Cameroon: Police Seize 141kg of Nigerian-bound Cocaine

Cameroon: Police Seize 141kg of Nigerian-bound Cocaine

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

4 September 2011

Police in Cameroon’s largest port city and economic hub, Douala have intercepted 141 kg of pure cocaine destined for neighboring Nigeria, a senior officer reported Sunday.  The seizure is considered the biggest drug bust ever in the Central African nation.

Senior police superintendent, Michel Deffo who steered a crack-squad comprising judicial police officers from the capital Yaoundé said the narcotic was illegally imported from Brazil.  “It was carefully tucked in a container labeled as containing imported vegetable cooking oil from Brazil,” the sub-director at the General Delegation for National Security in charge of the Fight against Drug Trafficking added.

A Cameroonian national, Victor Bisong Akon, 36, was nabbed by the police Saturday at the high-class Makepe suburban neighborhood in Douala and named chief suspect in the botched illicit transaction.  He is currently under custody, alongside the seized cocaine, at the city’s magistrate’s court pending charges and prosecution later this week.

Deffo said several other persons initially arrested in the course of investigations have been set free for lack of ample evidence linking them to the drug trafficking case.  They were merely people hired to offload and convey the container to the chief suspect’s residence and are considered innocent until sufficient incriminating facts can be established, he said.

Customs officials at the Douala seaport where the container arrived about a week ago say they were tipped off by Interpol.  They subsequently notified officials at the General Delegation for National Security. 

“The Delegate General for National Security himself, Martin Mbarga Nguele, immediately demanded an investigation be conducted by the judicial police and dispatched the team I am heading,” Deffo explained.  He saluted the high level of collaboration demonstrated by customs officials all through the investigations and ensuing impounding of the container as well as the arrest of the suspect.

The country’s drug enforcement officials are worried that gradually, local and international drug dealers are transforming Cameroon into a destination as well as transit for trafficked narcotics in the Central African sub-region.

In early August, a woman of Thai nationality, Sasitorn Sanoon was arrested by border police at the Douala International Airport as she was about boarding a Kenya Airways flight to Vietnam.  Police charged her with attempting to smuggle out over 2kg of heroin worth over 300 million FCFA [about US$600,000].  Sanoon told prosecutors she was given the luggage containing the heroin by a friend to take to her boyfriend in Vietnam.  She is still under custody.

Drug enforcement officials say peddlers are taking advantage of the country’s weak air and seaport controls, a situation exacerbated by corruption among customs and police officers.  Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Cameroon are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences of up to ten years and heavy fines.  

     

 

Cameroon: Police Seize 141kg of Nigerian-bound Cocaine

Cameroon: Police Seize 141kg of Nigerian-bound Cocaine

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

4 September 2011

Police in Cameroon’s largest port city and economic hub, Douala have intercepted 141 kg of pure cocaine destined for neighboring Nigeria, a senior officer reported Sunday.  The seizure is considered the biggest drug bust ever in the Central African nation.

Senior police superintendent, Michel Deffo who steered a crack-squad comprising judicial police officers from the capital Yaoundé said the narcotic was illegally imported from Brazil.  “It was carefully tucked in a container labeled as containing imported vegetable cooking oil from Brazil,” the sub-director at the General Delegation for National Security in charge of the Fight against Drug Trafficking added.

A Cameroonian national, Victor Bisong Akon, 36, was nabbed by the police Saturday at the high-class Makepe suburban neighborhood in Douala and named chief suspect in the botched illicit transaction.  He is currently under custody, alongside the seized cocaine, at the city’s magistrate’s court pending charges and prosecution later this week.

Deffo said several other persons initially arrested in the course of investigations have been set free for lack of ample evidence linking them to the drug trafficking case.  They were merely people hired to offload and convey the container to the chief suspect’s residence and are considered innocent until sufficient incriminating facts can be established, he said.

Customs officials at the Douala seaport where the container arrived about a week ago say they were tipped off by Interpol.  They subsequently notified officials at the General Delegation for National Security. 

“The Delegate General for National Security himself, Martin Mbarga Nguele, immediately demanded an investigation be conducted by the judicial police and dispatched the team I am heading,” Deffo explained.  He saluted the high level of collaboration demonstrated by customs officials all through the investigations and ensuing impounding of the container as well as the arrest of the suspect.

The country’s drug enforcement officials are worried that gradually, local and international drug dealers are transforming Cameroon into a destination as well as transit for trafficked narcotics in the Central African sub-region.

In early August, a woman of Thai nationality, Sasitorn Sanoon was arrested by border police at the Douala International Airport as she was about boarding a Kenya Airways flight to Vietnam.  Police charged her with attempting to smuggle out over 2kg of heroin worth over 300 million FCFA [about US$600,000].  Sanoon told prosecutors she was given the luggage containing the heroin by a friend to take to her boyfriend in Vietnam.  She is still under custody.

Drug enforcement officials say peddlers are taking advantage of the country’s weak air and seaport controls, a situation exacerbated by corruption among customs and police officers.  Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Cameroon are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences of up to ten years and heavy fines.  

     

 

Cameroon: Mobile Phone SMS Fortifies ARV Fidelity - Research

Cameroon: Mobile Phone SMS Fortifies ARV Fidelity - Research

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

29 August 2011

A caucus of researchers in Cameroon has concluded that regularly reminding HIV/AIDS patients of the need to be punctual and meticulous in taking medication can substantially ramp up their adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

The conclusion is based on a study dubbed “Cameroon Mobile Phone SMS [CAMPS] Trial.”  It was conducted over a period of six months, beginning January 2011 at the Day Care Center of Central Hospital in the capital Yaoundé.  The dozen-man research team from the Center for the Development of Best Practices in Health, CDBPH, was led by Lawrence Mbuagbaw.

“We thought it could be a good idea to see whether mobile phones can be used to improve adherence to HIV medication.  Similar studies are ongoing in Kenya, India and other countries and they show that text messages can be effective in improving adherence,” he said during a public presentation of the findings in late August.

Some 200 patients undertaking antiretroviral treatment were enrolled and randomly assigned to a control group.  Trial subjects in one cluster received 101 weekly reminder and motivational Short Message Service [SMS] texts while the other continued with usual care.

According to the research results, participants who received the SMS showed adherence rates surpassing 90 percent.  Their average weight increase stood at 3kg, compared to 1.7kg in the group that did not receive the SMS reminders. Elsewhere, the researchers noted an 8 percent progress in medication fidelity for the SMS recipients compared to 2.3 percent in the control group.

“Their adherence improved; which means they take their medication better and they’ll be healthier and there’ll be a reduction in the development of resistance strains to the virus,” Mbuagbaw explained.

He added that the lifelong antiretroviral therapy frustrates rapid replication and mutation rates of the human immune-deficiency virus, thus delaying death by lowering viral loads in patients.  He said the benefits of antiretroviral therapy are maximized when adherence rates attain or exceed 95 percent and anything less culminates in early treatment failure.

Getting any of the trial subjects to comment proved impossible.  Based on agreements reached between the researchers and trial subjects, none of them accepted to comment, not even anonymously, an attitude that exemplifies lingering stigma around HIV/AIDS in Cameroon.

Cameroon is home to over 20 million inhabitants and has an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 5.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Health.  In recent years, the government has considerably scaled up access to treatment by multiplying treatment centers and slashing costs.  In May 2007, ARV treatment at public hospitals was rendered gratis from a widely unaffordable US$1,200 six years before.

These measures have contributed to slight drops in AIDS-related mortality and the CDBPH researchers are confident that addressing treatment interruptions could significantly improve the situation. They have blamed existing non-adherence among some patients on persisting stigma, as many shy away from taking pills in public. Elsewhere, frequent stockouts and difficult access to prescribed nutrition are also responsible.

Based on the findings, the CDBPH is lobbying for government support to extend the research nationwide and eventually set up SMS reminder outfits.  Statistics show that 40  percent of all Cameroonians currently use mobile telephones and the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency says the figure is set to hop with dropping access rates and increasing availability of low-priced and affordable handsets.

  

Cameroon: 45 Potential Candidates Queue For October Presidential Poll

Cameroon: 45 Potential Candidates Queue For October Presidential Poll

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

4 September 2011

45 potential contenders for Cameroon’s third presidential election since 1992 have submitted their candidature files at the Directorate General of Elections Cameroon, or ELECAM, the body tasked with masterminding the awaited presidential poll in October.

The deadline for the submission of the candidature files expired at midnight Sunday [4 September], five days after a presidential decree declared October 9 the voting date.  ELECAM will eventually scrutinize the candidacies; disqualifying the ineligible and retaining those who meet requirements ahead of campaigns slated to kick off September 25 at midnight and end on October 8.

Sixteen candidates contested the last election in 2004, in which incumbent President Paul Biya of the ruling Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement, CPDM, emerged with a landslide victory.  He obtained over 70 percent votes, trouncing immediate challenger Ni John Fru Ndi of the main opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF, for whom only a skimpy 17 percent of the electorate cast their ballots.

Both men will again exchange political blows in the October 9 poll.  After a period of protracted silence, 78-year-old Biya’s candidature was filed Sunday, choking rumors in some quarters the 29-year-old serving leader will not seek reelection from mounting external pressure.

Claude Abe, a sociologist and political pundit says Paul Biya’s reelection bid, especially following his removal of term limits from the constitution in 2008, could catalyze uncomfortable agitation from the international community. 

“Effectively, there’s a certain degree of reticence towards governments that stay too long in power.  It appears to me that the president has taken upon himself to snub the issue of international interference.  But on the other side, the international community says if you say no to interference, then we also say no to indifference… 

I am among those who think that it is not for the international community to come give lessons and decide for Cameroonians.  But we can expect that several voices will rise to try and indicate certain orientations despite the hegemony that the CPDM already enjoys on the country’s political space.  If they discover that their interests are no longer preserved, we could reach a situation where the long-staying government is transformed into a destructive force for the country,” he explained.

However, Rene Emmanual Sadi, Secretary General of the CPDM party who led a high-level delegation of the party scribe to submit the candidature says Biya could stay indifference to nationwide pleas for him to continue ruling Cameroon. 

“As you know, it’s a candidature that has been clamored for since at least one year by militants of the CPDM party.  The president himself will tell you under what banner he intends to place the coming years if the ever the Cameroonian people renewed their confidence in him.  In the coming days he’ll say at the party congress,” he said.

The party’s third ordinary congress since 1996 has been billed for the capital Yaoundé on 15-16 September. Among others, officials say delegates to the conclave will deliberate rejuvenating the party organs by ejecting the old guard and bringing younger militants, as well as elect a leader.  Biya has been the party national president since its creation in 1985.

Among the 45 presidential aspirants flexing muscles to challenge outgoing Paul Biya are veterans on Cameroon’s political landscape, as well as total novices.  They include the likes of Adamou Ndam Njoya of the UDC who ended third in 2004 with 4.5 percent of the vote, Anicet Ekane of MANIDEM [0.35 percent] and Jean Jacques Ekindi of the MP [0.27 percent].

“I can also mention two female candidates among all of them,” Mohaman Sani Tanimou, the Director General of Elections at ELECAM revealed late Sunday.  They include Edith Kahbang Walla of the Cameroon Peoples’ Party, CPP and Lamartine Tchana of the Conquering Liberal Dynamic of Indomitable Cameroonians, DYCLIC accredited only last March 2011.

“I have a lot of things to change the Cameroon society.  There’re a lot of problems – lack of jobs for young students who leave school and a lot of problems for health.  I have all the youths behind me.  They’re supporting me.  I have a lot of supporters all over Cameroon,” she claimed.

But political analysts argue the opposition has severely lost credibility and esteem among the electorate.  For example, many blame greed as responsible for the inability to form a coalition to give Biya an earnest run for his money.  Others point to double-dealing, hush-hush or barefaced pacts with the ruling CPDM for government posts.

“We can’t expect much because firstly, the opposition in Cameroon is dead, and that’s a long time ago.  It’s a bit too obvious and one must not be a diviner to see that President Biya will win again, but at what price and how much delight and wellbeing for the Cameroonian people? That’s the major question,” Claude Abe queried.

Meantime, ELECAM is almost certain to score less than its initial target of 9 million voters in the country of over 20 million inhabitants.

 

“I can say 7.4 or 7.5 million voters.  But we have to get out of this file, people who are already dead, who cannot vote again because we didn’t do that job until now,” Sani Tanimou said.

Cameroon’s parliament approved a new law in July granting voting rights to citizens living overseas in presidential elections.  Voter registers from the diaspora, with an estimated number of eligible voters fixed at five million, are still however, awaited.

The figures indicate that only 2.3 million new voters have enrolled on registers across the country.  Pundits say it is an indication of apathy blamed on Cameroon’s track record of rigged elections in favor of the CPDM. 

Tanimou nonetheless bragged that all was so far unfolding according to plan at ELECAM, though more funding is needed to polish the electoral process.

“All electoral material is available.  We are ready and some printing presses are printing some documents we need for the coming election. At this moment, we do not have all we want but I think the government is taking measures to make available money.  We’re waiting,” he added.

In the 2004 poll, some 3.7 million voters cast their ballot for a turnout rate of 82.2 percent. 

    

Scientists Tame Cameroon Killer Lake

Scientists Tame Cameroon Killer Lake

By Ntaryike Divine Jr.

Douala, Cameroon

3 March 2011

On a quiet August night in 1986, Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon coughed up lethal clouds of carbon dioxide, choking over 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in adjacent villages.  Twenty five years later, scientists claim they have successfully tamed the killer lake through a degassing process in which accruing carbon dioxide is siphoned off its bottom water layers.

Like a naturally beautiful woman without makeup, Lake Nyos, perched on the flank of an extinct volcano in Cameroon's remote northwest hardly leaves sightseers indifferent.  Now, with three manmade fountains gracing its blue surface, the generally tranquil water body appears even more elegant.

But all that splendor constitutes a dangerous masquerade.  Calamity lurks beneath the crater lake located along an area of volcanic activity stretching southwest to Mt Cameroon. 

The lake first captured the attention of the world on August 21, 1986, when it abruptly discharged large clouds of carbon dioxide which asphyxiated over 1,700 people and thousands of livestock in nearby villages. The mass suffocation came two years after 37 people were killed in similar circumstances at Lake Monoun, sixty miles to the southeast.

Scientists rushed to the scene from across the world.  They agreed that degassing the lake by installing pipes to suck up gas-filled water from its bottom layers and allowing the carbon dioxide leak out in safe quantities atop was the best bet in avoiding a recurrence.

The fountains are actually the visible parts of those vent tubes, the last of which was vertically mounted in the 200-meter-deep lake in March, ending a venture embarked upon in 2001 and considerably snail-paced by sluggish funding.

Scientists say the suction pipes will pump out some 200 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide trapped in the lake’s bottom layers over the next two years.  Michael Halbwachs, currently heads the French gas-extraction company DATA Environnement, He says the process will eradicate all lingering dangers of another toxic gas explosion.

“The system is self-powered and will permanently pump up water heavily saturated with CO2 from the lake bottom.  As the water rises, its pressure drops implying that higher pressures at the bottom layers will continue to drive the process.  Over long periods, carbon dioxide has been seeping into the bottom layers from a magma [or molten rock] chamber beneath.  Progressively, the water becomes supersaturated with CO2, requiring a landslide, an earthquake, heavy rainfall or rising temperatures to detonate an explosion in which large amounts of CO₂ bubble upwards and burst out through the lake surface,” he explains.

CO₂ is heavier than air, and so once emitted, it sinks to the ground, displacing breathable air upwards. As a result, life forms breathing oxygen for survival are suffocated.  Geologists call the phenomenon limnic eruption.  They say before a lake is saturated, it behaves like an un-opened carbonated soft drink.

  

In both cases, the CO₂ dissolves much more readily at higher pressure. That’s why bubbles in a can of soda for example, only form after the drink is opened, releasing the pressure and forcing bubbles of CO2 out of the solution.

To date, the phenomenon has been observed only twice in Cameroon.   However, a third lake, the Kivu on the DR Congo and Rwanda border, is known to contain even greater amounts of dissolved CO_2.   It is 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, with over two million people living along its shores.  Scientists say fortunately, it has not attained the required level of CO2 saturation to provoke an eruption.   Ironically, it is a potential source of wealth, holding vast stocks of methane.  Halbwachs is at work there, fine-tuning several commercial projects to extract the gas and turn it into useful energy.

Lake Nyos lacks such endowments, but remains a cherished place despite the sad memories.  Long before the completion of the degassing project, the few nostalgic survivors of the 1986 disaster had begun resettling their once-abandoned ancestral lands.  The successful conclusion of the degassing venture plus security guarantees including the erection of an alarm system at the lake gateway is attracting more people including mostly farmers and cattle grazers.

However, many complain that half a century later, the persisting remoteness of the increasingly tourist destination is deterring potential investors. The returnees complain they lack roads, hospitals and other basic social amenities.  They are demanding more government assistance.

Elsewhere, another problem remains unresolved.  The lake waters are held in place by a natural dam of volcanic rock. Geologists fear it could collapse in the near future from erosion.  If it gives way, some 50 million cubic meters of water will sweep downhill, wiping out human settlements inhabited by some 10,000 people both in Cameroon and across the border in Nigeria. 

The government has announced plans to artificially reinforce the lake wall with concrete, as well as permanently drain off some of the lake waters to trim down pressure on the wall.  It however remains to be seen when the promises will hop from the drawing boards to reality

.

Cameroon Resorts To IBM To Strangle Corruption

Cameroon Resorts To IBM To Strangle Corruption

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

11/04/ 2011

Cameroon's Ministry of Finance has resorted to IBM’s mainframe and data storage technologies to better master the country’s corruption-soaked civil servants’ payroll processes.  A 31 March news release from IBM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Growth Markets Unit says the z10 Business Class Mainframe will provide the ministry with a 200 percent increase in performance, while scaling down operating costs by 30 percent.

“The modernization of Cameroon’s central IT systems is an important part of the national agenda of the country,” said Laurent Onguene, Director of the Cameroon National Center for IT Development, CENADI, at the Ministry of Finance; which signed the deal with IBM.  The new system is expected to go operational by the end of April.  Officials at IBM and the Cameroon government are not revealing the overall cost of the equipment, but IT experts estimate the country is paying between US$100,000 and US$150,000.

Cameroon's acquisition of the devise coincides with an ongoing government recruitment of 25,000 new workers in a country with unemployment rates kissing 70 percent.  Current statistics indicate the country counts over 200,000 civil servants, but the government lacks mastery of exact numbers on its payroll.

Last year, Finance Minister Essimi Menye announced the unmasking of 15,000 fake government workers unlawfully milking state coffers.  In most cases, staff lied about their rank; delayed retirement or were collecting salaries for deceased workers.  In February, the country’s National Anti-corruption Commission revealed that between 1998 and 2004, corruption cost the state US$3.75million.

Elsewhere, Transparency International says Cameroon is perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in the world having topped global corruption charts for two consecutive years beginning 2000.

The advent of the IBM z10 Business Class Mainframe thus heralds bad news for corruption racket masterminds especially at the Ministry of Finance, ranked Cameroon's corruption bedrock by local watchdogs.  It will help enforce security of the payroll system, improve the efficiency of processes such as generating pay slips, drive messaging applications based on IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino software and also increase connectivity between different government departments.

“For  the  Cameroon  Ministry  of  Finance  it was important to implement a platform  based  on  open  source  software.  IBM System z running on Linux provides the Ministry with an open platform to help standardize the use of ICT and increase levels of connectivity between government departments” said Bernard Beyokol, General Director of CFAO Technologies, an IBM partner in Cameroon.

Onguene says the system will act as a central processing system to manage massive amounts of payroll transactions.  Many companies and organizations are turning to the mainframe to handle these kinds of demands while also creating efficiencies in energy consumption and operating costs.  As a small and compact system, the mainframe also has advantages over sprawling distributed server farms which some organizations implemented in recent years.

 “IBM  mainframe  is  a  proven  technology  that  provides  the  levels  of reliability, security and performance needed for government systems,” Laurent Onguene added.

Last month, Senegal announced it was installing the IBM mainframe to modernize its import and export processes.  IBM officials say Cameroon and Senegal are queuing up behind a growing number of organizations and companies in growth markets opting for IBM mainframe such as the First National Bank of Namibia, Comepay in Russia, Kazakh Rail, HeiTech Padu in Malaysia, China Internet Network Information Center, Korea's BC Card and Korea's Dongbu Insurance.

“Not only does the mainframe provide a secure and powerful IT platform, but it also helps companies and organizations respond to rapid growth in mobile computing and pave the way for smart computing systems,” said Taiwo Otiti, Country General Manager, IBM West Africa.

 

Cameroonian Woman Bags L’Oreal-UNESCO Distinction

Cameroonian Woman Bags L’Oreal-UNESCO Distinction

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

31 March 2011

It requires nothing more than a casual probe to conclude that in Cameroon, women scientists number only about a handful in comparison to their male counterparts.  Their participation in hands-on science domains is generally obstructed via discriminatory selection processes, as well as an assortment of socio-traditional penchants suppressing their interest in the sciences from tender ages.

And so predictably, very few Cameroonian women succeed in bulldozing the barriers to access the science halls of fame.  Basically the bulk of those who dare wind up as classroom science teachers.  Observers however note a gradual trend shift with an emerging generation of women making tangible forays in the scientific research arena.

One of them is Justine Germo Nzweundji.  The 33-year-old doctoral student in plant biology at the University of Yaounde, and senior technician at the Institute of Medical Research and Study of Medicinal Plants currently basks in fame from long years of unwavering effort.  She is one of 15 women researchers [three from each continent,] awarded this year’s UNESCO- L’Oréal International Fellowships for Women in Science.

The recognition bagged last 2 March in Paris comes with a US$40,000 two-year funding parcel to enable her pursue research even beyond Cameroon. Justine’s work is hinged around the sustainable exploitation of the African cherry [Prunus aricana].  The bark of the wildly-growing tree common in Sub-Saharan Africa’s mountainous regions is used in the treatment of Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH which is an enlargement of the prostrate generally affecting men aged over 50.

Environmentalists warn the tree may soon go extinct from overexploitation.  Major exporters of bark from which an extract is derived for BPH treatment include Cameroon, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya.  Production of the extract stood at 6370-7225 kg per year in 2000.  PLANTECAM, previously the largest bark exporter in Africa has since closed its extraction factory in Cameroon, hinting that harvests were no longer sustainable.

And that is where Justine comes in.  Her research is developing techniques to propagate large quantities of disease-free clones of genetically uniform plant material that can be made available for commercial exploitation.  Her target is to obtain the best results for the conservation and mass distribution of plant embryos containing the highest concentration of the active components sought by the pharmaceutical industry.  She says these components could be produced in vitro as an alternative to harvesting the tree bark.

Justine intends on the back of success, to share her knowledge with local farmers, non-governmental organizations and investors both in Cameroon and beyond. She notes that it is very difficult to get the plant seeds to germinate and at the current harvesting rate, the existence of several species relying on the African cherry for survival is in doubt.  Justine is confident her work will not only check eroding biodiversity, but will also reduce poverty in rural areas.

Meantime, five other outstanding women, one from each continent won the 2011 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards.  They were picked by a jury led by Prof Ahmed Zewail [1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry] and each received US $100,000.  Flagged off by the French cosmetics company L’Oreal and UNESCO in 1998, the awards were in the 13^th edition this year and globally aim at celebrating women scientists from around the world who personify the promise of a better world. Over a thousand excelling women scientists have been recognized and supported in their work since the launch of the awards.

 

    

Cameroon Supreme Court Handed Exclusive Right To Publish Election Results

The widely debated changes is considered a weakening of the country’s electoral commission while elsewhere, candidates aspiring for the post of president are required to pay deposits of US$10,000 up from US$3,000

Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala, Cameroon

11/04/2011

Parliament in Cameroon has adopted a series of electoral reforms including a new law according the country’s Supreme Court, exclusive rights to proclaim future election results.  The court, which is the country’s highest, sits in for the yet-to-be established Constitutional Council.

The decision, reached at the end of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly that spanned 6 to 9 April implies that the elections management body, Elections Cameroon or ELECAM has been stripped of the right to publish even provisionary election results in the Central African nation.

The decision comes ahead of a planned presidential election this year in which 29-year-serving Paul Biya [one of Africa's longest-serving leaders] is expected to seek re-election. He amended the constitution in 2008 to eliminate term limits.  His ruling CPDM [Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement, CPDM] holds an overwhelming majority at the 180-member National Assembly.

The government-proposed electoral reforms come in the wake of the political stalemate in the Ivory Coast where election results proclaimed by the independent electoral commission were overturned by the constitutional council to declare incumbent Laurent Gbagbo winner.

 “It’s been our general concern considering what’s happening in other countries and I think the President of the Republic was timely on this issue, considering the fact that Cameroonians have been complaining.  We think that the answer has come,” Francis Enwe, a CPDM parliamentarian said after the adoption of the draft law Saturday.

But the reforms have sparked widespread debate among especially opposition-inclined Cameroonians residing both within and without the country.  Many argue the Supreme Court, whose members are appointed by the President of the Republic, lacks independence and would not be fair, while others point to the fact that the electoral commission has been significantly enfeebled.

Jean Jacques Ekindi is the lone Member of Parliament from the MP [Progressive Movement], a breakaway party from the ruling CPDM.  “The deal is bad for Cameroon.  While ELECAM is claiming to be responsible for elections, it is in fact not responsible for anything.  I think that this law will bring a lot of problems.  We’re going backwards because if elections are clear and fair, why should ELECAM not publish the results,” he queried Sunday.

ELECAM was created via a presidential decree in December 2006 and its 12-member electoral council named in 2008.  But the neutrality of the board members triggered prevalent discontent in the opposition as eleven of them came from Biya’s ruling party. Biya’s opponents cried foul with the leading opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF, threatening a boycott of any election organized by ELECAM until its composition was overhauled.

Now, Parliament has adopted a law to increase its board membership to 18 and the six incoming members are due appointment by the President of the Republic.  But the opposition has warned that not numbers, but the political nonalignment of the board members matters.  “We have a lot of questions about the 18 members that are going to be appointed.  Are they going to appoint 18 new members or just add six more to the 12 who come from the CPDM?  Whatever the case, we insist that neutrality and the impartiality of the new members be respected which means that before their appointment, they should have been known to be neutral,” Hon Simon Chinda of the SDF cautioned.

Elsewhere, Parliament also raised the amount required as deposit from presidential aspirants from US$3,000 [FCFA 1.5 million] to US$10,000 [FCFA 5 million].  The decision is seen by analysts as a way of injecting greater credibility regarding candidates vying for the post of president in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community’s largest economy.  This year’s presidential election has already attracted candidatures from a wide range of Cameroonians of all shades.

Dr Agbor Ambang is a political analyst in the capital Yaounde and author of the book; “Democracy and Power Alternation in Africa.” He says increasing the deposit for candidates is a considerable milestone in the evolution of Cameroon's democracy.  “I don’t think that 5 million francs should stop any serious-minded candidate.  Any candidate who is unable to raise 5 million francs lacks seriousness.  It’s a welcome solution because 1.5 million francs created room for just any adventurers to vie as candidates,” he concluded.

Meantime, some members of the opposition argue that the reforms fail to address a number of lingering yet very pertinent issues.  This year’s presidential poll is constitutionally slated for October and ELECAM began registering voters nine months ago.  Latest statistics show that less than a million voters have been enrolled on voter lists nationwide to add to five million from the last legislative elections in 2007.  Suspicion among Cameroonians the elections will not be fair and transparent have significantly contributed to the conspicuous voter apathy.

Observers suggest the government should yield to opposition demands and embrace two-round elections, an idea that has been summarily dismissed by the CPDM-dominated parliament over the years.  Increasingly, there are growing calls for political parties and the civil society to be included on the enlarged ELECAM board as a means of better accommodating the country’s sociopolitical dispensations, the use of biometrics in the electoral process, vote-counting and publication at the level of polling stations and the exclusion of the country’s Ministry of Territorial Administration [Interior] in the election process.    

Douala Port Access Tightened For Truckers

Douala Port Access Tightened For Truckers

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

Cargo trucks and other merchandise haulers entering the Douala seaport are coming under more stringent controls since the start of April 2011.  The meticulous filtration follows a decision by the port administrators to reinforce a 1985 law policing the technical and administrative conditions of vehicles accessing the country’s largest maritime shipping facility.

Since 2 April, the port’s two main gateways are manned by mixed squads of police, gendarmes, hired guards and ports control supervisors.  Their task is to meticulously verify that vehicles entering the port comply with regulations which entail having tires in excellent condition, fire extinguishers, faultless lighting systems, container locks, as well as indisputable admission authorizations.

Officials enacting the resurrected controls say soaring accidents and lackadaisical enforcement of the ISPS [International Ship and Port Security] code in recent years imply that the port, which handles over 90 percent of Cameroon's external trade, faces increasing risks of being blacklisted.  “That would mean that shippers would be advised to avoid the Douala port because of security lapses, and you can imagine how much that will cost the economy,” Nembot Jean Christophe, representing the Douala Port Commander told reporters during an acquaintance field trip Friday.

Estimates show that over 200 cargo trucks access the port daily [at it south gate].  Before the decision to reinforce the regulations, a sizeable fraction of that number usually ended up stranded within the port premises for lack of clearance documents.  According to Ndoumbe Ngosso, a supervisor, traffic fluidity was severely hampered, provoking avoidable accidents, falling containers and uncalled-for delays.  “But since the start of the month, about 97 percent of incoming vehicles are complying with the measures,” He said. 

Indirectly, that implies 3 percent of trucks entering the port lack the right to do so – a clear hint of lingering corruption.  “That’s a tricky question.  But we are not concentrating our efforts on combating corruption which may be hard to prove.  We are rather dissuading corruption by inflict heavy sanctions on defaulters,” Ngosso explained.  Truck drivers caught without requisite authorizations within the port are fined anything from FCFA 50.000 – 100.000 and risk jail terms that can span 5 months to 10 years and even more.  Those involved in accidents that wreck installations are obliged to repair the damages as well as pay a fine.

Meantime, the port authority is installing a video surveillance system to eventually take over the manual control.  In fact, a team of the port supervisors left the country for the US at the weekend to gain hands-on experience in enforcing security.

Transport and merchandise transit unionists are welcoming the controls with reservations.  “For the moment, we don’t have problems with the controls.  All we are insisting on is that the law be obligatory for everybody.  We held several meetings with Mr Dayas Mounoume, [the general manager of the Ports Authority of Douala] and we told him flatly that things will begin to go wrong when high-profile individuals in the government begin to call to have their trucks without the required papers go into the port,” a transport sector trade unionists, opting for anonymity warned.

Why Lapiro Was Smuggled Out Of Newbell

Why Lapiro Was Smuggled Out Of Newbell

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

Hardnosed Cameroonian singer, Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger aka Lapiro De Mbanga regained his liberty Friday 8 April, one day prior to the set expiration of his three-year confinement at the brimful Newbell Central Prison in Douala.   Across city, observers almost unanimously agree the stealthy and short-notice sneaking out of the blunt government critic by officials of the penitentiary facility was far from naïve.

In the last few weeks, rights defenders had marshaled hundreds and possibly thousands of well-wishers to congregate at the prison precincts on 9 April and serve Lapiro a hilarious “welcome.”  But the prison superintendent, Dieudonne Engonga Mintsang spoiled the party.  Flanked by two aides, he smuggled out Lapiro and escorted him to his Mbanga residence just after midday Friday.

Sources told The Post Saturday the decision, hinged on security concerns, was instructed by local administrative officials petrified by prospects of overspills of anti-government adrenaline.  “I was not freed, but sacked from prison and escorted to my home in Mbanga by the prison registrar himself,” Lapiro joked on the phone hours later. 

Lapiro was arrested and detained on 9 April 2008 over charges of inflaming the deadly nationwide insurrection over soaring living costs [in Mbanga].  Government figures put the death toll at 40, but human rights watchdogs said some 140 people were killed mostly by anti-riot troops.  Lapiro was accused of fanning the upheaval as well as complicity in looting and property wreckage among others.  All through the widely monitored and severally adjourned trial, the ace Makossa singer claimed his innocence.

Despite a chorus of disapproval by rights defenders within and beyond the country intimating the case was politically-motivated, alongside incongruous witness accounts; the Moungo High Court in Nkongsamba on 28 September the same year, slammed him a three-year-term plus a fine of FCFA 280 million.  It is widely believed the jail term was an attempt to shut up the artist who at the time, denounced a constitutional amendment that eliminated presidential term limits in Cameroon in a popular song titled “Constipated Constitution” [or Consitution Constipée in French].

Lapiro’s release coincides with this year’s planned presidential poll and just-concluded electoral reforms at the National Assembly.  He says rather than succumb to intimidation; he is ready more than ever before to spit more fire against the 29-year-serving Biya regime.  “I’m not yet free.  It’s not over yet.  I believe I’m still going back to prison because now, what I will say, what I will sing will be very tough.  God knows I will be more bitter than ever,” he declared after the release.  He has announced plans to publish a book that will query whether or not he is a victim of politics and a programmed extermination.

Meantime, Freemuse, a Denmark-based international organization promoting freedom of expression for musicians has raised concerns over Lapiro’s post-incarceration security.  “We’ve worked for his release for almost three years in collaboration with many good colleagues and sister organizations. We will continue to observe closely what happens to Lapiro. We know that he may still face security problems and we hope that we will be able to retain his career as soon as possible,” Marie Korpe, Freemuse Executive Director, announced Friday.

Other international music and writers’ watchdogs like Freedom Now, International Pen, Mondomix and Vigier Guitars say they are all ears on the ground too.  While in prison, Lapiro was awarded the Dutch non-governmental-organization’s Oxfam Novib/en Award in 2008 and then the FCFA-12.5-million Freedom to Create Prize from Freemuse in 2009. 

Cameroon: Resurfacing Cholera Kills 50, Infects Thousands

Cameroon: Resurfacing Cholera Kills 50, Infects Thousands

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

At least 48 people have died and over 2000 infected in a fresh cholera outbreak sweeping across Cameroon since January, according to latest statistics from the country’s Ministry of Public Health. Medics say they expect the figures to gallop further, fuelled by widespread inadequate potable water supply and poor hygienic conditions.

Government officials say the situation is particularly preoccupying in the nation’s capital Yaounde where several neighborhoods are recording surges in death toll and hospitalization. “Since the start of the year, we’ve had several cases of cholera in Yaounde and the Center Region in general. Essentially, these are cases imported from Douala. But over the last two weeks; there has been a rise in infections because our country is cholera-endemic,” Fru Angwafor III, told reporters Wednesday [16 March].

The current outburst, affecting eight of Cameroon’s ten administrative regions, comes on the back of a climaxed epidemic last year in which over 500 people perished between May and September. Officials ranked it the country’s worst cholera epidemic in fifteen years. It erupted in the country’s Far North Region, where humans and animals share the same drinking water sources, and where open defecation by inhabitants is rife.

The United Nations Development Program says less than half of Cameroon’s over 20 million inhabitants have access to safe drinking water. And the situation is especially serious in the most populated and rapidly expanding urban centers like Douala. Taps often dry up for months and people have to depend on water from wells built dangerously close to latrines and cesspools, fanning the prevalence of cholera and other water-borne diseases like typhoid and diarrhea.

Last September, Public Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda declared over state radio that the epidemic had finally been brought under control thanks to massive deployment of health personnel to infected areas, the distribution of free medication as well as free medical treatment. Thereafter, the government set up an Operational Committee to Fight against Cholera. But a few months later, the disease stubbornly resurfaced in other parts of the country.

Currently, death tolls and rising cases of infection are being reported nationwide, with only the East and Adamawa regions spared. “Cholera is wrecking havoc here [in Yaounde]. I am just from the hospital with a patient who has diarrhea and has been vomiting. We did not know it was cholera. We took him to a health center the other day and they referred us to the Yaounde University Teaching Hospital where he died,” Diane Tabah, resident in the capital Yaounde, explained Wednesday. [See sound bite]

The same day at the Yaounde Centre Pasteur laboratory, officials presented statistics indicating that over 70 percent of fecal samples collected from patients at various health centers confirmed they were infected. In Douala, with 2 million inhabitants, medics say the situation is even worse. Figures from the regional public health delegation show that 22 deaths have been recorded from 87 cases in the past fortnight. Medics say the figure could be far higher if all cases were reported.

Fru Angwafor says the government is aware of the situation and is taking measures to halt the new spread of the disease. “We’re calling on all respect basic hygiene rules. About statistics, we had until 14 March 2011 recorded 124 cases in the Center Region with 88 percent of those cases reported in the capital Yaounde alone for a death toll of 9,” he said,

Last year’s cholera epidemic in Cameroon's largely rural North and Far North regions killed 420 of an estimated 7000 persons who contracted the ailment, according to public health minister André Mama Fouda. The Cameroonian government is struggling to implement an effective nationwide anti-cholera strategy. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days, and causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.

Meantime, civil society groups are blaming the government for not drawing up an efficient plan to combat cholera. They argue that the impromptu interventions in the wake of outbreaks cannot resolve the problem. But Fru Angwafor says the government has maintained its strategy which entails public awareness and the provision of free treatment.

He says the government is rolling out a two-phase plan to address cholera, worth five million dollars. During the first phase of the program, which started in August 2010, the government has started to supply water purification tablets and truck clean water to vulnerable areas in the North and Far North regions as well as parts of the Adamawa region. It has also handed out medical kits to local health workers and trained them in cholera emergency response.

Phase two, intended to start last December was designed to address the root causes of the recurring outbreaks. The government announced that over a period of eight months the program will renovate 200 wells and drill 50 new ones, as well as build 200 latrines in the northern regions where people generally defecate in the bush.

Government has also launched a public awareness campaign, during which Mama Fouda called on the population to "avoid drinking un-chlorinated water and eating at makeshift markets where food is not well preserved". He also encouraged Cameroonians to prepare their own oral rehydration solution to treat diarrhea by mixing salt, sugar and lime fruit in boiled water. State media have been commissioned to produce programs in all national languages that will give additional practical advice on how to avoid contracting the disease and how to treat it.

Elsewhere, international aid organizations have also come to the party and are assisting government in efforts to educate the population. But apparently, these efforts have had little effect in halting the recurrence of the killer disease.

USS Robert G. Bradley to participate in Obangame Express exercise

UNITED STATES EMBASSY- Yaounde

PUBLIC AFFAIRS SECTION

PRESS RELEASE

USS Robert G. Bradley to participate in Obangame Express exercise

Yaounde March 17, 2011

The USS Robert G. Bradley, a U.S. Navy frigate will be in Cameroonian waters for a multinational maritime military exercise that will be held off the coast of Cameroon March 21123. The USS Bradley sails with a crew of over 200 personnel and has its home part in Mayport, Florida. The ship will not be docking in Douala but will be visible from land off the coast of Limbe.

The USS Bradley will be in Cameroonian waters to participate in a multinational maritime military exercise called "Obangame Express" organized by United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) and United States Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF) in collaboration with Cameroon, members of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) and other international partners.

U.S. Ambassador Robert P Jackson stated: "The United States is committed to helping Cameroon and its neighbors stop piracy and other illegal activities in the Gulf of Guinea, and the Obangame Express exercise is one mechanism for helping Cameroon accomplish this objective."

Nine countries are participating in the exercise: The United States; Cameroon; Nigeria; Gabon; Republic of Congo, Sao Tome & Principe; France; Belgium; and Spain. Seven countries (the U.S., Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, France, Belgium, and Spain) and CEEAC have vessels and boats participating in the exercise. Foreign vessels involved in the exercise will begin arriving at the port of Douala on March 17. On March 21 the exercise will begin when the vessels leave the port to work together at open sea off the coast of Cameroon for two days. On March 23 some of the vessels will return to the port of Douala when the exercise has been completed.

The command center for the exercise is CEEAC's Center for Multinational Coordination (CMC), which is located at Cameroon's naval base in Douala. The CMC will be staffed by Americans, Cameroonians, and other international staff from the participating nations during the exercise.

For more information, please contact the United States Embassy in Yaounde, Press section Tel 22 20 15 00, ext 4162 or 4273.

Douala: Imminent AU Stand-by Force Logistics Base Triggers Unease

Douala: Imminent AU Stand-by Force Logistics Base Triggers Unease

By Ntaryike Divine Jr. in Douala

Plans to set up a logistics base of the African Union’s [AU] Stand-by Force in Cameroon's economic hub Douala have kindled contrasting reactions within military and political circles as well as among civil society organizations and investors.

The diverse assessments were voiced Wednesday 16 March, as the contours of the would-be base were presented a blend of personalities from local administrative, municipal, traditional authorities to civil society actors and businessmen. The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, reiterated that the imminent implantation of the AU arms warehouse in the city would spawn several benefits including jobs, plus additional demand for goods and services.

Last January, authorities announced that Cameroon's economic capital, Douala had outclassed Algiers [Algeria] in a hotly-contested two-year bid to host the base. The decision was reached by the continent’s defense ministers gathered at the fourth session of the Specialized Technical Committee of the AU for Defense, Safety and Security held in Addis Ababa in December 2010.

The base will serve as an arsenal, as well as a maintenance and deployment station.  

According to Bokam, the diplomatic triumph was bolstered by the country’s geostrategic placement; which renders the task of rapid deployment of military equipment to conflict zones across the continent relatively easier. Also, Douala lies on the edges of the Atlantic Ocean, is an air traffic hub in Central Africa and is fitted with grade-A telecommunications facilities.

Apart from being linked by rail to other parts of the country, it also lies on the planned Lagos – Mombassa Transafrican Highway as well as links up by road to Bangui in Central Africa and N’Djamena in Chad,

But transport trade unionists taking part at the public presentation ceremony Wednesday, raised fears the base would entail increased traffic congestion in the city grappling with maintenance and extension of its rugged urban road network. They also called for the speedy construction of an expressway to connect Douala and the capital Yaounde as well as other parts of the country to prevent road accidents, currently killing some 1600 people yearly.

However, Member of Parliament and leader of the opposition Progressive Movement party, Jean Jacques Ekindi scared many by unveiling a worst-case scenario. “People are going to react either by destroying the equipment before it leaves Cameroon with attacks on the base, or just to ‘punish’ Cameroon for accepting to serve as a base like in Uganda where there have been attacks because Uganda sent troops to the Au peacekeeping mission in Somalia. There are risks that cannot be neglected because Cameroon is not used to such reactions and now that it has accepted to accommodate the base, it may not necessarily be a target, but will stay in the danger zone and so dispositions must be put in place to ensure protection for the population and the installations,” he warned.

Other skeptics pointed to increasing pirate activity in the Gulf of Guinea as a source of potential threat to the base. They cited the ease with which sea raiders stormed the presidential palace in Malabo [Equatorial Guinea] in 2008 and also recalled how assailants presumably from Nigeria’s turbulent Niger Delta enacted a six-hour hold-up in Limbe; a seaside resort in southwestern Cameroon in 2009, shooting their way into several banks and carting off huge amounts of cash.

But Bokam argued that Cameroon, which has already offered parcels of land as well as electricity, water and manpower for the AU Stand-by Force Logistics Base, is also putting in place rigid security to ward off possibilities of sabotage and attacks.