Some 2.7 million people in Cameroon face food insecurity due to conflicts and poor production, according to a report published by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Thursday.

Out of Cameroon’s 58 administrative divisions, 14 are facing food insecurity, 11 are in a minimal situation, and 31 are under pressure, said Maina Ahmadou, coordinator of the national food security monitoring and strengthening program.

“This is due to the problem of accessibility and availibity of production. Crises in certain localities in Cameroon have caused the displacement of population which has also aggravated the problem,” Ahmadou told journalists in the capital, Yaounde during a ceremony to officially present the report.

The government will adopt new policies and programs to alleviate the problem, officials said.

Source: Xinhuanet

The people of Mbinjong, Upper Bayang Sub Division in Manyu were yesterday mourning the death of legendary traditional ruler Chief Tabetah Ashu Tarkang who died at the extension of his palace in Yaounde on Thursday after a long battle with an undisclosed illness.

A family source hinted Cameroon Concord News that he died after visiting a private clinic in late afternoon yesterday. He was surrounded by his wife and some family members and he died very peacefully after a long illness that started last year.

His funeral is due to be held at his Mbinjong Village following directives from Minister Victor Mengot who also moonlights as senior elite from Mbinjong.

Cameroon Concord News Group Chairman Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, who wrote so many stories about the late Chief on the pages of the Herald newspaper, was amongst the first to pay tribute to the Manyu academic.

“It’s a very sad day and the end of an era,” he said. “I’ve known His Royal Highness Chief Dr Tabetah since the 90s and we had great days in MECA Yaounde and so many great moments in SWELA. He was a great mentor and a marvellous person to work with. We’ll miss him.”

Chief Tabetah was best-known as a peace maker in MECA Yaoundé particularly when the Agbor Tabi brothers were at daggers-drawn-positions.  

The onetime Special Adviser to Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge, whose wealth was believed to run into hundreds of millions of FCFA, also enjoyed something of a playboy image. He dated a string of beautiful women and finally got married to Sophie Besong Tabetah.

Chief Tabetah was credited with changing the face of Manyu politics with his calm approach to every political situation.

He remained one of the most prominent sword less patriotic Manyu soldier right up to his death, even though he had adopted a considerably lower profile in recent years.

Dr Tabetah Ashu Tarkang James was born in Mbinjong and was one of the Manyu children that the late Dr AD Mengot gave the opportunity of conquering education home and abroad.

He came to the fore in the 90s as lecturer at the Higher Teachers Training College in Yaoundé and pushed for the CPDM government to adopt a considerably more political view of the admission process into the Higher Teachers Training College.

Chief Dr Tabetah Ashu Tarkang James was a chartered member of the ruling CPDM party and bon viveur.

By Isong Asu in London

A citizen of Cameroon, Lovette Namatinga, 34, has been sentenced to serve 48 months in federal prison for defrauding a Bourbonnais, Ill., bank of nearly $300,000. At the sentencing hearing, on April 13, 2021, Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm further ordered that Namatinga pay restitution in the amount of $278,201 to the bank and numerous other individual and business victims of the defendant’s fraud scheme.

Namatinga, of Owings Mills, Md., has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since he was arrested on Oct. 7, 2019, at Washington Dulles International Airport by FDIC Office of Inspector General agents.

On Sept. 21, 2020, immediately prior to jury selection before his trial, Namatinga pleaded guilty to all counts of the indictment, four counts each of bank and wire fraud, as charged, related to his  defrauding Municipal Trust and Savings Bank, Bourbonnais, Ill. Namatinga admitted that he carried out the fraud from about February to April 2019, by falsely representing to the bank that the secretary of one of the bank’s customers requested that cashier’s checks be sent to Namatinga’s fraudulent company known as Keiko San Products Alimenticious, LLC. Namatinga is the registered agent for Keiko, and the four checks were mailed to his home address. Once the checks were deposited into Keiko bank accounts, Namatinga then transferred money from those accounts to his personal account or withdrew cash from those accounts.

In addition to the fraud committed through Municipal Trust & Savings Bank, Namatinga used his fraudulent business and multiple associated bank accounts to deposit and launder fraud proceeds from various other victims throughout the United States. Namatinga’s scheme, known as a business e-mail compromise scam, was just one such scheme in 2019 that resulted in more than 23,000 victims nationally, with an average loss of $75,000 per complaint, according to FBI crime statistics.

The FDIC Office of Inspector General conducted the case investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller represented the government in the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A war of words has reportedly erupted between Cameroon’s Electricity Regulatory Agency (Arsel) and the concessionaire for the distribution of electrical energy in Cameroon (Eneo). The regulator has accused the company of numerous acts of abuse against defenseless Cameroonian consumers, serious breaches and recurrent violations of the law.

Most of French and Southern Cameroons, including the capital Yaoundé and many major towns, lost power for days recently in one of the biggest blackouts to affect Cameroon ever since President Biya took office. The cause is not immediately clear as power failure continues to affect the entire nation.

Cameroon Concord News understands the Arsel-Eneo tug-of-war is a CPDM crime syndicate technique to shift the blame from failed government policies and corruption deep within the energy sector to Eneo.

On Monday, the Francophone dominated regulatory agency said in a statement that Eneo was involved in what it painted as non-respect and violation of the public electricity distribution regulations; abusive suspension of electricity supply to customers; untimely cuts in electricity supply, over-billing and imaginary frauds.

Added to this complex relationship between Arsel and Eneo, some customers, supplied by delivery points regularly connected to the metering equipment fixed outside their homes or offices have also been accused of fraud and gross violation of Article 13 of the energy regulation.

It is a common practice in French Cameroun particularly in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé for French speaking Cameroonians to take electrical energy outside the quantities measured by the meter by falsifying the indications of the meter, as well as breaking of the seals. 

The so-called Cameroon energy regulator has given Eneo a warning notice to comply with the law within a week. However, every aspect of the Cameroonian life is linked to the ruling CPDM crime syndicate where no one takes responsibility, no one apologize, and no one resigns.

Also playing the game of the consortium of crime syndicates, the Cameroonian League of Consumers (LCC) in a publicized declaration, congratulated Arsel for the formal notice against Eneo. A copy of the LCC statement signed by its executive president Delor Magellan Kamgaing was sent to the presidency of the republic.

For several months now, all major towns and cities in Cameroon have been suffering from untimely power cuts, causing serious economic repercussions and considerable domestic damage.

The company Eneo attributes these blackouts to the collapse of the electricity transmission network, the maintenance of which is a source of much ink and spit.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai