Buea Mayor Defies Fako Elite Consensus ‘Scheme’: Declares For Fako III CPDM Section Presidency

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

     Buea Mayor, Patrick Ekema Esunge, is certainly not a chicken-hearted politician like some thought he was.  

Ekema Poised For Fako III CPDM Section Presidency

He demonstrated unmitigated effrontery Monday 28 September 2015 by officially declaring his intention to run for the office of section president of the Fako III section of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM in Buea. More than 1,000 persons attended the rally.

     Although Ekema’s declaration is at variance with the wish of some highly placed Fako political elite who have been pushing for a ‘consensus arrangement’ in the reorganisation exercise in the Division, supporters of the Mayor have however brushed such consensus talks aside, maintaining that the circular of the party chairman laying out guidelines for the reorganisation exercise didn’t talk of such an arrangement.

     Such proponents hold that the circular clearly states the eligibility criteria for the elections, which Ekema meets. Thus, to them, he has all the political acumen to run for the office, further arguing that the reorganisation activity is a grassroots exercise which must not be dictated by the influence of Elite in Yaoundé who also have their own selfish political interests.

     “…Be very vigilant! don’t allow what happened in 2002 in Fako III to repeat itself again. When the time comes, vote for the person you like…Is Yaoundé Buea?” the second deputy mayor of the Buea council, Lyonga John Efande, charged, as a mammoth crowd at the CBC field in Mile 16, Bolifamba, where Ekema officially declared his candidature, responded with deafening applause.

     Several other speakers, most of them sub-section presidents within the section, then took turns to read out motions of support, expressing their unwavering support to Ekema. All of them substantiated their motions calling on Ekema to run for the section presidency with what they said were the enormous development strides that he has embarked on within the municipality since he became Mayor.

     Representatives of the Buea as well as the Fako chiefs’ conferences also spoke at the event, promising to throw their unalloyed support behind Ekema. “…Our son Mayor Ekema has washed his hands clean, so he can dine with the elders…” Buea Chiefs’ Conference president, His Royal Majesty Chief Johnson Njoke Njombe, who’s also a councilor of the Buea council, stated. The about 15 Chiefs who attended the event had poured libations at its start.

     Mayor Ekema, who was the last person to speak, said it was with delight that he decided to respond to the call from militants of the 30 sub-sections of the party in Buea, calling on him to put forward his candidature. He expressed his readiness to go in and work for the good of the people and the party. As to why he chose mile 16 to declare, he simply quipped: “This is my political base.” He then urged the people to stay calm and be vigilant given the current trends of insecurity in the country, adding that whenever party boss, Paul Biya, would give the green light for campaigns, he’ll be back to do so.

     Ekema’s declaration now means there are two contenders; himself and one David Mafany Namange; given that incumbent, Senator Mbella Moki, had long stepped aside.

     Going by the consensus arrangement piloted by the “big Fako Elite”, the likes of incumbent section president, Senator Charles Mbella Moki as well as Mayor Patrick Ekema, who are all elected officials, shouldn’t have postulated for the position.

     To them, the consensus ought to have settled on Mafany Namange, whom they believe, has enough party experience, coupled with his youthful dynamism. But this latest trend of events means there’ll be a veritable political match to watch. Let the kick-off begin.

Plans To Expand Musonge’s Wife’s Memorial Scholarship Scheme

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

     Senator Peter Mafany Musonge says plans are in the offing, once the means are also available, to extend a scholarship scheme instituted in memoriam of his late spouse, Anne Mojoko Musonge, beyond their indigenous Fako division.

Senator Musonge Handing over Envelop to Beneficiary

    He expressed the wish last week at the second ever edition of the scholarship award ceremony hosted at the head office of the ‘Anne Mojoko Musonge Memorial Trust’ in Bokova, Buea. Musonge is Board Chair of the Trust.

     70 awardees who were selected from over 250 who applied, received cash collectively amounting to millions of FCFA.  The packages ranged from FCFA 25, 000 for pupils to FCFA 50,000 for varsity students. Secondary school students as well as those from other professional institutions of learning had their own share as well.

Some of the Beneficiaries Pose with Benefactors

     The awardees, who were chosen based on certain criteria including academic brilliance and moral uprightness, were urged to use the money given them judiciously. They also were challenged to be studious in order to record impressive results in their exams; a thing which would encourage their benefactors to do more next time.

      The scholarship scheme is solely for girl children because late Anne Musonge (in whose honour the scheme was started) took unwavering interest in the education of the girl child and was also an ardent advocate for gender issues. No doubt she founded the popular Fako Women’s Development Association, known by the English acronym FAWODA.

       In attendance at the award event were; the MP for Buea Rural, Hon Emilia Lifaka, Cameroon Development Corporation General Manager, Franklin Njie, Former MP for Buea Urban, Hon Meoto Njie, Buea Mayor, Patrick Ekema, Secondary Education Delegate for the South West, Francis Ngundu, Principals of some schools in Buea, staff of the schools concerned, parents of beneficiaries as well as the population of the BONAVADA community.

Ghost Gov't Workers In Cameroon: Use Biometrics To Catch Their Tricks

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

     This is the proposal I made to government earlier this year in my column (in Eden Newspaper). Little did I know that as many as 10, 377 sate functionaries were not duly recognised as such, yet were paid. By the way, how can one readily believe the figures exposed by government when it cannot say with definitive certitude how many citizens it employs? And how can we also believe when, for example, The Guardian Post reported last week that 13, 600 farmers had been uncovered in the south Region as ghost workers, a figure which outnumbers what government published.

     Imagine that each of the 10,377 workers was receiving a monthly salary of FCFA 100,000 (one hundred thousand), then simple arithmetic shows that the state has been spending about one billion and 37 million monthly on ghost workers for God knows how long now. This excludes cash wasted on fuel for bogus cars of government officials, lengthy and at times useless missions, and that which is outrightly embezzled.

     Our economy is such a nascent and fragile one that cannot thrive and consequently meet the 2035 emergence target if it continuously makes such illicit payments to ill-intentioned citizens. I recall vividly when a writer and ardent militant of Hon. Paul Ayah’s Peoples Action Party, Njousi Abang, once questioned whether anyone had ever caught a ghost somewhere.

     It may sound funny but the bitter truth is that the phenomenon is very common in most African countries and Cameroon in particular.  Those keen on developments in next door Nigeria know for sure how that country’s president, Buhari, is currently waging a merciless anti-corruption war in public institutions with the intention of not only consolidating Nigeria’s position as Africa’s strongest economy, but also to make citizens taste a fair share of the national gateau. So if we mean it, we can fight it.

     That’s why government must be lauded for initiating such a campaign to purge out thieving citizens who pass for state workers. But publishing names and calling on the concerned to go regularise their status is just the first step of a fight that must be thorough and must continue. The names published were of those said not to be recognised by their user ministries. So what about those who are indeed state workers but who scheme and take home multiple salaries?

     Some may argue that salaries in Cameroon are so insultingly meagre that civil servants are forced to indulge in all forms of unorthodoxy to take home bigger pay packages, but the truth remains that we must do justice to our public purse. Govt also needs money to do other things for the benefit of those who are not civil servants. There is nothing wrong in copying a good example. That’s why when I first made proposals on the use of the biometric system to manage our civil service; I made ample allusion to a country like Kenya.

Some months ago, Kenya, which is East Africa’s biggest economy, took a drastic move to confront the cankerworm of ghost workers. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who happens to be that region’s second youngest Head of State, initiated a campaign that forced all workers on the state’s payroll to undergo a biometric registration process so as to rid the civil service of fake or non existent workers. The interesting thing is that President Uhuru Kenyatta was the first person to register.

     The move was instigated by startling revelations made by an audit that at least $1m, about FCFA 500 million, was lost every month in payments to ghost civil servants as well as other financial irregularities in the country.  Kenyatta realised that that if such a trend continued, it would have a destructive toll on the Kenyan economy.

     It may be an expensive venture for Cameroon no doubt but it would be worthwhile for, it would help the state save huge sums of Money wasted. No one doubts that we are in dire need of infrastructure and social amenities.

     Was it not the same case with our voter registration system? We all know that prior to the introduction of the biometric registration option of voters in Cameroon, numerous irregularities characterised the voters registration process. Cases existed of people who registered once but ended up having two or three cards. 

     This is what also led to the much criticised phenomenon of ghost voters. Government had demonstrated palpable reluctance on the issue but it finally yielded to pressure from both the international community and from opposition party leaders and civil society actors to introduce the biometric system of registration as is the case in other African democracies. The government said it spent well over FCFA 11 billion for the project but no one would deny the fact that it was necessary for the advancement of our electoral experience.

     Although softwares exist already with which government manages civil servants’ information, I strongly opine that establishing a biometric data base for our civil servants should be the next option as government says it is planning to put in place a new system. This would not only enable government to curb or completely exterminate undue payments to fake workers but it will also enable it have an exact knowledge on the number of its employees. At as now, it is understood that it is not clear the precise number of civil servants Cameroon employs. This is not good for government’s strategic planning and civil service policy formulation.

     The fight against corruption must be seen to be effective and not just based on slogans alone. One sector that very much reeks with corruption in this country is the civil service whereas the youth are wallowing in desperation and crumbling under the weight of biting unemployment.

How Mbella Moki Played His Way To Retain SW Fecafoot Presidency

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

      The road was long, tension was high, the battle was fierce, but finally the outcome is known. Senator Charles Mbella Moki would steer South West football until 2019.

Senator  Charles Mbella Moki: Until 2019

      This, as he emerged victorious in the regional Fecafoot elections of Monday 14 September in Buea, shrugging off somewhat stiff competition from challenger, Barrister Nkongho Felix, known by the sobriquet as Agbor Balla. The incumbent secured six of the 10 available votes which were just enough to give him victory.

The genesis

      The race began just shortly after the regional elections of 7 November 2014 were annulled by the conciliation and arbitration chamber of the national Olympic and sports committee; a decision that was backed by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports.

     Those elections had Mbella Moki and Agbor Balla as contestants and the Electoral College was 13. Mbella beat Balla by seven votes to six then. And so when the polls were eventually invalidated, ground works immediately began in anticipation of whenever same elections would be conducted again.

Change and how to get it

      While Mbella, who has been at the helm of South West soccer since 2002, continued with his groundwork with the advantage of an insider, other stakeholders were poised to see change. Their plan was to see him voted out.     True it is that wanting change is one thing and knowing how to go about achieving such is a different ball game. Top on the minds of these proponents of change was who would be the most suitable candidate to challenge Mbella.     

       This became an issue because some club presidents posited that Mbella was able to win last year because he never had veritable opposition from Balla who was considered a wet nose in football politics. Some observers however sharply disagree with this assertion laying claims on the results from the ballot box (7-6).

      So the issue this year was to get another candidate other than Balla. And the name that was likely to emerge was that of Little Foot football club president, Protus Nouck. But this dream would not come true as the normalisation committee of Fecafoot in Yaoundé declared him ineligible to vote; not even his appeal to get him self in the Electoral College was considered.  Finally, it had to be the rematch of last year – Mbella Moki vs. Agbor Balla.

On the road to Sept. 14

       The road was a long and slippery one. Evidently, there were schemes, manipulations and several meetings of cliques and factions with both candidates struggling to lure the 10 voters to their side. The underground works went so deep that at some point, the national Fecafoot candidate and former Secretary General of the same body, Tombi A Roko Sidiki was in Buea where he held closed-door meetings with some actors.

       Tombi refused to speak to press men after one of such meetings, but his coming to Buea left the interpretation that he was clearly throwing his weight behind Mbella Moki’s re-election bid so he could secure regional delegates for him (Tombi) during the federal conclave on 28 September in Yaounde.

       Behold, this speculation became true as Tombi was again in Buea on the eve of last Monday’s election where he reportedly influenced some voters to vote for Mbella Moki. According to Agbor Balla who eventually lost, some of the voters had to deal with undue pressure from here and there. He also regretted the fact that there was so much horse-trading.

Election Day and outcome

       The tension around the elections premises (Capitol Hotel Buea) was so perceptible as a huge crowd of observers thronged in to find out for themselves what would happen. Before business began, the two candidates were understandably nervy as each of them moved about the hotel premises fidgeting with their phones. Delegates who were to vote were also spotted chatting in cliques. More than 30 press men who were present were keen on not missing out on even the most infinitesimal of details.

       Members of the electoral commission soon arrived and opened the curtains on the day’s business. Commission chairman, Prof Ephraim Nde Ngwafor, made his opening remarks, in which he called on the two candidates not to see the excercise as some form of war. He said who ever would win would do so for the interest of the game. Observers and press men were then expelled from the auditorium for the election proper.

       A few hours after, thunderous jubilation burst out, after presumably, some one inside the hall texted a friend outside that Mbella Moki had won. Few minutes later, the electoral commission then officially declared the results. When Mbella Moki emerged from the hall, he was greeted with deafening applause as he, in his traditional attitude, intermittently raised his both hands and looked up to the skies. He them granted an interview, promising to take football in the south west to another level.

       Agbor Balla on his part said the voting was free and fair but the entire electoral process was beset with influence peddling, backs-stabbing and horse-trading. He also criticised the heavy presence of the administration, which he said, was intimidating. However, he pledged his readiness to work with the team that won because his interest is the wellbeing of football in the region.

So what next?

     After the regional elections, what football observers now look up to are the federal elections slated for 28 September 2015. However, before then, they will also have to wait for the outcome of a hearing on September 17 bearing on a complaint lodged by Abdouraman Babah at the conciliation and arbitration chamber of the national  Olympic and sports commission asking for the invalidation of the August 5 2015 general assembly that adopted Fecafoot statutes and its electoral code.

     If the hearing goes in favour of Abdouraman, then we would be back to square one as all the regional elections of September 14 would have been conducted in vain. If otherwise, then the federal election of the 28 will hold, and which we hear Mbella Moki has great interest in.

    If information we have is anything to go by, then Mbella Moki wants to use the position of South West Regional president only as a bridge to cross over and get himself fitted in the national Fecafoot Bureau, which bookmakers bet would be won by ‘insider’ Tombi A Roko who reportedly backed him at the regional level. Game on, let’s watch!

Fako III YCPDM: 'Strong' Candidate Emerges To Replace Motomby Mbome

/By Macdonald Ayang Okumb/

Mbua Isaac Embola: Poised For A Showdown

     The reorganisation process of basic organs of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, the CPDM party, is already gathering steam in the Fako III section of the party in Buea.

     And young people seem to be taking the lead as two candidates have already made public their intentions of running for the YCPDM presidency in the section to replace Emmanuel Motomby Mbome who reportedly is quitting for bigger ambitions.

     First to overtly declare his intention was a young business man, Franklin Njie, who hails from the Lysoka area in Buea; while recently, it was the turn of yet another dynamic young man, Isaac Mbua Embola, from the BONAVADA community, from where erstwhile Prime Minister, Mafany Musonge, hails.

     Mbua Embola stated his intention recently at a heavily-attended ceremony to close a holiday football tournament in the BONAVADA area.  Embola, who works at the Prime Minister’s Office as an Assistant Research Officer (Chargé D’Etudes Assistant) told the mostly youthful crowd about his ambitions.

     “My strength in life has always been to render service to humanity. And I have been doing this in diverse ways; in my community and the country as a whole. At the party level, I’ve been groomed under the hands of so many political leaders. I have been at the sub-section level for 10 years now and I think that it’s time for me to climb up the ladder...” he stated.

     “I have a mastery of the terrain and I think that the team I am coming up with will be one to reckon with” Embola boasted. A reliable source hinted us that he is overwhelmingly backed by some highly placed Fako Elite for the position as he enjoys cordial ties with them as a rising politico. However, the guidelines sanctioning the reorganisation process don't allow the 'big shots' in Yaounde to directly influence the electoral process.

     Addressing the population, Embola also explained that some political Elite in Fako III have greatly influenced him. His words: “I have been involved in offering scholarships, school aid, and other interventions. I have had the opportunity to be with some of the big guns around and I have learnt their patriotic spirit towards community development. It’s something I admire so much and will also like to leave my footprints on the sands of time.”

     On security challenges facing the country, Embola, who recently undertook a course in anti-terrorism strategies in China, said the youth have a crucial role to play. Hear him: “Every youth has to stand firmly behind our Head of State to give him our support. You know that when you have support from young people, you can succeed in any endeavour as a leader. We have to be vigilant and denounce every suspect by collaborating with the forces of law and order.”

     Isaac Mbua has held positions in the CPDM  at the grassroots level since 2000 and has been ‘chargé de mission’ of the party on several occasions for Fako III, namely; during the 2011 presidential elections, 2013 senatorial elections and the twin elections of September 2013, just to mention these.

     Being a Civil Administrator from ENAM, the 33 year-old has also undertaken short courses in India, China and Italy in the domains of employment promotion and economic development, international humanitarian law and anti-terrorism strategies.