12, April 2021

200,000-dose donation of Chinese-made jab arrives Yaoundé ⁰

Cameroon has received 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chinese government as a donation to the Central African country.

The vaccines arrived at the Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport late on Sunday.

The Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingwu and Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachi signed the handover and reception documents for the donation.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said he was ready to take his dose of the vaccine as soon as possible as the most appropriate means of protection against the virus.

On Friday, Malachi urged Cameroonians to get the jab, especially those in priority groups.

Cameroon has so far recorded 61,731 coronavirus cases, with 56,926 recoveries and 919 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: Anadolu Agency

12, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: President Ayuk Tabe says Ambazonia and La Republique are divinely bound to be neighbours ⁰

The leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has called on Southern Cameroonians to be strong, determined, courageous and steadfast. The jailed Ambazonian leader in an interview with a French Cameroun newspaper Emergence also noted that freedom and the independence of Southern Cameroons is priceless.

“The road may be dreary but the end is in sight. For the sake of future generations, we rose up in 2016 and made our stand. There is no turning back now. We must defend our emancipation with determination, commitment and courage. With God being our helper, we will emerge victorious and join the community of prosperous nations” President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe added. Below is the full conversation

Emergence: How are you feeling after all this time spent in prison.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: In the context of this crisis, all Southern Cameroonians / Ambazonians have been denied justice by La Republique du Cameroun. Our imprisonment is in violation of International and local laws. Given the fact that La Republique du Cameroun is the judge in its own case and in her own court, we know we can’t get justice from its less than independent court system. As refugees and Asylum-seekers resident in Nigeria, we are not supposed to be here. Feelings are expressions by the body, as a translation of the physical, psychological, mental and social wellbeing. However, we have been here now for 3 years and counting. We are physically, psychologically, mentally strong and positive as we pay the price for the freedom of our homeland – Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia. But we are socially troubled because we are in an environment that is suffering socially from decadence, moral bankruptcy, academic backwardness, developmental deficiency, poor economy, and socio-political stagnation. This, however, gingers us to work harder for the emancipation of our people, the people of Ambazonia, so that the eyes of others will open.

This sacrifice will make sense in future when people will stand in awe looking at the rapid political, economic and social transformation of Ambazonia. It is our desire, planning and strategy that within as little as 3 years, post-restoration of our independence, the building-blocks and impeccable foundation of our institutions will be evident. Daily, we are driven by the ambition to go and implement these developmental changes to become like America, Israel or Japan in a relatively shorter time. We know freedom comes with a price and we are ready to pay for it. Development is a mix of many in a continuum. We will deliver our best and our children will continue.

Emergence: Negotiations had been engaged between you and the power in Yaoundé. Since then nothing is said of them anymore. Where are we on that?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: We must be very careful when we use the word “negotiation”. You use it loosely and inaccurately. However last year, following the UN SG’s call for a global Ceasefire in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, in April and July 2020 Mr Biya’s government consulted us on the possibility of a Ceasefire. We highlighted and gave them four Confidence-building Measures to facilitate a Ceasefire. These are:

⮚ Release of all prisoners and detainees in all the prisons and detention camps in both Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun imprisoned or detained in relation to this conflict;

⮚ Withdrawal of all La Republique forces of occupation from our streets in the Southern Cameroons;

⮚ Allow a safe travel of all Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora to return home without fear of death, arrest, harassment;

⮚ Commit to an Independent Internationally Mediated Negotiations in a neutral venue agreed to by both parties.

Since then however, we have not heard from them. It is our thinking that Mr Biya wanted to use that faulty strategy to buy time, hoping to get victory otherwise over our Ambazonian resistance.

You know as much as everyone that this is a farfetched dream. This war cannot be won militarily and this issue cannot be wished away. Ultimately, its root-causes must be addressed. As a peace loving people, we have always been and are open to talks. Given the hurt and pain in our people, the Confidence-building measures have to be enforced. Our people are saying it loud and clear that this be truly resolved now, for we are prepared to resist this black-on-black colonization forever!!!

Emergence: Today the international community is also taking note of abuses of the secessionists. To you is that a reversal?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Point of correction! There are no Secessionists in the conflict between the people of Southern Cameroons and the system of La République du Cameroun. Let it be clear again that we are not “Secessionists”. Secessionists are people who want to break a part of one country.

Ours is a history of two nations; one got its independence on the 1st of January 1960 and the other on the 1st of October 1961 – 21 months later. These two have never been one, for there is no “Act of Union” between them. The Constitutive Act of the African Union charter is abundantly clear on this issue. Each country’s boundaries were frozen as at the date of its independence. When La Republique du Cameroun (LRC) got its independence on 1st January 1960, the Southern Cameroons was not part of it – on the 1st of January Buea was not part of La République du Cameroun, neither was Bamenda a part of it. By law we have never been part of it.

Unfortunately, it has become clear that we were simply invaded and occupied on the night of the 30th of September 1961. Thereafter, a foreign Constitution and governance was imposed on us!!! We are restoring our nationhood and not seceding from our nation of Southern Cameroons. How can we be seceding from La République du Cameroun to which we’ve never belonged?

Emergence: Since 2016, there has been an end to schooling in the NoSo, murders, arsons, economic failure. Are you satisfied with this record? Aren’t you tired of the blood that flows continuously while your demands are not even recognized by the state?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: We don’t like this hurting reference to us as “NoSo”, it is one of those dehumanizing colonial name tags labelled on our people.

For the records, LRC military has been committing genocide in the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia since Mr Biya declared war on our people on the 30th November 2017. The atrocities the LRC military is causing are alarming. The “No School” Principle is a logical response to the mayhem caused by this declared and enforced war. How can we encourage people to go to school when a war is raging? Who would take responsibility for any life cut short in a cross-fire? What is the urgency of going to school when teachers and pupils/students are being arrested, tortured and killed by Cameroun Government forces!!! Come and do a head count of all the Ambazonians incarcerated, displaced and killed and see for yourself the reality!!! When the time is right, we shall make up for lost time. It will all be worth it when we put in place the World class system of education we are designing for our people to replace the existing neocolonial contraption designed to keep us psychologically, politically, economically and developmentally subjugated to an unprogressive and decadent system!!

Diabolically there’s a lot of torture, maiming, rapes and forced disappearances of our people … so far this war has caused:- 32,500+ civilians killed, the burning of over 500 villages, the displacement of over 1.4 million people and more than 3,000 people including children and pregnant women are in various prisons, detention and torture centres in our Homeland and LRC. Notwithstanding the pain they are inflicting on us as a people, nothing will deter us from the quest for a free and independent Ambazonia. When the time comes for us to roll out our educational plan, you will understand. When we shall pickup, Ambazonia will be a hub for education, technology and trade amongst other things. You will testify what your eyes will see and your ears will hear. Our education shall make Life decent.

Emergence: The new American administration has promised to be more involved in the Anglophone crisis. What are your expectations from this new administration?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: We congratulate President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their victory during the November 2020 elections. We envy the people of America for having built strong Institutions. They have proven to the world that strong Institutions are the bedrock of democracy. Without cultivating lion men, we shall emulate America in building our democracy. We appreciate President Biden’s Administration for taking note of our plight and the gross Human Rights abuses/genocide being meted on our people. Self determination is a Fundamental Right that can’t be denied a people.

The people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia have spoken. We want a free and independent Ambazonia – checkout the Tumi survey of 2019 in which 69% of our people people said they want out, the CDN 2020 survey in which 86% of our people opted out of this unfortunate cohabitation. We appreciate the American Congress and Senate for the bilateral Senate Resolution 684 that was passed on the 1st of January 2021, interestingly sixty-one years to the day after the LRC independence. We pray that President Biden’s administration should match words with actions by unilaterally evoking the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the Never Again Promise! We also expect the USA to harness support for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Mandated Independent International Fact-finding Mission to the Southern Cameroons as a necessary first step to addressing the root causes of the conflict. We need to establish responsibility for the atrocities in our land and sanction them accordingly.

Emergence: The secessionist camp is also profoundly divided. Does this not weaken your cause?

If by “Secessionists” you are still referring to Ambazonians, then my elucidation earlier should make you now understand and know that we are “Restorationists” and not secessionists as you and others want us to be seen. If you have any treaty or convention which sanctioned Southern Cameroons as part of La Republique du Cameroun kindly brandish it. Until then, we have not been and will never be part of La Republique du Cameroun.

Now to answer your question, all Ambazonians have a common goal which is to restore the Statehood of the Southern Cameroons. We may have differences in opinion or approach in this our journey to Buea; so were Moses, Miriam and Aaron in Israel’s March to their Promised land. However, we are united in purpose, determined, focused and steadfast in our goal. This unity of purpose is unbreakable and incontestable. Don’t be deceived to focus on the division within us. Difference of opinion is the pivot of democratic culture within our people since 1953, with attendant checks and balances. When the time comes the people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia will have one delegation made up of Representatives chosen by the people. These delegates will reflect the goal and aspirations of all the various shades of opinions of the good people of Ambazonia.

In Ambazonia, we will not eliminate the voices of opponents. We know that constructive criticism makes for better nation building.

Emergence: Do you not think that the best option would have been to denounce violence and to engage yourselves to continue your fight through nonviolent methods as it was the case with SCNC?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: The people of Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia are uniquely peace loving People. By our birth, nature and culture, we are a non violent people. Our patience with LRC for 60 years is a testimony of our incredible tolerance, understanding and patience. The coward of the country bore it for 20 years and it all bottled-up inside him. Continous provocation and injustice leads to eventual resistance. Those who reject peaceful resolution of issues make violent redress unavoidable. For your records, we are not and have not been violent at any time in our history as a people. When we are dissatisfied, we culturally and civilly will carry peace plants to demonstrate our protest, as was the case in 2016 and 2017. Instead of listening to our grievances, the LRC system declared war on us on the 30th November 2017. The army was let out to unleash arson and genocide with war weapons and helicopter gunships on us! Mr Biya’s declaration of war was well directed and it is being executed as we speak. In October 2020 after the Kumba Massacres, we heard his Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr Paul Atanga Nji say it clearly that “the government has monopoly of violence” and they have remained consistently violent despite worldwide calls for ceasefire and a Mediated Dialogue. LRC Military have commit numerous massacres; Ngarbuh, Muyuka, Ekona, Pinyin, Mautu, Ekondo-titi and Mbonge of recent, to mention but a few.

We are a peace loving people and are barely acting in Self Defense against an occupier committing genocide on our territory. The SCNC is still active. It has existed and expressed an opinion which was the wisdom of its time. Their mantra of “the force of argument; Not the argument of force” has always been met by violence and killings!!! The record of abuses on our people speaks for themselves. Evidently LRC’s mission was to exterminate the Ambazonians and claim their territory. The day Mr Biya declares a Ceasefire; he would have decided to stop this genocidal campaign in Ambazonia. If he orders his army to stop the war, the war will end!! However, if he continues, our people shall defend ourselves and our territory to the last man standing …this is as sure as “day following night”!!!

Emergence: What do you think is the role of France in this crisis since she is being accused of supporting the regime in Yaoundé in this war.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Testimonies of French involvement in the Rwandan Genocide abound and more are still being revealed. These have forced France to open her archives to the public. Let’s wait and see. In time, the evil of the country that is abode to the Notre Dame Cathedral will be revealed. A few days back, a Chinese official indicted France for its role in Genocides across the globe. Review the history of all French colonies and their current relationship. It is all marked with regrets, grief and melancholy. We know France and Britain were active in the misfortune that befell our people in 1961. Are they accomplices to the genocide and ethnic cleansing being meted on us today? Time will tell! There are undoubtedly some invisible hands behind our plight. An April 2020 Oxford University Faculty of Law Research paper, indicts France, Britain, China, Canada, the World Bank and IMF as direct accomplices to this genocide for economic reasons. French colonised nations seem to be amongst the most backward and dependent in Africa. Ambazonia shall have diplomatic relations with France based on mutual regard, like with all other nations guided by respect for each other’s dignity and requisite international norms! Ambazonia shall not do vendetta!!!

Emergence: It is known that the Cardinal was very involved in the resolution of the crisis in NW/SW Regions. What memories do you have of him?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Cardinal Christian Tumi is a brother who served the Catholic Church and his Community with total devotion and Commitment. Like him, many of our people are serving the same Church in various capacities all over the world; go to Tchad, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, France, USA, Rome itself and you will be amazed at the dedication and sacrifices of these men and women of God. Yet his demise sent shock waves across the world because of the ignominy and humiliation with which his mortal remains was treated. This is similar to what happened to the remains of another brother, Hon Mbah Ndam who was Member of LRC Parliament and Vice President of the CEMAC Parliament!! If these high-profile brothers are treated in this cavalier fashion, what fate is reserved for the rest of our people? The measure of a country is also seen in how the life and remains of its citizens are handled. We have not forgotten the shabby treatment they gave our forefathers like Augustine Ngom Jua, Pa Nanga, Dr EML Endeley, Hon Fonka Shang, Luke Ananga and even S T Muna and Dr J N Foncha posthumously!!! The LRC system has consistently exposed her pettiness to the weak, poor and dying. Look at the pitiful sight of Prof Gervais Mendo Ze in hospital. How the mighty fall and are forgotten! Cardinal Tumi was and is a noble Ambazonian, Spiritually sound, well cultured, learned, and successful and an erudite priest who died in simplicity. He spent most of his final years attempting, to the best of his will and conscience, to help bring an end to this crisis. He served people, some of whom are comparable to the Chief Priests in the Passion of Christ Jesus!! We love him but God loves him most and needs him now. May his soul rest in peace. Ambazonians and people of the world miss him. Maybe his role in this would have been more evident. We wish he lived long enough to see the end of this crisis! Like Christ, he died on “Good” Friday. What message does this tell us? We believe that he is now with God our Father. Adieu Cardinal Tumi.

Emergence: Any last words? :

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: All conflicts end where there were supposed to begin – on the Dialogue Table. It will be the same with this one. It is rather unfortunate that immediately we were brought from Abuja with all of us still bleeding in our arms from handcuff wounds, we called for dialogue and an immediate end to the war Cameroun had declared, and nobody listened. During our unenviable, sometimes nocturnal, encounters with the investigators and interrogators since the infamous SED, we have maintained our stance for a dialogue as the only way out of this impasse!!! Mr Biya has the power to stop this baseless, senseless Genocidal war. There is no military victory in sight for LRC. We are divinely bound to be neighbours. There is no need to continue to nurture bitterness, the memory of which shall condition our relationship tomorrow.

To the International Community, the Responsibility to Protect and the Never Again promise should not only be lip service. We need action now to avoid the worst. As a first step to resolve the conflict based on its root causes, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should Mandate an Independent International Fact Finding Mission to the Southern Cameroons as a matter of urgency. The world should rise against LRC as it did when Iraq invaded Kuwait!!!

To my fellow people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, where ever they are; in the bushes in the homeland, in refugee camps, IDP/EDP camps, or diaspora, our condolences go to all those who have lost loved ones. We encourage everyone to be strong, remain determined, courageous and steadfast. Our freedom and the independence of our homeland is priceless. The road may be dreary but the end is in sight. For the sake of future generations, we rose up in 2016 and made our stand. There is no turning back now. We must defend our emancipation with determination, commitment and courage. With God being our helper, we will emerge victorious and join the community of prosperous nations. Amen.

Thank you

12, April 2021

Chief Inoni Ephraim: Former Crime Minister mulls asylum in Europe ⁰

It is normal these days for chiefs in Cameroon to seek asylum in other places in the country, especially chiefs in the two English-speaking regions of the country who have been chased away by Southern Cameroonian separatists who view them as black legs, as well as desperate and hungry creatures who are at the beck and call of a government whose hallmarks are corruption and total indifference to the plight of the suffering population.

But Chief Inoni Ephraim of Bakingili, a former Prime Minister and a ruling party stalwart is taking the notion of asylum to a whole new level.

The beleaguered former Prime Minister, who is still a convict in Cameroon and is currently hiding in a mid-level apartment in France after his medical treatment, is having thoughts that may cause his former boss, the “evil God of Etoudi” to turn off the financial tap that has kept him going in Europe.

Mr. Inoni who had spent almost a decade in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison for his involvement in the purchase of a defective aircraft for Mr. Biya, the “evil God of Etoudi”, was evacuated to France for him to have world-class healthcare after he developed multiple health issues due to poor prison conditions and the humiliation he and his family are still going through.

Though not totally healthy, the former Prime Minister who told his fellow Southwesterners that Cameroon was the best country in the world and that the Biya regime was an oasis of human rights in Africa, is now thinking of seeking asylum in Europe, a source close to the desperate Prime Minister has informed the Cameroon Concord News Group.

The source, which has elected anonymity, said that the rapid depreciation and unfortunate death of Professor Gervais Mendo Ze, a one-time fanatical supporter of the ruling crime syndicate and a worshipper of the country’s president, Paul Biya, has caused Mr. Inoni to lose sleep.

The source added that Mr. Inoni who has been suffering from nightmares ever since Professor Gervais Mendo Ze died, has lost appetite and weight to the point where his family is concerned.

“Inoni, who was once a key member of the Biya regime, is full of regrets. The death of Prof. Mendo Ze has left him worried and it makes him feel that he might be the next,” the source said.

“His family is really worried and a close relative in Europe gave away the chief’s secret by saying that if he sought asylum in Europe, he could finally cut of the umbilical cord that firmly holds him to the devilish and incompetent regime that is destroying its own people,” the source added.

“Chief Inoni is almost 80 and he might be the oldest person to ever sick asylum in Europe for political reasons. This will really be ridiculous as he might not have the resources to sustain himself in Europe where life is very expensive,” the source said.

“Inoni should muster courage and return home where he could be allowed to return to his native Bakingili. Biya has a way of ridiculing his collaborators and from every indication, Inoni has had his fair share of humiliation and Biya knows that he will never speak up or speak out against his government,” the source stressed.

“Biya is very Machiallian. He knows how to keep his collaborators in check. He has put all of them on a diet of fear and many are losing weight to ensure that the ‘monarch’ does not see them as living better than they should. Though most of them know that Biya is old, tired and weak, they prefer to err on the side of caution,” he said.

“Biya has created a bunch of brutal pitbulls around him and those wicked pitbulls are ready and willing to bring down anybody who is not playing by their rules. The examples of Mendo Ze, Mebe Ngoh, and other former ministers languishing in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison are constant reminders to any free radicals who may have presidential ambitions or whose views are not in lockstep with the monarch’s prescriptions, the source concluded.

But Inoni is still weighing his chances, though his family lawyer has advised him against seeking asylum which will not only cut him off government funds. Seeking asylum will also dent his reputation out of shape. Staying in Europe will be synonymous with acknowledging guilt. He who has a clean conscious will never fear any accusations, but the poor conditions in Kondengui have really broken down Inoni who once thought he was irreproachable and untouchable.

Though Yaounde government authorities are always putting on a brave face, many know that the wheel of life could turn against them at anytime. Many hate the way things are playing out, but they cannot talk. If any of them had doubts about what Biya, “the wicked monach” could do, those doubts have evaporated following the unfortunate death of the former CRTV choir master.

If Mendo Ze, the conductor, who sang for Biya like a common nightingale and raised him to the status of a messiah could be brought down like a pack of old cards, then anybody could be left for death in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison. Nobody is above Biya’s malicious schemes. He is an old man who knows he will be exiting the world very soon, but does not want to go down alone. He is determined to destroy anything in his path before he yields to the inevitable.

Inoni must therefore weigh his options. He had chosen his side as a young man. He had decide to side with the devil where he occupied many senior positions. It would therefore be wise for him to stick to his decision to the end, if not, his family will soon be crying like Mendo Ze’s family.

Mendo Ze’s case is certainly not the worst and not the first. The outrage is just because of the graphic images that were brought to the world via social media.

Jerome Mendouga, a one-time Cameroon Ambassador to the United States, was also arrested and jailed at the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison for participating in the purchase of a defective aircraft for Paul Biya. He developed multiple illnesses while in jail. A mercy heart attack put him out of his misery.

His family has never recovered from the pain and though they are not talking publicly, they have vowed that they would never forgive Mr. Biya who sent their father, brother and husband to an early grave.

Pictures of Mr. Mendouga’s emaciated and ailing body were never brought to the world because android phones were not as developed as they are today and the Internet was not part of the prison infrastructure. The country has simply moved on and Mendouga and his unfortunate fate have simply become a footnote in the country’s destructive history.

The examples are legion. Former Prime Minister Inoni should think twice before he acts. The devil has already shown him some of his colors and it is up to him to take the right decision.

While Cameroonians dislike the pain Biya is inflicting on his former collaborators, they are not really sympathetic with this bunch of greedy people who have aided and abetted a regime that has transformed the country into an open-air cemetery.

Those who are languishing in jail clearly deserve their fate. In the 1990s, these former ministers hailed Mr. Biya while he was crushing his opponents, especially those who were members of opposition parties.

Today, the knife has turned inwards and even members of Mr. Biya’s inner circle are having a tough time sleeping. Inoni should take his punishment in stride. He should know that wherever he goes to seek asylum, Cameroonians will show up with documents and pictures to demonstrate that he was a key architect of this government that has sent thousands of Cameroonians to an early grave.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Paris

11, April 2021

A Review of Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai’s Masterpiece – Light of Reason, Light of Faith ⁰

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai, Light of Reason, Light of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger and the German Enlightenment (Indiana: ST. Augustine’s Press, 2021). 403 pp. $45, ISBN 9781587314667.

In all epochs of the Church’s life, Christian apologists and intellectuals have consistently responded to challenges and questions posed to the faith of the Church. In the early Church, the teachings of Gnostics and heretics such as Marcion, Celsus, and Donatus Magnus were countered by authentic orthodox Christian apologies by Tertullian, Origen, and Augustine of Hippo, inter alia. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, triggered by Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” against the Catholic Church on October 31, 1517, caused great turmoil in the Church and beyond. By placing the Holy Bible and Aquinas’ Summa Theologica on an altar in Trent (1545-1563), the Council Fathers offered a systematic response to the theological innovations championed by Luther and other high-voltage reformers. In the Counter-Reformation Church, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Dominicans intellectually engaged the propositions of the reformers. It was therefore only right for one of the most articulate teachers of the faith in the person of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to consistently engage the Enlightenment, especially the German Enlightenment, whose legacy is only becoming more disturbing, especially in the contemporary Western world.

Fr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai’s master class, Light of Reason, Light of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger and the German Enlightenment, offers a critically fascinating account of Ratzinger’s engagement with the German strand of the Enlightenment – the Aufklärung. “Reason” was the prime currency of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment movement that swept across Europe. That is why its motto was “dare to use your reason” (Sapare Aude). As a result, Enlightenment figures such as René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Friedrich Nietzsche callously attempted to explain the faith of the Church from a purely rationalistic way. They attacked the revealed faith of the Church and proposed a speculative rational faith. Revealed faith was seen as a hindrance to human freedom, especially considering that liberté was one of the slogans of the French Revolution. Fr. Maurice cogently examines the thoughts of the leading Enlightenment figures vis-à-vis Ratzinger’s responses over more than four decades to some of their claims. Some of the propositions enunciated by the Enlightenment are still of grave concern to the Church today. For instance, Immanuel Kant places God in the realm of the noumena because, according to him, God’s existence cannot be justified based on reason. Kant rejects the possibility of the existence of God under the notion that God is not accessible to human beings. Since the noumena cannot be accessed through theoretical reason, Kant rejects the demonstration of God’s existence by speculative or theoretical reasoning. Through his Categorical Imperatives, Kant sees a pathway through which humankind can act and subsist morally in a way that neither God nor religion is required (p.334).

Friedrich Nietzsche postulated the “death of God.” According to Hegel, the enlightenment motto “dare to use your reason” meant use your reason to arrive at the consciousness of God inside the human person. For Hegel, God emerges when the self is no longer antithetical to/with the Other. Hegel calls this process absolute knowing. This absolute knowing or absolute idea is God (p.193). God is not extrinsic to the human being. Such philosophical speculations about God and the faith of the Church are of urgent concern to Joseph Ratzinger. This is why Fr. Maurice writes, “To Ratzinger, the Aufklärung marked an enduring criticism of revealed faith, a critique that the Church must continue to engage and respond to, for it touched on the fundamental relationship between faith and reason, between the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of the philosophers” (p.1). Being one of the most theologically and philosophically savvy popes in the history of the Church, Ratzinger understands fully well the enduring legacy of the Aufklärung in the Western world today. The atheism, secularism, indifference, and hostility toward Christianity in large sectors of the Western world today definitely trace their origins to the Enlightenment movement of the eighteenth century. The author acknowledges this fact when he writes: “To Benedict, therefore, the criticisms meted against Christianity by the Aufklärung are not dated, but continue to be relevant, especially given the pervasive influence of the Aufklärung in the post-Aufklärung culture, as seen in the anonymous Kantians, Hegelians, Feuerbachians, and Nietzscheans, even in the pews” (p.2). It is partly due to the Aufklärung that football stadia such as the Emirates Stadium, Santiago Bernabéu, Allianz Arena, Anfield, and Old Trafford are now the new religious basilicas in the West. Therefore, engaging the Enlightenment and her offshoots is an urgent pastoral necessity for Joseph Ratzinger. This is why in her book blurb, the distinguished law professor and diplomat Mary Ann Glendon points out that, “No pope has ever spoken so frequently or fulsomely of the legacy of the Enlightenment as has Pope Benedict XVI.”

Being a considerate person, Joseph Ratzinger repeatedly stressed and highlighted the positives of the Enlightenment thought. Fr. Maurice writes, “Ratzinger is not interested in rolling back the objectively good gains of the Aufklärung, such as the value of human rationality in moral discernment” (p.4). However, the overarching aim of Ratzinger’s dialogue with the Enlightenment is to reconcile the God of the philosophers and the God of faith (p.91). It is to harness and use the Aufklärung in explicating the faith of the Church. In A Turning Point for Europe? (1991), Joseph Ratzinger succinctly explained the raison d’être for his sustained engagement with the Aufklärung, “One must not only recognize the positive elements of the Aufklärung and contemporary culture, but must continue to bring the insights of faith, revealed faith, to bear on the present order to open the path to the future” (p.23). Unlike Tertullian, Ratzinger cherished a dance between Athens and Jerusalem/faith and reason.

Fr. Maurice’s book is a veritable contribution to understanding the theology of Joseph Ratzinger and the Enlightenment movement. The work truly fills some regrettable gaps in the study of the theology of Ratzinger. In the Foreword to the book, Emery de Gaál asserts, “preoccupation with Aufklärung is an underlying, constantly recurring sostenuto and leitmotif in Ratzinger’s thinking” (x). However, he rightly points out that the term is not treated by secondary literature on Ratzinger and it is not even listed as an entry in the anthology of important terms in Ratzinger’s theology Ratzinger/Benedikt XVI, Kleines ABC des Glaubens. Light of Reason, Light of Faith fills this lacuna (x-xi).

Light of Reason, Light of Faith is a well-researched, picturesque, written book. It is a book written by someone who genuinely and passionately loves his subject matter. The author is thoroughly immersed in the profound encounter between a living “Doctor of the Church” and the Aufklärung and its offshoots. It is a culmination of over two decades of research, scholarship, and reflection on the path of the author. The author first mentioned his love and admiration of the theology Joseph Ratzinger to me in the streets of Jinja, Uganda in 2004, “Giovanni, I really love Ratzinger’s theology of creation”. Our discussion of this subject matter continued in Nairobi, Kenya (2006-2009) and in Boston (2018-). Being an academic myself, I have not come across a personal library with the amount of resources in Ratzingerian theology and Enlightenment figures like that of the author. As a result, the amount of secondary literature used in the book is impressive. As the renowned Professor Peter Kreeft mentions in his book blurb, “Like Ratzinger himself, Father Agbaw-Ebai’s writing is dense and deep but well worth the effort required to engage it.”

By John Tanyi (Church Historian)

11, April 2021

Real Madrid go top of La Liga after beating Barcelona 2-1 in ‘Clasico’ ⁰

Real Madrid beat rivals Barcelona 2-1 at home in an entertaining, rain-soaked ‘Clasico’ on Saturday to go top of La Liga.

Karim Benzema put the champions in charge at a soggy Alfredo di Stefano stadium with a delightful backheel in the 14th minute while a deflected Toni Kroos free kick doubled their lead in the 28th.

Barca hit back on the hour mark through Oscar Mingueza and the defender almost found the equaliser later on, while the Catalans had a huge penalty appeal waved away when Martin Braithwaite fell following a challenge by Ferland Mendy.

Real midfielder Casemiro was sent off in stoppage time for picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute while Barca substitute Ilaix Moriba hit the crossbar in the fourth minute of added time.

The hosts survived the nail-biting finish to complete a sensational week after beating Liverpool 3-1 in a Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

Zinedine Zidane’s side joined Atletico Madrid on 66 points and moved top of the table, although Atletico can reclaim first place when they visit Real Betis on Sunday. Barca dropped to third on 65.

(REUTERS)

11, April 2021

Chad goes to polls with veteran ruler Deby poised for sixth term ⁰

Chad headed into presidential elections Sunday with Idriss Deby Itno, ruler for the last three decades, set to win a sixth term.

A key ally in the West’s anti-jihadist campaign in the Sahel, Deby, 68, is the frontrunner in a six-candidate race without major rivals after a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or dispersed.

Queueing to vote in the capital N’Djamena, a 25-year-old saleswoman named Bernadette told AFP she was voting for Deby because “thanks to him I am free to walk wherever I want, day or night, in total security”.

Polling booths and ballot boxes were arriving progressively in the city, with numerous polling stations visited by AFP failing to open on time.

Police and soldiers were out in force across N’Djamena, with elite troops from the Republican Guard deployed to the central polling station where Deby himself was due to vote, an AFP journalist said.

Chad has struggled with poverty and instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

A former rebel and career soldier who seized power in a coup in 1990, Deby has twice, with French help, thwarted attempts to oust him.

Other candidates include Albert Pahimi Padacke, a former prime minister under Deby, and Felix Nialbe Romadoumngar — officially “leader of the opposition” as his URD party has eight seats in the National Assembly.

Lydie Beassemda, a former agriculture minister, is the first woman to run for president in Chad’s history.

She is pitching her campaign on federalism, in a country where ethnic rivalry is common, and on women’s rights, in a culture where patriarchal domination is entrenched.

But seven other candidates were rejected by the Supreme Court and three withdrew, including longtime opposition politician Saleh Kebzabo, who quit in protest over violence by the security forces.

Soldiers killed in Lake Chad ambush

Deby has campaigned on a promise of peace and security in a region that has been rocked by jihadist insurgencies.

Two Chadian soldiers were killed Thursday in an ambush in the Lake Chad region, where Islamist extremists have been increasingly attacking civilians and security forces, Communications Minister Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP on Sunday.

Provisional results from the elections are scheduled for April 25, with the final results due on May 15.

With Deby set for victory, the major question mark is over turnout.

Deby urged voters at his final rally on Friday to “turn out massively”, but many residents have voiced disinterest in an election whose outcome already appears certain.

Some 7.3 million people are eligible to vote out of a population of 15 million, but the most critical opposition parties have urged voters to boycott the election.

Weekly protest marches urging a peaceful transfer of power have been banned or forcefully dispersed.

On February 28, police and soldiers carried out a commando-style raid on the home of a prominent would-be candidate, Yaya Dillo Djerou. His mother was among at least three people killed, and he is now on the run.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are among those who have voiced criticism.

US watching

The United States on Thursday urged Chad’s election supervisors and courts “to ensure these elections are conducted freely, fairly, and transparently”.

“We’ll be watching in the days ahead,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned.

Deby has also benefited, as previously, from divisions and weaknesses within opposition ranks.

Francois Djekombe, president of the opposition Sacred Union for the Republic, said efforts to mobilise the public had been weakened by internal squabbles, poor leadership and inadequate communications.

“Let us humbly acknowledge that we have failed,” he said ahead of polling day. “It’s clear that people don’t want the popular revolt that we tried to impose.”

Kelma Manatouma, a Chad expert at the University of Paris-Nanterre, said that “with the considerable means Deby has mobilised, it is certain he will win.”

Chad has been an oil producer since 2003, but it remains deeply poor.

In 2018, 42 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. In 2020, Chad ranked 187th out of 189 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index.

(AFP)

11, April 2021

Cameroon: who is next? ⁰

Fear has gripped members of the Yaounde-based crime syndicate as some of their members start exiting the scene.

Mendo ze, the once popular general manager of the country’s network, CRTV, passed on Friday following a long illness due to a long jail term by a government he served selflessly.

But shortly after his departure, the syndicate’s 103-year-old Senate vice president, Nfon Victor Mukete, also bowed to the inevitable, creating panic in the nation’s capital.

The ruling party is seeing its base being eroded by something it cannot control. It should be recalled that most senior members of the syndicate are over 80 years old and the passing of about six of its members last week, has sent shivers down the spine of this bunch of people who have held their country captive for decades.

By the standards of the crime syndicate, anybody less than 80 years is considered a youth and the death last week of four of their members who are less than 80 years spoke to the danger the party could be facing in the days ahead.

The flood gates seem to be open and many ruling party members, many of whom are colonies of diseases, are trembling in their pants.

The question on many lips is: who is next? Below are some of those who have kicked the bucket, triggering a wave of fear among ruling party members.

Edmond Félix Etoundi was the Chief Executive Officer of Finexs S.A., one of the largest intercity transport companies in Cameroon. He leaves behind a rich CPDM heritage that reveals a fantastic Biya regime success story of a self-made man.

Garga Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Public Health responsible for the fight against Epidemics and Pandemics and Lamido of Garoua was brought down by the coronavirus.

Monkam Pascal, an industrialist, a businessman. He had a special attachment to the Biya regime and the Cameroon’s corrupt institutions.

Martin Aristide Okouda, the former Minister of Public Works, died on Friday 9 April 2021 following an illness in Paris, France. Aged 70

Chief Mukete, former traditional ruler of the Bafaws reportedly died from an unknown illness

Gervais Mendo Ze, Former cabinet minister and general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died after he was released from the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Princess Rabiatou Mamboune Njoya, sister of the Sultan of Bamoun, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, died on 9 April 2021,

Gargoum Adoum Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Alim Boukaro Business tycoon

Essomba Pierre, Secretary General at the Ministry of Territorial Administration

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai and Isong Asu

10, April 2021

2021 is a CPDM year of loss. Here are some of the well-known figures who are gone ⁰

2021 is a year defined by the devastating coronavirus pandemic; La Republique du Cameroun is losing iconic defenders of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate who helped guaranteed President Biya’s continued stay in power.

Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — Edmond Félix Etoundi, Garga Alim Hayatou, Monkam Pascal, Essomba Pierre, Martin Aristide Okouda— but Covid-19 restrictions is not limiting the CPDM public’s ability to mourn their loss in a year that is witnessing close to a thousand deaths from the coronavirus.

Cardinal Tumi a strong advocate for social justice who always dedicated great passion and commitment to the people of his diocese passed away on April 3. As we write, there has not been any reaction from the presidency of the republic.

But God is saying something as the Biya regime continues to say goodbye to many of its disciples. A cream of CPDM political and economic figures have died this 2021.

Some of the 2021 deaths struck down relatively barons of the corrupt regime in Yaoundé, leaving Cameroonians with some kind of schadenfreude feeling.

Here is a roll call of some influential CPDM figures that died recently (cause of death not cited as Covid-19 like HIV is a stigma in La Republique du Cameroun:

Garga Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Public Health responsible for the fight against Epidemics and Pandemics and Lamido of Garoua was brought down by the coronavirus.

Monkam Pascal, an industrialist, a businessman. He had a special attachment to the Biya regime and the Cameroon’s corrupt institutions.

Martin Aristide Okouda, the former Minister of Public Works, died on Friday 9 April 2021 following an illness in Paris, France. Aged 70

Chief Mukete, former traditional ruler of the Bafaws reportedly died from an unknown illness

Gervais Mendo Ze, Former cabinet minister and general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died after he was released from the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Princess Rabiatou Mamboune Njoya, sister of the Sultan of Bamoun, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, died on 9 April 2021,

Gargoum Adoum Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Alim Boukaro Business tycoon

Essomba Pierre, Secretary General at the Ministry of Territorial Administration

By Isong Asu in London

10, April 2021

Chief V.E.Mukete of Kumba is dead ⁰

The great former traditional ruler of the Bafaws has been reported dead – Nfon V.E. Mukete is said to have been battling an unknown illness since last year. The Bafaw Traditional Council‎ is expected to formally announce the translation of Chief Mukete to his ancestors on Saturday, April 10 in the presence of other traditional Chiefs at the entrance of the palace.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that all the sub chiefs broke down in tears and wailed for the translated former Monarch who died aged 103. We also understand that the Paramount leader of the Bafaws Chief Ekoko Mukete was formally informed of the translation of his father, before it was made known to the sub chiefs and title holders.

Deep within the Bafaws of Meme Division in the South West Region, it is customary that when a current or former supreme leader becomes an ancestor, he translates to a greater glory. T‎he King of the Bafaws does not die because he is an institution; he mainly translates to a high glory as an ancestor.

Amid all kinds of rumors following the Bafaw paramount leader’s uncharacteristic absence from the opening of the House of Senate in Yaoundé last year, Nfon V.E.Mukete was last seen paying probably his last respect to the Senate President Marcel Niat.

The Bafaw Monarch abdicated the throne and following a palace crisis that involved his children Abel, Mbe, Diko, Ekale, Ebako, Ekoko, Chief V.E. Mukete handed over leadership to Ekoko Mukete.

In an interview in the French capital, Paris, Chief Mukete, the oldest member of the so-called Upper House of assembly and a long standing father of the reunification of French and British Southern Cameroons opined that the Biya regime failed woefully in its management of the Anglophone crisis and acknowledged that Southern Cameroonians were being marginalized. Mukete furthered that the creation of the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism was too little too late.

He dismissed the politics of a one and indivisible Cameroon stating that only a ten state federal structure would solve the current Anglophone crisis that has shaken the country for more than four years. However, upon his arrival from the European trip, the Bafaw supreme leader distanced himself from the Paris interview.

Chief Mukete’s influence went beyond the Southern Cameroons minority as he was a member of the Senate, the Economic and Social Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Camtel.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, April 2021

CRTV’s Gervais Mendo Ze dies: If a man appoints you, he can disappoint you ⁰

Former general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died at his residence in Yaoundé on Friday, his family announced.

He is credited with setting the stage for state radio and television to be an important tool of blackmail, misinformation and President Paul Biya’s image laundering used by pro Biya comedians like Paul Atanga Nji.

As a French Cameroun political elite and blood relation to the head of state, Mendo Ze brought to his endeavors an enduring commitment to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a deep wellspring of warmth and good humor and successfully transformed CRTV into a conduit through which fraud is celebrated and the flames of the North West/ South West divide are fanned and Francophones in Mfoundi Division are incited to take up arms against their neighbours.

He made CRTV the voice of hate, sycophancy and intimidation and CRTV under him was used to perpetrate crimes against the people of Southern Cameroons in which alleged “enemies dans la maisons” “biafrais” “anglobami” “Opposants” and now are blackmailed and targeted on account of their ethnicity or valid claims for self determination.

The former General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, CRTV, extremely weakened by stress and illness was told to go home from the notorious Yaoundé Central Prison in Kondengui.

A video of the former pot-belly supporter of the Yaoundé-based crime syndicate was trending on social media, portraying him as a bag of bones that was a victim of a vile system he served and propped whole-heartedly for many years.

Mendo Ze was brought down by the system in which he had unwavering faith and trust

The Biya regime was never bad to Mendo Ze when he enjoyed all the fame and perks that came with the high offices he occupied. This regime was like his oxygen and anybody who held contrary views automatically became Mendo Ze’s enemy.

Finally, the man who headed Cameroon Radio and Television for seventeen years was made to have a taste of the medication he helped the ruling crime syndicate to manufacture for Cameroonians.

The fat and bulky Mendo Ze was reduced to a bag of bones and was let off the hook just for him to go and die at home-confirming the Cameroon Concord News assertion that if a man appoints you, he can disappoint you!

The Francophone God of Evil passing for a head of state did not want him to soil the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison if he dies there. Mendo Ze to President Biya did not even worth the prison’s jumpsuit in which he would have been wrapped if he had died in jail.

Mendo Ze was spared because of his illness, and as we rightly reported he had very limited time to live. He was sent home to die surrounded by his loved ones who saw him melt like snow under very high temperatures.

Mendo Ze was a huge and fat person but he left the Kondengui prison simply a shadow of his former self.

Gervais Mendo Ze: CRTV General Manager

Gervais Mendo Ze former general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (Crtv) from 1988 to 2005), was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to 20 years in prison.

Arrested in November 2014 after he was sacked from the cabinet as Minister Delegate to the Minister of Communication), Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted for several issues which inter alia included fraudulent transport allowances amounting to CFAF 39 million and television tax money.

The Beti Ewondo French Cameroun political elite was also accused of having received a monthly representation bonus of more than CFAF 15 million, CFAF 116 million as home maintenance allowance, FCAF 205 million as car allowance and 20 million from Cameroon’s audiovisual fee.

Justice also reproached him for misappropriation of 360 million FCFA, constituting part of the GM’s running cost of the state owned radio and television.

Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted with fourteen other people (some fleeing and others dead in custody), among them Crtv’s financial service staff and Cameroon’s treasury administration represented by the renowned former Minister of Finance Polycarpe Abah Abah, former mayor Akono Ze Jean Marie and Jean Paul Amang Bitegni all implicated in the 15 billion FCFA television tax scandal

The Mendo Ze acolytes were all sentenced to 18 years in prison and must also pay CFAF15 billion representing the damage caused to the state and pay a fine of CFAF 962 million.

The Special Criminal Court: President Biya’s Court

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. Cameroon Concord News Group calls it President Biya’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit.

An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Prof Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in order to maintain him in prison.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai