24, October 2017
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Musonge playing the Francophone card 0
The president of the so-called National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism has issued a political statement after he led a delegation of CPDM elites to the Buea Province in Southern Cameroons. Mafany Musonge said the people of Southern Cameroons are in favour of decentralization not secession.
Former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge made the revelation after he reportedly met some, political intellectuals, traditional leaders, businessmen and leaders of civil society associations.
At the end of the consultations, Musonge and his gang pointed out there “there are localities where access by roads is a huge problems.” The CPDM Senator who as Prime Minister Minister did not carry an iota of development to West Cameroon observed that there are the problems of education, infrastructures which can be resolve through the effective implementation of decentralization.
Musonge summarized his findings in four main points: effective implementation of decentralization, construction of basic infrastructure, respect for the regional balance and representation of girls and sons of the two Anglophone regions in decision-making positions in the public administration as well as in the government.
A spokesperson for the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council has dismissed the Musonge declarations as “mere political rhetoric”. The Governing Council indicated recently that it has been 23 years ever since Mr Paul Biya spoke of decentralization and nothing has been implemented.
By Rita Akana, CCN
24, October 2017
Italy: Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni ready to discuss calls for great autonomy 0
The Italian government is ready to open negotiations with Lombardy and Veneto after the two wealthy regions voted overwhelmingly for greater autonomy, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday.
Unlike a recent referendum on independence in Catalonia, which sparked a political crisis in Spain, the Italian votes this weekend were legal, but not binding on Rome.
Making clear he had no intention of making a drama out of the twin ballots, Gentiloni said he was ready to discuss how Lombardy and Veneto wanted to proceed.
“Here we are talking about how to make Italy work better. We are not calling into question Italy and its unity,” Gentiloni said during a visit to an oil refinery close to Venice, the capital of the northeastern Veneto region.
“The government is ready to look into the merits of this … it will be a complex discussion that can’t be done in five minutes,” he added.
Regional governments have the right to ask for greater oversight in 23 policy areas, including the environment, infrastructure, health and education.
The most delicate negotiations are likely to be over tax returns, with Veneto demanding that it be allowed to spend 90 percent of all the taxes raised on its own territory.
Among Italy’s 20 regions, Lombardy and Veneto account for just under a third of its economic output and are home to around 25 percent of its population.
Italy’s poorer, less developed southern regions are worried that they will receive less funding in future if Lombardy and Veneto get to keep more of their own tax take.
Five regions in Italy — the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and three relatively small border areas with linguistic minorities — already have special autonomous status under the constitution. Veneto wants to join them.
However, this would need a change to the constitution, which the government seems unwilling to accept.
“We are ready (to grant greater powers) within the limits fixed by our laws and by our constitution,” Gentiloni said.
Negotiations are likely to take many months and look certain to be interrupted by national elections due by next May. Any deal between the government and the regions will have to be approved by parliament.
The latest opinion polls suggest a hung parliament will emerge from the forthcoming election, making it impossible to predict the government formation that will carry on the negotiations.
(Source: Reuters)