Southern Cameroons victory day is shaping up like that of Kosovo and South Sudan in recent years following a massive ghost town operation that historically has been mostly peaceful. The Biya Francophone regime’s tough policies against the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have greatly added fuel to the civil disobedience campaign that has now been extended to three days a week (Mondays to Wednesdays).

The Secretary General of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the interim leader of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council, who have both endorsed calls for a general strike until a Southern Cameroons state is born, said they expect a larger, more intense participation in light of Biya and La Republique’s “overzealous” efforts to roll back Southern Cameroons’s legitimate rights.

“It’s been a rough 11 months, but it’s almost here,” said an operations manager of the Consortium. It’s unclear whether Biya’s 2018 election will ratchet up the Southern Cameroons demonstrations. Unlike the last few months, no central gathering spot has been advertised. Instead, multiple meeting locations around the cities of the West, the USA, South Africa including Ghana and Nigeria have been listed on social media and online, creating confusion — possibly deliberate — for the vicious French Cameroun police force.

Last year, violence quickly erupted, with some in the Bamenda County rejecting the staging of a unitary march by Prime Minister Philemon Yang. French Cameroun security agents herded a mob of several hundred West Cameroon protesters out of Bamenda, using the most ruthless methods ever in the nation’s history. The Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR fired firearms into large crowds of people in Kumba, Bamenda, Buea, Limbe Kumbo and Jakiri.

The officials of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium are advising Southern Cameroonians both at home and in the Diaspora to stay alert, be aware of their surroundings and inform operation managers if they see any criminal activity from La Republique’s security forces.

Businesses and academic establishments operating in Southern Cameroons have been warned to close their doors and retrieve outdoor signs or other objects from sidewalks. The transportation industry has also been cautioned and traffic disruptions are expected between La Republique and Southern Cameroons.

Southern Cameroonians have also been called to participate in the peaceful civil disobedience that will shut down highways, airports, and other key infrastructure feeding fat on La Republique. The Southern Cameroons Governing Council will in the days ahead announce an economic boycott of French Cameroun.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Chi Prudence Asong in Buea

With just 2 weeks or so to go, there will be many frayed nerves in the CPDM ranks. Some are fearing the chop, others are hopeful of promotion. French Cameroun politics is a cruel business and hopeful aspirants know that, should they miss out this time around, they will have to visit TB Joshua or wait until 2018 presidential elections before another chance comes their way. That is if Biya and the CPDM are still in Government at that stage or Cameroon is till one and indivisible.

Cameroon Concord News gathered from a well-placed source in Yaoundé, that the possible government reshuffle will send away members of government who have served well over 10 years in their position. There are a sea of senior Cameroon government officials including 7 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 3 Secretaries of State, who have already spent at least 10 years in the same post.

Apart from the Southern Cameroonian, Chief Dr. Dion Ngute, Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of the Commonwealth, the CPDM crime syndicate has kept André Mama Fouda, Minister of Public Health, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Minister of Commerce, Madeleine Tchuinte, Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation.
Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy and Crafts, Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of Higher Education, Zacharie Perevet, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, and Pierre Hele, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Sustainable Development.

Below is a list of the French Cameroun 14 cabinet ministers who have overstayed their time in the same portfolio:

André Mama Fouda, Minister of Public Health (11 years)
Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Minister of Commerce (13 years)
Dr. Madeleine Tchuinte, Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation (13 years)
Pr Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy and Crafts (11 years)
Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of Higher Education (13 years)
Zacharie Perevet, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training (13 years)
Pierre Hele, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Sustainable Development (13 years)

Deputy Ministers
Adoum Gargoum, Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations, in charge of the Islamic world (20 years)
Dion Nguté, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in charge of the Commonwealth (20 years)
Yaouba Abdoulaye, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Town and Country Planning (10 years)
Nana Aboubakar Djalloh, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (13 years)

Secretaries of State
Jean Baptiste Bokam, Secretary of State for Defense (11 years)
Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Health (20 years)
Fuh Galixtus, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technology Development (11 years).

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Desk

The leader of the MRC party, Prof. Maurice Kamto has said that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has spent so much time resolving nothing on the Anglophone crisis. Maurice Kamto was speaking on Sunday, the 13th of August 2017 in Douala during a meeting with young French Cameroonians and the press. The French Cameroun opposition leader also observed that the electoral code does not guarantee a sincere and credible political game in La Republique du Cameroun.

Maurice Kamto also pointed out that Biya and his gang of French Cameroun political elites is to blame for La Republique du Cameroun’s failure in the construction of infrastructure for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. He criticized the arbitrary arrests and subsequent convictions of innocent Southern Cameroonians in French Cameroun territory and ordered the Francophone regime in Yaoundé to release with immediate effect all West Cameroon detainees.

Kamto opined that the Anglophone crisis has stalled over time and the government continues to implement wrong solutions to the problem. He added that the only way to resolve the crisis is to create a commission made up of credible people in the eyes of the populations.

The much respected French Cameroun political elite noted that the educational system in La Republique no longer fits with the needs of this generation. Kamto revealed that all what men like the late John Ngu Foncha worked for at the Foumban conference for the reunification of the two Cameroons in 1972 has been thrown into the bin by Biya and his corrupt acolytes.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News, Douala

If you see a rich CPDM politician such as Hon. John Ebong Ngolle or Minister Atanga Nji Paul emerging from a funny nasty building or location, putting on African attire, or if you watch them address the masses in a specific coat and regularly pats their shoulder that is witchcraft in action.

We had witnessed many of the above scenarios in the early days of multiparty politics when the Right Hon. Simon Achidi Achu had control of the North West province and the Maradona of South West politics, John Ebong Ngolle was still in active service.

During the 1990s, an election was the season of harvest for witch doctors, and if Southern Cameroons history is anything to go by, politicians were seen trooping to dusty huts in droves to ‘bewitch’ voters, their opponents or to simply arm themselves with talismans to ward off juju.

When party nominations or news of a new cabinet appeared to be just around the corner, witch doctors were raking in cash by the truckload. CPDM politicians even accused opponents in the SDF of visiting witch doctors at night while joining congregations in Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches on Sunday mornings.

Some years ago during the violent demonstrations that were caused by food shortage, President Biya in a statement, made a mockery of his opponents within his ruling CPDM party that they were visiting some weak and inefficient sorcery dens to boost their chances of ousting him. Biya did not name the said politicians but we now know them from the lists of those in the Kondengui High security prison.

While some CPDM politicians visit native doctors to win elections, others outsource them to eliminate rivals. In Manyu Division, elderly women were paid millions to dance on the streets naked so that no CPDM candidate could lose a seat in the National Assembly.

To win a ministerial seat, many from Southern Cameroons had to visit the twin lakes in the Kupe Muanenguba constituency while many others traveled to neighboring Nigeria. A parliamentary seat required some nights with the chief priest at a cemetery. To be a governor, the stakes were even higher including numerous trips to the Pigmies in the East and to Oku in the North West. The witch doctors in some occasion accepted installment payments. One had to pay a reasonable amount before the elections and the rest after winning.

For instance, when the CPDM wins, the cabinet minister pays more and part of the extra is burnt and is mixed with special ointment. The Minister had to apply this oil on his seat in his office to enable him stay in the Biya cabinet. A witch doctor revealed that he gave CPDM politicians ‘special spices’ to rob on their manhood and make love to young girls recruited from nearby high schools.

The spices were added to the food served to the girls during the reception after the rallies. The concoction worked like magic, noted one of the South West CPDM regime. “It hardly backfires and you were assured of a lucrative position in government.”

The CPDM clients must undergo a special ‘cleansing’ ceremony. The big men and women had to drop a 500 frs coin in a calabash for greeting the spirits then proceeded for body anointment, similar to a massage, using oil and fresh herbs. This was aimed at ensuring the client’s body responds to the so-called medication. After this, you were ready to receive the juju powers.

Affluent people who are predominantly in the ruling CPDM have a lot to lose if things don’t go their way. So, for them, if it’s witchcraft that can make sure they are comfortable in their positions, they will go for it. Poor people have little to lose and their solution is usually fervent belief in Jesus Christ. So, many CPDM politicians are engaging in witchcraft despite being active in their professed religions, and this is worrying.

John Ebong Ngolle, seen recently at TB Joshua in Nigeria was a youthful administrator very much loved by Prime Minister A.N Jua and was appointed Senior Divisional Officer by Jua in 1965. He served in all divisions in the South West and North West provinces and in some cases twice. His last SDO position was in Ndian Division from where he was appointed Governor of the South West Province in 1989 to replace Magloire Ngemba who was transferred to Bamenda.

Just over a year later, he was appointed to the North West Province. He played his political cards very well and helped get the CPDM all the 20 parliamentary seats in the North West that made Achidi Achu prime minister and head of government.

He became a cabinet minister in 1992 and was given additional responsibilities as board chair of Sonara and CPDM political bureau member. His other administrative colleagues (Majority of blessed memory) served honorably and died peacefully. Joseph Mbassi Ngoh, Bambot Sickot, Tabi Arram Mpey, Akoto Ndang. Today, here is the biological son of a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC rolling on the floor in a black church in Nigeria with a pastor pushing his head like a common sinner.

Another pathetic CPDM case is that of Oben Peter Ashu! The late arrogant administrator was Senior Divisional Officer for Ndonga Mantung and many Southern Cameroonians have opined that he masterminded the ‘Ndu Masacre’. With the help of John Ebong Ngolle, the then Minister of Territorial Administration, Gilbert Andze Tchoungui appointed Oben Ashu as Governor of the South West province to replace Etame Massoma who was moved to the West.

Governor Oben Peter Ashu instituted his famous “Come No Go” policy and targeted the grass field people. Oben was dropped by the Biya regime and on retirement in Buea he worshiped at St Martin Catholic Church in Bokwango Buea. He met HIM and openly asked for God’s forgiveness.

Chief Inoni Ephraim had a meteoric rise in the system and it was believed he had the best juju man that the CPDM leadership could rely on. President Biya even spent a night at his residence in Bakingili when he visited the volcano eruption site.

He has been everything in the regime including prime minister and head of government. Recently, he told some Supreme Court judges that he has met HIM and he was now at peace with Jesus Christ.

We all know that Ebong Ngolle did not go to TB Joshua for healing. He went there to destroy the pact he had signed with the devil over the years. Our Southern Cameroons politics needs hygiene.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

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The Anglophone problem, which has intensified since last October with the paralysis of the North-West and South West Regions on the backdrop of federalist claims, even secessionist, is the consequence of a colonial legacy and a failure of the “centralist project” pursued by the power of Yaoundé, according to the terms of a report published Wednesday by the NGO, International Crisis Group.

The current crisis, with its political, economic and social dimensions, has amplified exponentially the demand by the majority of the population seeking federalism and dissolution, a configuration that illustrates how profound the Anglophone problem is.

The Anglophone problem, as analyzed by this NGO, plunges its roots into a poorly conducted reunification, based on a centralist and Assimilationist project as well as an economic and administrative marginalization in addition to the ambitions and the personal and ethnic rivalries of elites that have not always been able to make a common front to defend an increasingly heterogeneous cause.

Taking advantage of the situation, secessionist groups have multiplied since January to radicalize the population with the support of a part of the Anglophone Diaspora.

“If the risk of partitioning the country is very low, that of a medium-term resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high, because some of these groups now call for violence.”

Contrary to a widespread idea, International Crisis Group believes that the English-speaking Diaspora has not driven this crisis, contrary to previous challenges, since its role became paramount only after the arrest of the Civil society Consortium officials on 17 January 2017.

Unfortunately the government measures, taken since March, are late and have had little effect, the international community’s response was rather limited, although they had enabled them to adopt the said measures: “Without a firm, persistent and coordinated pressure from the international partners in Cameroon, it is unlikely that the government will move towards substantive solutions.”

For International Crisis Group, which also reports at least three deaths and dozens of arrests recorded, the resolution of the Anglophone problem goes through a firmer international response and the restoration of confidence, through coherent appeasement measures that respond to the demands of the lawyers ‘ and teachers ‘ guilds, causing the malaise.

Source: CIN

New members of the electoral board of Elections Cameroon have taken the oath of office in the presence of the chief judge of the Supreme Court sitting in for the Constitutional Council. The Vice President of the board Appoline Marie Amugu Ekobena was first to perform the ritual. She was followed by Belle Amougou Dieudonne and Ngu Peter, both members of the Electoral Board. The three were appointed by a presidential decree of 25th April 2017.

The ceremony was witnessed by some so-called top CPDM officials including cabinet members led by Prime Minister Philemon Yang, members of the diplomatic corps, the Speaker of the National assembly and the President of the National Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism.

During the event the Attorney General of the Supreme Court, Luc Ndjodo outlined the mission of Elections Cameroon before reminding the new members of the need for them to uphold moral integrity, a patriotic spirit and the sense of impartiality in the discharge of their duties.

The Chief Court Registrar proceeded with the reading of decree number 2017/168 of 25th April 2017 appointing members of the electoral board of Elections Cameroon, ELECAM. Lord Justice Daniel Mekobe Sone detailed government’s expectations and focus on the need to strictly respect the electoral law. The three later swore before the court, to be impartial.

Election Cameroon was created in 2010 with twelve members and was assigned the role to organize and manage elections in Cameroon. In 2012, the number increased to eighteen. According to the law, membership remains incompatible with any other public function. Members have a four year term of office renewable by a Presidential decree after consultation with the members of the national assembly and the civil society.

Source: CRTV

The eleven senior officers appointed on the 29th of June 2017 by the 84 year old Cameroonian dictator, have been installed into their functions. The attributes they received came with new responsibilities and tougher assignments.

Performing the installation rituals, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, noted that the appointments made by President Biya are a strategic solution to the security situation in the Far North, East and other parts of the country. They now bear the burden coordinating their respective units and working in synergy with other active forces to protect the territorial integrity of the state.

The defense boss further pointed out that Cameroon’s military today is undergoing a process of renewal of command and the injection of new blood into the system was necessary so that it meets the challenges imposed it by the constantly evolving world marked by the transposition of conflicts and new forms of threats.

The new generals are therefore expected to strategize on a new approach to conventional menaces and adapt their operational mechanisms to counter asymmetric threats imposed by extremist groups such as Boko Haram.

Source: CRTV

For two months now, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the Minister of Communication and so-called government spokesman has not held a press conference. To be sure, Tchiroma’s last meeting with the press was on the 27th of April, 2017. The Minister of Communication’s silence seems strange to many political commentators in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital and has given rise to many reactions.

Mindful of the fact that a lot has been happening including the assassination of the Bishop of Bafia, some analyst have attempted to explain Issa Tchiroma’s silence by evoking a medical evacuation to Europe. However, a lot of under-the-table talk is currently going on in Cameroon and the least that can be said is that for almost two months, we have not seen Minister Issa Tchiroma intervene spontaneously on the different subjects of the day.

Rumour is circulating that President Biya no longer needs his services following sweeping declarations he made at the beginning of the Southern Cameroons uprising. One of Minister Tchiroma’s secretaries recently opined that, “We no longer have any information from the presidency and my boss can only speak with the approval of the hierarchy. He does not invent anything. What he says comes from the presidency.”

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

It is difficult to say exactly when the trial involving the Public Prosecutor and Cameroon Radio and Television (Crtv) against Amadou Vamoulké will take place at the Special Criminal Court. The former general manager of the state radio and television is prosecuted for an alleged misappropriation of nearly four billion FCFA.

However, it is known that one year after the legal proceedings against the former GM of Crtv started; there is an evolution in his file. Cameroon Concord News understands that judicial investigation has been closed for two weeks now, by an order of reference to the Special Criminal Court so that the accused will be made to appear before the court. Amadou Vamoulké will have to answer for an alleged diversion of nearly four billion FCFA.

On the 28th of June 2017, the man that the Beti Ewondo political elites replaced with Charles Ndongo at the helm of CRTV, was at the Special Criminal Court. On that day he was notified of the report of the inquiry into his case. According to the order of partial dismissal and referral to the Special Criminal Court, the state prosecutor accused the ex-GM of Crtv of having falsified the amounts of the TV license fee. The inflated amounts are estimated at 3.9 billion FCFA.

The Amadou Vamoulké file is a subject that still arouses some curiosities. Sources close to this case have revealed that before completing the judicial investigation, the judges sent several reports to their hierarchy in which they explained that they had not been able to demonstrate how Amadou Vamoulké was able to intervene in the influx of the audiovisual fee charged to it. The four experts commissioned by the Special Criminal Court also demonstrated that Amadou Vamoulké could not have manipulated an account housed in the Treasury Department and not at Crtv.

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. We call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit. An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained the late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Recently Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in order to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

The West Cameroon crisis has intensified, with the election of an interim President of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council, Sesekou Ayuk Julius Tabe. The Roman Catholic Bishops who at the very beginning of the struggle wrote a strongly worded memorandum to the 84 year Cameroonian dictator have now said schools should resume in West Cameroon.

The Francophone political elites have not made any genuine concession to Southern Cameroonians and they continue to keep hundreds of Anglophones in Francophone jails including the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

A senior official in the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime who spoke to Cameroon Concord News late yesterday, painted SCACUF’s election of Sesekou Ayuk Julius Tabe in the following words: “Are we suppose to pay much attention any time a dog barks? Barking is their nature. They bark when they are scared, they bark when they are hungry, they bark when they need attention, they bark when they get jealous. They bark when they are lonely, and they bark to act tough.”

In this edition of the AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE, we are asking our readers what Southern Cameroonians should expect from President Ayuk Julius Tabe?