Life

28, September 2016

Book on the Camair-Co-Yves Michel Fotso Scandal released ⁰

Yves Michel Fotso, the son of Cameroonian billionaire, Victor Fotso has been doubly sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds during his time as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camair-Co, the national airline. The Yves Michel Fotso affair has been revisited by Cameroonian journalist Shanda Tonme in a 311 page document.

In the book, J’ai Compris Yves Michel Fotso, un Testament pours la postérité, published by Editions L’Harmattan, Shanda Tonme, presented a frank, candid and thoughtful key to understanding the Camair-Co-Albatross scandal. Shanda introduced the reader to a man accused by a vicious regime of embezzlement and abandoned to his fate, as a proven, dignified and proud manager, with probity and rectitude that our nation has never known.

Shanda Tonme also made available an unpublished documentation related to the different board meetings of Cameroon Airlines. The documents included vivid correspondences between Yves Michel Fotso and top Cameroon government officials and many financial and accounting reports.

On the fourteenth page of the book is a congratulatory and encouragement message addressed to Yves Michel Fotso by Joseph Tsanga Abanda, the then transport minister in which he stated “Son, get here my sincere congratulations and encouragement for the great work you’re doing in the process of reviving Camair. “

The book exposed President Biya that he largely created Operation Sparrow Hawk originally intended to instil clean morals in the management of public affairs to be an instrument for settling scores and eliminating rivals in the race to succeed him.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

27, September 2016

Cameroon: 2016-2017 University academic year begins without the President Biya laptops ⁰

The academic year in Cameroon has effectively started today Tuesday, September 27, 2016. Students from eight state universities and higher institutions are once again occupying the amphitheatres in Bamenda (North West), Buea (South West), Douala (Littoral), Dschang (West), Maroua (Far North) Ngaoundéré (Adamawa), Yaoundé I and II (Centre).

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Higher Education, more than 500 000 students have enrolled in the eight (8) state universities and private higher institutions in Cameroon for the academic year 2016/2017 and none has received any laptop from the Biya led government. Cameroon Concord News will be updating you on the laptops promised the students by President Biya.

By Sona Peter

21, September 2016

First Lady Chantal Biya meets wife of UN Secretary General ⁰

Cameroon’s First Lady, Mrs Chantal Biya yesterday, September 20, had a busy day in New York during the 71^st United Nations General Assembly. Mrs Biya did not just join some 170 First spouses in a “Tea Reception” offered by the wife of the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Soon-Taek, but fully participated in other State duties as well as joining President Paul Biya at the opening of general debates at the UN Headquarters.

At about 3:00 p.m. New York time, all roads where leading to the Sutton Place Residence of the United Nations Secretary-General. It was a kind of parade for all First Spouses accompanying their husbands for the current UN session. All security measures were placed at the 3 Sutton Place, North-East, Street 57, at Manhattan, New York City. Over 170 First Ladies were at that residential quarter, honouring an invitation from Ban Soon-taek. Amongst them was the ever beaming Cameroon’s First Lady, Chantal Biya. She was accompanied by the wife of the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, Celine Ngoh Ngoh. For over an hour, Chantal Biya and Ban Soon-taek, together with other First Ladies from around the world had a fulfilling time not only exchanging niceties but sharing their experiences as First Spouses in different social domains.

It was a unique moment between Chantal Biya and Ban Soon-taek after their last meeting at the Oriental Pavilion at East Wing of the Unity Palace in 2010, when the UN Secretary General and Wife, paid an official visit to Cameroon. Chantal Biya and Ban Soon-taek certainly had much to talk about; especially as Mrs Ban Soon-taek has an in-depth knowledge of the humanitarian activities of Cameroon’s First Lady. This accounts for why, Cameroon’s First Lady stayed longer within the residence of Mrs Ban Soon-taek unlike other First Spouses attending the tea reception. Although no information filtered out of the “Tea Party”, from the appearance of the First Ladies as they stepped out of the residence of Ban Soon-taek, there were all indications that it was a cherished time spent together.

Chantal Biya and her counterparts certainly continued conversation on the education of the girl-child and how they can reinforce their various activities to improve the situation in their various countries. The issue of empowering women and upholding the rights of children was certainly a topic of interest among the Ladies.

Cameroon Tribune

21, September 2016

Cameroon hosting forum on how best to teach the French language ⁰

Basic education officials from eight French African countries are meeting in Cameroon to come out with strategies on how best to teach the French and other national languages.

The Secretary of State at the Ministry of Basic Education Beniot Ndong Soumet who opened the five day atelier called for the continuous training of primary school teachers.

The Secretary of State observed that national languages were included in school curricula because they are considered a strong force of unity and development in Africa.

The forum which is expected to end on Friday September the 25th 2016 will make available a road map for the teaching of French and the national languages in the sub region.

CRTV

20, September 2016

Revealed: There are reasons why the British people hate British Southern Cameroonians ⁰

Just what ARE they moaning about? Revealed, the humble origins of Cameroon migrants on £44k benefits (44 million FCFA) who’ve rejected three offers of larger homes

Arnold and Jeanne Mballe Sube have eight children
Pair used to live in cramped bungalows in Buea, with no running water
Mrs Sube’s childhood home is near active volcano at end of a mud track
Mr Sube grew up a five-minute drive away in a wooden bungalow

They have branded their three-bedroom council house the ‘worst place’ they have ever lived. But Arnold and Jeanne Mballe Sube, who have rejected three offers of a bigger taxpayer-funded property, grew up in conditions that make their home look like a palace, the Mail can reveal.

The Cameroon-born couple, who have eight children, spent much of their youth in cramped bungalows with no running water, and only the share of an outside kitchen and toilet with other families.

Cramped: Jeanne Mballe Sube’s family of seven lived in this two-bedroom building, with outdoor shower and toilet in Buea, Cameroon

Basic: The outside cooking area Jeanne Sube’s parents shared with six families

The Cameroon-born couple, who have eight children, spent much of their youth in cramped bungalows with no running water. Mrs Sube’s family of seven squeezed into a two-bedroom home rented for £35 a month – a fraction of the £1,278 monthly bill to taxpayers for the house in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, where she now resides.

Despite not working, she and her husband, who receive an estimated £44,000 a year in state handouts, are sending money back to relatives in Cameroon. Tory MPs have branded the Subes’ demands ‘shameless’ after they insisted their house was too small and spurned three offers of a more spacious home.

Before migrating to Europe in the early 2000s, the couple lived in Buea, South-West Cameroon. Mrs Sube’s childhood home is in the shadow of an active volcano at the end of a mud track, where several families live in a compound of six two-bedroom buildings. Tangled wires are strung across the yard, attached to a broken fascia board on Mrs Sube’s former home – which is built from breeze blocks and corrugated iron.

Tory MPs have branded the Subes’ demands ‘shameless’ after they insisted their house was too small and spurned three offers of a more spacious home

In 2012, Mr and Mrs Sube moved from Paris to Luton after he got a place on a Bedfordshire University nursing course, funded by the NHS. The couple are also believed to receive housing and child benefits, as well as child tax credits. They have branded their three-bedroom council house the ‘worst place’ they have ever lived

The two small bedrooms inside have only a narrow living room between them, with stained stone walls. The outside toilet, shower and kitchen are shared by six families. Water for the kitchen must be carried from an outdoor tap, with waste water washing into an open drain through the compound. The only utensils are a handful of pots, pans and buckets, and women scrub clothes on a stone block.

The authority said it will offer one more five-bedroom house. If the family reject this, they will be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ and could face eviction. The wooden door to the shared kitchen has a gaping hole at the bottom. The outside shower has an open entrance without even a curtain for modesty.

Mrs Sube’s father, Zachary Nkwo, was one of Cameroon’s best-known broadcasters, after reporting for the equivalent of the BBC during the country’s first football World Cup in 1982. But despite his fame, Mr Nkwo said he struggled to support his family. ‘It was tough financially … I got a housing subsidy equivalent to my position in the station, but it often wasn’t enough,’ he said.

The 62-year-old, who lives near the former family home, said his daughter sends about £250 around every three months. He added: ‘They went to Europe to seek greener pastures … My daughter is a hard worker and I know she wants to contribute to society.’ Sylvia Ndahne, who knew Mrs Sube as a child, said: ‘They moved here when Jeanne was about ten and stayed for a very long time. Jeanne had to leave secondary school after falling pregnant.’

She added that ‘all the cooking and washing has to be done in the outhouses because there is no running water in the main property’.

Mr Sube grew up a five-minute drive away in a wooden bungalow at the end of a muddy track. It had no running water in the main home and only an outside toilet, shower and kitchen. Friends said the family lived in two parallel homes, with Mr Sube and his siblings in one and his parents in the other.

They have a laptop, a 60in flatscreen TV and Sky HD box, plus a 52in TV in their bedroom. The children, aged three months to 16 years, also have a TV and an Xbox. But last week Mr Sube, who uses one bedroom as a gym and office, insisted he had been ‘neglected’ by Luton council, which is trying to rehouse them.

The authority said it will offer one more five-bedroom house. If the family reject this, they will be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ and could face eviction. Mr Sube said: ‘My lawyers have told me not to say anything.’

Culled from the Daily Mail

18, September 2016

Cameroon: Bikutsi singer Roger Bekono is no more!! ⁰

Cameroonian bikutsi singer, Roger Bekono has passed away age 62. Roger Bekono died on Thursday in Yaounde following a long illness. The news was made public through a joint statement issued by his relative, Ottou Marcellin and his daughter Marie-Christine. The author of the greatest hit Jolie Poupee was reportedly sick for more than six years. He spent the last two weeks in a hospital in Mfou and finally left for the land of his ancestors on Thursday.

Born in 1954, Roger Bekono emerged in the 80s as a renowned bikutsi singer and went ahead and recorded 33 hit singles including “Jolie poupee”, “Etam”, “Enying Moni”, “Ye wo kombel” and also “Oget Mongi”. He worked with the likes of the great Zanzibar, Jean Marie Ahanda, Atebas, “Big” Ngole Pokossy and Mystic Jim.

17, September 2016

Yaounde: CEDIC stands shoulder-to-shoulder with orphans ⁰

CEDIC an association grouping the wives of Cameroonian diplomats have organized a one day handicraft exhibition in Yaounde. The event was to show case their solidarity principally destined to orphans and the less privilege. The women displayed natural beverages products, pastries and cosmetics to the watchful eyes of their husbands, children, well-wishers and above all some state dignitaries.

The Secretary General at the Ministry of External Relations, Felix Mbayu praised the spirit of entrepreneurship in the women saying that it was necessary to foster development and unity. The president of the association, Micheline Atanga used the event to encourage the wives of diplomats both at home and abroad to step up the spirit of entrepreneurship. She also expressed the need to attract new members into the club so to register a sporadic growth. The Honorary President of CEDIC, Mageret Mbella Mbella was also present to cheer the women’s initiative.

CRTV

14, September 2016

Tombel: White monkam chemical kills 4 children ⁰

Four children are reported dead after consuming a poisonous chemical used for spraying grass (Monkam) in Tombel, Southwest, Cameroon. From the Video below, the mother of the children, Susan Mentaindam, narrated that the children had mistakenly used the white monkap as table salt to eat their plantains with oil.

This incident comes barely a year after a whole family died in their sleep in Moliwe, Limbe, after consuming a sumptuous porridge cooked with fertilizer mistaken for table salt.

As Cameroon embraces 2nd generation agriculture where more chemicals will be used to enhance productivity, it it high time, sensitisation is done on chemical use so incidents like this will be prevented.

Culled from Yannick Fonki Ndalay

12, September 2016

Book on the Albatross scandal released ⁰

Journalist and writer Boris Bertolt has released a book on the Albatross scandal entitled “The President’s Plane”. In the book, he takes us into the meanders of the acquisition process of a plane for President Paul Biya-the Albatros.

He revealed that billions of FCFA was swallowed and observed that in the end Paul Biya had neither the money nor his plane. The book is an exciting thriller published by Editions du Schabel Haman Mana since August 31, 2016.

12, September 2016

Cameroon: Basic Education Minister meets with 200 displaced pupils in Mora ⁰

The Minister of Basic Education, Youssouf Hadidja Alim has made public assurances that the CPDM government will support some 200 displaced pupils in the Mayo Sava Division of the Far North Region.

During her visit to the Government Primary School Meme Group 1A at the outskirts of Mora, Minister Youssouf Hadidja Alim met with the 200 displaced victims of Boko Haram atrocities in the region.

We understand the children all hail from the border towns of Kolofata, Limani, kerawa, Ashigashia, and Tokomari. While transmitting government’s words of encouragement and constant support to their plight, the Minister reminded the pupils to overcome their challenges by working very hard.

She also saluted the efforts of stakeholders of Basic Education in the Mayo Sava Division and other affected areas of the Far North Region for their bravery in coping with the terrorists threats.

CRTV