Politics

21, January 2019

Cabinet Reshuffle: The Rise and Rise of Chantal Biya 0

Ever since the formation of the last two governments, (March 02, 2017 and January 4, 2019), Cameroonian public opinion including that of the independent press have attributed a vast majority of those appointed to first lady Chantal Biya.

Some senior editorialists have even observed that Chantal Biya named the Philemon Yang and now Dion Ngute governments which have several relatives of the Cameroonian lady holding key positions in the cabinet and heading lucrative state-owned companies. These Chantal Biya family members are very influential and feared by other members serving in the Biya regime.

Many in Yaounde, the nation’s capital have opined that Chantal Biya is slowly but surely positioning her kinsmen and women in leading position in the administration. Among them, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister Secretary-General of the presidency of the republic, the most powerful member of the Chantal Biya galaxy who was made minister of state on the 4th of January.

There is also Pierre Ismael Bidoung Mkpatt Minister of Sports, (his wife Habissou Bidoung Mkpatt is in the circle of the closest to the first lady) and Oswald Baboke, (originally from the East and not Nanga-Eboko as the wife of the Cameroonian president). Oswald Baboke is the deputy director of the civil cabinet, responsible for the private affairs of the first lady. Baboke is currently one of Cameroon’s most influential leaders.

Cat calls greeted the Dion Ngute government and subsequently generated some controversies over the weekend when a large number of Cameroon government ministers appointed on the 4th of January 2019 traveled to Nanga-Eboko, Chantal Biya’s hometown and stronghold of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh for a meeting of thanks to the head of state for appointing them into the government.

By Sama Ernest with files

Nigeria: Corruption takes centre stage in election campaign

20, January 2019

Nigeria: Corruption takes centre stage in election campaign 0

Corruption is taking centre stage in the run-up to Nigeria’s presidential elections, with the incumbent accused of failing to tackle the scourge of graft and his challenger facing claims about his past.

Muhammadu Buhari, an austere and pious former general, will take on wealthy former vice-president Atiku Abubakar at the polls on February 16.

Both are ethnic Hausas, Muslims from the country’s north. Buhari, who rose to power in 2015 on a promise to eradicate the “cancer” of graft gnawing at Africa’s most populous nation, has cultivated an image of blamelessness.

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s political “godfather” closely allied with Buhari, earlier this month described him as “a straight and honest man”.

“Leave a naira (local currency) on the table with Buhari in the room. You will find the naira on the table when you return,” he said, in a thinly veiled criticism of Abubakar.

For his part, Abubakar is alleged to have amassed several hundred million dollars by misusing public funds as vice-president under Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 — yet he has never been investigated in his own country.

“On the issue of corruption, I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward,” Abubakar has said.

“I will shock everyone because I believe that I will fight corruption like never before.” But in the United States, Abubakar’s name has popped up in a Senate investigation into money laundering.

It charged in a 2010 report that US national Jennifer Douglas, Abubakar’s fourth wife, “helped her husband bring over $40 million (35 million euros) in suspect funds into the United States through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to US bank accounts.”

The couple are also accused of having received more than two million dollars in commissions for a contract with German industrial giant Siemens, which has since pleaded guilty in the case.

– Two essential reforms –

But this week Abubakar put paid to rumours that he was subject to a visa ban and unable to travel to the US by jetting to Washington for meetings with American counterparts. Abubakar told AFP last year he would retain no stakes in his various companies if he is elected president.

His sprawling business empire includes interests in telecommunications, transport, real estate, agriculture, import/export and healthcare.

Verifying his pledge to stand aside will be difficult in the opaque economic system in Nigeria, which global watchdog Transparency International ranked in the 148th place of a total 180 countries for corruption in 2017.

Buhari stands in stark contrast to his flamboyant fellow northerner’s private jet, Rolex watches and luxury cars.

His spokesman in 2015 said the president had “an austere and spartan lifestyle”, unlike other Nigerian politicians who have amassed wealth during their careers.

But Buhari, who vowed to usher in more transparent and accountable government, has come under harsh criticism for an apparent lack of progress in the fight against graft.

Steps in the right direction have included two essential reforms — a single Treasury account for all government revenue and the introduction of a biometric identification system in banks to better trace clients and transfers of funds.

“Those are the two areas I commend the government,” said Saadatu Falila Hamu, a specialist anti-corruption lawyer based in Abuja.

“But despite this, the government has focused their fight against corruption on people of the opposing political parties.” Hamu also faulted Nigeria’s main anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for “inefficiency”.

– Oil contracts –

In November, EFCC director Ibrahim Magu boasted having seized the equivalent of $2.3 billion as well as sumptuous villas, jewellery, and cars — but often outside legal procedures.

Buhari has pledged to review all oil exploitation contracts to be renewed after this year. Such an electoral promise “can either lead to total chaos in the industry or lead to sanity”, said analyst Soji Apampa.

Nigeria depends on oil sales for 70 percent of its revenues. In 2013 under president Goodluck Jonathan, the head of the central bank reported a $20 billion shortfall in revenue — a scandal that helped bring about Jonathan’s fall and Buhari’s election in 2015.

Nevertheless, the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, considered a slush fund for successive governments, remains notoriously opaque and Buhari — who is also oil minister — named a close associate to head it.

“Imagine a broken pipeline with all of Nigeria’s resources flowing through it. Instead of fixing the hole, you bring a man with a whip” to deter people from stealing, Apampa said. “We haven’t seen a government with an elaborate plan” to repair the pipeline, he added.

 AFP

20, January 2019

Congo-Kinshasa: Top court upholds Tshisekedi presidential election win 0

DR Congo’s top court on Sunday declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of disputed presidential elections after throwing out a legal challenge by the runner-up.

Announcing the final results of the long awaited poll, the Constitutional Court said Tshisekedi had won by a simple majority, paving the way for him to take over from longterm leader Joseph Kabila in an official ceremony on Tuesday.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu immediately called on the international community to reject the results, after the court said his appeal was “unfounded”.

“I ask the entire international community not to recognise a power that has neither legitimacy nor legal standing to represent the Congolese people,” he said of Tshisekedi, declaring himself “the only legitimate president”.

Inspired by

Tshisekedi’s victory was first announced earlier this month based on provisional results by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) but it was challenged both at home and abroad, with the African Union appealing for the final results to be delayed.

On Sunday, the Consitutional Court said Fayulu had failed to prove any inaccuracies. “Only the CENI has produced authentic and sincere results,” judge Noel Kilomba said.

Hundreds of supporters of Tshisekedi had gathered outside the court holding placards saying “No to interference” and “Independent country” as riot police stood nearby.

‘Not their business’

The election commission announced on January 10 that Tshisekedi had provisionally won with 38.57 percent of the vote against Fayulu’s 34.8 percent.

Fayulu denounced the figures as an “electoral coup” forged by Tshisekedi and Kabila, and filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court.

At a summit on Thursday, AU leaders said there were “serious doubts” about the vote’s provisional results and called for the announcement of the final results to be suspended.

But DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende had snubbed the demand, saying: “I don’t think it is the business of the government or even of the African Union to tell the court what it should do.”

The AU also announced that its commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, currently the AU chairman, were expected to fly to DR Congo on Monday.

The European Union said it joined the AU in inviting “all the Congolese players to work constructively with this (AU) delegation to find a post-electoral solution which respects the Congolese people’s vote”.

Appeal

The Financial Times and other foreign media have reported seeing documents that confirm Fayulu as the winner.

“If the court declares Tshisekedi victor, the risk of isolation would be enormous and untenable for a country positioned right in the middle of the continent,” Adeline Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote on Twitter.

Fayulu’s camp had hailed the AU appeal for the final result to be put on hold, but Tshisekedi’s entourage branded it “scandalous”.

The dispute has raised fears that the political crisis that began when Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional term in office two years ago, could turn into a bloodbath. The vast and chronically unstable country lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003, and the previous two elections, in 2006 and 2011, were marred by bloody clashes.

The AU has taken the firmest line of all major international bodies with regard to the post-election crisis. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a bloc that includes Angola and South Africa, initially called for a recount and a unity government.

But in a later communique, it made no mention of those demands, instead calling on Congolese politicians to “address any electoral grievances in line with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitution and relevant electoral laws”.

(AFP)

US: Trump offers deal to end government shutdown despite rejection by Dems

20, January 2019

US: Trump offers deal to end government shutdown despite rejection by Dems 0

US President Donald Trump has offered a deal to end the government shutdown, linking protection for undocumented immigrants to funding of a border wall, amid immediate rejection by Democratic lawmakers.

Addressing the nation on Saturday in a televised speech from the White House, Trump outlined a plan that would extend temporary protections for young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children — known as Dreamers — and individuals from some Central American and African nations, in exchange for $5.7 billion funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border.

“Both sides in Washington must simply come together, listen to each other, put down their armor, build trust, reach across the aisle and find solutions,” Trump proclaimed, but then insisted, “A wall is not immoral. The radical left can never control our borders. I will never let that happen.”

He further added, “As a candidate for president, I promised I would fix this crisis, and I intend to keep that promise one way or the other.”

According to local press reports, Trump’s deal would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients for three years and a three-year extension of protections for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in exchange for the partial border wall funding.

Democrats, however, quickly rejected the deal, with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York emphasizing  that Trump’s offering some protections for DACA and TPS recipients “in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking.”

File photo of US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Photo by AFP)

Schumer further accused the US president of “putting forward one-sided and ineffective remedies,” adding, “There’s only way out: open up the government, Mr. President, and then Democrats and Republicans can have a civil discussion and come up with bipartisan solutions.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi further described Trump’s proposal as a “non-starter” in a statement released shortly before his nationally-televised speech, insisting that the deal could not pass the House of Representative.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) answers questions during her weekly press conference January 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

“Democrats were hopeful that the president was finally willing to re-open government and proceed with a much-need discussion to protect the border. … It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter,” Pelosi further said in her statement.

The development came as tensions are also running high between Trump and Pelosi after she asked him to postpone the annual State of the Union address, slated for January 29. Trump in turn prevented lawmakers from using military aircraft for congressional trips, including for Pelosi’s planned visit to the war-torn Afghanistan this week.

PressTV-Tensions rising between Trump, Pelosi over shutdown

This is while two congressional aides cited in local press reports also pointed out that Democratic leadership was not consulted on the forthcoming White House proposal, further noting that Democrats had previously rejected similar ideas.  

“Similar inadequate offers from the Administration were already rejected by Democrats. The BRIDGE Act does not fully protect Dreamers and is not a permanent solution,” said a senior House Democratic aide. 

“This is not a compromise as it includes the same wasteful, ineffective $5.7 billion wall demand that shut down the government in the first place,” the aide added. 

Trump also underlined in his speech that he was making his pitch to “break the logjam” that has paralyzed Washington since late December, leaving roughly a quarter of the government closed and forcing roughly 800,000 federal employees be furloughed or work without pay.

The partial government shutdown, which marks the longest lapse in funding in modern US history, is currently in its 29th day as the stalemate over the funding of the border wall persists.

Meanwhile, several recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans blame Trump for the partial shutdown after the US president left a meeting earlier this month with Pelosi when the House speaker said she wouldn’t discuss border wall funding even if he reopened the government.

Seeking to make his case during his speech, Trump further seized on his belief that there is a “crisis” along the border requiring “urgent action.”

“Illegal immigration reduces wages and strains public services. The lack of border control provides a gateway, a very wide and open gateway, for criminals and gang members to enter the United States,” he claimed.

Source: Presstv

International Criminal Court grants prosecution request to keep President Gbagbo in custody

19, January 2019

International Criminal Court grants prosecution request to keep President Gbagbo in custody 0

Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo will stay behind bars at least until a fresh appeal hearing on February 1, despite his acquittal this week by the International Criminal Court, the tribunal said Friday.

Judges cleared 73-year-old Gbagbo on Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity relating to a wave of violence after disputed elections in 2010, and ordered his immediate release. The crisis claimed some 3,000 lives.

But prosecutors at the Hague-based court challenged the release of Gbagbo, who has already spent seven years in jail, saying he should be detained while they make a broader appeal over his acquittal.

“The detention of Mr Laurent Gbagbo… shall be maintained pending the consideration of the present appeal” against his release, the ICC’s appeals judges said in a statement.

They will hold a fresh hearing on February 1 “in order to hear further submissions on the appeal.” Judges made the same order for Gbagbo’s co-defendant and right-hand man Charles Ble Goude.

Prosecutors had argued that there was a “concrete” risk the Ivorian pair fail to return to the ICC if a subsequent appeal overturned Tuesday’s decision to acquit them. Gbagbo’s daughter has said he intended to return to the Ivory Coast if released.

(AFP)

18, January 2019

Brexit: Merkel’s protege to Britain: We will miss you 0

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s protégé has appealed to Britain not to leave the European Union (EU) as the clock is ticking down to Brexit in 70 days.

German conservative leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who succeeds Merkel as leader of the Christian Democrats, joined a dozen of German politicians, industrialists and artists, appealing to the UK not to leave the union.

“Britons should know: from the bottom of our hearts, we want them to stay,” said the letter, which was published in The Times newspaper. “Without your great nation, this continent would not be what it is today.”

“Should Britain wish to leave the European Union for good, it will always have friends in Germany and Europe,” it added.

“After the horrors of the Second World War, Britain did not give up on us. It has welcomed Germany back as a sovereign nation and a European power,” said the letter.

The move is considered as a major U-turn in Berlin’s policy after Merkel said earlier this week that there would be “no renegotiation” in a new deal between the union and the UK.

The chancellor will leave power in 2021, with Kramp-Karrenbauer taking over as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. She warned on Wednesday that “for me, it is clear that there cannot be any renegotiation.”

Merkel made the remarks to the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee immediately after May’s Withdrawal Agreement was historically voted out on Tuesday.

PressTV-May urges party talks after surviving confidence vote

Lawmakers roundly rejected the deeply-contested Brexit deal that May had negotiated with the EU.

The lawmakers, who want either a further referendum or a softer version of the exit, are trying to stop Brexit altogether or to leave without a deal.

The prime minister, who narrowly won a no- confidence vote on Wednesday, called on all parties to “focus on finding a way forward on Brexit.”

The defeat of the departure agreement can lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even a reversal of the 2016 EU referendum, where 52 percent of Britons voted in favor of Brexit.

There are 70 days left before Brexit, but May has not rejected holding talks on extending the negotiating period beyond the current departure date of March 29.

Source: Presstv

African Union calls on Congo-Kinshasa to delay release of final vote results

18, January 2019

African Union calls on Congo-Kinshasa to delay release of final vote results 0

The African Union on Thursday called on Democratic Republic of Congo to suspend the release of the final results of its disputed presidential election due to its doubts over the provisional results.

The rare move from the group injects fresh uncertainty into the post-election process, which was meant to usher in the country’s first democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence, but has been mired in controversy since the Dec. 30 vote.

The final tally is scheduled to be released by the election commission once the constitutional court has ruled on challenges to the provisional results on Friday, but the union called for this to be postponed following a meeting in Addis Ababa.

“The Heads of State and Government attending the meeting concluded that there were serious doubts on the conformity of the provisional results as proclaimed by the National Independent Electoral Commission, with the verdict of the ballot boxes,” it said in a statement.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was unprecedented. “I cannot remember another instance where the AU called for a suspension of certification of results.”

The Congolese foreign ministry declined to comment on the union’s statement and the office of President Joseph Kabila could not immediately be reached.

Opposition leader and election runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested the recount, claiming he won by a landslide and that the victory of another opposition figure, Felix Tshisekedi, was engineered by the authorities. Election officials deny the results were rigged.

The dispute risks further destabilising the volatile Central African country, where previous elections have been followed by violence. Earlier on Thursday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) eased pressure on Congolese authorities by backing off earlier calls for a recount.

Following an emergency meeting, the 16-member bloc said they would not push for one and called on the international community to respect the Congolese electoral process.

Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager, says Tshisekedi, who is the president of Congo’s largest opposition party, struck a deal with outgoing president Kabila to be declared winner.

Tshisekedi’s and Kabila’s camps deny that. Congo is the world’s leading miner of cobalt, used in electric car batteries and mobile phones, and Africa’s biggest copper producer. It also mines gold and diamonds. But unrest, disorganisation and corruption have left many in poverty and dissatisfied with Kabila’s rule.

Court judgement

Fayulu has said he is not confident he will win on Friday before the nine-judge Constitutional Court, which he considers friendly to Kabila. The United States on Wednesday kept up the pressure on Kinshasa, vowing to “hold accountable” anyone who undermines democratic processes.

Domestic election monitors noted a range of voting irregularities, and the Catholic Church said official results are inconsistent with its own tallies.

Three diplomats briefed on the Church’s findings said they show that Fayulu won a clear victory. In a report on Thursday, domestic election observer mission SYMOCEL called on the national electoral commission to publish results for each of the more than 50,000 polling stations.

SYMOCEL also said that the commission had relied on results taken from voting machines with USB sticks rather than hand-counted tallies in legislative and provincial assembly elections held the same day, in violation of electoral law.

A commission spokeswoman had no immediate comment. Kabila’s ruling coalition won a clear majority in those elections, which could undermine the next president’s ability to make a break with the outgoing president’s 18-year tenure.

(REUTERS)

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya unveils 2019 “road map” to new cabinet

18, January 2019

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya unveils 2019 “road map” to new cabinet 0

Cameroonian President Paul Biya on Wednesday made his plan of action for 2019 known to Council of Ministers, according to the presidency.

The plan of action will focus fundamentally on security and development, according to the Prime Minister and the Head of Government Joseph Dion Ngute.

“We have to work on security, maintaining peace in the four corners of the country and advancing the economic program of Cameroon so as to get to emergence in 2035. And of course we have to work on the program for the youths to ensure that we give the youths a satisfaction and make them fulfill their potentials,” Ngute told reporters after the meeting.

Biya also asked the government officials to restore peace in the two troubled English-speaking regions where a conflict about independence from the largely French-speaking country had been escalating, according to some officials who attended the meeting.

It was the first council meeting since the cabinet reshuffle on Jan. 4.

Source: Xinhua

How Dr Kwameh Nkrumah’s 1959 visit proves that the one and indivisible Cameroon mantra is a hoax

15, January 2019

How Dr Kwameh Nkrumah’s 1959 visit proves that the one and indivisible Cameroon mantra is a hoax 0

In 1959, at the invitation of the government of Southern Cameroons, Ghanaian President Kwameh Nkrumah visited Southern Cameroon and was welcome at the Tiko International airport by then out-going Premier, Dr. EML Endeley and the incoming Prime Minister-elect, JN Foncha, after the 1959 general election victory of the KNDP.

Dr Nkrumah left Tiko and flew back to Accra; he did not go to Yaounde or Dschang or Nkongsamba. CPDM regime sycophants and apologists of monolithic hangover can now see that the one, united and indivisible Cameroon mantra is a hoax.

Southern Cameroons was a country of its own, with all the appurtenances of a nation state – a government, its own police force, Parliament and a Senate called House of Chiefs. Southern Cameroons was never part of French Cameroun and Nkrumah’s visit proved this historic fact beyond reasonable doubt.

The Ambazonian Interim Gov’t: Recognising some important achievements

14, January 2019

The Ambazonian Interim Gov’t: Recognising some important achievements 0

To say the IG has not done anything good in this revolution is just clear evidence that whoever is speaking is not honest.   This is a limited list of achievements by the Ambazonian Interim Government:

  1. 11 February – dead and buried
  2. 20 May -dead and buried
  3. 1st October – alive
  4. Consistent Ghost towns- alive
  5. Ambazonia now in the mouth of journalists and law makers in different countries.
  6. LGA by LGA a new strategy of sustainability people leading from bottom up.
  7. Leadership which was incommunicado now known to be alive. IG footing legal bills
  8. ABC TV our own 100% state own TV.
  9. Two resolutions passed in the US Congress in our favour.
  10. UK House of Commons debate on Ambazonia
  11. UK promise over 1.4 million pounds for aid to IDPs of Ambazonia
  12. UN Security Council discussed Ambazonia crisis and ordered Biya to dialogue and get to the root of the matter with us.
  13. Over 500 LRC terrorists sent to hell. Hundred of LRC military vehicles decommissioned.
  14. Huge economic loses to LRC control enterprises.

-CDC

-Lobe palm estate

-Delmonte banana

-Rubber plant

  1. Serious economic crises on LRC military soldiers going without pay for months sending LRC to dive deeper in debts.
  2. Presidential election – dead in Ambazonia.
  3. XAF or CFA suffers and on the brinks of devaluation

Let the people Ambazonia watch out for those who wish they were in control and trying to blackmail the Interim Government so they can have their way.   No government in this world is perfect. But you do not discredit a government because of few imperfections.

To say the IG has done nothing in 2017 is clear evidence that such a group or people have an agenda against the IG.  The people of Ambazonia should not allow power hungry people to manipulate them.

The Interim Government has inter alia

  • taken care of our refugees in Nigeria through our HSS department for 2years and counting
  • stopped la Republique elections of Oct 7th 2018 through nationwide lockdown
  • banned CPDM across our territory
  • rejected French Cameroun citizenship and now all known as Ambazonians
  • Taken care of our abducted people in La Republique dungeons for over 2years now and counting
  • declared the restoration of the independence of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia on October 1st 2017
  • stopped AFCON 2019 from taking place in La Republique du Cameroun
  • provided support to our bereaved families through HSS
  • provided medical assistance to our injured RFs
  • Successfully organized the sabotaged Washington AACC of August 2018
  • provided assistance to our people currently living in bushes across homeland through HSS
  • Rendered Douala Seaport worthless to CAR
  • Brought heavy voices of pan Africanists like Prof POL Lumumba, Jerry Rawlings, Massango of Punchline Africa, behind our cause
  • accomplished a comprehensive modern, 21st century market oriented academic curriculum for our education system
  • changed self defense game in GZ
  • established a robust and up to date website (www.ambazoniagov.org)for our cause in order to be able to sell our story across the world
  • More than 10 undisclosed potential positive diplomatic moves ongoing
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