A Defining Economic Moment for Africa

Louis Egbe Mbua

It seems a hard-pressed exercise, in the current climate of international instability, to present an authoritative report on the consequences of the present global turmoil. The reasons being that they are sporadic, widespread, global and point to a problem nobody appears to have a solution – mindless violence, disorder, religious fanatics based on towering folly, economic and financial meltdown and African Presidents who plan to rule for ever (or live forever dependent upon one’s view on this great misfortune). On the other hand, however these troubles are seen; only a global solution will suffice. There is something fundamentally wrong in this present system of things; and the problem has a cascading effect that originates from the marginalisation of Africa at a great cost to the world.

At this time when the American Superpower status is being boldly challenged on the economic front, it is time to take a closer look on how Africa may emerge from this crisis as a power to be reckoned with.

There has been a number of analysis that mark out a power shift from West to East; to replace the vacuum created by America’s misrule of the world; and that America is on the decline and on her way to an eventual and ignominious collapse. While this may be a possibility -- if we consider the speed of the financial mayhem and destruction of the best and oldest of their financial empires -- it would be disingenuous to posit that power must suddenly pass to China, India, Thailand and South Korea on grounds that these nations have huge monetary reserves.

Recent events have shown that paper reserves can disappear overnight without trace; and that only those who can actually produce quality goods and raw materials and simultaneously pull their resources together as one will survive as a global power.

One of the endemic problems in Africa is leadership; and that the best minds are not applied to the most tasking problems. Leadership in this context is not narrowed to politics. It encompasses entrepreneurs in business, education, industry, commerce, banking, sports, engineering, the Art, Culture and manufacturing.

This has been a problem because Africa has failed to form a united front to fight the ills and adverse consequences of mediocrity: by a lack of a Union Central Bank of Africa. It interesting to note that almost all continents are locked into a monetary and financial institution where they draw all their resources: or have a unionised financial institution from the European Central Bank to the Bank of China; and disputably the American Federal Reserve and the International Monetary fund. As a result, when Africa catches or inherits an economic crisis, there are no unionised indigenous institutions to bail her out since every nation must fend for themselves – everyone for themselves.

In this case, therefore, Africa’s huge economic potential is monumentally diminished because each individual state go cap in hand to their former colonial rulers for loans with dreadful and adverse conditions attached complete with prohibitive interest rates and catastrophic political implications. So, we have a vicious cycle where a potentially powerful continent is economically crippled; thus negating global financial power as a whole by summation.

The result has been that the industrialised nations then drew much of their finance from one source: from the East. Knowing full well that resources are scarce and limited, this financial dependence on the “rich” East and the disregard of the potentially powerful financial giant of Africa causes an asymmetrically bloated economic model and bubble that is always bound to burst with incalculable repercussions.

Thus, it can be surmised quite safely, that the boom and burst global cycles that has tormented international economies were as a result of western economic capitalist models not factoring the African economic variable: this is fundamental to the world as Africa is the mainstay of raw materials for the entire system – communist and capitalist (now potentially dead).

The time for African nation states to merge their economies so that they can draw on their full potential has come. This is a defining moment for the continent to move quickly so as to fill the vacuum left as a result of the sudden and perhaps a permanent deflation of the economic bubble that will go with the collapse of the former powers.

Congratulations President Elect Barack Obama

President Elect Barack Obama

Dear President Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden,

It is with great joy that I write to congratulate you for this stunning and historic victory at the United States Presidential elections that took place Tuesday 4 November 2008.

I believe this victory belongs to you, the citizens of the United States of America and all the people of the world.

There comes a time in the history of the world when the people see the light and choose what is right; so that social justice, peace and prosperity will reign: this is the moment.

It was your hard work, moral standing, unprecedented talent, energy, concern for the world and your enormous connection with humanity that made this possible. Not since the ancient times of our human ancestors has a victory been so celebrated by the entire world; and by all peoples of the world. It is with this note that we can surely say that your message was well received and I pray to God to guide you in delivering your promise in equity and justice for all.

I therefore join the American people to extend my sincere congratulations to you for this epoch-making event that has clearly ushered a new era of change for America and the entire world.

God bless you and your families.

Louis Egbe Mbua Ph.D.

Roger Milla: The African of the Decade into the 21st Century -- Part 2

By Louis Egbe Mbua

Poor Julius Nyerere! He chose the Socialist path and instituted a kind of system of "Villagisation" which nobody understood or had heard of. Poetically, his country languished in poverty and want: although the Chinese managed to help him build the excellent Tanzaam Railway Line. However, he prospered politically and we all respected the Late Leader's intellect.

And Nkrumah? He did not actually take sides in the end. Having spent extravagantly for eight years, one morning the Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana asked for an audience with the great man. Nkrumah was quickly informed that his country was bankrupt. Needless to say that he at first refused to accept this grim news; and now it was time for the West to move for the kill. Western financial Institutions pulled the rug from under him. Being a fighter, he turned to the socialist Camp for financial help. It was while he was visiting China, begging, that he was overthrown in 1966. He died in Bucharest in 1972, surely a broken man.

Nkrumah's legacy to Africa is incalculable. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia eulogised that "he was a significant leader of both the movement against White Domination and of Pan African Feeling. He was the moving spirit behind the Charter of African States (1961)." This document gave rise to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. It is a mark of respect for Nkrumah that W.E.B. Dubois chose Ghana as the African country of his choice to return more than 400 years after slavery. I do not believe Dubois could have chosen any other African country were he could safely consider himself as a free African man.

Nkrumah's only flaw which most certainly disqualified him as African of the century was his practice of personality cult and his institution of a one-party state that eroded the democratic gains of the 1950s and1960s. Since Nkrumah was the living spirit in Africa at the time, whatever he did was quickly emulated everywhere in the Continent. His undemocratic and autocratic propensities gave rise to one-party States all over Africa: Ahidjo's Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea, Zambia etc. His personality cult obsession was re-incarnated in ruffians, butchers, cannibals, megalomaniacs and kleptomaniacs such as Idi Amin, Macias Nguema, Joseph-Desire Mobutu (of the Sese Seko), Afrifa, Acheampong, "Emperor" Jean-Bedel Bokassa, General Abacha, and Master Sergeant Doe. These were the mad men who nearly took Africa back to the Stone Age; causing untold suffering, death, poverty, ignorance, and want to millions of Africans.

The brain drain as a result of the actions of these men is so drastic that, the West Africa magazine stated that there are 24,000 (Twenty-four-Thousand) Igbo Medical Doctors in America alone. Where does that leave us in the twenty-first century? Bryan Appleyard of The Sunday Times in London effectively captured the global mood at the end of the twentieth century. In a prophetic headline article titled "The Party to end all Parties", he wrote: "The 20th century, the bloodiest in human history, has gone, not with a bang but with a whimper. With one last ironic master-stroke, the age of Mao and Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, of My Lai and Auschwitz, bowed its head and said an amazingly peaceful good night. The global party passed almost without incident." After reading his extract, one wondered why he did not include some African tyrants and why he said "almost without incident” when it to the author that he was writing from a global perspective while excluding Africa. Why? How can that be? Surely, this is unfair, I mused. Then I quickly cast my mind on the Coup in Ivory Coast on Christmas Eve. So the twentieth century did not end in Africa with a "whimper” but Bang! Bang! You are dead! God help Africa!

The general impression, therefore, is there are no plausible reasons to choose any African politician as The African of the twentieth Century. One is so disappointed with their performance; and the catalogue of failures, and woes that it is inconceivable to vote them to the coveted title. One would have been inclined to vote for Nelson Mandela, but he did little to change black people's poverty in South Africa while President. Mohammad Ali? Well, it depends on whether he can be nominated as a full African. Cheikh Anta Diop? An intellectual giant; and a pure Pan-Africanist: but intellect alone cannot save us. Moreover, he did most of his archaeological research in Europe: which leaves us with one choice: Roger Milla! A true African with the humblest of spirits; and a dedicated professional who played for his country at the age of 42: becoming the oldest man to score in a World Cup Final. What Milla did to African Pride in Italia'90, is equivalent to all the work of all African politicians put together. Because of Milla, Africa became recognisable again in the world stage. Africa had been forgotten by the World. Nobody gave a thought about the people. We were seen as pariahs, beggars and weakling, a useless continent. Certain Westerners were even proposing re-colonisation. Milla's four goals changed all that. I was watching the Cameroon-Columbia match, together with some Cameroonians and an English friend in my small one-bed flat in Muswell Hill, North London. One can hardly forget the joy and pride that filled our hearts as Africans when Milla beat Rene Aguitato score the second and winning goal. Few people used to respect Africans. But since that incident, wherever, we go we are respected, being offered free drinks to this day. I recently met a Rwandan Doctor who also said the same thing happened to him in Romania.

There are things money cannot buy - self-worth. Cameroon's performance in that tournament caused the Independent in London to feature an African Nation in their headline for the first time for something good. Cameroonian Mr. Tah Ndifornyen of the Tandy fame, owner of the Victoria pub in London, was in the front page News dancing in his pub. When Roger Milla and his Lions marginally lost to England, the England Manager, Bobby Robson, said "We pulled it out of the fire", and that it was "the hand of God" that helped England. If all our African leaders do their jobs as effectively, humbly, patriotically and selflessly as Milla, then "the hand of God" will save us and our poverty will disappear for good. Roger Milla! The African of the 20th Century.

Roger Milla: The African of the 21st Century Decade - Part 1

By Louis Egbe Mbua

This article first appeared in camnetwork on 7 January 2000, at the very dawn of the 21st century. It was written as a response to the debate as to who would covet the title of The African of the 20th century. At the time of writing, we were thinking of the future by retrospecting the past; and believing that we would now face a brighter future in Africa. Today, with the conduct of political African leaders in a manner that leaves the world gasping for breath, the writing is as true in 2000 as it is today. The same problems that plagued Africa in the 2oth century remain -- if not getting worse. Tyranny, poverty, disease, constitutional and electoral fraud; and political fiat continue with all the ferocity of a whirlwind and a storm combination. In 2000 Roger Milla won the day in the debates; and it still holds today.

Who is the African of the 20th Century?

There were some aspects of Nkrumah's achievements, which the author believes should warrant his nomination as “An African of the Century”: although I do not believe he will win the coveted title. If I could go by historical accounts, Kwame Nkrumah was only thirty-six years old (born in 1909) when he attended the Pan-Africanist Conference in 1945 in Manchester.Before then, he had already taught at Lincoln University in America;and being voted the best lecturer of the year. Although W.E.B Dubois wasvery instrumental in that particular conference, it was Nkrumah who read the signs of the times. On his return to Ghana in 1947, he quickly capitalised upon the injustices of World War II, and African domination by the Allied powers to demand "self-government now". Realising that the party which he was affiliated was dragging its feet, hequickly resigned his position as Secretary General. He then went on to form his ownparty, the Convention People's Party in 1949 that quickly captured the people's imagination. He worked closely with trade union leaders toorganise civil disobedience reminiscent of Gandhi in India. In fact, he is called in some well-informed quarters as "The Gandhi ofAfrica." A tireless and dynamic worker with a flair for showmanship; andunparalleled intellect, he was imprisoned several times. It is said thathe continued to smuggle messages written in bathroom tissues while inprison!

Only ten years after returning to Ghana from the UK, Nkrumah was PrimeMinister of Ghana with his country becoming the first Black Africanstate to achieve independence having completely out-manoeuvred theBritish on intellectual grounds. This achievement alone totallychanged the African political landscape since this provided otherAfrican leaders with the inspiration to challenge colonialism head-on – genuinely or pretentiously. As a result, some African Nationalists lost their lives - Um Nyobe was killed in 1958 and Patrice Lumumba who was brutally murdered in 1964 duringthe Congo crises – allegedly with connivances by the CIA: for these are the very sad episodes what resulted from Nkrumah’s historic political achievement. However, Cameroon and Congo Kinshasa both managed to gain independence in the early 1960's. Others followed in quick succession- Algeria under Ben Bella, Kenya under Jomo Kenyata, Nigeria etc. all in the early 1960s.

It may also be recalled that it was perhaps as a consequence of Nkrumah's achievement --in this respect -- that the great man, Nelson Mandela, decided tochallenge the then racist bastion or clique in Pretoria by force ofarms in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Well, we all know whathappened to him. Spending Twenty-seven years in jail under atrocious conditionsis not something pleasurable at all. With all due respect for Mandela, what Nkrumah achieved in ten years, Mandela took Thirty-one years toachieve in 1994 when he became the first black President in a democraticSouth-Africa. So, we can say, without any foe to utter a contrary position, that what Nkrumah achieved in 1957, in the twentieth century, caused the total liberation of the entire continent. What he gained in the late 1950s is still felt in Africa in the Twenty-firstcentury in the person of Nelson Mandela who has since honourably stooddown for the younger generation living in retirement in SouthAfrica.Nkrumah did not stop there. It is a known fact – or open secret dependent on what side you belong -- the British left Ghana a very rich country indeed.

Living up to its former name, the GoldCoast, the government coffers were panelled with gold; and Nkrumah went aboutbuilding a nation. He built excellent schools, Universities (CapeCoast, Kumasi Institute of Technology) which attracted first class minds from all over the world. With education being free at the time; It is not acoincidence that the first sub-Saharan African Secretary-General ofthe United Nations, Koffi Annan, is partly a product of Ghanaianeducational system. In fact, one of my Economics Lecturer, anEnglishman, in my Undergraduate days commented that Ghanaian farmersspoke very good English - better than Welch farmers (people fromWales). How amazing!Nkrumah also promoted cultural activities by wearing his "nationaldress when attending Commonwealth Heads of Government conferences (CHGM). A friend of the author working for an NGO; and who visits severalAfrican countries, once commented that Ghanaians are the most culturally conscious; and that their civil service, the most efficient.

Nkrumah also built roads, Airports, improved the country'stelecommunication system and embarked on the Volta Project that led tothe gigantic Akosombo Dam for the smelting of Aluminium from Bauxiteand for electricity. Millions of Ghanaians found employment in theseprojects. He promoted hard work, confidence and self-reliance. It is afact that Ghanaians in Diaspora are one of the most hard-working ofall Africans.His foreign policy was very aggressive towards the westbecause he foresaw neo-colonialism. In this respect, Nkrumah tried hisold tactics of direct confrontation, brinksmanship, flamboyance andNationalism. Surely, this was a mistake that was to become his undoing.He tried to play a double game by his non-aligned stance: at one pointhe was a Socialist aligned to the Soviet Union; In another momenthe needed Loans from the West for his grandiose projects. He could notwin because the Cold War was raging meaning he had to choose which side he belonged. Nobody was allowed to have his cake and eat it: for Ideology was thegame. You had to be a sheep in wolf's clothing.

Fidel Castro cleverly, on the other hand, chose and exploited the Soviet Union and prospered politically and economically. Our own very Ahidjo, cunningly sided with the West: healso prospered politically and economically. Cameroonians then went onto party, drinking, eating, dancing and enjoying unimaginable salaryhikes until they woke up one morning to find out that there is nomoney in the bank – It had been stolen by kleptocratic politicians while they were busy dancing: the party was over. Sekou Toure mistakenly sided with the Socialists. Well, the French came in and uprooted their lamp posts in Conakry as the entire country was plunged into darkness ofhardship and poverty. One-Party state became fashionable to put downdissent with the pretext of encouraging unity. Whatever the case, he remained in power until his death.

Rocketing Food and Oil Prices: What should be done - Part Three

By Louis Egbe Mbua

With food and oil prices soaring to new heights every day, many have their own theories as to the reasons for this economic misfortune for the majority consumers and in fact an economic and financial bonanza for the suppliers. Large wads of funds shift from West to East and to the South. Countries that were barely called nations fifty years ago or "Third World" are now rich beyond their wildest dreams or the imagination of generations barely 20 years ago: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and others have so much reserve that they know not what to do with it. If this trends were to perpetuate themslves for more than four years, then the roles of the world will surely be reversed witht he first becoming the last and the last, the first. At the same time, it would be impossible to extract fuel if we have not food: no food, no oil. So what caused this problem? And what suggestions are there relating to fixing it?

Oppressive and tyrannical regimes installed in countries world wide are one of the causes of food shortages. Food emanates as a result of Agriculture; Agriculture is dependent on roads, bridges implements and vehicles to plough the land and transport the harvested crops to various centres. Without these tools, Agriculture will be impossible. The most recent shenanigans of the Burmese junta refusing to distribute grain to the Burmese people or corporate with the UN after the devastating typhoon that engulfed that country is a classic case of oppression that results in food shortages and hence food price rises.

In Cameroon, the present regime has neglected roads in the Southern Cameroons region, the bread basket of Central and West Africa. There are no roads linking Buea to Kumba, Kumba to Mamfe-Bamenda- Wum. The consequence is that food produced cannot be easily transported. The effect is poverty of farmers who may have no money to purchase equipment. These oppressive conditions exist the world over; and the multiplier effects are that world food shortages ensue together with soaring prices. The international community has the responsibility of either discouraging tyranny; and actively and financially promote good governance and democracy; or join forces to ensure that oppressive regimes are removed. These regimes affect the world adversely; as good regimes affect the world positively.

Furthermore, a dictatorial and corrupt regime is usually associated with theft of the countries resources and the raiding of the treasury. If this drags for years, the people become impoverished with no money for food and fuel. This has been the case in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Mobutu years. It is alleged that Mobutu stole up to £4 billion from his people. In Cameroon, high ranking government members of the cabinet, politicians and MPs, civil servants and CEO of State Corporations stole so much that by 1990, a country that was classed as middle-income in 1982, became bankrupt overnight. In a nation where the rule of law exists, the present administration would have been taken to court for theft and mismanagement. Yet they continue to be rule almost twenty years after with the theft and looting continuing unabated.

It is understood that they actually hide their illicit and criminal activities and funds in European banks. The author's opinion is that banks that collect poor people’s money in Europe from dictators abraod are also as corrupt as these corrupt leaders. They should return the money to a special international account for each country to be held until such a time the thieving regime has be removed or is gone. If they refuse to comply, then the international community should black list such financial houses. It is interesting to note the Transparency International carries out a corruption index on corrupt countries but do not research the corrupt banks of Europe and the USA hoarding poor people’s money from tyrants like Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.

Violence, unwanted and unnecessary wars have contributed to world food and fuel scarcity as demand grows. War in Iraq; the seemingly irresolvable and unending Arab-Israeli conflict over the Palestinian question; the West’s long quarrel with Iran, a major oil producer; militant action in Nigeria and Cameroon by freedom fighters and rebel groups; Venezuela’s quarrels with the USA, all combine to destabilise these regions where petroleum is most prevalent, disrupting much needed supplies; followed by scarcity causing fuel prices to rise faster than before. While there may not be ready solutions to this crisis, it is worth noting that the international community and national governments fail to act to prevent conflicts only to act when it is too late. Conflicts should be resolved before they escalate to disrupt supplies.

The viciousness and greed that drive man to hunt and kill game animal to within limits of extinction; and the share monstrosity of over-fishing have depleted the protein chain. There are reports of stock shortages in parts of the North Sea and the coast of West Africa due to over fishing that creates scarcity. The recent riots in several countries as a result of rocketing food prices are evidence of this phenomenon. Although there are international and national laws against over fishing, it is often violated because it is difficult to police the high seas or those who fish in the night. Checks and policing of these fishermen and hunters may prove invaluable to maintain a respectable balance of fishing and replenishing.

House of Commons Debates on Democracy and Elections in Africa: Cameroon and Zimbabwe: Part IV

By Louis Egbe Mbua

House of Commons Debates: 22 April 2008

When these debates were held in London on 22 April 2008, few could predict the scale of erosion of human rights in Cameroon and Zimbabwe as we have today. In Cameroon, Mr. Paul Biya performed a constitutionally criminal fraud by changing the constitution so that he may stay in power forever while vowing to kill any person who opposes his malevolent and disgraceful political diktat. Unfortunately, the world has turned the other way. In Zimbabwe, on the other hand, Robert Mugabe’s own grotesque political and economic folly is now out of control; attacking and oppressing his own African people: whom he claims to have liberated. Whether the opposition MDC is supported by the West or not is a matter of profound irrelevance as Mugabe crosses the line from the tight but manageable democratic encampment into a dangerous and insecure political zone of miscalculation by intimidation, violence; other undemocratic and totally unacceptable method of mob rule. These callous actions, due possibly to some kind of power-lotion, of clear megalomania of these two men have not the remotest connections with African independence or liberation; and are therefore have to be condemned as possibly crimes against humanity. So, the entire world must stand up; drive them out of their power-mad bubbles for the sake of international peace and security by means of sustained and measured international sanctions.

I will add nothing to the upcoming speech -- his own contribution to the debate -- by Cameroonian, Mr. Albert Moutoudou, Leader of the legendary Union des Populations Camerounais (UPC) branch in France:

Moutoudou’s Speech began slowly; having apologised for his lack of full command of the English language: on the other hand his was that of outstanding eloquence, depth and insight. He began by expressing grave concern on the possibilities of political instability in Cameroon due to flagrant abuse of human rights by the French-backed puppet regime installed in Yaoundé. He then moved quickly to narrate a short history of Cameroon: that Cameroon became independent in 1960 with Ahidjo as a hand-picked President serving France. Ahidjo moved gradually from multi-party politics to a one party state in 1961 – 1966. Consequently Cameroonians were under a reign of dictatorial terror of a one party state in 1966 – 1991: first by Ahidjo from 1966 – 82; and then Paul Biya from 1982 – 1991.

Moutoudou stated that although there was a semblance of democracy after 1991 – after pressure from the people – the entire process to this day is a monumental scam because the inept and corrupt government of Cameroon actually chose which party can actually exist. This gives rise to mushroom and fake political parties with the result that the opposition is a non-existence. Although there is the well-known SDF opposition party, they also have fallen in the trap of depending, for their daily bread, on the discredited junta in Yaoundé and their equally hated CPDM ruling party apparatchiks. His observation also wandered on the credibility of the electoral list; and that it is on perpetual abuse by the ruling party because inscription of the lists in the stronghold of the opposition is always prevented by the ruling CPDM with the help of violence and threats by the forces.

In another case of open fraud, the regime issues multiple voting cards for individual supporters so that they may multi-vote for the CPDM. Motoudou then concluded that there is a National network of elaborate electoral fraud in Cameroon: the constituents being the Prefects, District Officers and the military; that Provincial Governors of the ten provinces of Cameroon receive orders from Yaoundé, almost certainly from Paul Biya, advising them on quotas required from them in an electoral process in this shameful and corrupt process; and that those who fail to deliver their quotas usually pay with their jobs. Moutoudou, from eyewitness accounts, said the puppet regime use all kinds of methods to maintain itself in power in the fraudulent elections and constitutionally criminal manoeuvres: this they maintain by violence by the Cameroon military against the people so that Mr. Paul Biya continues to “win” rigged elections without shame. These disgraceful and unfavourably adverse and violent political climate means that Cameroon is in danger of a political explosion; and that “the fire is under the ashes” waiting to be ignited in volcanic magnitude, he added.

According to Mr. Moutoudou, the poor have abandoned the remotest of hopes of a better life or future; and therefore are in a position of no gain no losing. Consequently they will be prepared to risk drive out the clique in Yaoundé as a matter of their own survival. In addition the problem becomes more acute as the world becomes more of a global village with economies reaching convergence whereby prices of goods and services become similar in developing and developed world. The result has been desperation for the poor and the death of the weak. This scenario and impending collapse of the political system of Cameroon must be stopped because we cannot continue while there in this madness and insanity. This condition, Moutodou said, was manifested in 24 April 2000 when young people, unemployed and made homeless by decades of the corrupt rule of the present regime and its people in power looted and stole the nation’s wealth for themselves while University graduates are living like paupers. Worse, they have no means of fighting back in peaceful protests because where conventional methods are used by civilised countries to break a strike or riot, in Cameroon the army is brought in to shoot to kill peaceful strikers. The violent regime has a shoot to kill policy for those who protest against years of theft, violence, abuse of human rights by the Biya regime.

According to Motoudou, Biya has actualised the certainty of violence between those who oppose his foolish and short-sighted policies and those who wish to perpetuate and eternalise their corrupt and fraudulent stay in power: Paul Biya changed the constitution for a third term. This act is a criminal act because the fact that he violated the constitution means that he has committed treason and therefore a criminal who must face trial together with the MPs who collaborated in this act of fraud, shame and foolishness. Motoudou further informed the audience that he had just met and briefed the French MPs about the imminent instability in Cameroon.


Author’s Comments:

An emboldened murderer and criminal does as he pleases to the human race on several counts: that he has a delusional state of mind that may be due to his evil activities getting hold of his senses so as to twist it in reverse for him to believe that he is not human; surrounded by other men of unsteady and crippled thoughts; deception of the occult that preaches false eternity; and finally outright folly.

In this grave matter, therefore, there appears to be only one solution; and that lies with the populace. A population that allows a thief and a criminal to continue to lead them into ruin will surely become thieves and criminals as well; for if the blind leads the blind they will both descend into the bottomless pit in a chattering gnashing of the teeth: that is as sure as night follows day. Now some may ask why the author advocates this kind of hypothesis; surely he is also part of the people. Or is he?

This fact which is evident; that the author is part of the non-action crowd. On the other hand, if the author were in the desired position, he will merely match up to the system and remove it. Alas! One cannot be in two places at the same time; but time chance and opportunity may serve to alter, mobilise or immobilise a tenuous circumstance. Thus, no people should sign any contract with an evil system: for if a people have been deceived into such a contract, the normal process and the right action to take are to repudiate, utterly and with force, such a signatory in their name; and declare the contract null and void: meaning that that particularly leadership and her system has already been irrevocably condemned as in the books of law of Medes and Persia in antiquity. A condemned man has no place to go since wherever he goes he will be recognised. Like biblical Caine who murdered his brother Abel out of vanity; and was given a mark, so too are condemned leaders in an evil system marked. Consequently, any person who finds him has a right to demand an explanation for such a mark.

That people sit quiet or silent while a thief runs riot with their loot; and engages in despicable barbaric cruelty does not remotely indicates that he has won: for winning means being on the right and triumph; and not being on the wrong to vanquish: since those who win the wrong victory will live to be destroyed instantaneously without warning: for the people are just waiting for an opportunity, time and place to redress the wrongs wrought on them by a bad leadership and system so that they may institute what is right and just; for that is the natural state of man. Others may point out to the opposite – that man is naturally evil. This, I believe is an erroneous concept: for the right premise is that man has the knowledge of good and evil. It follows that when a person commits an evil or right act, he knows exactly what he is doing; and that the entire enraged world, if the act was evil, knows that what he has done is evil. The natural tendency, therefore, is first to punish the evil doer; and then, in case of nations, throw out his evil system; to be replaced by what is good until such a time when good again is usurped by evil. That is the case with tyrannical and genocide leaders such as Hitler, Caligula, Idi Amin, Mobutu, Herod and others in antiquity who were destroyed as a result of their crimes and murders to be replaced by justice.

The Cameroon people should rise up and throw out this regime: for in the regime is no credibility at all. In them we see the rise of AIDS, death of the youths, depletion of fish stocks and protein starvation by corrupt deals with foreign powers; blatant land grabbing in violation of African Commission of Human rights judgements and indictments; open academic fraud by Professors; loose morals; mediocrity has replaced excellence, nepotism and tribalism that surpasses understanding; genocide announcements by extreme right wing Neo-Nazi-tribalists; senseless violence; insecurity; terror, mass looting of country’s finances by men in power, discrimination against the Anglophones; parochial development (imagine the political and economic stupidity/jealousy against the Port of Victoria in favour of the less suitable Kribi Port) brain drain, murders of children and protesting students, mass unemployment; insatiable and naked greed, the rise of the occult, constitutional criminality and other backward and primitive aspects that were long gone in the 1970s – today they are heralded by the Biya regime. This must come to an end.

To correct Mr. Moutoudou, Cameroon of today has no single independence date. La Republique du Cameroun (Francophone Cameroon) which he referred to, attained her Independence in 1960. Southern Cameroons (Anglophone Cameroon) attained their own independence in 1961 after a fraudulent, illegal, arrogant and disgraceful plebiscite organised by the UN in a conspiracy deal with the world powers; and in violation of the UN Trusteeship Agreement and international law. Whatever the case, we now find ourselves in this situation; and the same region of the Biya tyranny and insanity: we must work together, agree to disagree, to first drive him and his system out; and then we will have the opportunity to redress these social, economic and political injustices so that accountability and the rule of law will be the golden rule; and not violence, fraud and a government driven by unquenchable greed, arrogance, undemocratic ideals, and illegality: unaccountable to no one but themselves. In the present system of things, the people are irrelevant as long as those in power are in power— their aim is power, greed and self-interest; not people, brain and progress.

Urgent Letter for Action Against Illegal Depletion of Fish Stocks in Victoria by Chinese Fishermen Working With Corrupt Cameroon Politicians

Republic of Cameroon Republique du Cameroun
Peace – Work – Fatherland

Paix – Travail - Patrie
Paramount Chieftaincy of Chefferie Superieure de
Limbe Limbe


Royal Traditional Council
Of the Paramount Chief
Appointed by His Late Majesty
Ferguson Bille Manga Williams
Officer of the Order of Valor
Conseil des Notables

Chief’s Palace,
Market Lane, Down Beach
Limbe

Saturday,14th June 2008


To All Elites and Chiefs of Fako,
Chief S.M.L.Endeley,
Chief Ephraim Inoni,
Mr Mafany Musonge
Mr Njoh Litumbe
Mr GBL Mofoke
Chief David Molinge
Chief Etina Monono,
Chief Samuel Ekum,
Mme Dorothy Njeuma,
Prof. Ndiva Kofele Kale,
Justice Eyole Monono
Mme Rachel Lyonga
Mme Lifaka,
Mr Goddy Membwange,
Mr Meoto Njie,
Mr Henry Njalla Quan,
Mr Samuel Lifanda etc
Mr Humphrey Monono
Mr. Daniel Matute,
Mr Mbella Moki Charles etc.

Sirs/Madames,

Open Letter in Fakonet to Fako Elites.
Protein Starvation of 100,000 people in Limbe, The Result Of Chinese Non Sustainable Fishing Practices Which Have Left Us Without Fish


1. How can we live by the sea and we have no fish? From time immemorial Fako has benefited from fresh and smoked fish bonga, barracuda and mololo which we used to eat our plantains and kwakoko. Is this going to end because of Chinese fishing trawlers and Mr Dima Gabriel of FINI Industries?


2. Following the death of Chief Ferguson Bille Manga Williams, the Paramount Chief, the Traditional Council which has been managing the traditional affairs of Limbe, pending the appointment of a new chief wishes to appeal to all persons of goodwill to save Limbe from the effects of Chinese fishing trawlers which have imposed protein starvation on this famous and important Cameroonian town. A calamity has befallen the people of Limbe and we, the members of the Council of the late Paramount Chief, are crying out to the Fako Elites to take action to save the population from this untenable situation.


3. A few months ago, Chinese fishing trawlers begun fishing in Limbe coastal waters and since then the 100,000 people of the sub-division who depend on fish as a major source of protein have been suffering completely from near total protein starvation.
4. Complaints from the population were taken to the Government and the Minster of Fisheries and Animal Industries banned twin trawling and compelled the FINI enterprises whose license is being exploited by the Chinese to move away from Limbe. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary situation as the Chinese are back and seem to have disregarded the ministerial order. Do Cameroonian ministers have no power? Why are the Chinese still hovering around when they have been asked to leave.?


5. The local fishermen of mixed Cameroonian and foreign background now catch little or no fish for the following reasons:


6. The twin trawling techniques used by the Chinese by which they attach a net to two trawlers and sweep the entire ocean, empties and catches all fish from the coastal waters is banned by international conventions.


7. The Chinese net mesh width is very small and violates Cameroonian- fishing regulations and also catches everything in its path destroying fish of all sizes and ages in a non-sustainable manner.


8. The Chinese in violation of fishing regulations for trawlers come too close to coastal waters and carry away the nets of local fishermen in their more powerful nets.


9. The Chinese also fish in mangrove swamps and creeks the nursery beds of fish and in a few years time our fishing beds shall be destroyed by these non sustainable techniques by which they catch a lot of fish now only to destroy the fishing beds for the future by their non sustainable methods.


10. Only a small quantity of fish caught by the Chinese is sold to Limbe canoes the rest is exported out of Cameroon by the trawlers at a profitable rate to themselves.
11. As a result of the practices above we are now suffering or shall suffer from the following consequences:


12. Total protein starvation for the lower and middle income classes in Limbe and environs a population of 100,000 people.


13. Cameroonians shall abandon the now profitless fishing trade particularly as nets purchased after a struggle by poor fishermen are being destroyed by trawlers fishing to close to costal waters in violation of fishing regulations and without compensation for such destroyed nets being paid.


14. Foreign fishermen of Benin , Togolese, Nigerian and Ghanaian origin who sometimes invest 20million to equip a single large boat or “awashaa” shall migrate to other countries by driving away with their canoes, further diminishing our local fish supply. The migration has already begun.


15. The indigenous communities of Wovia, Botaland, Bakingili, Batoke and Bimbia, all staunch supporters of the CPDM, who have always depended on fishing, shall be ruined and are now ruined almost completely.


16. Disempowerment of 1000 women in Limbe and environs who are involved in fish smoking.


17. The halt of the supply of smoked fish, strongkanda and other varieties which are carried to the western province, the center and south, the north and Chad from Limbe (Just as well as from other fishing ports)


18. Destruction of endangered species like Dolphins and Marine Turtles by the banned method of twin trawling.


19. Acceleration of the destruction of our fishing beds by the non-sustainable methods the Chinese have introduced into Cameroonian fishing. After each catch the Chinese throw away very small fishes they have caught.


20. The authorities put in place by government in Limbe for the control of fishing have been powerless to exercise their administrative duties because mobile phone calls from their administrative hierarchy have terrified them into inactivity and silence as powerful political, administrative and financial barons are behind the illegalities practiced by the Chinese. These persons are involved in leasing fishing licenses to the Chinese or are friends of the leasers. Chinese diplomatic pressure has apparently been brought to play in this matter and Cameroonian officials eager not to annoy the Chinese whose aid program is effective have engaged in a conspiracy of silence as mass protein starvation was imposed on their own people.


21. Acts of violence between the Chinese and local fishermen have increased as fights attacks and beatings have been recorded. We fear this could affect Cameroonian and Chinese relations if this source of conflict is not resolved.


22. . What do we now request of the government and the state? What do we want? We humbly request that the following measures should be considered by government:
23. The authorities should control the mesh width of Chinese nets.


24. Violators of regulations be dealt with in accordance with the laws in force by Fisheries and “Marine Marchand” who should not be disturbed by mobile phone calls from the corrupt hierarchy.


25. The Chinese practice of twin trawling should be banned.


26. The Chinese should maintain the distance from coastal waters and the continental shelf required by Cameroonian regulations.


27. They should pay for all nets they destroy.


28. They should sell their fish in Limbe and other Cameroonian towns so as to arrest protein starvation we are now experiencing rather than export this fish.


29. A ban on fish exports should be made to alleviate hunger until proper controls have been instituted to assure that Cameroonians have no shortage of fish.


30. Chinese trawlers have shown that they are not respecters of Cameroonian law and need to be handled with iron hands.


31. Corrupt officials whom they have compromised, and who have blocked the regulation of Chinese fishing should be dealt with in accordance with administrative practice.


32. The Council wishes to thank all persons and NGO’s who have so far made an effort to sensitise the authorities about this very serious problem. We hope that the Chinese who have shown they are good friends of Cameroon shall co-operate and respect our laws.


33. How can we live by the sea and we have no fish?

We remain, Faithfully Yours,
Members of the Council
Mr. Moki Monono: Secretary. 94430211,
Chief Emmanuel Matute Mbene: Quarter Head 99955819.
Chief Lisuke George Nganje: Quarter Head 77494691
Chief Shalman Mokumu: Quarter Head 74950063
Mr. George Burnley. Quarter Head 77494691
Mr. Duse Anthony: Quarter Head 77072838
Mr. Sammy Rhoom: Notable 99947726