The National Coordinator of the Revenue Securement Programme (PSRR) has been arrested and detained at the Yaounde central prison located in Kondengui. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that the arrest was made on the 13^th of October 2016 after Hamadou Yanoussa had a brief interrogation at the Special Criminal Court.

An audit mission initiated by the Minister of Public Works on the 25^th of May 2016 revealed that huge amounts of money collected from truckers at the weighing station at Nomayos at the outskirt of Yaounde, Nkakanzock to Edea, Bekoko,  Bonaberi and Njombe-Penja in Mungo were not being paid into the treasury.

The monitoring mission reported the disappearance of 750 million CFA francs. A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report noted that 549 million collected from the Nomayos post; 10 million FCFA from Edea; 4.3 million from Njombe-Penja and 165 million from Bekoko were not paid into the national treasury.

The Public Prosecutor of the Special Criminal Court, Justine Aimée Ngounou Tchokonthieu after receiving the complaint from the Public Works minister decided to order the arrest of Hamadou Yanoussa who is also a chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate. Information also filtered at the time of filing this report that some of his colleagues have been summoned to appear before prosecutors at the Special Criminal Court soon.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN and Rita Akana

The Ministry of Forestry has on the 14^th of October 2016 received 11 brand new pick-up vehicles from the Debt Reduction Development Program C2D an- initiative of the French Development Agency. The handing over ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Forestry and Wild Life Ngole Philip Ngwese, in the presence of C2D’s National Coordinator, Bruno Mfou’ou Mfou’ou in Yaounde.

The vehicles which were donated to ease the job of Forestry and Environmental experts and to boost production in the Forestry sector were distributed according to the following order: 7 vehicles will serve the need at the Regional Delegations of Forestry, 2 at the Forestry Training Centre and 2 for the Environmental Training Centre. The ministries always use these vehicles for political campaigns.

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Cameroon will on the 15^th of October 2016 join the International Community to observe the International Day of the Rural Woman commemorated under the theme, “Empowering Rural Women, Ensuring Food Security and Ending Poverty.” Discussions have already started with some elite attempting to answer the question of who is a rural woman and how the rural communities are coping with the challenges of the 21^st century. In Cameroon, a rural woman is considered as one who dwells in a rural area and depends largely on agriculture, livestock, fishing and mining.

Cameroon’s rich landscape makes her activities relatively easy even though she faces a number of challenges including access to funding. Cameroon’s rural women however, have been exposed to a number of positive changes which has affected their mentality over the years. The mentality change, some of the women have opined is thanks to their affiliation to little groupings and associations where they have been made to understand they are worth more than just the farmlands and the animal farming they are involved in.

Some government officials have observed that the rural women have been taught how to develop their businesses and they have also been introduced into other self-reliant activities including “njangis”, thereby partly resolving the issue of funding. The CPDM government through the Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family has also been actively involved in upgrading the status of rural women in the country. Their production rate has increased due to training, counselling and donation of farm tools and seedlings from NGOs and government.

Celebrations this year will also focus on some setbacks including insufficient access to information, inaccessible roads, isolation, influence of stereotypes and difficult access to land among others faced by the women.

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The Lord Mayor of the Buea city council, Ekema Patrick Essunge has been given a civic reception by the Manyu Youth Association based in Buea. The mayor was honoured in a reception recently that was purely traditional and was rich in pomp and colour.  In a rare recognition of new generation leadership in the South West constituency, the Manyu Youth led by its Fako branch president, Ako Julius was full of praise for the mayor who is reportedly doing a remarkable job in the city of Buea.

During the unique occasion that also witnessed a powerful display of the rich Manyu culture, Mayor Ekema Patrick was decorated with the Manyu traditional regalia in the presence of the Manyu Youth National President and some prominent South West elites. The Manyu community assured the Mayor of their unflinching support in his fight aimed at transforming Buea and reiterated the fact that they were at his service whenever the need arises.

The Manyu citizens made an appeal to the Lord Mayor to make available a small piece of land in his municipality for them to build a Manyu Youth Centre in Buea. The renowned National President of the Manyu Women, Meg Agbor in her key note address revealed that Mayor Ekema was a true son of the South West region, a great Cameroonian and a brother to the Manyu community.

In his reaction to the huge Manyu presence at his residence in Buea, the lord Mayor Ekema observed that “I am very honoured and touched that you have bothered to organise this occasion for me.”  The mayor added that the Manyus were the first in the South West region after the North West Fons to honour him. Mayor Ekema explained during the forum that the ongoing activity in Buea is not to demolish houses but to get rid of some existing structures that were constructed some half a century ago.

The man of action did praise the Manyu Youth for their sense of responsibility and thanked them for the honour. In his Mola Ekema style, the mayor granted the request of the Manyu people and noted that he was going to speedily obtain the piece of land for them to build their youth hall. Manyu traditional rites were performed amid heavy applauds for peace and prosperity to reign in Fako Division.

By Eyong Paolo

Dusseldorf City News Buea

An official of the Regional Delegation of the Ministry of Forestry and Wild Life for the East Region who also moonlights as a chartered member of the ruling CPDM party, Poye Narcisse Alex has been arrested for illegally keeping elephant tusks in his house.

Poye Narcisse who got a part time job at the regional delegation via his political connections found himself in police drag net on the 2^nd of October 2016 at Kika Village a locality situated at the border with the Republic of Congo.

The Brigade Commander of the Gendarmerie for the East Region, Paul Nseng Aka’a who ordered the arrest, revealed that Narcisse Alex while on duty came across four illegal Nigerian traffickers of elephant tusks who abandoned their belongings and escaped. Alex Narcisse then picked up the elephant tusks left behind by the Nigerian businessmen and instead of reporting the happenings to the Gendarmerie, decided in a typical CPDM pattern to transport the items to his residence.

A day after the incident, he personally told the Gendarmerie Legion Command that he had impounded 4 elephant Tusks from some illegal traffickers instead of 11. An investigation led the forces of law and order to his home where they discovered the rest of the tusks. The 30 year old Narcisse Alex and one other suspect are presently under detention in an undisclosed National Gendarmerie Post in the East Region pending further investigation.

Rita Akana with files from CRTV

The story about the killing of 12 year old boy Rhandy Ndonko is still making news around the Ngoussou neighbourhood and Yaounde the nation’s capital. He was stabbed and killed last September 2016 by a 22 year old girl – Nchang Tina Ngwa who was apparently serving as housemaid to the Ndonko Family at Santa Babara-Ngoussou neighbourhood in Yaounde.

From police investigations, Nchang Tina Ngwa affirmed that she drank two bottles of Guinness and a short of whisky before committing the act. Rhandy died shortly after having been stabbed three times on his back. As if that wasn’t enough, she tried stabbing Rhandy’s elder brother Ndonko Wanyl who attempted to rescue his brother but did not succeed.

Tina who was arrested eight days after the incident, was recently presented to the public by the elements of the First Police District of the Centre Region in Yaounde. The bloody act occurred just after two weeks of Tina’s recruitment as house maid at the Ndonko’s and at a time where the children just resumed schools from holidays.  As a result of this, the forces of law and order are calling on parents to keep a close watch at the house maids they employ to serve their households.

Local media reports say Joseph Otto Wilson, the Governor of the Central Region has been very ill for several months now and the Biya acolyte is currently fighting for his life.

Information has filtered that the governor’s   health condition worsened to the point where he was evacuated on Saturday, October 8, 2016 to a hospital in France. A sister publication, Cameroon-Info.Net, confirmed the news and added that the governor looked like a living corpse when he was last seen in Yaounde.

Governor Joseph Otto Wilson has now joined the CPDM long list of patients evacuated to France and has fuelled the debate on the inadequacies of technical equipment in Cameroonian hospitals that started following the evacuation to Paris of  the iconic former captain of Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Rigobert Song Bahanag.

By Rita Akana with files from Cmaeroon Info.Net

African Heads of State will from Monday the 10th to Saturday, the 15^th of October, 2016 hold a summit on maritime safety and governance for security and development in Africa. Thirty leaders and heads of government are expected in the Togolese capital, Lome on the 15^th of October for the closure of the summit.

Faure Gnassingbe, the Togolese President had personally invited his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya during a private meeting on the side-lines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, which held from Monday the 19th to Monday the 26^th of September, 2016 in New York.

The Togolese President was in Yaounde in 2013 during the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of States of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (CGG) on the Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Local media reports from the nation’s capital Yaounde say a lot of tongues have been wagging if President Biya will make the trip to Togo. Biya has been absent from the country for 22 days now in an unknown destination. When he left Yaoundé on September the 16th, 2016, a statement from the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic announced that he was going to the United States to attend the 71st session of the UN general assembly. Biya reportedly left New York a day before the closing of the UN General Assembly for a secret destination.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Government Delegate to the Yaounde City Council, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna has installed the new Secretary General to the Council, Gabriel Essoa Eloi. The installation ceremony took place on the 6^th of October 2016 in Yaounde.

Speaking during the installation ceremony, the new Secretary General indicated that he will continue in the footsteps of his predecessor and also improve on the sanitary state of the city.

Before his appointment on 20th September, 2016, Gabriel Essoa Eloi was Senior Divisional Officer of the Upper Nkam in the West Region.

He takes over from Alphonse Roger Ondoa Akoa who was appointed Director General of the Cameroon Water Utility Company, CAMWATER.

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