Besides an unprecedented hectic celebration spanning two days, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces went to Bamenda with a bag full for the military.

Fifty years of existence and the Armed Forces in Cameroon has again been honoured in several spheres. The President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Paul Biya, on his visit to Bamenda from December 8 to 10 to chair commemorative activities marking the Golden Jubilee of the army unfolded a big package to the military.

Thousands of soldiers who thronged the Commercial Avenue ceremonial grounds on Wednesday 8 to listen to the Commander-in-Chief of the defence forces were all smiles when Paul Biya made important pronouncements.

Annulment of the Fourth Echelon

The Head of State announced the suppression of the fourth echelon of the rank of captain to facilitate promotion to the rank of superior officers in the military. Thus, President Biya by that decision, is out to enable military officers in the country easily have epaulettes. He equally decided to harmonise the retirement age of army staff and sub-officers in the gendarmerie.

Emergency Housing Programme

Concerning the living conditions of the military, the Head of State has decided to put in place an Emergency Housing Programme to construct houses for serving officers. He instructed the Defence Minister to finalise negotiations with the national housing loan scheme, Crédit Foncier, for the eventual setting up of a housing loan scheme for the military.

Feeding Allowance

Besides, he ordered a review of their feeding allowance. Emergency studies will also be undertaken for the creation of a health assistance scheme for the military. Very remarkable was his decision to create a Secretariat of State for ex-servicemen.

Perfect Communion

The high point of the meeting between the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the soldiers was at the Bafut Airport where he was given a hero’s welcome and treated to a grandiose reception afterwards. After the military exercise, ‘Golden Lion,’ parachute drops and the guided tour of military stands, the presidential couple sat down to a sumptuous banquet with the troops in the airport’s hall. The Head of State and soldiers dined together in conviviality, with each person taking their turn at the banquet tables.

But before this, he had, for close to two hours, undertaken a guided tour of different military exhibition stands. Passing from the stand of the Air Force to that of the Navy, President Paul Biya was full of admiration for the dexterity of the military. At the Gendarmerie stand where pictures of great men were on exhibition to the stand of the Fire Fighting Brigade and that of the infantry, the Presidential Couple was given the same treatment. Through tight security and despite the hot sun, the Presidential Couple visited all the stands, asked questions and received answers.

To crown it all, the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces unveiled a commemorative plaque, a statue and laid a wreath in a solemn ceremony to honour war heroes. The memorial, the first of its kind in this part of the country, is described as a symbol of recognition for sacrifices made to the nation by fallen servicemen.

Victorine BIY

In Bamenda, Its Bizness As Usual Again

After waiting for weeks for the presidential visit under tight security and uncertainty, residents of Bamenda are once more going about their activities unperturbed.

Life is coming back to normal in Bamenda, the regional capital of the North West. After weeks of go-slow, activities have taken their usual pace.

According to inhabitants, the town went into an uneasy calm two weeks to commemorative activities marking 50 years of the country’s Defence Forces. City dwellers, especially those with the love for night-time outings, could no longer go about their routine activities. Links were cut between night activities as security became tighter in the city. Night clubs and cabarets witnessed a drop in business activities as customers became more and more scared. Banditry also reduced as men of the underworld went into shelves since security men gave no chances to maintaining a safe environment for inhabitants. Bars closed as early as 7 p.m. and clubs were almost inexistent.

However, as the D-Day approached, the situation started changing. An increasing military presence in the region took away the security and fright from the inhabitants who gradually became a bit relaxed. “Streets were practically deserted and bars almost closed while the men in uniform ensured that peace and security reigned in all neighbourhoods,” Aboubakar Alisou, waiter in a bar in a neighbourhood in Nkwen told CT. He said though security was tight in town, inhabitants developed much fear towards the military for no just reason as they exercised little or no harm on people. Many of them, who solicited outings to cabarets and nocturnal activities though very restricted, became once more en vogue.

As the D-Day drew closer, tension was still high but once the presidential couple touched down in the city, it was another phase. Inhabitants heaved a sigh of relief after waiting for months and years to see President Paul and wife Chantal Biya. Though streets went dry as early as 8 p.m. residents of the city acknowledged that tension had greatly reduced when the Head of State landed in town. Few courageous club girls could be spotted around while visitors in town enjoyed some comfort in cabarets, restaurants and drinking spots. At the Mobil Nkwen neighbourhood, noted for its nocturnal activities like the hustling and bustling of prostitutes, things had almost come back to normal. After the second day of the visit, this hub was busy again, as late as midnight. Harlots were still at work while drinking spots and cabarets around town were equally jammed packed.

Above all, the sigh of relief also came on the last day of the visit of the presidential couple to the region on Friday December 10 as businesses went full bloom. At the Commercial Avenue, the business hub of the city, businessmen and women, hawkers were in full activity. Almost all shops were opened and buyers present. George Nwumfor, owner of an electrical appliance shop told CT that though business began timidly the town had regained its steam with people going about their daily activities.

Breaking Political Ice

The meeting between President Paul Biya and the foremost opposition leader, John Fru Ndi last Friday December 10 in Bamenda was definitely a landmark event in the process of political denouement in the country. Let us compare this meeting with an event some 25 years ago. On November 10, 1887, a 58-year old English explorer arrived at Ujiji on the banks of Lake Tanganyika. As the local population welcomed him heartily, another white man who had arrived in the village earlier, came out of a hut. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume”, was the first remark the 30-year-old journalist, John Rowland alias Stanley made upon seeing the explorer. Stanley had not seen a white man for over five years as he explored the African interior.

This anecdote fits into Friday’s meeting. In the same way as race united the two explorers, the ambition to serve can be said to have underlined the decision of the two political foes of yore to bury the hatchet. Stanely had not met a man of his own colour in five previous years. And when they met, a new period of teamwork gave their entire objective of exploring the African hinterland new and greater impetus.

We all know in what circumstances the Social Democratic Front was launched in Bamenda 20 years ago. Symptomatically, it is in this same Bamenda that the Cameroon People’s Democratic Party had been born five years earlier. The occupation of the political ground by the SDF in what the CPDM considered its birthplace and, consequently its stronghold, could not go down easily with the powers that be in Yaounde. For the past 20 years, therefore, the Yaounde political leadership incarnated by President Paul Biya and Mr John Fru Ndi have stared at each other like a stuck pig.

Although the CPDM has remained in power virtually unperturbed by even the most aggressive manifestation of SDF militancy, one cannot ignore the fact that the SDF has been one very pester in the CPDM attempt to rule unflustered.

The SDF started off with crushing influence in the North West Region and the results of the 1992 Presidential election gave the party an illusion that it had a national destiny. But since then, the party’s fortunes have only been waning in the region with each passing election. The party remained radically keen on its ideological opposition to the Biya government and its policies; ignoring the huge toll this heady position took on the developmental ambitions on a region as rich as the North West. Even in this situation of hostility, the government in Yaounde did not quite abandon its republican duty of ensuring that Cameroonians all have equal access to opportunities.

Like Livingstone and Stanley mentioned above and who shared a common belonging by being whites in a vast country of blacks, President Biya and John Fru Ndi are brothers of the same fatherland and by their act of last Friday, broke the political ice which now enables them to talk freely with each other. All the pernicious intentions they had about each other, seem to have gone with this meeting. As Mr Fru Ndi himself declared after the 45-minute meeting with the President of the Republic, the stalemate has been broken. This means wide avenues have been opened to let the voice of the people of the North West to be heard, rather than confining them to a corner and treating them as good-for-nothing or heady opposition people hardly conversant with political strategies that can, while keeping their specific political colour, help jumpstart the veritable development of the North West Region. Opposition can never be a position of principle. It is possible to agree on somethings and disagree over others. By receiving Mr Fru Ndi, the President of the Republic was, in no way, seeking to absorb the SDF, nor to cage it. On the contrary, the act was to illustrate that Cameroon’s democratic process is already reaching levels that encourage the promotion of market places of ideas from within which the people can select objectively.

If the tempo of last week’s political activities in Bamenda is kept afloat, then Cameroon could be poised for a new period of civilised politicking.

Nkendem FORBINAKE

Genuine Gifts

Visiting Bamenda from December 8-10, 2010 within the framework of the 50th anniversary celebration of the national defence forces in Cameroon, President Paul Biya took advantage of his presence in the North West Region to announce so much for the population that no one could remain indifferent. The gifts were so genuine that the communion between the Head of State and the people of the North West in particular and Cameroon in general went beyond the ordinary. To start with, President Paul Biya announced:

The creation of the University of Bamenda:When the Head of State started presenting the academic provisions that government had made in the region with the upgrading of the Teachers’ Training College, ENS Annex Bambili with the increase of intake and 18 departments operational in 2009 as well as a second cycle, few saw where he was heading. Then came the revelation; “That is why I am pleased to announce to you that I have decided to create the University of Bamenda.” The euphoria generated by the message was beyond description as the entire population including the Fons present in the grandstand stood up for a standing ovation to the Head of State who had just met one of their most pressing needs. Given that the people had long wanted a university and the fact that the institution will serve the entire nation, make such an offer significant.

The Bamenda Ring Road: For decades now, the people of the North West have been crying that the road which links six of its seven divisions should be tarred. Coming to Bamenda, where he had earlier announced to the people that he feels at home in the region, President Paul Biya could not be indifferent to such a request. Thus, he indicated that negotiations were on with major public works companies for the entire road to be rehabilitated. With parts of the road tarred and the contract for construction of the Bamenda-Mamfe-Ekok road already awarded, the Head of State’s message was simply a reminder that efforts to open up the region to the rest of the country and beyond were being taken seriously.

Energy Problems: Inhabitants of the North West Region must have until now thought that the Head of State was not aware of the frequent power failures or the shortage of energy supply in the area. But President Paul Biya went straight to the essential by stating that instructions have been given for the implanting of a thermal energy plant in Bamenda. This, in no way meant the Menchum Falls would not be exploited for energy supply in the North West. Of course, many have insinuated that the Menchum Fall can supply electricity beyond the national frontiers. Consequently, it was obvious that the Head of State came back to that long-term option for energy supply in the region.

Healthcare: President Paul Biya’s pronouncements on healthcare provision were not only exciting but realistic. When he announced that studies were on for the eventual construction of a referral hospital in the North West, people took the information at the same level as the creation of the University of Bamenda. Seeing such euphoric reception to the idea, the Head of State had to make himself clear “J’ai bien dit une etude” meaning he was talking about studies which should enable government implement the project thereby making it clear that he was not out for any demagogic promise that does not hinge on realistic field work. Thus, he preferred to insist on what had been done such as the Haemodialysis and other health infrastructure that are more feasible.

Prolonged Stay: Initially announced to last 48-hours, the visit by the Presidential couple in the North West ended up being for 72-hours. This shows how sincere the Head of State and the entire population that turned out to receive them were. President Paul Biya must have realised from the first day in Bamenda that the people had much for him and so he decided to prolong his stay and get all that they had for him. Consequently, on Friday December 10, 2010, he granted several audiences, the least of which was not his meeting with the Chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi. The audiences were definitely another genuine gift that the Head of State had for the population as they gave another opportunity for the Presidential couple to commune with the population again on Friday evening before taking leave of the North West Regional capital, Bamenda.

Richard KWANG KOMETA

President Biya, Fru Ndi : First Meeting in 20 Years

The SDF Chairman was received in one of the six audiences that rounded off the Head of State’s 72-hour stay in Bamenda Friday.

«We agreed that the stalemate is broken and that dialogue has begun and it will continue”. These are the words of the Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, John Fru Ndi, after a 45-minute tête-à-tête with the President of the Republic, Paul Biya at the Presidential residence at Upstation Bamenda last Friday December 10, 2010. The SDF strongman was received in the fifth of the six audiences the Head of State granted prominent sons and daughters of the North West Region as he rounded off his 72-hour stay in the region. This was within the framework of celebrations that marked 50 years of the country’s armed forces.

After the discussions, Fru Ndi told prying journalists that he was happy for the meeting. “I am glade the 50th anniversary celebration of the armed forces brought him to Bamenda for us to meet. A meeting, he said, put an end to the political stalemate that has existed between the two politicians since the advent of multiparty politics in the country some 20 years ago. “We were all relaxed and discussed frankly from the heart and he appreciated that”, the SDF Chairman said. He disclosed that he and the President discussed a wide range of issues. “I had to bring up the issue of ELECAM and we will be looking into that later. Due to time constraints we couldn’t discuss much but we agreed that we have come together and that discussions will continue”, he stressed. After the discussions, members of the Chairman’s delegation were ushered into the audience room and were each introduced to the Head of State by John Fru Ndi. Prior to the audience, Fru Ndi was seen in warm handshakes with the Head of State’s collaborators notably the Director of Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou, the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Amadou Ali as well as some CPDM bigwigs of the NW Region in the likes of Hon. Tamfu of Nkambe, Achidi Achu of Santa and Francis Nkwain of Boyo, in what many describe as evidence of political maturity. Like Achidi Achu, John B. Ndeh Coordinator of NW CPDM Section President said, after meeting with the Head of State, that he appreciated strides made by the party in the region, following the nine parliamentary seats and 18 councils it won in the 2007 joint parliamentary and council elections. “His visit brought a lot for us and it would be our turn to pay him back in 2011”, they said.

Other audiences were granted to Anna Foncha, wife of former Prime Minister of West Cameroon and Vice President of the United Republic of Cameroon, John Ngu Foncha, a delegation of North West Fons, North West politicians, Archbishop of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace Cornelius Esua Fontem and to the Governor of the North West Region, Abakar Ahamat, accompanied by the Senior Divisional Officers of all the seven Divisions of the Region.

Godlove BAINKONG,