an old political hand, having served as vice president to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, from 2006 to 2018.

Liberia is home to around five million people and one of the poorest countries in the world.

More than a fifth of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.

Source: AFP