New Investment to Lift Cotton Transformation Ceiling

New Investment to Lift Cotton Transformation Ceiling

Monday, December 05, 2011

By Divine Ntaryike Jr

The Cameroon government is touting fresh investments in the cotton transformation sector as a likely output and value-added export stimulus in the coming years.  The ongoing government chest-pounding follows the fertile conclusion of a US$ 2million loan deal last  November in the industrial hub, Douala.

The Development Bank of Central African States [BDEAC] and the Societe Generale de Banques de Cameroun, a French commercial bank subsidiary agreed to respectively disburse US$ 1,4 million [700 million FCFA] and US$ 600,000 [300 million FCFA] in loans to the private venture hatched by SITRACO [Cotton Industrial Transformation Company]. 

"At the moment, local processing of cotton is about 5 percent, with the remaining 95 percent exported. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to raise the level of local processing to at least 40 percent and also reduce raw exports," Martin Yankwa, an inspector in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development explained. 

Cameroon’s feeble textiles industry has been dominated by CICAM [Cotton Industry of Cameroon] since 1965.  Skimpy internal demand, weak adoption of modern technology, unfair completion and dumping have discouraged investment for local transformation.  In fact, cotton production has slumped by about 50 percent over the last five years from 306,000 tons during the 2004/05 season to 161,000 tons in 2010.

The loan pact heralds hope for the over 200,000 growers scattered across the main production hubs in the country’s northern parts.  They are bound by regulations to exclusively sell their harvests to the Cotton Development Corporation, SODECOTON, which provides them inputs among others in return.  But the 200 FCFA per kilogram offered them by the state-run corporation has fuelled smuggling of harvests to neighboring Nigeria where rates are far higher.

SODECOTON’s agricultural production director, Ibrahim Ngamie, says during the 2010/11 harvest season, SODECOTON incurred losses of over 14 billion FCFA [about US$ 31 million] as a result of trafficking of some 25,000 tons to Nigeria.  With this year’s harvests beginning, Nigerian traffickers are said to be invading the growing areas once again.  The Governor of the North Region, Gambo Haman has warned that smugglers will be ranked in the same league as highway robbers and dealt with as such.

Meantime, SITRACO intends to flag off operations at its Douala factory in the course of 2012.  General Manager, Robert Kemajou says the total cost of the project stands around 5 billion CFA francs ($10.4 million) at least.  The company will reel off rolls of cotton ready for consumption by the textiles industry, as well as engage in the fabrication of medical supplies. 

Apart from its use in the fabrics industry, western medicine employs cotton for dressings, bandages, swabs and wool.  Scientists say cotton’s role is fast-evolving.  Its roots and seeds contain compounds that bear the potential for treating cancer and HIV.  Elsewhere, cotton seeds have been proven to be high protein sources.  Cotton is also being developed for use in cleaning up oil spills, for electrical conductivity purposes, erosion control and packing material among others.

Addressing a Central Africa Cotton Business Forum in the capital Yaoundé last February, US Ambassador to Cameroon, Robert P Jackson preached the benefits of Cameroon introducing biotechnology in cotton growing.  According to him, embracing biotech will increase production and enable farmers reap advantage from record-high world market prices.

 India introduced the technology in 2002 and saw production double in 2008, he added.  A formal government reaction to the recommendation is still awaited. Cameroon’s cotton output has not only stagnated, but slumped considerably over the years.  

Cameroon Government Kick-starts Boko Haram

Cameroon Government Kick-starts Boko Haram Clampdown
Monday, December 05, 2011

By Divine Ntaryike Jr

In recent months, Muslim clerics have recurrently presumed the snowballing presence across Cameroon of members of Nigeria’s militant Islamic sect, the Boko Haram.  In August for example, Sheikh Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak, a Douala-based Imam warned that the Central African nation no longer served only as a sanctuary for fugitives of the extremist movement, but was fast becoming a station for enrolling converts.

Ostensibly, the chimes of those alarm bells are finally netting government attention. Authorities in the country’s largest metropolis, Douala, have kicked off consultations with Muslim clerics and community leaders aimed at elaborating a blueprint to fend off the inbound fundamentalists.  The kick-starter session, to be replicated nationwide held in late November under the auspices of Bernard Okalia Bilai, senior divisional officer for the Wouri Division headquartered in Douala.

“We have been informed of attempts of  Boko Haram infiltration.  Their doctrine is anti-social as it condemns western education.  It’s a doctrine that persuades young graduates to rip their degrees because it’s satanic.  It’s a doctrine that condemns what today constitutes the values of our society and top authorities of the country don’t accept that such hateful dogma is established in our communities, and thus the necessity of this meeting.  We must be vigilant,” the administrator expounded, adding that ongoing high-level deliberations are contemplating how to best stave off the infiltration. 

Boko Haram is a term coined from Hausa to symbolize radical opposition to Western education.  It is believed the movement was hatched between 2000 and 2003 in Nigeria, as the Committee of Islamic Youth.  Its initial goal was to counter Christianity.  Before long, it metamorphosed into Boko Haram. The radical religious group has been accused of, or claimed responsibility for a spate of savage assaults in recent years in Nigeria.  Essentially, militants target and kill Christians, police, politicians, local government officials as well as blow up government institutions.

In July 2009, sectarian clashes pitting Boko Haram and Christians in Nigeria’s Borno State, which shares borders with Cameroon, left over 800 people dead within days.  The Nigerian police and army launched an offensive that culminated in the killing of the group leader, Mohammed Yusuf, alongside several high profile aides.

The crackdown triggered the escape of some of the group members to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.  Sheik Mubarak says after initially seeking refuge in Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions, which share porous borders with Nigeria, the runaway militants have steadily infiltrated Muslim communities elsewhere across the country and are hosted unwittingly or knowingly by some hard-line Cameroonian Muslim leaders who even allow them preach extremist ideologies in their mosques.

“Boko Haram militants are experts in camouflage.  Don’t wait to see them with or without long beards.  They use all possible means to circulate.  The most important thing is to be able to decode their messages, which they are spreading with CDs.  And that’s going on in mosques, within Muslim communities and among religious leaders, some of whom are providing protection for them because they pass for Muslim brothers and so cannot be denounced,” Mubarak asserted. 

Mubarak has also alleged that some prominent members of the group, including Mohammad Nour and Mohamed Kahirou are Cameroonians who actually grew up in Douala and have since returned following the ongoing crackdown against the sect in Nigeria.  He says they are the main purveyors of the Boko Haram philosophy in Cameroon. 

Meantime, the Conference of Imams of Cameroon has equally expressed concern over the potential danger posed by the swelling presence of Boko Haram militants in the country.   Legislation on religious freedom is loose and worship houses are freely sprouting at alarming rates.  The Conference has warned that with Cameroonian Muslims witnessing doctrinal disputes and an increasingly moribund economy, recruiting Boko Haram followers across the country, with over half of its 20 million inhabitants toiling below the poverty line will be quite easy, as obtained in Nigeria when the group was first hatched.

Several Nigerian newspaper reports have hinted that police interrogations of captured Boko Haram members have revealed that the group procures weapons [including rocket launchers and AK47s] from unnamed sources in Cameroon and Chad.  Some of the reports also indicate the group has been considering the possibility of using Niger, Chad or Cameroon as a logistics base from where operations, targeting its critics and government institutions in Nigeria, can be launched.

In June this year, the Shehu of Borno State accused aliens from Chad and Cameroon of masterminding Boko Haram attacks that left several people dead.  A month later, 36 nationals including Chadians and Cameroonians were identified among those killed in a gun battle between police and suspected Boko Haram activists. Earlier this month, 43 Cameroonians, suspected of belonging to the group were expelled to Cameroon

Cameroon Serving As Hideout For Nigeria’s Boko Haram – Cleric

Cameroon Serving As Hideout For Nigeria’s Boko Haram – Cleric

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

14 August 2011

Cameroon no longer serves merely as a refuge for members of Nigeria’s

radical Boko Haram Islamic sect, but has become a base for enrolling

converts, a Muslim cleric in the C. African nation has warned.

“I make this claim based on clear indicators.  The administration has

been served several indices which have confirmed that these people are

in Cameroon and are even propagating their doctrine in various chapels

and mosques.  There are other indicators like CDs which carry their

ideology and are being distributed across the national territory,”

Sheik Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak told AP in an exclusive interview in

Cameroon’s largest city, Douala.

                                  

Boko Haram is a term coined from Hausa to denote radical opposition to

Western education.  The extremist religious group has been accused of,

or claimed responsibility for a spate of savage assaults in recent

years in northeastern Nigeria.  Essentially, it has targeted and

killed Christians, police, politicians, local government officials as

well as blown up government institutions.

In July 2009, sectarian clashes pitting Boko Haram and Christians in

Nigeria’s Borno State which shares borders with Cameroon left over

eight hundred people dead within days.  The Nigerian police and army

launched an offensive that culminated in the killing of the group

leader, Mohammed Yusuf alongside several high profile aides.

The crackdown triggered the escape of some of the group members to

neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Sheik Mubarak says initially, the fugitives sought refuge in

Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions which share porous

borders with Nigeria.  But steadily, they have been infiltrating

Muslim communities elsewhere across the country where they are lodged

naively or knowingly by some extremist Cameroonian Muslim leaders who

even allow them preach in their mosques.

“The No. 2 and No. 3 strongmen of the sect [Mohammad Nour and Mohammed

Kahirou] are from Cameroon and precisely, are people who actually grew

up in Douala.  So they came back when they were chased from Nigeria

and have been spreading their recordings and ideology.  Cameroon is a

favorable ground for the Boko Haram sect because there’s a sort of

laxity regarding freedom of worship.  Religions are practiced without

any authorization and that’s how these extremist movements are gaining

grounds in Cameroon,” he noted.

The Conference of Imams of Cameroon says it has alerted the government

of the potential menace to public order posed by the swelling presence

of Boko Haram members in the country.  Ostensibly, no formal action

has been taken.  Sheik Mubarak says the sect members quickly leave

town or lie low whenever their cover is blown, only to reemerge

elsewhere and continue spreading their dogma.

“You cannot wait to see a thief in thief’s clothing before you act,

uniforms for thieves don’t exist.  So their ideology should be tracked

by those capable of detecting indicators.  After Al Zarawi took over

the command of al-Qaida, Boko Haram signed an agreement with AQMI

–al-Qaida’s armed branch in Africa for its agents to get military

training.  Boko Haram is not only a sect with ideological differences,

but has military and strategic training and is ready to act and for

that reason, we remain under threat,” he warns.

Several Nigerian newspaper reports have hinted that police

interrogations of captured Boko Haram members have revealed that the

group procures weapons [including rocket launchers and AK47s] from

unnamed sources in Cameroon and Chad.  Some of the reports also

indicate the group has been considering the possibility of using

Niger, Chad or Cameroon as a logistics base from where operations,

targeting its critics and government institutions in Nigeria can be

launched.

In June this year, the Shehu of Borno State accused aliens from Chad

and Cameroon of masterminding of Boko Haram attacks that left several

people dead.  A month later, 36 nationals including Chadians and

Cameroonians were identified among those killed in a gun battle

between police and suspected Boko Haram activists.  Earlier this

month, 43 Cameroonians, suspected of belonging to the group were

expelled.

Sheik Mubarak says with the growing offensive against the group in

Nigeria, it could simply change nomenclature and begin active

operations under another name in Cameroon.  “It’s a movement which

initially was created in Nigeria in 2000-2003 under a different name.

It was called the Committee of Islamic Youth and at the onset, it its

goal was to fight Christianity.  Then it metamorphosed into Boko

Haram.  That is ‘prohibition of Western education, administrative

institutions and all that is pro-West.’”

The prelate adds that with Cameroonian Muslims witnessing doctrinal

disputes and an increasingly moribund economy, recruiting Boko Haram

followers across the country, with over half of its 20 million

inhabitants toiling below the poverty line will be quite easy, as

obtained in Nigeria when the group was first hatched.

Cameroon Silently Exporting Peculiar HIV Strain

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

27 November 2011

Ahead of this year’s World AIDS Day slated for Dec 1, there is emerging evidence that Cameroon; reputed as a crucible for rare types of HIV may be silently exporting another uncommon strain of the virus that causes AIDS.  

The reputable science journal, The Lancet reported late last week that the “very rare strain of AIDS virus previously found only among a few people in Cameroon has most probably spread outside the West African country.”

The claim is hinged on recent findings by French doctors at the Paris Saint Louis Hospital.  The medics say last January, an unnamed 57-year-old male grieving with fever, rash, swollen lymph glands and genital ulceration was admitted at the healthcare delivery facility.  A month later, and against unsatisfactory tests to confirm the supposed HIV-1 group type infection, the patient developed facial paralysis; a loss of the ability to move parts of his face.

Further exams were conducted using the man’s blood samples which eventually reacted in an antibody trail of the HIV group N strain.  Scientists brandish two known types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Both are transmitted by sexual intercourse, through blood contamination, and from mother to child.  HIV-1 is predominant type worldwide while experts believe the relatively rare HIV-2 type is concentrated in West Africa and is seldom occurs elsewhere.

HIV-1 strains are classified into four subtypes – M, N, O and P.   While over 90 percent of HIV-1 infections fall under group M, N and O viral strains are believed to be extremely rare.

Meantime, in the course of their probe of the patient’s sexual background, the French doctors learned he had had intercourse with a partner in Togo from where he returned with the severe symptoms and an accelerated deterioration of his immune system.   He was administered a “powerful five-drug combination of anti-retrovirals to which he responded.”  

“This case of HIV-1 group-N primary infection indicates that this rare group is now circulating outside Cameroon, which emphasizes the need for rigorous HIV epidemiological monitoring,” Professor Francois Simon who led the research explained, recommending rigorous future vigilance to monitor the spread of the HIV strain.

The group N strain of the human immunodeficiency virus was first identified in a Cameroonian woman in 1998.  The infection later evolved to full-blown AIDS.  Ever since, more than 12,000 HIV-infected persons living in Cameroon have been tested for similar infection, with only 12 cases detected.  Scientists believe group N may have jumped to humans from chimpanzees, possibly through the handling and consumption of bushmeat infected with the simian equivalent of HIV, also known as SIV.

Central Africa: Invasive Species Wrecking Eco-stability

Central Africa: Invasive Species Wrecking Eco-stability

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

29 September 2011

The protracting nonexistence of a synchronized crossborder regime to monitor and control the entry and proliferation of invasive alien species or IAS in Central Africa could cost the region untold and multiform havoc in the near future, a study has warned.

The conclusion is hinged on an investigation of routes through which rodents have entered and settled in the DR Congo.  Prince Kiswele Kaleme, a Congolese biodiversity conservationist and PhD final-year student at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University led the probe funded by the Belgian Technical Cooperation.  It comprised South African, US and French researchers.

“The aim of the study was to highlight the fact that alien species are entering the DRC and in fact, all countries in the Central-East Africa region on a regular basis. Although not all of these species necessarily become invasive, the potential certainly exists for some of them to spread and negatively impact local biodiversity, food security, disrupt ecosystems and affect human health,” Kaleme explained in an email-conducted interview.

According to him, there is a dire need for the elaboration of an all-embracing regional policy blueprint to conserve the environment and curb the escalating IAS onslaught in the region.

“Ideally what is needed is a unified strategy to deal with invasive species. Such a strategy should have the buy-in of all the role players to ensure that it is successfully implemented. Whatever the efficiency of the government services, if the role players do not abide, things cannot work. The collaboration of every one including researchers, tourists, trade and industry officials, etc., is needed,” Kaleme added.

IAS are usually introduced into an area from other parts of the world either by accident or voluntarily.  Though not all alien species become invasive, they may end up colonizing and invading their new habitat. They have the potential to displace indigenous species in their quest for survival by outrunning them in the quest for wellbeing.  Researchers say they perturb biodiversity, wreck ecosystems, alter habitats and threaten humans by spreading diseases, decimating water and land resources among others.

Researchers agree that threats posed by IAS are set to soar with increasing globalization and human mobility and interaction for diverse purposes including trade, travel and tourism.  Natural barriers like oceans, mountains, rivers and deserts are crumbling implying that indigenous species are losing their natural isolation. 

“Take the case of the water hyacinth for example.  We didn’t have it in Cameroon a few years ago.  All we know is that it was imported into Africa from the Amazon in Latin America.  You see how it is invading the River Wouri estuary around Douala?  Fishermen are complaining of poor catch because water surfaces are decreasing sharply.  Prices for shrimps are skyrocketing because fishermen have trouble accessing them, and unfortunately, we have not been able to come with a method to eliminate it,” Prince Nasser Kemajou, a prominent Cameroonian environmentalist concurred. 

He said attempts at manually weeding out the plants over the years have all ended in futility.  He warned that Cameroon, which is home to about 90 percent of all ecosystems found across Africa, runs a real risk IAS infestation owing to underreporting and the absence of coordinated research to enable a sound scientific approach to the problem.

And Kaleme agrees.  “We need the science to inform us how to deal with the species that have already been introduced into the region, and how to ensure that other species don’t become established in future.  Proactive regulations, along with increased research into the local and alien animal and plant species found in the region must be put in place.  We need to put our research into practice to ensure that invasive species do not colonize even more areas,” he recommended. 

An existing NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] blueprint to tackle IAS prescribes raising awareness, enforcing customs controls, building partnerships, increasing vigilance on imported plants and animal species, among others.  But critics say since its elaboration, the plan has remained dormant as governments grapple to satisfy other major priorities in agriculture and health, for example.

“At the level of Cameroon, nothing is being heard about the NEPAD project.  But there is a another one being implemented by the United Nations Environment Program in tandem with the Global Environment Facility which goes from 2011 to 2015.  It is about the development and institution of a national monitoring and control system for biological invaders.  We are hoping that upon completion, we should have effective mechanisms to combat invasive species,” Kemajou stated.

Elsewhere, experts agree that preventing the introduction of IAS is the most cost-effective and environmentally-sound measure so far available against IAS whose negative impacts can be vast, insidious and usually irremediable.  Others are however suggesting that governments should turn trouble into fortune by investing in the transformation of some IAS – like making paper and fuelwood from Eucalyptus and Acacia, for instance.

Mosquito Net Distribution Drive Blotched

Mosquito Net Distribution Drive Blotched

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

30 October 2011

On August 20 2011 amid bloated pomp, Cameroon’s PM Philemon Yang flagged off a countrywide government campaign to distribute over 8.6 million long lasting insecticidal mosquito bed nets gratis.  But the operation that was initially slated to span a dozen days from 8 to 20 September is yet to takeoff in six of the country’s ten administrative regions.

And even where distribution has been declared complete, many enrolled beneficiaries are still without the treated nets.  “Here is my voucher which entitles me to a net.  But the distribution agents tell me they have run out of supplies,” Jacques Ndoum, a Yaoundé resident complained in late October.  Across the country, other omitted recipients are grumbling and threatening protests.

Cynics originally raised eyebrows over the timetabling of the venture.  They insinuated it was a tacit vote-canvassing gambit for 29-year-serving President Paul Biya, who sought and won reelection last 9 October.  “There can be no election gift better than that which takes care of the health of the population. The head of state has instructed that every family head in the country receives at least one bed net,” Health Minister Andre Mama Fouda declared at the campaign launch.

Sustained criticism over heavy politicization of the initiative purportedly motivated the Global Fund to demand its suspension until after the election.  The fund is financing the project, alongside the Cameroon government to the tune of over 34 billion FCFA [about US$68 million]. Yet despite the lag, abundant flaws rued at various levels of the drive stayed unfixed.

Data garnered from a nationwide headcount of beneficiaries preceding distribution showed gross mismatches with field realities.  In the West Region for example, headcount statistics indicated over 1.8 million inhabitants with about 890.000 shortlisted beneficiaries.  But the region was eventually allocated only 640.000 nets.

“On paper, the technicians presumed it would be easy, but the realities on the field have shown it’s a complex operation.  The first complexity is transportation.  We had planned to distribute before the start of the rainy season, but the rains caught up with us and in several areas, it was impossible to distribute,” Minister Fouda acknowledged on state radio. 

He also named reliance on now-evolved 2008 census statistics, and the omission of several households as other pitfalls.  Elsewhere, various civil society associations coopted to assist dropped out upon discovering they would not be remunerated, while some headcount and distribution agents were simply chased away by suspicious family heads. 

Meantime, residents of the country’s largest city Douala are still waiting for distribution to commence. “We are waiting for the minister to give the go-ahead for distribution to begin.  Over 1.2 million bed nets are due distribution in the Littoral Region,” regional public health delegate, Andre Bita Fouda announced late October.

Across the malaria-endemic city, some anxious voucher-holders are heaping accusations on local health officials.  “They have derailed the nets and soon you will find them on shelves at pharmacies and markets where they will sell like hot cake because we hear they have been designed to last longer,” Melanie Talom, a housewife and mother of two charged.

Mama Fouda has issued a release reiterating the nets are not for sale.  He has urged the population to denounce anyone vending or hoarding the nets.  He says the Global Fund will undertake an audit of the process when it is completed nationwide, and culprits will be harshly punished.

Nonetheless, the 2011 treated bed nets distribution campaign is the country’s hugest.  Between 2003 and 2009, only 2, 4 million nets were shared out to pregnant women and for kids under five years old.  The long lasting insecticidal nets are impregnated with a substance that kills mosquitoes when they come in contact with it.

‘Such mass distributions have enabled considerable reduction of malaria-related deaths in other African countries and the impact should also be positive for Cameroon. Treated nets can curb deaths by between 20 to 25 percent and have proven to be the most effective method of preventing transmission of the malaria parasite by the female anopheles mosquito which bites mostly at night,” Dr Leopold Gustave Lehman, parasitology researcher at the University of Douala explained.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Public Health show a malaria-related mortality rate of 43 percent,

Implying the disease snuffs out more lives than AIDS and TB put together.  40 percent of consultations in health structures are still blamed on malaria, which causes an annual GDP loss of 1.3 percent. 

The ongoing campaign is intended to scale up the usage of nets in Cameroon from 13 to 80 percent among high risk populations and help the country attain Millennium Development Goals 3, 4 and 5 by 2015. 

However, there are looming fears the nets may again end up as window blinds, material for wedding gowns or serve as fishing nets.  Elsewhere across the country, some complain that sleeping under the nets gives the spooky impression they’re lying in coffins, while others say their tight meshing hinders the smooth flow of air.  

Gunmen blockade Cameroon bridge ahead of election

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By DIVINE NTARYIKE | Associated Press

Gunmen wearing military uniforms and carrying signs opposing Cameroon's longtime ruler blockaded a major bridge early Thursday, shooting at police for several hours in an attack less than two weeks before the presidential election.

Relative calm has returned to Douala after deployed troops arrested at least nine of the gunmen who were calling for President Paul Biya to quit, a military official said on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press. Biya, who has been in power since 1982, faces 22 challengers in the Oct. 9 poll.

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Eyewitness Itah Robert said Thursday's early morning gunfight took place on the mile-long Wouri Bridge, which is used by some 35,000 vehicles a day. One of the gunmen dived into the river below after being shot.

"A fierce exchange of gunfire ensued and one of the gunmen plunged into the River Wouri," he said. "It is not clear if he drowned."

One witness told The Associated Press that the gunmen had placards that read: "Paul Biya Must Go At All Costs" and "Paul Biya Dictator."

Local governor Francis Fai Yengo confirmed that 11 gunmen dressed in military uniforms were involved.

Biya, who is considered one of Africa's remaining strongmen, is widely expected to win another seven-year term next month. In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, provoking nationwide unrest that left 40 dead according to government statistics.

The International Crisis Group expressed concern that public frustration with the government could spark election-related violence in Cameroon.

Also Thursday, election officials said that two grenades were removed from a branch office for the election management body in Limbe in southwest Cameroon. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the undetonated bombs found early in the morning.

Earlier this year, the government ordered cell phone companies to suspend mobile services for Twitter after people used the social networking site to report the mass deployment of troops to prevent a "Drive Out Biya" march.

Many poor Cameroonians blame Biya for the the prevalent poverty gripping this nation of more than 20 million people, citing political stagnation and resource-plundering by his colleagues.

Biya was bequeathed power in 1982 by what was then Cameroon's sole political party. Since then, he has introduced modest democratic reforms, allowing multiple political blocs and some increased personal freedoms.

In 1992, he won Cameroon's first-ever multiparty presidential elections, but the ballot was internationally denounced as fraudulent. The opposition accuses his party of rigging elections to ensure his victory.

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Cameroon: Presidential Candidates Enter Cyberspace

Anne Mireille Nzouankeu

12 September 2011

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The presidential campaign underway in Cameroon has brought with it a new era whereby candidates are harnessing the Internet to help them reach new frontiers.
"Please subscribe to the electoral roll", "Vote for Ayah Paul"; are the kinds of messages Cameroonians have been receiving electronically for the past three months. They are sent by Ayah's Paul campaign team.
Innovation

Ayah Paul is a former member of the CPDM ruling party. He is also one of the first to use social networks such as Facebook, to communicate with his potential electorate. He admits being influenced by Barack Obama's campaign. "My target group is youth so I think it is the best way to get in touch with them.
Mobile phones and new technologies mean that youth are always connected with the internet. It has now become easier to communicate with them via the web," declares Ayah Paul.
Other candidates such as Edith Kah Walla, Pierre Mila Assouté, Vincent Sosthène Fouda or Esther Dang all have Facebook accounts in order to reach out to the younger electorate. It is a first in Cameroon.
Previous presidential campaigns saw candidates depending on conventional media such as radio or television.
Efficiency

Cameroon Tribune

Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

Ayah Paul announced his intention to run for Cameroons presidency via facebook and text message.
Every day, his campaign team is posting messages, to help explain his manifesto to potential voters. In addition to his Facebook page, Ayah Paul has created a campaign website, which has been online since February. On this page is his biography and his political plans. Dozens of press articles about him are also being posted on his website.
"I am waiting for the elections results to evaluate my strategy, but just by looking at the number of reactions, I can already say that the message is being more widely spread," says Ayah.

Relevant Links

• Central Africa
• Cameroon
• Governance
• ICT

Twenty year old Valentin Songa will vote for the first time in this election. He is a fan of Ayah on Facebook. "At first I was surprised to receive text messages and posts from the candidates running for presidency. But now I can say I appreciate it and I would say it is a great idea. Sometimes I exchange my views with team members from Ayah Paul's campaign on Facebook and I find it really nice being able to do so."
Freedom of speech
In addition to being entertaining, the use of internet during the presidential campaign is also a good way to avoid the media censorship from the Ministry of Communication. "The Internet offers freedom of speech," confirms Esther Dang, a presidential candidate.
If they were elected, would these candidates censure social networks like it is the case in other countries? "If we govern properly, then we do not need to censure the media," concludes Ayah Paul