29, June 2025

UK: MECA Leicester elects John Bawak as new president ⁰

A refined academic and astute businessman, Chief John Bawak, has emerged President of the Manyu Elements Cultural and Development Association (MECA) in Leicester.

Speaking after a successful election in the beautiful city of Leicester in the Midlands, United Kingdom on Saturday 28, 2025, President John Bawak assured that henceforth, MECA Leicester will be actively involved in Manyu development and cultural activities both at home and in Europe as part of efforts to ensuring Manyus reap the dividends of good leadership.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News John Bawak said his electoral victory is a new dawn in MECA Leicester. He furthered that MECA Leicester will no longer ignore cultural and developmental issues in Manyu Division.

“MECA Leicester will be fully and actively involved starting from today,” Bawak assured.

Chief John Bawak maintained that his emergence as the new President for a two year tenure will see to the achievement of greater things for MECA Leicester, adding that, he would discharge his duty without fear or favour.

According to the new leader, “It is not going to be Manyu business as usual because I have the potential, and I am going to pilot the affairs of MECA Leicester with all I have in me.”

As a team player, Chief John Bawak promised to carry everyone in the governing body along to ensure that MECA Leicester achieve great success as the association forges ahead.

The new MECA Leicester executive has as its president John Bawak, Arrah Egbendip – vice president, Sylvia Ntamack – Secretary General, Jacky Enoru – Social Secretary, Anriette Tabe – Financial Secretary and the much respected Dibo Enaw as Treasurer.

Meanwhile, the outgoing president Chief Egbe Thompson (Uncle T) applauded the process that led to the emergence of John Bawak as the leader of the Manyu community in Leicester, admitting that Manyus have freely chosen who to lead them rightly.

Uncle T appealed that the new leader should be supported to bear the burden of the Manyu people. He also thanked candidate Cyril Taku Ayuk for a great challenge.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai on special assignment in Leicester

27, June 2025

Issa Tchiroma announces presidential run after breaking with Biya government ⁰

Minister Issa Tchiroma who resigned this week on Thursday confirmed he will stand in this year’s presidential election, stating he wants to “put an end to the old system”.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, long an ally of veteran President Paul Biya, first announced his intention to stand in an open letter posted on social media on Wednesday evening, then confirmed his ambition in a live online broadcast 24 hours later.

The former employment and vocational training minister is a well-known political figure in Cameroon and leads the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), which has long been allied to Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).

Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and has yet to indicate whether he will stand for re-election in the October vote.

Tchiroma, 75, was transport minister from 1992 to 1996, then held the communications brief from 2009 to 2019, and was one of the government’s staunchest defenders.

“The time has come for the current regime to step down with dignity,” he said during Thursday’s broadcast, calling for a break with “a model in place for decades that has shown its limits”.

He also called for reconciliation in a country facing multiple crises, including insecurity in the English-speaking regions and Far North, as well as social tensions, economic concerns and a fraught political climate.

The CPDM has not yet announced its candidate, while the opposition is struggling to unite behind a consensus figure.

Tchiroma’s candidacy comes as several longstanding supporters of Biya appear to be distancing themselves from the Cameroon leader.

Source: AFP

27, June 2025

Nyene Mawn Palaver and Ndip Joshua Ako ⁰

On the 29th of December 2024, seven members were suspended from the Manyu Women International Association (Nyene Mawn) after they withdrew £23,500 from the meeting reserves without permission.

Over the last six months, these ladies, now known in the Manyu diaspora community as the dodgy seven, have engaged on a campaign of blackmail against the President General of the association, Dr Mrs Patience Abangma who recommended their suspension.

The Dodgy Seven’s newest stunt is to hire an amateur in social media activism with a Manyu name—- Ndip Joshua Ako. Last week, this publication contested in strong terms misrepresentations by the jester and his pay mistresses. After the write-up, Ndip Joshua Ako released a series of wretched smears against the Chairman and Editor-in-chief of the Concord Group.

The purpose of this flat write up is to refocus the conversation. There are three principal points that Ndip Joshua Ako has so far failed to address or challenge from last week’s post and Cameroon Concord News is calling on him to clarify them forthwith. Firstly, he is a container-loader in Sweden with a pitifully undernourished mind. Second, he is a product of the Mondoni Oil Mill/ CDC Camp, so, although he is in possession of a Manyu name, he retains no Manyu tendencies. Third, he has been paid to orchestrate a campaign of deception and blackmail against a grandmother he knows little about.

Ndip Joshua Ako, a man with a wooden and oily face has been told by his relatives that he is a native of Sumbe, a village in Manyu Division that has produced so many champions. His family migrated and settled in a CDC camp in Fako division where Ndip Joshua Ako was presumably conceived. In CDC Camps, where life as painted by Nsanda Eba in the “The Good Foot” was rotten-down-to-earth, Joshua must have learned to smear seventy-something-year-olds.

After leaving South Africa in 2006, Ndip Joshua relocated to Berlin and was sheltered by a respectable Sumbe business woman for obvious reasons. Unable to obtain residence in Germany, Joshua was shipped by his Sumbe sister to Sweden where he now resides. Instead of representing Sumbe with decency and decorum as laid down by the Sumbe Monarch His Royal Highness Chief Ayuk Hope, he has by some strange happenstance become a joke with a Smartphone whose sole purpose is blackmailing of his superiors.

The decision of the corrupt seven to hire Ndip Joshua, who spends all his time on Face Book counting English, has angered many within the Manyu community at home and in the diaspora. The container loader who is struggling to make ends meet in Sweden says he is searching for truth on a topic he is tragically unqualified to tackle. He claims the attack on the earned reputation of a renowned Manyu elder is in the interest of the community, not a campaign of intimidation. Ndip Joshua and his pay mistresses have crossed the reddest of the reds line and are now walking on broken bottles.

Two things may happen in this defining moment. One is that the loud sounding nothing Joshua Ndip may crack under the strain of this public relation disaster of his making and the other is that he may apologize publicly for his madness and stupidity and desist from ever attacking an elder without hard evidence.

So far, people close to him say there has been little sign of him learning from his moment of madness. However, a family member in the US, who spoke to Cameroon Concord News but sued for anonymity, puts that down to him being a slow learner. Another family member in Cameroon said, “Every family has a black sheep but we are so unfortunate to have two and he is one of them. Instead of working hard to support people in our family like many in Europe are doing, he is there making noise on social media. Our family home has been run down for many years; he has done nothing about it.”

Ndip Joshua Ako, a man who counts English as if English language is a numeracy exercise, claimed to have studied in so many universities around the world. However, research into his background shows that he is a professional student who enrolls at universities with the primary purpose of defrauding the student finance system!

According to his social media profile, he has an MSc in Political Science from the SÖDERTÖRNS HÖGSKOLA and another MSc in Environmental Science at the University of Cape Town. He also has in his academic bank a BSc (Hons) in International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in London and a Master of Arts (MA) in Communication for Development at Malmö University. Finally, he has an MSc in Political Science at Stockholm University. In one of his social media attack on my person, he stated that he has three First Degrees and two Masters Degrees!! But with all of these, Ndip Joshua Ako still possesses the working vocabulary and brain power of a nine-year-old.

Interestingly, there is some good news here and it is that Ndip Joshua is the first Manyu man with three First Degrees, two Master Degrees and no PhD yet! Correspondingly, he is the only Manyu man who thinks football clubs in Europe are NGOs. We all should not be surprised that this intellectual eunuch will pop up over the next few years with those hopeless online PhDs that are the hallmark of Mondoni Oil Mill and CDC Camp children.

His claim that football clubs in Sweden and other European countries are non-profit organizations betrays some ignorance and portrays him as a successful and prominent academic failure or better still an academic Lilliputian! Even the CPDM subsection president for Mondoni Oil Mill where he hails from is very much aware that football clubs are huge businesses generating profits.

No right thinking person can muster the courage to say Joshua Ndip is 100% Manyu. Some deep within his family have attempted to describe him recently and one of them was quoted as saying “in Britain, he is a Postman or Milkman baby”.

Ndip Joshua should concentrate on improving himself; he should focus on his family back home and be responsible. The problem in Nyene Mawn is real. The fact is, however long, the issues will be resolved. One fact remains, Nyene Mawn does not need Ndip Joshua Ako and his social media antics. This August, Nyene Mawn queens will gather in Paris and a greater Nyene Mawn will emerge that will reveal that Mami Patience Abangma is a woman more sinned against than sinning.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

27, June 2025

Yaoundé plans new law on organ donation as dialysis cases reach 2.5 million ⁰

Lawmakers in Cameroon are set to review a draft bill on organ donation, collection, and transplantation, as part of government efforts to address growing health challenges linked to organ failure.

The proposed law, presented to the National Assembly today, aims to “fill the existing legal vacuum and create better prospects for people in need of biological material transplants in Cameroon,” according to the explanatory note.

The government highlights that organ harvesting and transplantation procedures are on the rise, particularly among patients with kidney failure. Official figures show that 2.5 million people are currently undergoing dialysis in Cameroon, including 700,000 in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé.

By legislating on organ donation and collection, the government hopes to address three key challenges: closing the legal gap, offering a long-term solution for kidney failure, and reducing public spending on dialysis centers.

The bill points out that kidney transplants can offer a permanent solution for end-stage renal failure at a significantly lower cost for both patients and the public treasury.

A legal framework is increasingly important as Cameroon has made progress in organ transplants. “To date, kidney harvesting and transplants are being carried out at the Yaoundé General Hospital, with 14 successful cases recorded since the first operation,” the government stated.

Source: Sbbc

27, June 2025

Football: Mbappé files harassment complaint against PSG ⁰

Kylian Mbappé has accused Paris Saint-Germain of moral harassment in a legal filing, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed on Thursday.

The Real Madrid star is at odds with his former club, arguing PSG owes him 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages.

Mbappé is also unhappy with the way he was treated by the Ligue 1 club when the France captain was sidelined before the 2023-24 season, following his decision not to extend his club contract.

The prosecutor’s office said Mbappé is “denouncing the ‘lofting’ he claimed to have been subjected to at Paris Saint-Germain.” The word lofting is used in France to describe a practice that involves isolating a player from the main squad for sporting, administrative, or disciplinary reasons.

Mbappé joined Real Madrid last summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG, which won the Champions League without him this year.

Mbappé’s relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions, and some fans booed him in his last home game at Parc des Princes. PSG felt let down by Mbappé after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new contract in 2022.

But Mbappé was frustrated because he felt promises to sign key players were not kept. When he signed that deal, he was paraded in front of fans holding up a jersey with 2025 on it. Mbappé was reportedly annoyed because the contract was until 2024 – with a player’s option for an extra season.

Mbappé stunned PSG in June 2023 by informing the club he would not take the option for an extra year. With his contract effectively into its final year, it put PSG in the position of needing to sell Mbappé to avoid losing him for nothing when the contract expired.

His PSG career could have ended that summer amid a tense transfer standoff.

After telling the club he would not extend, Mbappé was left off a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea and forced to train with fringe players. PSG said it would rather sell him than let the player leave for free in 2024, but he rejected a 300 million euros move to Saudi Arabia team Al-Hilal.

PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks.

Mbappé’s legal team said in April it would start an action against PSG for harassment because of the way he was treated at the time.

Source: AP

26, June 2025

Iran Supreme Leader congratulates nation on victory, says Israel was ‘crushed’ ⁰

In his message following the end of the Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic and the regime’s unilateral declaration of a ceasefire, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on Thursday congratulated the Iranian nation on its glorious victory.

In a televised message, the third since June 13 when the Israeli regime launched its unprovoked aggression against the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the Zionist regime was crushed under the blows of the Iranian armed forces.

“I feel it is necessary to extend several congratulations to the great Iranian nation. First, congratulations on the victory over the fake Zionist regime. Despite all its noise and claims, the Zionist regime was nearly brought to its knees and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

The Leader paid tribute to the martyrs of the recent events, including senior military commanders and scientists, whom he described as “truly and rightfully valuable” to the Islamic Republic and faithful in their service until martyrdom.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the idea of the Islamic Republic being capable of delivering such devastating strikes had never even crossed the enemy’s mind, but it did happen.

“We thank God for aiding our armed forces, who managed to breach their advanced multilayered defense systems and flatten large parts of their military and urban centers with powerful missile and weapons strikes,” he said.

Source: Presstv

26, June 2025

Race for Etoudi: Opposition unity at stake between rival groups ⁰

With just months remaining until the October presidential election, the opposition is again attempting to unite behind a single candidate. However, two competing initiatives, “The Platform” and “The Douala Group,” are vying for influence. This rivalry revives deep divisions that have long hindered any real prospects for political change.

Both groups are currently pushing to nominate a unified opposition candidate for the election. The Platform is a coalition of political parties formed in 2021, while The Douala Group is a newer movement driven by independent political figures.

A clash of methods and approaches

The Platform was initially created to advocate for a consensual reform of Cameroon’s electoral code. It brought together key figures from the MP, MRC, PCRN, SDF, UDC, UMS, and USDP parties. Today, under the leadership of Hermine Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, president of the UDC, the group focuses on selecting a single opposition candidate.

On the other side, the Douala Group includes figures such as Anicet Ekane, president of Manidem, Sam Mbaka, a former UDC executive, and Professor Calvin Aba’a Oyono. Others, like Henriette Ekwe and Elimbi Lobe, have since left the group. The group presents itself as an independent initiative aiming to foster a favorable “current of opinion” around the need for unity, despite internal disagreements.

Acknowledged rivalries

Both camps openly acknowledge their rivalry. “They are completely different, in both name and strategy,” said Léopold Dassi, UDC’s national secretary for communication. The Platform favors a consensual and inclusive approach, while The Douala Group adopts a more combative stance, emphasizing grassroots pressure and a reconfiguration of public debate.

On May 31, during his nomination convention in Yaoundé, Pierre Kwemo, president of UMS and a declared candidate, called on The Platform to intensify its efforts to find a unified contender. He even stated he would be willing to step aside for a consensus nominee.

A fragmented landscape and uncertain prospects

The Douala Group’s momentum emerges from a context of political disillusionment. According to Anicet Ekane, this movement is a reaction to recent failures of other opposition coalitions. These include the APC, led by MP Jean-Michel Nintcheu, and the ATP, promoted by Olivier Bilé. Both were launched in 2024 with different aims. The former centered around Maurice Kamto, while the latter was paradoxically under Paul Biya’s patronage. Both were banned by Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji just months after their inception.

“The Douala Group is a direct consequence of those failures. They fought among themselves and collapsed from within,” Ekane said. He supports a unifying approach reminiscent of the 1992 election, when the opposition rallied behind the late Ni John Fru Ndi.

A race against time, or not

According to Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the electoral roll is expected to be officially convened by July 12 at the latest, with a July 22 deadline for submitting candidacies. While time is tight, The Douala Group’s members remain unfazed. “Time is not against us. Even last-minute withdrawals are possible. As long as ballots haven’t been printed, a candidate can step down,” Ekane argued.

Yet, the specter of division looms large. Although unity is a shared aspiration, the proliferation of structures, competing egos, and divergent agendas continues to undermine any real synergy. As Election Day draws closer, the threat of repeating past failures becomes increasingly tangible.

Source: Business in Cameroon

26, June 2025

Race for Etoudi: Issa Tchiroma resigns from government ⁰

At 76, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has voluntarily stepped down from government after serving in various ministerial roles for over two decades. The timing comes shortly after a series of strong public criticisms against the very regime he had consistently supported for years.

Tchiroma, the former Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, has recently re-emerged at the center of Cameroon’s political scene. His impassioned speech in Garoua denouncing the current administration, a subsequent meeting with the French ambassador, and now his formal resignation just months before the October presidential election have all fueled speculation about his motivations.

A Calculated Exit?

For many political observers, Tchiroma’s departure was anticipated. What has drawn attention is the dramatic nature of his exit. Some view it as a carefully planned move. One political analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, noted, “He’s staged his return to the opposition the way one would launch a campaign.”

Once nicknamed the “griot of Paul Biya” for his enthusiastic defense of the president, Tchiroma’s sudden change in tone has unsettled even his colleagues. Within Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute’s cabinet, some react discreetly, while others, like Minister Delegate for Justice Jean De Dieu Momo, have taken to social media. Momo wrote on Facebook, with an ironic tone reflecting the discomfort within the ruling elite, “My brother Issa Tchiroma really surprised me. And now, how is President Paul Biya going to look at me? As if I’ll do the same thing? Come on! You don’t do that.”

Since his return to government in 2009, Tchiroma had been one of Biya’s most vocal supporters. This new political shift is particularly striking given that between 1996 and 2009, he was among the regime’s fiercest critics. That stance disappeared the day he was appointed Minister of Communication on June 30, 2009. At the time, Jeune Afrique editor François Soudan described him as a “minister of communication in vuvuzela mode,” highlighting the dramatic nature of his political turn.

A Tumultuous Political Path

Tchiroma’s political journey has been far from straightforward. Trained as a railway engineer, he began his political activism in the 1970s with the Cameroon National Union (UNC) while studying in France. Upon his return in 1977, he worked at Regifercam before being arrested in 1984 for suspected links to a failed coup against Biya. He spent several years in detention without trial in Yoko prison.

Freed in 1990, he organized a protest in Garoua and co-founded the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP), becoming a Member of Parliament in 1992. That same year, he was named Minister of Transport but was expelled from the UNDP in 1995 for joining the government. He later co-founded the ANDP with Hamadou Moustapha but was ousted from government again in 1996.

He returned to the political scene in 2007 with the creation of the Cameroon National Salvation Front (FSNC), and in 2009, he regained a ministerial post under Biya, becoming one of the regime’s most ardent defenders.

An Opposition of Convenience?

By resigning now, Tchiroma appears to be returning to his opposition roots. Yet his pattern of oscillating between government and opposition has created skepticism. Each withdrawal has been followed by a return; each alliance by a reversal. By blurring these lines so frequently, he has come to represent not so much change as ambiguity.

His current criticism of a system he once championed, with no admission of his own role in its governance, makes it hard to view this break as anything more than a tactical move. As the election approaches, his political reinvention seems driven less by ideological conviction than by opportunity. What emerges is a portrait of consistency in inconsistency, one that ultimately undermines his credibility.

Source: Business in Cameroon

26, June 2025

Ekok: Customs seizes ecord 45 Kg of cannabis smuggled from Nigeria ⁰

Customs officers from Cameroon’s mobile brigade in Ekok, located in the country’s South-West region, have seized a record shipment of 45 kilograms of cannabis during a routine inspection on June 20, 2025. The information was shared by the Directorate General of Customs (DGD) under the Ministry of Finance in its latest newsletter. According to the DGD, this is the largest quantity of cannabis intercepted by customs since the start of 2025.

The DGD report states the illegal cargo was hidden inside bundles of slippers transported by a public bus from Nigeria. The owner of the shipment, a Nigerian national, was taken into custody. Authorities say the drugs were intended for distribution to several traffickers based in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.

Cameroon and Nigeria share a long and porous border stretching about 1,500 kilometers from the northern to southern parts of Cameroon. This vast and poorly monitored border has fueled various forms of trafficking between the two countries.

To combat illicit activities that harm the national economy, Cameroon’s customs authorities have been implementing the “Halte au commerce illicite” (Halcomi) operation for several years. Under this initiative, the country has increased seizures of illegal and smuggled goods along its borders.

Source: Business in Cameroon

25, June 2025

Burial of Zambia’s ex-president in South Africa halted at last minute by court ⁰

A South African court has halted plans to bury former Zambian President Edgar Lungu at a private ceremony just as it was about to start.

The news was only announced to mourners in South Africa after a funeral mass had already finished.

This is the latest twist in a row between the government and Lungu’s family over his burial, after the family opted for a private ceremony in South Africa, rather than a full state funeral at home.

The Zambian government had filed an urgent case in the Pretoria High Court seeking to stop the burial planned by his family.

The court said that the funeral would not go ahead following an “agreement between the parties” however it appears that any funeral won’t happen until August at the earliest.

The dispute follows a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, with Lungu’s family saying he had indicated that Hichilema should not attend his funeral.

Following Lungu’s death in South Africa aged 68, the family wanted to be in charge of the funeral arrangements, including the repatriation of his body, but the Zambian authorities sought to take control.

The government and his family later agreed he would have a state funeral before relations broke down over the precise arrangements, prompting the family to opt for a burial in South Africa.

President Hichilema has since argued that Lungu, as a former president, “belongs to the nation of Zambia” and should be buried in the country.

The Pretoria court gave Zambian attorney general Mulilo D Kabesha until 4 July to submit his “amended notice of motion” in support of Lungu’s repatriation to Zambia. His family has until 11 July to file their opposing papers.

“This matter will be heard as a special motion on the 4th of August 2025,” the court said. The costs of the urgent application will be determined then.

The Zambian government argues that personal wishes should not override the greater public interest, citing the case of founding President Kenneth Kaunda.

In 2021, Kaunda’s family said he wanted to be laid to rest next to his wife and not at the site designated by the government.

However, the government went ahead and buried Kaunda at Embassy Memorial Park in Lusaka.

The current row over Lungu’s burial underscores the tense relationship between him and his successor, which played out in life and continues even in death.

When Lungu was president, Hichilema was locked up for over 100 days on treason charges after Hichilema’s motorcade allegedly refused to give way for him.

Source: BBC