For Disrespecting Ghost Towns:

Amba Fighters Beat-up Bike Riders in Kumba

-Speeding Gendarmerie vehicle kills two in Kumba

-Amba forces storm Kumba clinic in search of military officers’ wife

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Kumba, chief town of Meme Division in the SW region, on Monday 25 June 2018 witnessed one of the deadliest ghost towns ever. All businesses in Kumba were shutdown, thousands of motor bikers stayed off the road, council and government offices located in certain parts of the town were all shut down. The situation caused hundreds of inhabitants who came out for one reason or the other to have to trek to get to their respective destinations.

            Courageous motor bike riders who dared the threats from the ‘Amba’ boys were caught and given a snake’s beating in areas like Three Corners Fiango. The situation erupted into tension as even traders at the Three Corners market were all chased home. We gathered that unknown gunmen storm the area and ordered everybody to go home. The separatists then mounted a barricade at the Three Corners junction disrupting further movements in and out of Kumba.

Signs of Changing Paradigms:

SONARA Cedes ‘Huge’ Concession to ‘Anglophone’ Company

Fakoship LTD is the winner of the international bid for “Mooring and Towage” operations at Sonara’s Cape Limbo Terminal. The leasing convention was signed Thursday 28 June 2018, at Sonara Limbe, between the National Ports Authority, PAD and the Buea-based Fako Transport and Shipping Company, FAKOSHIP LTD. Authorities noted that it is the first time an indigenous company ever hit it that big at Sonara, since the location in Limbe of Cameroon’s sole oil refinery way back in the mid 1970s.

By Ticha Melanis in Limbe

GM of PAD Cyrus Ngo’o and Founder/CEO of Fakoship, Charlesenyoli, exchange

 books after signing convention. SONARA GM; Talba Malla Ibrahim looks on

The GMs of Sonara, PAD and the Founder/CEO of Fakoship LTD were all smiles at the Sonara conference hall on Thursday 28 June 2018, as they penned their signatures on the ocuments of the concession agreement that now makes Fakoship the sole company in charge of Mooring and Towage activities at Sonara’s Cape Limbo Terminal.

            According to the GM of SONARA, Ibrahim Talba Malla, the Mooring and Towage of SONARA'sCape Limbo oil terminal is not only vital but indispensible for the company’s day-to-day operations.

            He said that for Sonara to be competitive as it should be Mooring and Towage of the terminal are a must this, because they make for the easy access of the big vessels that bring in the company's raw material - Crude oil, and take out its finished products- refined petroleum and gas.

            Talba noted that SONARA will make considerable financial gains from its mooring and towage activities especially considering the attractive tariff grid approved by the National Port Authority. He the implementation of the new tariff grid for mooring and towage operations would cause operations cost to drop to about FCFA 4.8 billion down from FCFA 6.8 billion in 2017. This corresponds to a net reduction of 30% compared to the practical cost during the transition period.

            "The concession agreement will render our company more competitive and this will enable us to work harder towards meeting the government’s objective of improved economic performance and growth. It will equally provide the needed stability and better adaptability of our industrial activities especially given that the duration of the concession agreement has been raised to ten years with the possibility of amending it every three years," said the GM.

Longevity in Office:

Philemon Yang Creates Record of Stay as PM

PM Philemon Yang

Philemon Yang has clocked nine straight years at the Star Building as PM. The son of Jikijem Oku has thus broken the record that until now was kept by Peter Mafany Musonge (September 1996 to December 2004). Yang made the difference on 30 June 2018. He was appointed PM on 30 June 2009. His boss President Paul Biya served as PM for seven years (1975 to 1982) before taking over from Ahidjo as President of the Republic.

            It is however still a mystery how Philemon Yang has survived at the star building for this long. His detractors are of the opinion that giving his career shortcomings and especially his inability to handle the Anglophone uprising, apart from his other failures, Yang was supposed to have been dropped as PM. Only his Boss, Paul Biya, knows why he is still keeping him there.

            The exceedingly discrete and taciturn magistrate-cum-diplomat, civil administrator and politician, is evidently at a loss of solutions to the ongoing Anglophone problem in Cameroon. It is believed that Yang is part of the problem, if at all he did not help to create it.

Philemon Yang’s several trips to his native NW region to commune with his aggrieved brothers and urge them to come back to their normal humour have born little or no fruit.

            And the cold shoulders shown him during these trips could be expected. Anglophone lawyers and teachers question why Yang was coming to talk with them only when the situation had degenerated into a crisis. They recalled that their PM-brother did not acknowledge any of the several memos they addressed to him several years before the situation assumed crisis proportions. They noted that had Yang looked into the problem at that time maybe “we would not be where we are today.”

            Yang has also been criticized for inertia and red tape of his government. President Biya complained about the “slowness and inertia” of Yang’s government, in one of his messages to the nation.

Expedient Security Measure:

BIRs to Escort Vehicles Along K’ba-Buea Highway

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Amba boys are now K’ba-Buea

Following the recurrent unrest along the Kunba-Buea highway, Meme SDO, Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong has suggested to the BIR to accompany vehicles travelling along the road, especially through the hotspots like Mbalangi, Ediki, Bombe, Banga, Muyuka, Ekona etc. The SDO made the suggestion during a crisis meeting he convened at his office at the weekend.  The meeting touched on other security issues but dwelled on the precarious security of commuters along the very busy highway, The Median learned.

            According to a security source, it was resolved at the meeting that beginning Tuesday 26 June 2018 all transport vehicles plying the highway will be escorted by the BIR right to Buea. Vehicles will takeoff from the Buea road Motor-park in Kumba at 9am prompt daily and will move in a convoy. Any drivers working contrary to this plan will have themselves to blame if their vehicles are attacked.

            The SDO’s suggestion has been received with mixed feelings by the population of Kumba especially business persons plying the said road daily.

            While some have saluted the decision saying it will help to           secure persons and their goods along the highway, others have dismissed the move, arguing that it may further provoke the wrath of the ‘wonded’ Amba hit-and-run boys.

            Some persons who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity revealed that the ‘Amba’ boys may tag passengers travelling in a military convoy as sellouts and could target them for killing and/or kidnapping.

“          What guarantees for protection of passengers if the Amba boys attack the convoy despite the presence of the BIR? a passenger at the Buea road Motor-park questioned rhetorically, noting that there are chances many passengers could get hurt or killed in the ensuing crossfire.

Call to Bar:

100 New Advocates Sworn-in in Buea

By Boris Esono in Buea

Newly sworn-in advocates told to eschew lies telling

The South west Attorney General, Mbia Emmanuel has told some new 100 advocates who have been called to the Cameroon Bar Association to shun lies telling which he says is very detrimental to their noble profession. The Attorney General was speaking while presiding over the lawyers’ oath-taking ceremony at the Appeals Court in Buea.

            The heavily attended ceremony saw the presence among others of the Governor of the South west region, the president of the South west court of Appeal, the President of the Cameroon Bar Council, Jackson Ngnie Kamga, the Mayor of the Buea , Magistrates and lawyers.

            The young lawyers were sworn in as barristers, solicitors and notary public of the Supreme Court of Cameroon.

            “The purpose of the swearing-in ceremony is to advice the new lawyers, reminding them of the fact that the profession is a noble one and that they have so many duties to perform as advocates,” Barrister Ngnie Jackson Kamga, President of the Cameroon Bar said.

            He added that, anyone who is part of the profession must be a hard worker, should under no circumstance bring politics into the BAR. 

            He urged the senior lawyers to help the new-comers to succeed in their career.

There were 99 successful candidates from the Bar part II exams, and 1 candidate transferred from a foreign BAR.

            “We hope and expect that the newly sworn-in advocates fight for justice, fight against marginalization and oppression of the people because a lawyer ought to be an advocate of Justice. They have gone through a rigorous training for 2 years and I am certain that they will live up to expectation,” Ngnie Kamga said.

            To Agbor Balla, President of Fako lawyers association, “this current batch of lawyers will liberate the legal profession in Cameroon because they are very resilient, devoted and committed.”

Corpse of Kidnapped Police Woman Discovered in K’ba

-One Commissioner still missing

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

The lifeless body of one of two female police officers that were reportedly kidnapped on Saturday 23 June 2018 in Mile one, Kumba, has been discovered. 

            Victorine Akumbo and Susan Nwenguela were reported to have been kidnapped on the same day though in different circumstances. Their abductors were suspected to be elements of the Ambazonia defence force.

            Reports hold that Nwenguela was abducted from her home while Akumbo reportedly disappeared alongside her grand-daughter as they were returning from regular evening prayers.

            In the evening of Tuesday 26 June 2018 news went viral that the lifeless body of one of the abducted female officers, Susan Nwenguela, had been found besides the road around the customs checkpoint in Kake Bokoko near Kumba. The corpse was later picked up and taken to the Kumba District Hospital mortuary by her colleagues, it was reported.

            Her abductors had given until Tuesday 26 June for a fcfa 5 million ransom to be paid or she be executed. But her lifeless body was found even before the deadline elapsed.

            It is speculated the kidnappers later decided to take her life whether or not the ransom is paid. Before her death, she had contacted her daughter to sell her plot in order to raise the ransom money, we learned.

Police Commissioner, Female Officer, Granddaughter in captivity

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Victorine Akumbo and her granddaughter who were kidnapped same day with lady Nwenguela is still unknown.

            Also, the special branch police commissioner of Kumba II, Ngong James, who was kidnapped recently, is still under captivity. News of his kidnap spread like bushfire on Tuesday 19 June 2018 along the security corridors in Kumba. He was kidnapped between Mbalangi and Bombe Bakundu along the Buea-Kumba road as he was returning from Buea after spending the weekend with his family.

            Unconfirmed reports said the commissioner’s wife proposed the sum of FCFA 500, 000 as ransom but the kidnappers rejected the money. The reports said the commissioner is undergoing serious torture in the hands of his kidnappers. We could not confirm the whereabouts of the commissioner nor ascertain whether he is still alive.

            Ngong is the second special branch police officer to be kidnapped in Meme division, after Ekidi Ewang Christopher was kidnapped in Konye one month ago. Ekidi was released one week after his kidnap after reportedly paying a ransom of FCFA 500, 000.

Meme Division:

Amba Boys told to Surrender their Guns and be Set Free

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

“Nobody is going to arrest you if you come up and say that Papa what I did was not good, this is my gun; I am tired. We are going to help you to start a new life safely”. These were the words of SDO for Meme, Ntou’ou Ndong Chamberlin, during an interview with reporters in his office.

            He was speaking after chairing a crisis meeting to evaluate and propose solutions to the issues of food shortage, exorbitant price hikes and security concerns that is rocking Meme division lately as a result of the Anglophone impasse.

            The SDO said the meeting was aimed to seek ways of finding a peaceful solution to the crisis based on instructions given by the Head of State, Paul Biya.

            “It is time for me like the father of the Division to advice my population, the youths, especially those using guns to kill innocent people and those burning trucks, to stop this activity,” Ntou’ou Ndong explained, adding that it is time for the ‘Ambazonia’ separatists fighters to come back home, resign from their activity and hand in their guns to the state and start a new life.