8, January 2024

German football legend Franz Beckenbauer dies aged 78 ⁰

Franz Beckenbauer, one of German soccer’s greatest players, who captained the team to World Cup victory in 1974 then won the tournament again as manager in 1990, has died at the age of 78, German news agency DPA reported on Monday.

Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich, with whom he won three successive European Cups, and had the nickname Der Kaiser, or “The Emperor”.

Source: Reuters

8, January 2024

TB Joshua raped and tortured worshippers ⁰

Evidence of widespread abuse and torture by the founder of one of the world’s biggest Christian evangelical churches has been uncovered by the BBC.

Dozens of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members – five British – allege atrocities, including rape and forced abortions, by Nigeria’s late TB Joshua.

The allegations of abuse in a secretive Lagos compound span almost 20 years.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations did not respond to the allegations but said previous claims have been unfounded.

TB Joshua, who died in 2021, was a charismatic and hugely successful preacher and televangelist who had an immense global following.

The BBC’s findings over a two-year investigation include:

Dozens of eyewitness accounts of physical violence or torture carried out by Joshua, including instances of child abuse and people being whipped and chained

Numerous women who say they were sexually assaulted by Joshua, with a number claiming they were repeatedly raped for years inside the compound

Multiple allegations of forced abortions inside the church following the alleged rapes by Joshua, including one woman who says she had five terminations

Multiple first-hand accounts detailing how Joshua faked his “miracle healings”, which were broadcast to millions of people around the world

One of the victims, a British woman, called Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church. She spent the next 12 years as one of Joshua’s so-called “disciples” inside his maze-like concrete compound in Lagos.

“We all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen,” she told the BBC.

Rae says she was sexually assaulted by Joshua and subjected to a form of solitary confinement for two years. The abuse was so severe, she says she attempted suicide multiple times inside the compound.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations [Scoan] has a global following, operating a Christian TV channel called Emmanuel TV and social media networks with millions of viewers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, tens of thousands of pilgrims from Europe, the Americas, South East Asia and Africa travelled to the church in Nigeria to witness Joshua performing “healing miracles”. At least 150 visitors lived with him as disciples inside his compound in Lagos, sometimes for decades.

Culled from the BBC

6, January 2024

Joseph Owona, former Biya acolyte dies aged 78 ⁰

Professor Joseph Owona, a cabinet minister under President Biya and a successful academic, has died aged 78.

A Cameroon government embassy official in Paris, France confirmed the death of the peer, who became Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and was later appointed Secretary General at the Presidency.

Owona served as right-hand man to the 91-year-old President Biya during the early days of multi-party politics.

He would later serve as Minister of Health, Minister of Youth and Sports and President of FIFA’s Normalization Committee of the Cameroon Football Federation and retained a keen interest in the International Relations Institute (IRIC) in Yaoundé.

In the early 90s, he made a mockery of Cameroon researchers accusing them of not producing any results.

Sometimes referred to as a Biya favourite, Professor Joseph Owona began his rise through politics deep inside the secretariat of the ruling CPDM Central Committee.

He was a controversial figure described by many as the minister who brought problems to Biya while others brought solutions.

Owona was a law professor at the heart of the Biya’s government promoting tribalism and nepotism. As Secretary General at the presidency, he was widely criticised for suggesting that no Bamileke could be head of state. He never withdrew his remarks after a firm rebuke from Etoudi but was removed from his role.

Born on 25 January 1945 in Akom, the polygamist served as a minister several times and was a member of the Constitutional Council from April 2020 to January 2024. He did his higher education at the University of Yaoundé and Panthéon-Sorbonne in France.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

6, January 2024

Boxing: Ngannou-Joshua match booked for 2024 ⁰

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will return to the ring to take on former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua’s promoter made the announcement on Friday (Jan. 05).

37-year-old Cameroonian Ngannou has boxed only once professionally.

Joshua is a 34-year-old Briton who has been world champion twice after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics.

He beat Swede Otto Wallin on December 23rd, to seal his third straight victory last year.

In October, Francis Ngannou scored a stunning knockdown on Tyson Fury but lost his inaugural boxing fight on a split decision.

A press conference has been scheduled on January 15 to reveal the details of the Ngannou-Joshua clash, which is set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It will be a 10-round bout, according to reports.

Source: Africa News

5, January 2024

Vatican and the deep divide: Pope Francis under increasing pressure ⁰

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, is facing increasingly strong opposition inside the Vatican. The conservative clan of the Roman Curia – the powerful governing body of the Holy See – accuses him of a laxist vision of Catholic doctrine, particularly regarding the status of homosexual couples and divorced people in the Church.

After more than a decade as pontiff, Pope Francis finds himself facing a major challenge: maintaining the unity of the Catholic Church’s 1.3 billion faithful worldwide. This task is made even more complex by hefty criticism of Francis’s governance from conservative circles. The pope is critiqued in particular for an overly laxist doctrinal vision and a certain authoritarianism in Church management.

Since the death of his predecessor Benedict XVI at the end of 2022, pressure on Francis’s pontificate has intensified. The pontiff’s unprecedented and controversial decision on December 18 to authorise priests to bless homosexual couples under certain conditions is causing endless controversy. The “anti-Pope Francis” clan now seems more determined than ever to pursue its objective: push Francis out of office.

For now, the 87-year-old Argentinian pope is resisting and showing that he has no intention of stepping down, as long as his health allows him to continue leading the Church. But in the Vatican corridors, many now speak of a “lame-duck atmosphere”.

Source: France 24

5, January 2024

Africa Cup of Nations: Klopp not wishing Salah too much luck ⁰

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp joked Friday that he is not wishing Mohamed Salah too much luck at the Africa Cup of Nations as he prepares for a crucial spell of games without his top scorer.

Salah is away with Egypt for the tournament in Ivory Coast while Japan captain Wataru Endo will be involved at the Asian Cup in Qatar, with both players expected to go deep in the respective competitions.

That could mean they will not be back until the second week in February but Klopp said he sent them on their way this week without wishing them too much success.

“I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal on Sunday.

“From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it.

“So it was ‘Good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way.”

Klopp does not really have a suitable replacement for Salah, who plays on the right side of his attack and has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season.

Midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was touted as a potential option but he has been ruled out for at least two matches with a hamstring injury sustained in the New Year’s Day win over Newcastle.

But Klopp, whose side are top of the Premier League, is confident Liverpool can fill the hole left by Salah.

“I think we played against West Ham (in last month’s League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there,” he said.

“We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible — we just have to use the boys with their skills.

“Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn’t have to do it often but we always found a way.

“But we play Arsenal and you can lose to Arsenal with Mo Salah so it’s possible to lose to them without him.”

Klopp said he was braced for a challenging January, even though there are fewer Premier League games due to a mid-season player break.

Liverpool’s game at the Emirates comes just two weeks after the title-chasing sides drew 1-1 at Anfield in the Premier League and will be followed by the first leg of their League Cup semi-final against Fulham on Wednesday.

“Some teams obviously don’t play that often in January,” he said. “We don’t have that, we have now with the semi-final, we have a proper rhythm.

“I think a re-match against Arsenal would really not be helpful, that’s how it is, because it just doesn’t fit in, would kill the winter break, stuff like this.”

Source: AFP

4, January 2024

Biya’s 41-years rule: Medical doctors are now saying that HIV is like malaria ⁰

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé is in its 41-year plus in power amid a sea of broken political, economic and social promises.

Biya was ushered in with grandiose promises of economic prosperity and stability for the United Republic of Cameroon. However, after 41 years, it has become painfully evident that the so-called University of Sorbonne graduate remains a prominent and successful failure and his rigour and moralization policies have also been unfulfilled and has left Cameroon a divided nation with an economy that is in a state of continuous deterioration.

In his New Year address to the nation, Biya and his gang simply plagiarized his past speeches and the 2024 presentation to the people of Cameroon was an empty economic promise unveiled by a 91-year-old grand dad who should be in a care home in Mvomeka’a.

For 41 years, the Francophone dictator and his Francophone dominated regime have presented an array of promises spanning domestic and international matters, raising hopes for a brighter economic future in both French and English speaking Cameroon. Unfortunately, the passage of time has revealed these promises to be empty and baseless, perpetuating a shameful, disgusting and disheartening trend within the Biya administration. The Biya regime politics is all about money, women and sex including sponsoring irresponsible children in funny academic institutions abroad.

Nothing good can be attributed to Mr. Biya and his government. Immediately after Joseph Dion Ngute was appointed Prime Minister and Head of Government, Yaoundé told the world that the new Dion Ngute administration would bring down inflation. It was the same story with all the numerous Southern Cameroons prime ministers: Peter Mafany Musonge, Inoni Ephraim, and Philemon Yang. However, the harsh reality is that inflation is skyrocketing and escalating and Cameroonians are dying like flies.

Low-income households in both French and English speaking Cameroon have borne the brunt of Biya’s 41 years of economic failures, with housing rents and essential food items experiencing the most significant price hikes.

We of the Cameroon Intelligence Report and the Cameroon Concord News are of the opinion that the most important outcome of the 41-year rule of the Biya administration has been the collapse of the Cameroonian society with medical doctors now telling us that HIV is like malaria.

The French have been helping the Yaoundé regime to manage its budget deficit by printing money and borrowing from French financial establishments. The Biya government and by extrapolation-the Cameroonian people after 41-years actually owe the French thousands of billions of dollars.

For 41-years, Cameroonians have gone through everything name them: escalating prices, devaluation of the FCFA, Lake Nyos, Eseka train disaster, poverty, disease, genocides, Nsam fire disaster, diminishing incomes, rapes, political assassinations, rigged elections and by some strange happenstance, none of these ills fueled public discontent against Biya in French Cameroun.

For 41-years, Biya has continuously appointed his Beti-Bulu kinsmen who lack qualifications and experience to key positions. This questionable decision-making has undeniably contributed to the worsening economic situation in both French and English speaking Cameroon and has encouraged many who had hoped for competent leadership to leave the country. This begs the question: For how long are we going to continue watching these Francophone criminals destroy our future generation?

The stark reality is that all of the political, economic and social promises made when Biya took office on November 6, 1982 remain unfulfilled. Addressing these challenges will require not only a new and effective leadership but also a commitment to transparency, accountability, and competent governance.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, January 2024

US: Ambazonia asylum seekers faced severe abuse in ICE detention under Trump ⁰

For C.M., a member of Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, life in exile is a daily struggle.

Years ago, he was one of some 500,000 people displaced by a government crackdown on English speakers in the West African country. The violence, known as the Anglophone crisis, left hundreds of people dead and deepened festering divisions.

Seeking asylum, a legal status for migrants fleeing persecution, he made his way to the United States in 2019, only to be detained for more than a year and deported back to Cameroon — where he was once again detained, before bribing his interrogators and fleeing to Ghana, according to his account in the lawsuit.

C.M., who spoke on the condition that he be identified by his initials to protect his safety, is one of seven plaintiffs across three federal lawsuits filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and immigration authorities that allege African migrants seeking asylum faced racist abuse in U.S. detention facilities. Two of the suits allege hours-long confinement that amounted to torture in a full-body restraint called the “Wrap.”

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson said in an email that the agency does not comment on ongoing or pending litigation.

Living on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana’s capital, C.M. took on menial jobs and relied on the benevolence of advocates for deported asylum seekers. He grappled with the trauma of his mistreatment by authorities on two continents. And he said his deportation from the United States made him feel like an enslaved person.

“Our forefathers were taken from Africa in chains, and I was brought to Africa in chains,” he said, in an interview in his small rented apartment.

Four Cameroonian men seeking asylum, including C.M., were held for up to three years by ICE between 2018 and 2020, according to a suit filed in September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In 2020, the suit alleges, ICE sought to deport the men after Cameroonians at a Louisiana detention facility went on hunger strike to protest alleged mistreatment, including solitary confinement and the withholding of water.

While awaiting deportation, the men were detained in a device called the Wrap — “a temporary restraint system designed for emergency stabilization only,” according to the suit. Though people detained in the Wrap are meant to sit upright and remain free to breathe, the device was not used correctly, the suit alleges.

“Plaintiffs were restrained in The WRAP to silence them and other migrants and punish them for previous protests,” according to the suit. “They were left alone in the device for hours in some instances as they tried to alert officers to their medical issues and pain from the tightened strap folding their bodies into an acute angle stress position.”

C.M. and two other men were deported, upon which they had to live in hiding, the suit says. The suit seeks unspecified damages and the renewal of the men’s asylum claims. C.M. recently received a United Kingdom visa, according to his lawyer, and has traveled to Britain.

Had C.M. and his co-plaintiffs who were deported sought asylum in the United States just a few years later, they would have likely faced different circumstances.

In 2022, the Biden administration granted Cameroonians temporary protected status — a measure that the Trump administration fought to curtail that granted temporary permission to remain in the United States for migrants from select countries in the throes of war or disaster. Under Trump, the asylum process slowed to a crawl.

ICE’s use of the Wrap went against the manufacturer’s guidelines and was “unjustified and inhumane,” said Fatma E. Marouf, a law professor at Texas A&M University Law School, whose civil rights and immigration rights law clinics helped bring the litigation. “Our clients fled persecution in Cameroon and Uganda only to be subjected to severe physical and psychological harm in ICE custody,” she said.

“The treatment of Black migrants needs to be part of the broader conversation about race in this country,” she said.

Allegations in the suit align with findings by rights groups. In a report released in 2022, Human Rights Watch found that dozens of Cameroonians reported encountering “excessive force, medical neglect, and other mistreatment,” in ICE custody, only to face a range of abuses, including forced disappearances, torture and rape, upon deportation back to Cameroon.

“The US government utterly failed Cameroonians with credible asylum claims by sending them back to harm in the country they fled, as well as mistreating already traumatized people before and during deportation,” Lauren Seibert, a researcher at the New York-based rights group, said in a statement at the time.

A separate suit concerning an asylum seeker from Uganda filed in September by some of the same attorneys behind the Cameroon suit echoed the claims.

Steven Tendo sought asylum in 2018 after being repeatedly arrested and tortured by Ugandan authorities, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont. During one torture session in Uganda, according to the suit, two of his fingers were cut off.

When Tendo arrived in the United States in 2018, he faced further abuse while detained. Officials wouldn’t give him his diabetes medication. He was denied cataract surgery for five months — and was held in solitary confinement after speaking out about poor conditions, he alleges in the suit.

When officials attempted to deport Tendo, he faced mistreatment, including detention for hours in the Wrap on two occasions, the suit says. The first time officials used the Wrap, according to the suit, Tendo was not permitted to use the restroom and soiled himself.

“The strap that connected his torso to his lower legs, just above his ankles, was cinched up to an angle of around 45 degrees, making it very hard for him to breathe, causing extreme anxiety, and inflicting excruciating pain,” the suit alleges, as “part of a practice of abuse and discrimination by ICE.”

“Black asylum seekers from Africa and the Caribbean have repeatedly reported experiencing serious impediments to seeking asylum in the U.S. and harms in immigration detention, including racist targeting, physical and verbal abuse, and higher rates of detention, solitary confinement, and denial of asylum claims,” the suit alleges.

After dozens of members of Congress advocated for his release, Tendo, a Christian pastor, was freed in 2021. He is living in Vermont, awaiting a final decision in his asylum case, he said.

A critic of Uganda’s autocratic government, Tendo said he left after officials killed his brother. He came to the United States after flying to Brazil and making his way north to the Mexican border. He was detained by ICE for 26 months in conditions he said were “subhuman.”

“Today, if you asked me to choose between being in prison for 26 months in the U.S. and going back to my country for torture,” he said, “you can take me back.” U.S. detention “is the most dehumanizing place that I have ever seen on the planet.”

The lawsuits, which follow still another filed by Cameroonian nationals in August alleging abuse in detention, seeks compensatory damages and a declaration that the DHS and ICE violated their own policies, among other relief.

In response to a complaint by advocates for Tendo, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said it had issued formal recommendations to ICE “related to lack of policy, oversight, documentation, justification, lack of recording, training, use of the WRAP at detention facilities and during transport,” according to a letter from the office published by VTDigger, a Vermont investigative news outlet.

Charles Hammond is the CEO and president of Safe Restraints, the California company that sells the Wrap and trains people on how to use it. In an interview, he said that he was unfamiliar with the lawsuits’ allegations — but that the Wrap was designed to protect all people in conflict situations.

ICE had become one of the company’s top customers, the Guardian reported in 2022.

Hammond declined to comment on how specific agencies use the Wrap. However, he said that it is meant to end a conflict quickly and “control somebody in a manner that allows them to breathe and receive medical and mental health care.” He also said he was proud of the company’s 27-year track record.

“It’s not an agitation device — it’s a de-escalation tool,” he said.

Culled from The Washington Post

2, January 2024

Cameroon in 2024: Concord Group predictions ⁰

Hello Cameroon Concord People,

Thanks to you, 2023 was a year of unprecedented effectiveness and major successes for the Concord Group. Our ability to cover events everywhere and the reporting speed of our correspondents in all ten regions have been up to the challenges and dramatic events around Cameroon. We informed the world that there is genocide going on in Southern Cameroons and we told the EU and the UN that both journalists Samuel Wazizi and Martinez Zogo were killed by state agents. I thank you very sincerely.

Ever since we moved our editorial office from Essen in Germany to London in the United Kingdom, we resolved not to bother our readers with New Year resolutions. But we opted for New Year predictions and we were right with Minister Amadou Ali, Hon. Lifaka, Sultan Mbombo Njoya, Gervais Mendo Ze and Mayor Patrick Ekema.

We are already in 2024 so who are the politicians to die this year? Which African country would win the Africa Cup of Nations? Interestingly, our London Bureau Chief Isong Asu says that our focus should be on the most notable obituaries to read in 2024. Correspondingly, the 91-year-old Biya has wrong footed us again and again! But this 2024, he will not.

We of the Cameroon Intelligence Report and the Cameroon Concord News enjoy making predictions! But we are also aware that prediction is an unforgiving art. Sometimes, outcomes that you might expect such as the demise of an evil man like President Biya may turn out to be wrong. However, one of our readers in Leicester in the United Kingdom noted rightfully that faulty predictions can be helpful and also entertaining.

So here is what we of the Concord Group have set out as 2024 predictions! We also expect you to identify which of our predictions will turn out to be untrue on December 31st 2024.

Biya will win another presidential election and die in office.

After staging the election that will keep Biya in power, Minister Paul Atanga Nji will suffer a massive stroke and will die in a hospital in France.

Minister Ayang Luc of the so-called Economic and Social Council will move into his new mansion that has cost the Cameroonian tax payer hundreds of millions of FCFA and will die of an undisclosed illness in Yaoundé.

Chief Dr. Dion Ngute will be replaced as prime minister and head of government due to underperformance.

Minister Laurent Esso has led the ruling CPDM government to its last journey of many dangers—-the Martinez Zogo affair! He will receive his P45 this 2024.

Hon. Rose Abunaw, having been MP for both the CPDM and UNDP political parties will make a comeback into active politics in Yaoundé.

Write to us at cameroonconcordnews@gmail.com with your own predictions. Happy New Year!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, January 2024

Biya’s empty New Year Speech ⁰

Fellow Cameroonians,

My Dear Compatriots,

Over the past year which is drawing to an end, our country has been faced with numerous challenges.

Some of them result from an increasingly difficult international context. Others are due to purely domestic issues, most of which are long-standing.

I would like to start by assuring you that in spite of this difficult situation, we continued to cope, together, like the united and close-knit Nation that we have always been, our eyes riveted on a single objective, the only one that matters, namely progress.

As in the past, the said international context weighed heavily on our internal situation.

The lingering war in Eastern Europe continued to disrupt the supply channels of the global consumer products market.

Foodstuff and energy resource prices thus continued to rise as the conditions for accessing external financing tightened.

The resurgence, last October, of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict worsened the rifts within the international community and is now monopolizing its attention.

As expected, such a situation adversely impacted our country. It led to a general price hike in consumer products and, consequently, the cost of living. It also resulted in various types of shortages, including a shortage of petroleum products.

My Dear Compatriots,

The difficulties that I have just mentioned in no way dampened my resolve to work for the well-being of our people, who, without any doubt, massively trusted and continue to trust me.

Despite the unfavourable context, the Government, under my authority, continued its action with greater determination.

The laudable efforts made following the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure economic recovery yielded appreciable outcomes. The resilience of our economy was confirmed.

Proof of this, is our growth rate which continued to progress and was estimated at 3.9% in 2023, thanks notably to the performance of the non-oil sector.

The consumption support measures implemented by Government helped to contain and stabilize inflation at about 6.7%.

The implementation of various projects was continued or launched to meet the aspirations of the people and improve their wellbeing.

I would like to dwell for a moment on the most sensitive sectors.

The Project to Supply Drinking Water to the City of Yaounde and its Environs from the River Sanaga is virtually completed. Its imminent commissioning will help to substantially reduce the drinking water deficit in the city of Yaounde.

Studies on the Project to Supply Drinking Water to the City of Douala and its Environs are well advanced. In the long term, the city will be supplied an additional 400 thousand cubic metres of water daily.

Moreover, the Government has embarked on upgrading drinking water production stations in several secondary towns, namely Dschang, Yabassi, Garoua-Boulai, etc.

The requisite efforts will continue to be deployed to rehabilitate and extend the distribution networks of this precious resource in our towns and villages to make it more accessible to households.

Major strides were also made in the electricity sector to reduce our country’s energy deficit.

About 44 thousand solar panels have been installed in the three northern regions, covering 40% of electricity needs in the said regions.

The 420-megawatt Nachtigal Dam will be commissioned in the coming days.

The Lom Pangar Dam-toe plant will also be operational in 2024. It will help to increase energy supply in the town of Bertoua and its environs.

Several other hydropower facility projects are also planned or being launched. These include the Kikot, Minkouma, Grand Eweng and Bini à Warak dams.

In the long term, the installed capacity of all these facilities will secure our country’s electric energy self-sufficiency. Additionally, it will make us reach the enviable status of electricity-exporting country.

My Dear Compatriots,

I am aware of the extent to which the frequent water and electricity cuts are impacting your daily life and disrupting your activities.

I can assure you that the Government is sparing no effort to improve the situation in these core sectors.

I have instructed my Office to ensure celerity in administrative procedures and in sourcing for related financing by the relevant ministries.

The same instructions have been given with respect to the need to improve the situation of our road infrastructure.

As you must be aware, this problem is at the core of my concerns. The related challenges are multiple, the most acute of them being the inadequacy of financial resources.

However, I am pleased to note that we are also making relentless progress in this sector.

I am therefore satisfied that, during this year ending, over 700 kilometres of roads were asphalted or rehabilitated nationwide. Several related highway engineering structures were also built in the process.

Construction works on the Lékié loop, as well as the Kumba-Ekondo Titi and Babadjou-Bamenda roads are ongoing and will be continued at a satisfactory pace.

Regarding the Ebolowa-Kribi road, negotiations with donors, which for long were stalled by environmental issues, are finally being concluded. All the requisite measures will be taken to ensure that the construction of this road, so eagerly awaited by the populations concerned, effectively starts in 2024.

I recently issued instructions for the rehabilitation of the Ngaoundere-Garoua road. Negotiations are also ongoing with our financial partners for the completion of construction works on the Mora-Dabanga-Kousseri road and the rehabilitation of the Edea-Kribi and Douala-Bafoussam roads.

The repair of urban road networks is continuing in the towns of Maroua and Ngaoundere. The related programme will extend to other regional headquarters.

Motorway projects will not be left out during the coming year with, particularly, the launching of the construction of the urban section of the Yaounde-Nsimalen motorway and that of Phase 2 of the Yaounde-Douala motorway.

Additionally, faced with the worsening situation, I have instructed the Government to urgently find a lasting solution to the problem of household garbage collection in our cities, in collaboration with Councils and City Councils.

Fellow Cameroonians,

My Dear Compatriots,

Over the past weeks, you were faced with a shortage of petroleum products, suffering many inconveniences as a result. To address this situation, I have instructed the Government to take urgent measures to ensure constant supply of the market.

However, the challenges in the sector are broader and more complex.

You must be aware that to maintain pump prices of fuel at their current levels, which are far below those in neighbouring countries, the State has to make huge financial sacrifices to subsidize petroleum product imports.

The burden of these subsidies weighs heavily on our budget and significantly reduces the much-needed resources to address other problems facing our people.

Last year, the Government increased slightly the pump prices of fuel.

As a result, the subsidy on petroleum products decreased from over 1 000 billion CFA francs in 2022 to around 640 billion CFA francs in 2023.

However, this subsidy continues to weigh heavily on public coffers.

Though we will most certainly have no choice but to reduce it further, we will ensure that the requisite adjustments do not significantly impact the purchasing power of households.

Ultimately, the rehabilitation of SONARA, which must be expedited as I have instructed, should help to improve the situation in this sector.

My Dear Compatriots,

Despite the Government’s goodwill, it is clear that the implementation of various projects to meet our people’s aspirations faces a major impediment, namely inadequacy of the required financial resources.

This is why I have repeatedly ordered the Government to streamline public spending and find new ways and means of boosting public resources.

Regarding the reduction of public spending, I have strongly reiterated my previous instructions to the Government to reduce recurrent expenditure.

Actions implemented to combat corruption and misappropriation of public funds are essential for protecting public resources. They will be intensified in the coming year.

The Three-Year Integrated Import Substitution Plan for 2024-2026, which I have instructed the Government to implement, is also part of my effort to enable our country to save on its precious resources.

This plan should help to reduce the negative impact of imports on our trade balance by strengthening our food sovereignty. Its deficit is estimated at just over 1 500 billion CFA francs per year.

To increase public resources, there is a need to explore new avenues, given the constraints of broadening the tax base and the slump in oil revenue.

In this regard, solid minerals, especially old, appear to be an excellent niche for financial resources.

Our country is richly endowed with mineral resources that need to be exploited.

I am delighted that the mining projects I announced last year for the development of the Kribi-Lobé, Bipindi-Grand Zambi, and Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore deposits have been launched.

Improving the business climate is clearly a prerequisite for attracting foreign investment and creating a robust private sector that should facilitate our transition to emergence through dynamic job and wealth creation.

Trust in the judicial system is inevitable for perception of the business climate. As you are aware, the judiciary is one of the pillars of the rule of law.

Therefore, it is imperative that it should act with complete impartiality and should be impervious to any manner of interference. I would like to assure you that, as guarantor of its independence, I will continue to take all the requisite measures to ensure its proper functioning.

My Dear Compatriots,

Allow me to say a few words about the national education sector. Despite the Government’s efforts, calm has not been fully restored therein.

Yet, according to stakeholders, the Government has made commendable efforts in this regard.

In addition to the various types of measures taken by the relevant ministries, more than 72 billion CFA francs was disbursed in 2023 to cover related expenses.

An additional amount of 102 billion CFA francs has also been provided in the State budget for the 2024 financial year to cover residual expenditure.

Therefore, it will be difficult for us to accept that a handful of teachers, who seem to have ulterior motives, should continue to hold our children’s education hostage.

Let me be clear on this issue. As much as I am committed to ensuring that teachers practise their noble profession under appropriate conditions, I am equally uncompromising about respect for the right of our young people to education. Strong measures will be taken to ensure that our children do not fall victim to substandard education.

Constructive dialogue will also be pursued with the recognized trade unions to address the aspirations and concerns of teachers in a peaceful manner.

My Dear Compatriots,

Regarding safety, numerous road accidents continue to plunge families into mourning and rob the country of precious human resources.

I want to make it clear that this is unacceptable! Once again, I appeal to the sense of responsibility of drivers and bus service operators. All necessary measures must be taken to ensure the safety of passengers and other road users.

The Government, for its part, will not only step up efforts to improve the state of the road network, but will also rigorously apply the necessary preventive and repressive measures.

My Dear Compatriots,

Thanks to the people’s active cooperation with our defence and security forces, the situation in the North-West, South-West and Far-North Regions has improved significantly.

It is now possible to calmly implement the reconstruction and development plans for the said regions.

However, atrocities committed by terrorists have not completely disappeared. Unfortunately, civilians are the main victims.

On 6 November 2023, the town of Mamfe was the scene of a barbaric massacre of some twenty civilians in the middle of the night.

I strongly condemn such atrocities, which defy reason and have no justification whatsoever.

I encourage our fellow citizens in the regions affected by terrorism to continue to cooperate with the defence and security forces, whose courage and professionalism I salute.

I reiterate my appeal to armed groups to lay down their arms and join Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Centres. I am pleased to note that an increasing number of these combatants have responded to this call in recent weeks.

For those who persist in criminal activity, be it terrorism or organized crime, the fate that awaits them is not an enviable one. They must know that our firm determination to ensure the security of our fellow citizens will never falter.

Fellow Cameroonians,

My Dear Compatriots,

In a few weeks, our beloved Indomitable Lions will participate in the 34th Edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire. On behalf of you all, I would like to encourage and urge them to defend our country’s flag with courage and honour, as they have in the past.

I wish you all a Happy New Year, 2024.

Long Live the Republic!

Long live Cameroon!