Up Station Mountain Club

Biyiti Essam Explains How State Funds Ended Up in His Personal Bank Account

Originally published on Scribbles from the Den

"I was expecting a treasury check [from the Minister of Finance]... instead, three brawny fellows came into my office with a bag containing 250 millions Fcfa... Tell me, where should I have kept this money? You wanted me to keep the money in my home… for them to to come and knock off my kids before stealing the money?" Biyiti Essam

Jean-Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, Cameroon’s Minister of Communications and government spokesperson (whom his detractors like to refer to as "petit Goebbels") is in hot water. He is accused of diverting 140 million Fcfa, meant to prepare for the Pope’s visit, into his private bank account. There are also questions about the 70 million Fcfa paid to a Gabonese firm to supply four giant screens used during the Pope’s mass in Yaounde. The Minister has already appeared before the state prosecutor. Here are excerpts of an interview which he gave to the French language daily Le Messager (Translated from French by Dibussi Tande).

This interview gives us a rare first-hand insight into how government works (or does not work) in Cameroon. Even more significant than the issue of embezzlement, is the realization that neither Cameroon nor the entire CEMAC region seem to have modern financial mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of funds within the country or the entire region - bags and bouncers play the role usually reserved for financial institutions… This story would have been quite hilarious had the stakes not been so high…

USA: Cameroon Lawyer Gets 5 Years For Asylum Scheme

Silver Spring man Patrick G. Tzeuton operated law office on Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road

by Fred Lewis (Originally published in Gazette.net)

A Silver Spring attorney who represented hundreds of clients in immigration matters before U.S. immigration officials was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in prison and three years of supervised release for immigration fraud and other related charges, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt.

Our Political Parties are Failing Us: Let Us Consider and Independent Candidate

An open letter to Cameroonians at home and in the Diaspora

By Christmas Ebini
 
My dear brothers and sisters: I would have loved to address you my fellow Cameroonians but the last time I used that phrase on camnet (our online internet discussion forum) I ran into some problems and this is not the time for us to waste valuable time on avoidable problems with each other.  I think we should together face patriotic responsibilities and obligations.

I am writing this letter to you because I think it is time we started taking a more serious practical look at our future, that of  posterity and our nation. We have experienced some very trying and difficult times but we should also remember that we had a past that was less difficult and promising. It is easy for a people and thus their nation, to be weaken in spirit and give in when confronted with difficult times. But I have faith that, if we see our nation through the present eye of the storm we find ourselves in  today, the future would reward us with pride and dignity, as a people and a nation.

Africa: Patriotism Not Necessarily Capitalist Democracy

By Aloysius Agendia

This article was initially published in Sharing Knowledge and Ideas for Positive Change

I have been asking myself what the continent endowed with the world's highest and best mineral resources needs to come out of the doldrums of underdevelopment. This has been making me reflect on so many things and I do not want to go into the details of saying we only need to fight corruption, be hard working, creative, innovative etc. 

The Woes of a People Enslaved by Alcohol: A review of Francis Nyamnjoh’s: the Travail of Dieudonné

By George Esunge Fominyen (Originally posted on GEF's Outlook)

When a social science researcher takes to fictional literature, it is hard to draw the line between reality and imagination. It is the case with Cameroon’s Francis Nyamnjoh; a sound academic who knows how to tell a story simply and vividly. Apart from deliberate exaggerations by the author, any Cameroonian who has lived in the country for the past quarter of a century reading The Travail of Dieudonné, could easily find their space or that of a person they know in the colourful characters in the novel’s setting of Mimboland.

What’s in a name? Mimbo in Cameroonian pidgin means a drink (from palm wine to champagne). So doped of this potent nectar, are the characters of The Travail of Dieudonné that, they readily accept their unfortunate fate. Theirs is a world of misery in which insultingly rich and corrupt officials reap of an undemocratic government in which poor governance thrives, while the masses abandon themselves to sexual perversity and self-pity with the help of alcohol. In many ways, it is Cameroon seen through a glass of beer and Cameroonians locked inside a bottle of lager.

Is The (Social Democratic) Front Becoming Fun?

By Neba-Fuh (Originally published on Voice of the Oppressed)

The role of any opposition party in an established democracy is to be an unsolicited watchdog of the ruling party, while constantly aspiring to take over power through democratic means, if possible. A front is a movement aimed at achieving a specified political objective.

The launching of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) on the 26th of May 1990 revealed the mindset of the majority of Cameroonians( Both from La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons) through the midwifery of a few awakened Southern Cameroonians, who took the unprecedented decision to establish a front in an era when multipartyism had been eclipsed for over a quarter of a century.

The launching of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) on the 26th of May 1990 revealed the mindset of the majority of Cameroonians( Both from La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons) through the midwifery of a few awakened Southern Cameroonians, who took the unprecedented decision to establish a front in an era when multipartyism had been eclipsed for over a quarter of a century.

Pictures of the Week

Singer and Guitarist, Andre-Marie Tala (April 27, 2009)

Cameroun Vision 2035: Rebranding Cameroon

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

The Cameroon government through the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development has published a 65-page lofty and laudable draft long term democratic development blueprint for Cameroon dubbed “Cameroun Vision 2035”.

Vision 2035 vindicates me of a political treatise I wrote in “The Post “ newspaper, Cameroon and CODESRIA bulletin, Senegal in 2004 titled “Cameroon’s democratic process-Vision 2020” for which I suffered administrative sanction.  The underlying assumption of my political treatise was that multipartyism had failed in Cameroon not necessarily because it has proven to be a problematic model in Africa but primarily because the political elite in Cameroon had been unable to provide a vision of a future for Cameroonians and a realistic strategy for achieving it.  The fundamental question that my treatise sought to address was “What will Cameroon look like in the year 2020?”

Swine flu: communication priority for Cameroon/Africa

By Aloysius Agendia

Two years ago it was bird flu. Today it is swine flu.  Concerning the first, birds among which are chicken were in real and utopic danger in various parts of the world.

This animal disease which did not reach Cameroon however, had devastating consequences on the struggling poultry sector in our country. It was because of terribly lacking and poor management of information about the flu.

Recently in Yaoundé, there was a heated debate between the government and some poultry farmers on whether bird flu actually existed in Cameroon. This is not the issue i want to raise though.

Taxing Bananas

By Rosemary Ekosso (Originally posted on www.ekosso.com

In the first few years of my life, I was surrounded by bananas. Their smell permeated everything. I grew to hate them. I eat them these days, and each time I eat one, I am reminded of the plantation workers who grew the bananas. The first playing balls we had were made from the tubular blue plastic covers that were used to protect the bunches of bananas as they grew larger.

Recently, I came across an article on the Tax Justice Network site detailing how those poor plantation workers are cheated of a decent living by multinationals. It’s all in the taxation, you see.

The Tax Justice Network refers to an article in The Guardian  which details how this is done. How? By tax weighting. How does this work?

After embarrassing security failures: Biya entrusts key jobs to Anglophone officers

By Ojong Steven Ayuk in Yaounde (Originally published in The Herald)

Following disgraceful attacks on public buildings, last year’s bank raid in Limbe and incessant incursions by Niger Delta rebels in Bakassi, the president has turned to Anglophone army officers for help. Col. Daniel Njock Elokobi will now coordinate Gendarmerie operations while Lt. Col. Benedict Ayukegba will lead the new military mission in Bakassi.

Ndiva Kofele-Kale Named University Distinguished Professor

Professor Ndiva Kofele-Kale has been named University Distinguished Professor (UDP) by Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Kofele-Kale, a faculty member at the Dedman School of Law was recommended by an Advisory Committee to the Provost comprised of 4 current holders of SMU endowed chairs and 2 current holders of University Distinguished Professorships.

The University Distinguished Professorships were created in 1982 by SMU's Board of Trustees to honor outstanding faculty members who meet the highest standards of academic achievement. University Distinguished Professors are appointed in perpetuity and receive cash awards of $10,000 per year for a 5-year rolling term. There are only seven UDPs in the entire university.

Ndiva Kofele-Kale first came to SMU in 1988 as a visiting professor from the University of Tennessee School of Law. He became a full-time faculty member in the Dedman School of Law in fall 1989 and a full professor in 1998. An expert in international dispute resolution, human rights and public international law, Kofele-Kale served from 1990-96 as associate editor of The International Lawyer, a joint publication of the American Bar Association and the Dedman School of Law. He teaches courses in public and private international law and business associations.

Click here for a complete profile of Prof. Kofele-Kale, including a list of his publications.

(Picture courtesy of BLCC)

Women's Rights: A Scarce "Commodity" in Cameroon

By Yemti Harry Ndienla (Originally posted on Associated Content)

There is no gainsaying that women's rights constitute an important indicator of understanding global well-being. Yet many believe this is not an issue of world concern. Though many may think women's rights are only an issue in some countries - especially those (Muslim countries) where religion is law, some countries are lodging reservations as to the rights of women.

Witchcraft and Justice: The Case of Cameroon

By George Esunge Fominyen (originally posted on GEF's Outlook)

In December 2008, the  American newspaper Star Tribune reported that a woman of Cameroon origin  had filed a lawsuit in a US Federal Court accusing another woman for using voodoo to steal her man and ruin her life. By February the woman had withdrawn the case citing the power of prayer as the final sword in her battle to regain "her man". This affair drew a mix of contempt, ridicule and sympathy for her, as it seemed  absurd that one would dare to file such a case in a court of law.

 If this woman had been well advised she would have simply taken the case to the land of her forefathers. Article 251 of the Cameroon penal code  provides that anyone found guilty of practising sorcery could be punished with imprisonment for up to 10 years and fined 100,000 FCFA ($200). All she needed to do would have been to prove her allegations. Well, that's where things become awkward. How do you prove the existence of what is essentially supernatural? 

Brussels court orders Cameroonian student re-admitted to Belgium

Belgium - A court in Brussels has ruled that Cameroonian student, Rudy Nzimo, in detention on suspicion of possessing fake passport, cannot be expelled from Belgium because the allegation had not been proved.

According to his lawyers, Nzimo must be allowed free entry into Belgium to complete his studies since the allegation that he had used a fake passport was not established.

The aliens' office, the department in charge of the legality or otherwise of foreigners in Belgium, also risks a fine of 100,000 euros if the Cameroonian student was deported.

Rumours of War - A Memoir by Kangsen Feka Wakai

Kangsen Wakai's memoir on Bamenda under the State of Emergency in 1992 (Originally published in African Writing)

He had caught grenades with his bare hands and turned them into inconsequential specks of dust. He carried with him a staff that had deflected a torrent of bullets. He had converted would-be assassins to his flock on the spot, singling them out from a crowd of thousands. They all swore they had seen this with their eyes.

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He could appear and disappear. Just like that; one minute he was there and the next he was gone. They said he had been ‘cooked’ with the most potent juju; he had spent six days and six nights in the forbidden forests of Oku. Justice was on his side they insisted, but most of all, the medicine people, from the Aghem thunder-makers to the Batibo spirit-catchers, were on his side. He was untouchable. The uniformed goons couldn’t touch him. He was divine. He was truth. They couldn’t lay their accursed hands on him for he was the honey-tongue genie of elusive dreams with the power to conjure the apocalypse.

So, he was a messiah, our own latter-day saint.

Success Story Magazine No. 18: Food Safety, a New Challenge

The complete issue of Succes Story Magazine #18, Cameroon's premier online magazine, is now available for download from the Success Story site. Here is the editorial from the current issue:

Hello Readers, threats to food safety all over the world have become a source of worry. We have been witnesses to the outbreaks of the mad cow disease, the avian bird flu, the ebola fever and salmonella around the world. Everybody is at risk because some contaminated foods are still found in the market.

Fortunately, Governments around the world are taking the food safety challenge seriously and they are setting up appropriate mechanisms under the guidance and insistence of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). President Barack Obama of the United States of America has set the ball rolling by initiating reforms for greater food safety as well as appointing a new team to head the FDA. In Cameroon, the Government has finally installed the members of the Food Safety Committee and has showed commitment towards giving the Committee the resources it will need to meet Cameroonians’ expectations.

Sexuality, Money, Power and Occultism: A Review of Nyamnjoh’s Married But Available

By Frida Nekang Mbunda, Lecturer and Literary Critic, University of Buea, Cameroon

The problem with most African writers today is the inability to provide a stable interpretive sense of the contemporary African environment or what it truly means to be an African today, in the 21st century. This is because of the rupturing of identities resulting from culture and location displacements, especially within the new African metropolis which has led to a break down in social structure. The break down in social structure is as a result of violation of taboos and when taboos are broken, new forms and modes of discourse must evolve to contain that which has previously been unspeakable.

Cameroon: Not the Queen's English

Bamenda, Cameroon – “English-speaking,” I have learned, is a relative term. When we first arrived in Bamenda six days ago, I was excited to be in a region of Cameroon where language would be less of a barrier to interacting with the locals. Then we went out to Bamenda’s most posh restaurant—we’re still talking fluorescent lighting and 3,000 CFA ($6) entrees here—and I got a reality check. After spilling some Top Pamplemousse (Cameroon’s delicious homegrown brand of grapefruit soda) on the table and floor, I went back to the bar to ask the bartender for some napkins. My initial request was met with a look of incomprehension. I gradually simplified my question to just “napkins?”, but that didn’t work either. I finally got the message through by miming a spilling beverage and wiping motion.

Picture of the Week

When socialite Paris Hilton locked eyes with Cameroon's First Lady Chantal Biya, it could have been a duel to the death in the glamour stakes.

But - fortunately for those close by - the pair hit it off, posing for photographs at a gala for the African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles last night.
 

Hair-raising: First Lady of Cameroon Chantal Biya, left, and Paris Hilton arrive at the African First Ladies' Health Summit Gala in Beverly Hills last night

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Chantal Biya Gets Her Hollywood Moment

The Leadership for Health Summit, featuring 15 African first ladies, wraps up today in Los Angeles. The two-day summit allowed the first ladies to discuss maternal health, girls' education and HIV/AIDS related issues throughout Africa, according to its website.

Reuters reports that the closed-door summit introduced the African leaders' wives to business leaders, health policy experts and Hollywood celebrities -- with Sharon Stone, Danny Glover and Billy Zane scheduled to appear.

Corruption: Cameroon's Former Ambassador to the US Detained!

By Neba-Fuh

Whether Mr Jerome Mendouga, former Ambassador of Cameroun to the United States of America sought asylum in the US or not, is insignificant, compared to the harm he is alleged to have caused the people of this nation by getting involved in a shady deal to buy an unfit plane for a worthless ruler.
 
Jerome Mendouga, being conferred an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree by Dickinson College (Pennsylvania, USA) in 2005.

After all, immigration officials of host nations done grant asylum depending on whether the reasons for your persecution or would-be persecution in your country of origin are necessarily justified or not.

Former Cameroonian Political Operative Expelled from Canada

Adrian Humphreys, National Post 

Monday, April 13, 2009: A young man from Cameroon has been expelled from Canada after a federal judge declared that his sudden marriage to a Canadian did not make amends for his crimes against humanity as a political spy or for procuring underage girls for the sexual pleasure of the president's cousin.

Eric Francis Tchoumbou, 23, of Montreal, had fought to remain in Canada for nearly four years, alleging his former party militia colleagues in his West African homeland had tortured him despite his service as a political operative and party pimp.

Picture of the Week

Tropical Flower: Things of beauty surrounding us

Cameroonian Students Demonstrate in Brussels

Belgium - Cameroonian students demonstrated on Friday in Brussels for the fourth consecutive day to demand the release of a colleague who has been detained since Monday at Zaventem airport.
 

The fifth year civil engineering student of Université Libre in Brussels was returning to Belgium from Cameroon after a one-month holiday when police at Zaventem airport refused him entry claiming his face did not match the picture on his passport.