Did Security Chief Mebe Ngo’o Really Order Killing Of Ebenezer Akwanga, Cho Ayaba Lucas And Martin Ayim?

By Chief Bisong Etahoben in Yaounde With Bureau Reports

The WEEKLY POST recently received a set of documents from the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) one of which was supposedly an execution order against some leaders of the youth wing of the SCNC currently living in self-imposed exile abroad namely Akwanga Ebenzer, Cho Ayaba Lucas and Martin Ayim.

An approximative English translation of the execution order issued by the Delegate General for National Security Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o reads as follows: “Please arrest and send to the General Delegation for National Security Messrs Akwanga Ebenzer, Cho Ayaba Lucas, Martin Ayim all living abroad. Take necessary dispositions. In case of resistance, eliminate, regardless of the situation. Order from supreme hierarchy. Very brief delay and without fail. Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o.”

Should this document be authentic, (all indications point to its authenticity – Editor) then Cameroon is going through a very sad situation indeed.

It should be noted that during the historic extraordinary congress of the CPDM held in June 1990 during which that party’s national president who doubles as Cameroon’s head of state Paul Biya announced impending multipartyism, he also made it categorically clear that Cameroonians no longer needed to go into the marquis in order to express their feelings. It would appear the crime committed by these individuals is to express their opinions about the vexing issue of the situation of Anglophones in this country. And they did so in this country, taking the president’s earlier declarations at their face value in the hope that they would not be disturbed for expressing their opinions. They were wrong.

Objective observers would not however fail to agree that at least one of the individuals concerned with this elimination order in the person of Ebenezer Akwanga incited/planned violent attacks on Cameroon’s security forces and administrative structures for which he was arrested and detained pending trial when he mysteriously escaped from custody in a Yaounde medical facility.

Incitement to violence is punishable by Cameroon’s laws. His further escape from custody aggravates his situation and as such he is a fugitive. This writer does not know much about the other individuals so targeted.

However, that a state that lays claim to being democratic can afford to resort to terrorist tactics against its own citizens no matter what offences they have committed is very despicable behaviour. In a democracy, the rule of law is supreme and state institutions do not need to resort to extra-judicial killings to resolve matters that can be handled by the law courts.

In fact, abroad, the individuals concerned are less harmful than they would be if they were to be here in Cameroon either free or in detention. It stinks of sadism for a supposedly democratic government to target such harmless individuals abroad at a time when Cameroon has been so hurt by the impunity and thievery of the ruling class that only healing is imperative.

Rather than resorting to issuing murder orders, the Biya government should embark on a healing process to cure this country of the malaise of impunity, bribery, corruption, thievery, dishonesty and all the evil inclinations that have taken Cameroonians hostage.

Cameroon is drifting to the precipice and any reckless actions on the part of the powers that be now could lead to a conflagration that would carry in its waves, those now provoking the people to restiveness.

“We Will Be Back”, Assassins Tell MP In Note After Failed Assassination Attempt

By A Special Correspondent in Mbalmayo

The CPDM Member of Parliament for Nyong et Soo Hon. Bleue Régine Tsoungui, missed death from the hands of assassins by the breadth of a hair Saturday October 11, 2008. In effect, while away for a funeral, five individuals forced their way into Hon. Tsoungui’s house and on being told the parliamentarian was not at home, they decided to wait for her, telling residents they met in the house that they were waiting for the MP in order to settle an old score.

Meanwhile, after exhausting her programme at the funeral, Hon. Tsoungui invited some acquaintances to accompany her to her house for some good time. Over ten persons in ten cars accompanied the parliamentarian home.

On reaching the entrance to her house, the parliamentarian as usual horned to invite the night watchman to come open the gate for her. There was no response and so she suspected foul play.

Inside the house, the assailants who were expecting the parliamentarian to come home alone were surprised when they heard the doors of several cars being opened and shot. This frightened them and so they escaped jumping over the fence behind the house. But not before taking along with them two computers and other valuables.

The assailants also left behind a message in which they wrote: “You have been lucky this time around but we will be back. We have an old score we have to settle with you”.

According to a relation of the parliamentarian, one of the five assailants seemed to be very familiar with the house as he went around every corner with relative ease.

“I am very convinced that as I talk to you now, I should not have been alive again because I am very sure these individuals really came to kill me”, the Honourable MP told curious sympathisers.

She has since lodged a complaint against individuals unknown with the police.

Have Gov’t Officials Been Bribed To Allow Continued Sale Of Chinese Milk?

By Our Health Affairs Correspondent in Yaounde

Cameroon’s ministries of Public Health and Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Breeding have advised Cameroonians to continue drinking Chinese milk without fear of contamination, as, according to them, all the milk imported into the country does not contain the melanine substance that has contaminated over 50.000 Chinese children leading to their hospitalisation and resulted in the deaths of about ten so far.

“Within the entire national territory, we have not recorded any suspect cases of hospitalisation. The different milk in the Cameroonian market is not contaminated with the substance concerned, namely melanine. Cameroonians can continue to consume milk”, the Minister of Public Health André Mama Fouda assured Cameroonians last week.

This declaration by the Minister of Public Health after consultative meetings with various ministerial departments such as those of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Breeding and Industries, Mines and Technological Development has shocked most knowledgeable Cameroonians because the accent on the assurances by Minister André Mama Fouda is on the non hospitalisation of any cases of infection by melanine contaminated milk.

By this declaration, Minister Fouda seems to have forgotten the fact that most Cameroonians are so poor that the first reaction after any such contamination would not be to rush to hospital as they do not have the means to do so, but to try to visit native doctors or do self-medication.

“Only the most naïve Cameroonians would want to measure the extent of any possible contamination of Cameroonians by Chinese milk using the hospital attendance because we all know that public hospitals that are supposed to register such trends are not the first place sick Cameroonians go to”, one very annoyed Cameroonian told the WEEKLY POST in Yaounde Monday October 6.

Yet other Cameroonians are exasperated by the fact that the relevant government ministries have not taken the necessary steps to withdraw all Chinese milk on sale in the country now from the market.

“They seem to want to wait until the Chinese milk starts killing Cameroonians before they withdraw it from the market. I think the first step any caring government would do is to withdraw suspected milk products from the market and all Chinese milk products now are suspected all over the world and being withdrawn from the market. Why should Cameroon be the exception?”, another Cameroonian asked.

The reluctance of the various government departments concerned in withdrawing Chinese milk products from our markets has already begun occasioning speculations that some individuals might have been bribed into leaving poisoned products in our markets.

“The effect of any withdrawal of Chinese milk products from our markets could surely be very far-reaching even extending to law suits and demands for reimbursement of money paid for the said products so it would appear Chinese firms have decided to bribe their way to enable their products stay on sale even if that eventually leads to the deaths of Cameroonian children”, a very furious resident of Limbe told WEEKLY POST Publisher Chief Bisong Etahoben last Tuesday.

It should however be noted that government had already taken the initial step of banning the further importation of milk products from China and to the Cameroonian authorities, this seems to be so much that the withdrawal of Chinese milk products already in the market from sale may be asking for too much, though this is what is happening all over the world now.

The Chinese companies manufacturing the said contaminated milk are Yashili and Suncare. Melanine is a chemical substance that the Chinese add into their milk to increase its protein content. This substance has however been found to occasion the malfunctioning of certain human organs and this is exactly what has resulted into the deaths of several children in China and the hospitalisation of over 50.000 with organ infections.

It would be recalled that the Chinese manufacturing sector has recently been hit by various scandals involving dangerous substances being detected in their products. Even the dolls sector was hit early this year when millions of Chinese-manufactured dolls were withdrawn from markets around the world because they were said to contain a plastic substance that adversely affected the health of children using the said dolls.

Ondo Ndong’s Jail Brings Good Governance To FEICOM But Anglophone Councils Discriminated Against?

By Our Yaounde Staff Correspondent

The 2007 annual report of the Special Council Support Fund popularly known by its French acronym FEICOM published last week shows a drop in annual revenue and paradoxically, an increase in expenditure. If the 20% drop in revenue is explained away by government’s decision not to give any subvention to FEICOM, the increase in expenditure can only be explained by the fact that the new management of FEICOM has learnt a lesson from the punishment inflicted on its former General Manager Ondo Ndong. In effect, the new FEICOM management has been doing everything to ensure that the outfit invests money it derives from the 9% council tax paid by Cameroonians on viable and visible projects that would benefit the ordinary Cameroonian.

Thus, FEICOM distributed 29 billion FCFA to the various councils in the country in 2007, an 11.02% increase from the 2006 fiscal year. Of this amount, over 60% was spent on community projects and in the completion of projects that were not completed during the 2006 fiscal year, the continuation of current projects and investment on new projects geared towards the amelioration of council presence in the various areas.

Of the total amount invested, 15.5 billion francs was spent on the provision of pipe-borne water or construction of wells, the payment of salary arrears, the construction or extension of electricity networks, purchase of benches for schools and the construction of health centres.

Contrary to the exorbitant amounts Ondo Ndong spent on the running of FEICOM, this time around, 7.2 billion FCFA went for running costs including salaries and wages.

The annual report shows that 237 projects were financed at a cost of 12.6 billion FCFA out of the 321 envisaged and of these, 159 have already been realised and 78 are still being executed.

The worrying aspect of the FEICOM annual report is that it does not clearly state where the projects mentioned therein were or are being undertaken especially as some provinces have been complaining that they are not receiving their deserved share of FEICOM financing.

Nevertheless, the outfit envisages financing 87 new projects on the basis of conventions signed with various local councils.

In spite of the rather buoyant picture painted by the report, which shows an improved and most efficient tax collection since the 198/99 fiscal year, revenue dropped by 934 million FCFA from 64.092 billion FCFA to 56.878 billion FCFA. This should give cause for the raising of eyebrows because tax collection cannot be said to have improved yet there is a drop in revenue.

The report insists that FEICOM has this current fiscal year, 2008, been putting an accent on the fight against poverty in rural areas adding that this year would be capital in the pursuit of commitments towards the attainment of the missions assigned to FEICOM.

Is Brasseries du Cameroun Afraid Of Lapiro By Deciding Not To Give Evidence Against Him?

By A Special Correspondent in Nkongsamba

The trial of popular musician Lambo Pierre Roger alias Lapiro de Mbanga took a spectacular turn in the Nkongsamba High Court Wednesday August 27, 2008 when Barrister Zacharie Wappi, the lawyer for Brasseries du Cameroun, one of the alleged plaintiffs in the state’s case against the musician, declared that the brewery had no case against Lapiro and that Brasseries du Cameroun as well as one of its affiliates Société des eaux minérales du Cameroun had never filed a complaint against Lapiro de Mbanga.

After the declaration, several of the lawyers and witnesses in the case started advancing the theory that Brasseries du Cameroun had decided not to prosecute Lapiro for fear that his boys, who are alleged to have been responsible for the destruction that was visited on Mbanga during the February uprisings, may re-visit havoc on their installations and agencies should they insist on having the musician tried.

It should be recalled that during the cause of the trial, some evidence was adduced to the effect that the company now claiming the sum of one billion (1.000.000.000) FCFA for damages from Lapiro, Société des plantations de Mbanga (Spm) had earlier paid a large sum of money to “Ndinga Man” in order to buy protection for their plantations, which were eventually seriously destroyed.

Giving evidence for the prosecution in the Nkongsamba High Court presided over by their Worships Efoula Ndongo and Obama, Mbanga sub prefect Nkwenti Simon Ndoh (he was once a D.O. in Limbe and was involved in a land-peddling scandal) said Ndinga Man held an illegal meeting with motorcycle riders on February 25, 2008, the day the uprising started. The Mayor of Mbanga, Mbonjo Jacques who held that there was no doubt whatsoever, corroborated this evidence that Lapiro de Mbanga orchestrated the uprising.

In his own evidence, the chief of Balong, Mukete Ngoh Magellan revealed that on the day in question, he met some youths armed with cutlasses, clubs and other weapons who claimed that Lapiro had armed them.

After adducing all this evidence, the state counsel declared that there was no doubt Lapiro was guilty of all the accusations levelled against him namely, “accessory to group destruction, destruction of goods, voluntary arson, obstacle to the public highway, destruction of public property etc.”

Appearing for the defence, Barrister Lewis Ndeffo pointed out the shortcomings in the charges against his client saying that according to the new criminal procedure ordinance, Ndinga Man was supposed to have been told his rights before being questioned. Lapiro’s lawyer declared that his client was not told that he had a right to remain silent until his lawyer was present and by taking a statement from him on March 19, 2008, the Mbanga gendarmes violated his rights.

Lawyer Ndeffo said his client was interrogated for ten minutes without a defence counsel and even so, the date and time on which he was interrogated were not indicated on the written statement. In view of these procedural shortcomings, the learned gentleman called for the discharge and acquittal of his client without further procedure.

Another counsel for the defence, Lawyer Réné Manfo chipped in to say that the evidence against the accused was given by individuals who were not present at the scene of the events because of which Lapiro is charged. Lawyer Manfo who was brought in to defend Lapiro by the NGO Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture popularly known by its French acronym ACAT, said one of the reasons the state prosecutor gave for holding Lapiro responsible for the uprising and destruction of February 25 was the fact that he was seen filming the actions of the furious youths who carried out the destruction. According to Barrister Manfo, there is no law against taking pictures during an insurrection.

Closing submissions for the defence, Lawyer Mbami asked why the state counsel had not charged all those who were physically involved in the destruction but decided to charge Lapiro whom nobody had given evidence attesting to his having personally taken part in the uprising and destruction.

“This trial is pure witchcraft”, Lawyer Mbami declared in conclusion.

The case has been adjourned to September 23, 2008 while Lapiro who had earlier been transferred from custody in Mbanga to Nkongsamba was ordered returned to Mbanga his place of residence where the offences were committed.

As Sierra Leonean Leader Sets The Pace:

What Is Biya Afraid Of By Not Declaring His Own Assets?

By Chief Bisong Etahoben

On January 18, 1996, President Paul Biya signed into law the second constitution of Cameroon. Article sixty-six of the said constitution stipulates as follows:

“The President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, Members of Government and persons ranking as such, the President and Members of the Bureau of the National Assembly, the President and Members of the Bureau of the Senate, Members of Parliament, Senators, all holders of an elective office, Secretaries-General of Ministries and persons ranking as such, Directors of the Central Administration, General Managers of public and semi-public enterprises, Judicial and Legal Officers, administrative personnel in charge of the tax base, collection and handling of public funds, all managers of public votes and property, shall declare their assets and property at the beginning and at the end of their tenure of office.

“The other categories of persons to whom the provisions of this article shall apply and the conditions of implementation thereof shall be determined by law”.

More than sixteen and a half years after signing the said constitution into law, President Biya is yet to set the ball rolling as is expected of leaders who must lead by examples.

We have visited this constitutional provision because of the example President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone set Monday September 1, 2008. That day, in signing the law on asset-declaration in Sierra Leone, President Koroma set the ball rolling by personally declaring his own assets.

As he appended his signature on the law, President Koroma declared: “I believe this is a clear indication of our commitment as a government to fight corruption. What we are doing today is unique not only within this whole region but even in Africa”.

Unique indeed but it would not have been the case if President Biya who signed our own constitution containing an asset-declaration article had demonstrated his government’s serious intentions to fight against corruption and embezzlement by sending a clear message to Cameroonians by way of declaring his own assets. He should have been more than sixteen years ahead of the Sierra Leonean leader. But helas!

Over the past several months, the Cameroon government has been arresting highly-placed individuals in and out of government in what is supposed to be an anti-corruption campaign. The move by the Biya/Inoni government has generally been welcomed, although many Cameroonians are now beginning to think that its recent intensification is mere window dressing intended to steer attention away from the vexed constitutional amendment, which cleared the way for Biya to remain in power until death takes him away.

Another school of thought, which is gradually making its voice heard of late is that which holds that by targeting his past and present close collaborators, Biya might just be wanting to steer attention away from himself.

Enlightened opinion holds that arresting and detaining big time thieves who have turned a richly-endowed nation into a highly indebted poor country, without getting the money they stole repatriated back to Cameroon, could just be another way of closing the door when the fox has already gone away with the chicks.

Who is that Cameroonian who would not readily steal if he knows that the only punishment he will incur would be some time in prison from which he would return to become a billionaire?

In 1997, the Messi Messi-SCB scandal broke. Messi Messi, the former General Manager of SCB in interviews granted to the media abroad alleged that Biya and his late wife Jeanne Irene siphoned over two billion FCFA from the bank which they used in building their Mvomeka’a palace.

Besides the Mvomeka’a palace allegations, which may not necessarily be true, it has repeatedly been mooted that Biya has some property, (in fact some people say it is a hospital), in Baden Baden, Germany.

All these allegations may not be true, but how else do the Cameroonian people know the truth if Biya himself does not come out openly to declare his assets by telling us what he actually owns. There is talk now about he building his retirement house in Tsinga and most Yaounde residents who pass by there would always point it out: “That is Biya’s retirement house”. His close collaborators have not been reluctant in saying that it is the only modest investment he has.

All these are speculations. What is Biya really afraid of? Why would he not declare his assets and open the way for other members of his government and political cronies to follow? Or may there be some hidden motive for his silence?

Biya needs to convince Cameroonians and the world that his anti-corruption campaign is serious. He needs to demonstrate that seriousness and until he does so, there would always be those whispers that his close collaborators he has been getting arrested are actually individuals he fears are gunning for his position.

Bakassi Holds About 10% Of The World’s Petroleum Reserves!

By Our Economic Affairs Correspondent

With the total hand-over of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon by Nigeria effective August 14, 2008, Cameroon may now be sitting on part of the 10% of the world’s petroleum reserves that the peninsula is reputed to harbour.

According to a 2003 report of a study commissioned by the World Bank, “the amount of petrol in this maritime zone on the border between the two countries (Nigeria and Cameroon) is of great quality contrary to the heavy petrol sold by Cameroon …”

The report adds that the 1000 square kilometre zone, which is situated in the Gulf of Guinea is also very rich in fisheries and other maritime life.

Cameroon’s petroleum output has been depleting very fast and unlike in the past when the Yaounde authorities were sort of lukewarm about further exploration and subsequent exploitation in the area, probably because it is in Anglophone Cameroon, the government has been showing increasing signs of opening up to exploration and exploitation activities in the area.

It is estimated that Bakassi holds about 156 billion cubic metres of gas, which does not include the one daily burnt into the horizon by exploiting companies in the area. In fact, oil companies operating in Bakassi yearly evacuate about one billion cubic metres of gas into the atmosphere. If exploited, the gas alone could virtually double Cameroon’s annual GDP and breathe a new lease of life into the impoverished inhabitants of this country.

A recent international report puts the gas potential of Bakassi at about 266 billion cubic metres and this, if exploited, could last for over thirty years.

Local petroleum experts hold that the technology to harness this gas for economic purposes is readily available and Cameroon should do well to start exploiting it sooner than later.

Even environmentalists insist that instead of burning the gas from petroleum exploitation activities and polluting the atmosphere, as is the case now, the government better hurries up to exploit the gas and derive revenue for the development of the nation.

Many foreign observers have over the years doubted why the Cameroon government was very reluctant to exploit this enormous wealth. Political analysts have been hinting that the majority Francophone government has been concentrating on finding petroleum in Francophone Cameroon in order to sort of balance an imaginary equation which the Anglophones have always, according to them, been throwing into their face holding that over fifty percent of Cameroon’s budget is derived from oil revenue emanating from the exploitation of petroleum from the Southwest province in Anglophone Cameroon.

With revenue from petroleum royalties dwindling by the day, the Yaounde government has no other option than to look more seriously into concentrating efforts on exploiting the vast petroleum and halieutic resources of Bakassi now that it is fully Cameroonian once again.

Cameroon’s National Hydrocarbons Corporation popularly known by its French acronym of SNH estimates Cameroon’s gas reserves at about 300 billion cubic metres and a source at SNH hints that negotiations are advancing for the exploitation of the gas reserves which could bring a sizeable amount of money into the national coffers.

Some petroleum prospecting companies which have already discovered large quantities of petroleum and gas reserves in the Southwest province have since been pointing out that while tapping the petroleum for export, the gas could be used in the generation of electricity, a process which is far cheaper than the current one whereby electricity turbines are run by gasoline.