Cameroon’s Electoral Commission (Elecam) has made public the lists of candidates selected for the 2018 senatorial elections, which take place on March 25th. Of the 42 lists submitted by 9 political parties in competition, 36 were validated and 5 others rejected. The Social Democratic Front (SDF), the so-called main opposition party reportedly withdrew its list in the Central region.

The ruling CPDM crime syndicate list and its ally, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP, ​​led by Bello Bouba-), were selected in all the 10 regions of Cameroon. Ni John Fru Ndi’s SDF party will be represented in five regions, Adamaoua, East, Littoral, North West and South West.

The ANDP, National Alliance for Democracy and Progress of Hamadou Mustapha, is competing in four regions, the Far North, Littoral, South, and South West.

The Democratic Union of Cameroon (UDC) of Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya, presented candidates in the Littoral and West regions. The Union des populations du Cameroun, UPC is running in two regions namely the Center and the Littoral.

The National Front for the Salvation of Cameroon, one of the political parties in the consortium of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate led by the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, will participate only in the North.

UDP and UMS, two obscure opposition parties not represented in the National Assembly are competing only in one region- North West for UDP and West for UMS. Maurice Kamto’s Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (Mrc) is the only political party represented in parliament calling for a boycott of the vote. The Cameroonian Senate has 100 senators, 70 of who are elected and 30 are appointed by the 85 year President Biya.

By Sama Ernest

Cameroon’s Interior Minister has averred that English-speaking regions cannot claim that President Paul Biya has been a discriminatory leader.

Atanga Nji Paul was one of two Anglophones appointed in a cabinet reshuffle. he was named Minister of Territorial Administration which translates to the Interior Ministry portfolio.

“He has done that for the Anglophones. And I believe that this is the proof (his appointment as Interior Minister) and Anglophones cannot say ever that he hasn’t given them their due,” he stressed. His views come at a time when peaceful protests over marginalization in English-speaking regions have escalated into a push for secession by the so-called Ambazonia Republic.

Most Anglophone Cameroonians have expressed disgust over his view and slammed him for saying that because he had secured a position in the Biya-government.

Separatist activities have led to deadly confrontation between security forces and the Ambazonia Defence Force (ADF) and other armed groups.

The two regions – North West and South West – have been placed under curfews in the light of the security situation.

A humanitarian crisis has been created as thousands of people in the region have fled into Nigeria. Despite these challenges, the central government maintains that there is relative peace across the region.

Source: African News

Two politicians from Anglophone Cameroon have been handed top cabinet positions in a government reshuffle on Friday evening.

Dr. Nalova Lyonga was named Minister of Secondary Education whiles Atanga Nji Paul was appointed Minister of Territorial Administration which translates to the Interior Ministry portfolio.

The Prime Minister Philemon Yang and Information Minister Issa Bakary Tchiroma were among those that maintained their positions. Local media portals reported about five big dismissals.

As per the cabinet reorganization orders, President Paul Biya also created a new ministry for Decentralization and Local Government. It is to be headed by one Elanga Obam George.

Source: African News

President Paul BIYA granted two audiences at the Unity Palace on Friday 23 February 2018. The French Cameroun dictator met with the French Ambassador to Cameroun, Gilles Thibault and Angola’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel Domingos Augusto.

For over two hours, Biya and the French Diplomat discussed the socio-political situations in Cameroon. Ambassador Gilles Thibault revealed to reporters after the audience that they centred their discussion on issues such as economic development, security, the violence in the North West and South West Regions, 2018 elections, and the fight against terrorism.

The Angolan Foreign Affairs Minister was bearer of a special message from President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.  Manuel Domingos Augusto explained to news men and women that it was imperative to reinforce bilateral relations between Cameroon and Angola, since the latter is undergoing political transition.

He also highlighted the necessity to consult BIYA on the March 2018 summit of the Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa (COPAX), which will be held in Libreville – Gabon.

Source: The Presidency La Republique du Cameroun

Leader of Cameroon’s main opposition party, Social Democratic Front (SDF) Ni John Fru Ndi, officially waded into the security crisis riling the country’s Anglophone regions. In a letter to addressed to President Paul Biya, the SDF leader denounced what he termed “atrocities” committed in the English-speaking areas of Cameroon by government forces.

“I must draw your attention to the daily atrocities in this part of our country (English-speaking areas),” Fru Ndi wrote in the letter. “Every day that passes, an innocent Cameroonian dies, a woman loses her husband,” he lamented.

The veteran opposition chief said he was also worried about “the rise of hate speech (between English-speaking and French-speaking Cameroonians)” which in his view “brings us closer and closer to a civil war”.

Since the outbreak of the so-called “Anglophone crisis in 2016”, many civilians and soldiers have been killed, but access to the affected areas remains difficult, making it difficult to access information on the spot.

The 77-year-old who says he is an Anglophone but against secession from Cameroon, has repeatedly blamed incumbent Biya for the crisis and the deterioration of the security situation in English-speaking Cameroon.

The government insists that the regions remain safe and secure despite guerilla style attacks that have claimed the lives of over twenty security officials.

Source: Africa News

Joshua Osih, a 49-year-old lawmaker has been elected as flagbearer of Cameroon’s main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF). A native of the country’s southwest region, Osih is an aviation expert.

He was the overwhelming choice of delegates at the SDF congress polling 1,021 votes representing 88.4% as against 134 votes (12%) polled by his closest challenger, Forbi Nchinda. He, however, remains deputy chairperson of the party which is still led by Ni John Fru Ndi, 77, founder of the SDF.

Ndi who was the party’s candidate in the last election said he was leaving the stage for younger politicians at the party’s congress held in capital of the northwest region of Bamenda.

“I will not present my candidature for the Presidential election, I want you to chose who is best to be the flag bearer,” Ndii told delegates.

Cameroon has a busy electoral year in which they are set to pick senators in late March, 2018. The elections will in effect mark the start of a busy electoral calender as it is set to be followed by council, legislative and presidential elections later this year.

The respective dates are yet to be determined by the President. President Biya, 85, is expected to seek a mandate extension after over three decades in charge of the Central African country. His regime has faced secession threats in the predominantly Anglophone regions – northwest and southwest.

Source: Africa News

As the Congress of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) enters its second day, many analysts and SDF supporters are already agreeing that Joshua Osih is on his way to becoming the SDF’s presidential candidate in the upcoming presidential elections in Cameroon.

Though Barrister Mbah Ndam is also in the race, indicators about his success are trending low, as most delegates agree that it is time for a generational change within the party that almost brought down the ruling CPDM in 1992 presidential elections which, many say, was won by the emblematic SDF Chairman, John Fru Ndi, although Mr. Biya was granted the victory by a supreme court that was mainly composed of his supporters.

Speaking to a delegate who elected anonymity at the Congress Center on Friday, February 23, 2018, our correspondent in Bamenda gathered that almost all the delegates were looking in the same direction.

“We seem to be in for a coronation. Joshua Osih appears to be more popular with the delegates than any other candidate. We trust him and he has what it takes to give the ruling CPDM a good run for its money. Besides, many young Cameroonians want to see new faces in the political arena. Cameroonians are tired of seeing the same old people who have been in the corridors of power for more than five decades. They want change, I mean real change and we of the SDF believe that a younger and fresher face will bring us more votes,” the delegate said.

“We are in good spirit here at the Bamenda Congress Center. We initially thought the congress would not hold here in Bamenda following threats by unknown armed groups. The groups are mad at us because they hold that we are collaborating with the government. But that is not true. We want to bring the Anglophone problem to the National Assembly and if Cameroonians give us a chance at the upcoming elections, we will be able to address this issue. We think federalism will be able to address some of the issues Anglophones have raised. We do not need bloodshed in our country. Anglophones have legitimate grievances and those grievances must be addressed and the SDF is willing and capable of addressing those grievances in a federal system,” the delegate stressed.

He added that “the atmosphere is very conducive with more than 2,500 delegates coming from the ten regions.The elections of NEC members will soon take place while that of the presidential candidate will take place tomorrow.”

Speaking yesterday during the opening session, the SDF Chairman used the occasion to deliver his policy speech. Chairman Fru Ndi said he would not stand for presidential elections,but would hand the baton to a young man who resembled his father. This statement was interpreted by many delegates as implying that he was referring to Mr. Osih who is the youngest of the candidates and whose candidacy has been approved by both Anglophones and Francophones.

A highlight of the event was when Mr. Osih’s campaign materials arrived the congress hall today morning. The posters and calendars caused commotion as all the delegates rushed to have copies. As at the time of producing this report, no photos or campaign material of the other candidates had been seen anywhere close to the Congress Center and this is causing many delegates to hold that the young Osih is heading for a landslide.

It should be recalled that this congress is taking place amid high tension as unknown armed groups in the region had threatened to disrupt the event following criticisms by Mr. Fru Ndi, of the Southern Cameroons struggle for independence.

To ensure that the congress takes place as scheduled, the Yaounde government is providing top security to Mr. Fru Ndi, a situation that has further fueled rumor that he is playing ball with Mr. Biya. Even the location of the event is heavily guarded, as the armed groups are determined to wreak havoc.

It should be recalled that the Biya government that is providing security for the SDF today, was the same government that had maimed and killed many young SDF supporters in 1990 when the political party was launched because the Biya regime felt threatened that multiparty politics could sweep it out of power. It therefore declared the party launch illegal, creating a chaotic situation that resulted in the arrest and detention of many SDF supporters.

Similarly, due to threats, the SDF congress location has been changed as the owners of the previous locations were scared that their property could be burnt down or destroyed. The SDF has been seeking to bring the Southern Cameroons crisis to the floor of the National Assembly, but the ruling CPDM has been blocking all efforts at seeking institutional solutions to the Anglophone crisis.

The SDF has taken the threats of the armed groups seriously. It should be recalled that last week, the Batibo Divisional Officer was kidnapped and taken into a thick forest and attempts by government officials to locate him have been futile. Not even his body has been located even when rumor had swirled that he had been killed. For now, it is believed that he is being held by Anglophone separatists who are seeking to restore their independence from the Republic of Cameroon.

It is worth mentioning that the SDF is known to be in favor of a federal system in Cameroon and the party chairman as well as other officials have always chided the government for mismanaging a problem that has metamorphosed into a crisis that has already consumed more than 500 lives, including both civilians and soldiers.

Despite the increasing tension, many political analysts hold that the SDF congress is necessary, as it will enable the party to choose its candidate for this year’s presidential election. Many Cameroonians – both Francophones and Anglophones – hold that a new political class must emerge, as the old one has been a huge disappointment to the people.

For now, there are two outstanding candidates seeking the party’s top job. Joshua Osih and Barrister Mbah Ndam. So far, echoes from the congress give to understand that it is a coronation for Mr.  Osih who is very much respected in the country.

Mr. Joshua Osih is smart, bilingual, and patriotic, and he understands the people’s plight. After serving for long as his party’s vice-president and parliamentarian, Mr. Osih believes that this is the right time to help pull the country out of the political mess created by the Biya government.

His possible coronation will come as a relief to many young Cameroonians who clearly hold that it is time to walk away from the ineffective and inefficient gerontocracy that has brought pain and death to many Cameroonians. Many young Cameroonians hold that the country needs younger hands to transform the country’s economic and political landscape and Joshua Osih has a safe pair of hands.

It is also widely believed that his understanding of both Francophone and Anglophone cultures makes him the ideal candidate for the post of president in a country that might implode if the right person does not step in. His moderate stance on many issues has earned him the respect of the entire nation.

Joshua Osih’s time has come. He is being considered as the comprise candidate even by Anglophones who have clearly demonstrated their frustration with the Yaounde government. Cameroon needs to heal and only someone with Joshua Osih’s temperament and charisma will be able to help the country walk away from its ugly past.

By Fosuh Tamajung and Betek Kingsley in Bamenda, with contributions from Soter Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom.

The supreme leader of the Bafaws in the Meme constituency in Southern Cameroons has openly criticized President Biya over his poor handling of the crisis in Southern Cameroons. NFon Victor Mukete, the oldest member of the so-called Upper House of assembly and a long standing father of the reunification of French and British Southern Cameroons said in an interview in the French capital, Paris that the Biya regime has failed woefully in its management of the Anglophone crisis.

Chief Mukete who will be a 100 years old this 2018, told the French media that Biya is “inaccessible”. He acknowledged that Southern Cameroonians were being marginalized and observed that Anglophones have barely 10 ministers out of 60 in the government. The patriarch of Southern Cameroons reunification politics further pointed out that the creation of the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism was too little too late.

The paramount leader dismissed the politics of a one and indivisible Cameroon stating that only a ten state federal structure can solve the current Anglophone crisis that has shaken the country for more than a year. Chief Mukete’s influence goes beyond the Southern Cameroons minority as he is a member of the Senate, the Economic and Social Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Camtel.

By Sama Ernest

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, likes to travel abroad. As a result, he’s missed some far-reaching events in the country he rules from afar.

Pages from the Cameroon Tribune relating to Paul Biya’s travels. OCCRP journalists used the state newspaper as a primary source to chart the president’s numerous foreign trips since taking office. (Image: OCCRP / Authors.) Some rights reserved.

In October 2016, when an overloaded train derailed in the small town of Eseka, killing over 75 people, Biya was on a “brief private visit to Europe” which is how his office refers to his regular jaunts to Geneva. The president only returned from Switzerland two days after the catastrophe, finally voicing his condolences on the airport tarmac.

A year later, Biya was away on another “private” visit to Switzerland when protests broke out in western Cameroon over marginalization of the English-speaking minority population. He didn’t return for another three weeks. While he was away, his security forces violently repressed demonstrators, setting off what has since become a simmering guerilla war.

The 85-year-old Biya has led his West African nation since 1982, winning four elections by sometimes improbably huge margins (while being accused by the opposition and observers of massive fraud).

His country’s citizens have become increasingly frustrated with his repeated absences.

An investigation supported by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) gathered information about the president’s travels from 35 years of editions of the daily government paper, the Cameroon Tribune. They show that, over that time, Biya has spent at least four-and-a-half years on his “brief private visits.” This total excludes official trips, which add up to an additional year. In some years, like 2006 and 2009, Biya has spent a third of the year out of the country.

These calculations are conservative because some editions of the Tribune are hard to find, and archives in Cameroon, France, and the United States have gaps in their collections that span several years.

The president is not in

Cameroon is a low income country: A quarter of its 23 million citizens earn less than US$ 2 a day farming or hustling small jobs. The average life expectancy is under 60. In hopes of a better life, many of the country’s youths set off for Europe illegally in precarious vessels. Some are among the over 3,000 migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean in 2017.

Like them, the president seems to prefer a life in Europe. But the similarities stop there.

Biya’s official salary is modest (reportedly just $271 per month, plus bonuses), but he travels and lives abroad in luxury — thanks, at least in part, to his country’s taxpayers. According to Cameroonian political scientist Achille Mbembe, nobody really knows what he does on his frequent trips to Geneva, although speculation ranges from hospital treatments to shopping sprees.

While his palace in Yaoundé is rumored to be luxurious, Biya prefers to spend a large portion of his “private trips” at the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, which offers a swimming pool and striking views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya arrive at the opening ceremony of the Francophone Summit in Montreux October 23, 2010. (Image: REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud.)

He does not travel alone. His wife Chantal, renowned for her gravity-defying hairdos, accompanies him on nearly every trip, as does an entourage of up to 50 people that includes ministers, bodyguards, butlers, and various other staff.

One of Biya’s closest confidants, Joseph Fouda, a military officer and special advisor, has accompanied him on at least 86 trips, amounting to more than three years of travel since 1993. He prefers a room on a top floor of the Intercontinental. Another close confidant, Martin Belinga Eboutou, 78, has spent nearly three years travelling with the president starting in 1987, when he was Cameroon’s ambassador to Morocco. Eboutou soon became a fixture on Biya’s journeys as his chief of protocol, and later as director of the president’s Civil Cabinet.

According to reporters’ conservative calculations — based on publically available hotel room prices and a compilation of entourage lists — the total hotel bill of Biya and his colleagues for one stay at Intercontinental, adds up to around $40,000 per day. At that rate, the cost of all of the president’s private trips (1,645 days in total) would add up to about $65 million since he came to power — and that’s not counting food, entertainment, and the rental of a private plane. The president’s office did not comment on this issue.

Duration of Paul Biya’s official and unofficial trips abroad, per year. (Image: OCCRP / Authors.) Click to enlarge.The president attempted to buy a brand new private jet in 2004, but his staff reportedly cut corners on the deal, buying a defective plane covered by a fresh coat of paint that nearly crashed on its first flight. Since then, the president has chartered at least several private aircraft, including a luxury jet formerly owned by the government of Kazakhstan. Used for regular journeys, such a plane would be large enough to carry some 300 passengers, but for an elite clientele it has been fitted with amenities such as full-size beds and an office, and seats about 60 people.

Travel by chartered plane isn’t cheap. Invoices from 2010 apparently sent by a company called CS Aviation to Director of the President’s Biya Civil Cabinet, and reviewed by OCCRP, bill the Civil Cabinet nearly $855,000 for one round trip for 50 passengers from Yaoundé to Geneva and back. Other invoices show that, in 2013, the plane was kept on standby for two weeks at a daily cost of nearly $157,000. The company did not reply to reporters’ requests for comment.

Number of days Paul Biya has spent in selected countries since 1982, when the Cameroonian president took office. (Image: OCCRP / Authors.) Click to enlarge.At these rates, the cost of Biya’s flights since he came to power could add up to at least $117 million.

It is not clear how much of the president’s travel money comes from the part of the national budget allocated to his office, which totaled $104 million in 2018.

According to the International Monetary Fund, more than $300 million of the revenue of Cameroon’s national oil company in 2017 was not accounted for. The president has oversight over the company, whose oil sales, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, have historically been used as a slush fund.

According to Transparency International, Cameroon is one of the world’s most corrupt countries, ranking 145th out of 176 countries on its Corruption Perception Index.

Who pays, who plays

Cameroonians pay in other ways for the president’s jaunts abroad. Every time he returns to Yaoundé, his motorcade crosses the whole capital from Nsimalen International Airport to his home, the Unity Palace. A dozen gleaming cars, including an ambulance, whizz through the streets. To ensure a smooth journey, traffic is blocked on the main roads, at times for the whole day.

Snipers are positioned on top of buildings. Taciturn soldiers in green camouflage stand at every corner with assault rifles slung over their bulletproof vests. Cars, motorbikes and pedestrians are forbidden from crossing, and so huge traffic jams pile up against both sides of blocked avenues. The city’s yellow taxis must spend the day parked, earning no revenue.

Urban legends circulate about these grand displays, like the one about a bride and groom who ended up stuck, separated by the president’s motorcade, on opposite sides of an avenue. When the president passes, the city stops breathing.

President Biya’s party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, arranges for crowds to line the closed streets and cheer for the president. But Florian Ngimbis, a Cameroonian blogger, says that Biya’s trips are seen not just as lavish outlays, “but very much also as a kind of contempt for the Cameroonian people.”

Those few Cameroonians who have the most reason to cheer Biya’s return are the dancers and musicians paid to perform on the tarmac when his plane lands. One drummer, afraid to have his name appear in this article, remembers earning $60 a few years ago: “We didn’t complain… we could drink beers for three days.” Nonetheless, says the drummer, security concerns have trumped the thirst for pomp and ceremony lately, and fewer musicians are being invited.

Decrees upon departure

When Biya lands in Yaoundé, he also meets his government — at the airport. Formal ministerial councils are organized infrequently, every year or two at the most. But while Biya has used public funds to sustain a bureaucracy of 65 ministers and state secretaries, he mostly governs by decree or through a handful of laws sped through a rubber-stamp parliament.

Biya signs a flurry of acts between each of his trips. For example, in 2017, he signed a dozen laws — the entire legal output for that year – in a couple of days. It took him just three days to sign the entire year’s decrees.

According to Mbembe, the Cameroonian political scientist, Biya’s decrees mostly nominate civil servants to certain positions rather than directing any substantial course in policy.

“His way of exercising power is to not decide,” Mbembe said in a phone interview, “nobody knows what Biya thinks, or what he’ll do… everything can be changed from one day to the next”. He has become a “ghostly figure” leaving civil servants without direction. According to Mbembe, the unpredictability allows Biya to instil a fear of retribution in his ruling apparatus, as well as hopes of nominations to positions rendered lucrative by corruption.

It’s a system that has kept everyone in check for 35 years — including those with ambition to take over power. But it could lead to a chaotic vacuum when the 85-year old president passes – whether he’s in his West African homeland or in a luxury hotel room far overseas.

Source: Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

The leader of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), Ni John Fru Ndi has announced his decision not to contest the 2018 presidential elections, which according to the ruling CPDM crime syndicate should be held between the 14^th of September and the 14^th of October.

The 77 year old Southern Cameroonian who is also the founder and current chairman of the SDF, the so-called second-largest force in the National Assembly added that he intends to remain the head of the Social Democratic Front.

Three senior members of the SDF have so far made public their intention to run for the presidency and they include, Joshua Osih, Joseph Mba-Ndam and Tchinda Forbi. John Fru was a candidate in the presidential elections in 1992 and 2011.

By Fru James in Bamenda