The appointment of Ngwane George Esambe as a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism has reportedly generated a political debate within the Francophone political elites in Yaoundé with some French speaking newspapers reporting that he was an advisor to the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium identified by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime as the main instigator of the Southern Cameroons Crisis.

A cream of Francophone elites however observed that by appointing Ngwane, Biya simply made a political gesture which has failed. George Ngwane has recently been profiled as one of the Southern Cameroons intellectuals who have never hidden his convictions particularly that of an independent state for Southern Cameroons. Some moderates inside the regime painted Ngwane as an activist and a pacifist who is also the founder of Africaphonie, a Pan-African organization working for the strengthening of democracy and economic development.

Some Francophone political commentators have however maintained that through his appointment, Paul Biya wants to use some of those who have been accused of dividing Cameroon to try to appease Southern Cameroonians.  Ngwane George is not a solid and popular Anglophone leader and therefore his presence in the commission is inconsequential, noted an ardent supporter of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

By Fru James

Chief Tabetando of Bachuo-Ntai village in Manyu Division, who recently boasted that he requested the Head of State to shut down internet services in Southern Cameroons, has been elected to replace former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge as leader of the CPDM Senate Group.  The elections held on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé.

 As Speaker of the Senate, there were no surprises. The candidature of the outgoing President Marcel Niat Njifenji proposed by the ruling party with a majority in the Senate had an express approval. He won 74 votes against 15 invalid ballots.

The new chairman of the CPDM Senate group is Chief Tabe Tando, Senator of the Southwest Region. He replaces former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge, recently appointed to head the Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multicuturalism.

Chief Tabetando was born on the 29th of October 1950 in Bachou-Ntai, Manyu Division, South West region of Cameroon. Nfor Tabetando is a qualified Legal Practitioner who is the head of a Law Firm named and styled Equity Chambers in Douala, Cameroon since 1975. He was the President of the South West Chiefs Conference and a chartered member of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM party in Cameroon.

He also moonlighted as the Vice President of the Cameroon National Forum of Chiefs/Fons/Lamidos. He was enthroned in 1977 as the paramount ruler of the Bachuo-Ntai Kingdom, in Manyu Division of the South West Region. Nfor Tabetando is also actively involved in the oil sector. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of EurOil Limited.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

The National Communication Secretary of the Social Democratic Front, Denis Kemlemo, has announced an ordinary session of the National Executive Committee of the so-called main opposition party in Cameroon. The meeting will hold in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital on March 25^th 2017. The Yaoundé NEC meeting comes after that of Bamenda that took place on January 28, 2017.

Denis Kemlemo did not provide any particular reason for the holding of a NEC meeting in Yaoundé. But other SDF sources say the fact that all MPs and the Senators are currently in Yaoundé obliges the party to hold the NEC forum in Yaoundé. Although the agenda is not yet known, it is a well-established fact that the meeting will be to prepare for the next elections.

According to Denis Kemlemo, the commissions that were set up during the last NEC are functioning and are presently working on the reports that will be presented on March 25th. The different regional presidents will submit to the Secretary General of the SDF the results from the primaries of their respective regions. These lists are important not only for the NEC nominations but also for the scheduling of the delegations that will participate in the next party convention to take place on the 28, 29 and 30 of April 2017 in Bamenda.  It should be said that the elective convention of the SDF is planned for the month of April 2017.

By Rita Akana

Fitch Ratings, an international financial rating agency has hinted that two factors could affect Cameroon’s public policy. The international rating agency revealed that the two issues include “Who will succeed the 84 year old President of the Republic Paul Biya and the Southern Cameroons Crisis. For the agency, these two factors could affect the country’s public policy. The Fitch Ratings analysis echoed an earlier revelation by the New York Stock Exchange.

Cameroon was also the subject of a meeting of the Citigroup Inc., a major financial institution based in the United States. During the meeting, the financial experts of Citigroup analyzed Cameroon from a political and economic point of view and concluded that the impact of the barbaric acts of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram in the northern part of Cameroon has real implication on the political stability of the country.

The uncertainty of Cameroon has always been around what will happen on the political front after Mr Biya, especially since the country has no post of vice-president. Political commentators have little insight into how any potential political succession could play out. However, on a positive note, there seems to be a little more confidence in Cameroon, and constitutional means to solve the problem of succession are now well in place, even if political issues remain unresolved.

The president of the so-called Senate has 120 days to organize new elections to which he cannot present himself.  The Francophone political elites have exploited the Southern Cameroons crisis and reduced Prime Minister Philemon Yang and Senator Peter Mafany Musonge to ordinary politicians not fit to govern after Biya.

Moreover, local political sentiment seems to accept that with more than 300 ethnic and tribal groups in the country there is a strong history of politically negotiated compromise in case the post-Biya elections do not lead to a clear winner.  For Fitch Ratings, the International Monetary Fund should focus on the risks posed by post-Biya and the Anglophone crisis that has already lasted for several months with far reaching consequences on the economy of the country.

By Sama Ernest

Francophone media houses in Yaounde have once again questioned the where about of the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou. The Biya confidante has disappeared from the public eye of late and he is conspicuously absent from the Biya delegation in Rome.

Presidential press releases published recently such as the one announcing Paul Biya’s trip to Italy carried but the signature of the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and in some occasions, Joseph Le, who is currently deputizing for Martin Belinga Eboutou.

A sister publication, Cameroun Info.Net contacted the State House on the sudden disappearance of Martin Belinga but got a  laconic reply from the presidency saying the Minister was “simply unavailable”. Some sources say the Minister Director of Civil Cabinet is absent due to poor health.

77-year-old Martin Belinga Eboutou, took ill last year and was evacuated to Europe.  He returned safely in July 2017 and ended a rumor that had announced his death.

Here is the list of personalities who are currently with the Cameroonian dictator in Rome for a three-day state visit.

-Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, Minister of Public Works

-Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development

-Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of Higher Education

– Mbella Mbella, Minister of Foreign Affairs

-Paul Elung Che, Delegate to the Minister of Finance in charge of the Budget

-Hamadou Moustapha, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic

-Mengot Victor Arrey-Nkongho, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic

-Joseph Le, Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet

-Luc Sindjoun, Special Adviser

-Joseph Fouda, Special Advisor

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

Southern Cameroon groups fighting for an independent state have reacted to the appointment of members into the so-called National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism in Cameroon by President Biya. The exiled leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have appealed to Southern Cameroonians to isolate the Biya regime and its agents such as ministers, governors, SDOs and Dos.

The Consortium maintains the degree was a ploy for Biya to buy time and eventually stifle the people’s revolution. Prominent Southern Cameroonians contacted by our reporters have all observed that the government was unwilling to concede to any Southern Cameroons proposals for institutional changes to usher in genuine federalism. All what Mr. Biya and the CPDM was bent on doing, an operations manager of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium remarked, was to promote laws and policies that would continue to marginalized Anglophones and return the country to a one-party Francophone system.

Southern Cameroonians are now watching with concern the Biya’s Francophone Beti Ewondo government’s resolve to destroy the Anglophone identity by out rightly refusing the dialogue with the detained leaders of the Consortium and also rejecting the idea of federalism. The current Biya appointments of CPDM agents clarified a senior aide to the detained Chairman of the Consortium, Barrister Agbor Balla has not been welcomed by Southern Cameroonians and it is not any reliable means to defuse the political tension created by the Anglophone crisis.

The exiled leaders of the Consortium have warned Southern Cameroonians including CPDM political elites not to betray the struggle by accepting appointments from a man who has a track record of anti-Anglophone policies. The Consortium has uncovered a plan hatched by the Biya Francophone regime to destabilize Southern Cameroonians and have called on all Anglophones to resolutely fight against La Republique du Cameroun and its against the intrigues and malpractices of its cabinet ministers.

Citing the case of Southern Cameroonian detainees, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium exile leaders bashed the regime for gross violation of human rights in Southern Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

President Biya has finally appointed a new governor for the Center region. Following a series of decrees made public on Monday the 13^th of March 2017, the Cameroonian dictator appointed Paul Naseri Bea, the current Senior Divisional Officer for Wouri in the Littoral region as governor of the Center region, replacing the late Joseph Otto Wilson who died last year.

In another decree appointing Prefects, the Secretary General at the North West governor’s office, Absolon Monono Wulua was appointed Senior Divisional Officer for Momo Division in the North West.  It is important to include in this report that Paul Naseri Bea also hails from the Ndian constituency like his late predecessor.

By Sonne Peter