News in Brief

By Johnson Batuo in Kumba
CPP elects Meme bureau
Kah Walla’s Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) headquartered in Douala now has a permanent executive bureau in Meme division.  Elected recently, the bureau is headed by Emane Anna as president. Other members include Akemanyi Gallus (secretary), Ntamark Felicia (treasurer), Ruth Nso (financial secretary), and Ayong Emmanuel Achu (adviser). Before the election, the coordinator of CPP Meme, Ngoh Eseme Gabby, said it was imperative for the exercise to take place given that general elections in Cameroon would hold in 2018. He added that the bureau would serve as liaison between the party hierarchy in Douala and Meme division. Eseme Gabby advised CPP supporters to procure their party cards and other CPP identification papers as well as ensure that many more Cameroonians affiliate to the party especially ahead of the council and parliamentary elections in 2018. The election of a permanent bureau in Meme division comes after the party's national conference in Yaounde in December 2014. The mandate of the Meme bureau was not however spelt out. It should be recalled that the CPP did not contest the 2013 twin elections in Meme division. 

DO boycotts Nake chief’s installation
The Divisional Officer (DO) for Mbonge sub-division, Esome Simon, was conspicuously absent from the installation ceremony recently of 31-year-old Nufuruh Ivens Disombe as the new traditional ruler of Nake Bokoko in the said sub-division. The Median learned that the administration had earlier informed the residents of Nake Bokoko that consultative talks meant to select a new traditional ruler for Nake Bakundu would be held on Tuesday 24 February 2015, but that there was no follow-up to this. Thus after waiting in vain for the DO for long hours and in the absence of an apology, the Bakundu chiefs, elite and notables of Nake Bokoko went ahead to enthrone Nufuruh Ivens Disombe, who doubles as the principal of Union Comprehensive College Kombone Bakundu. He took over from his late father. The traditional ceremony which was full of colour was meticulously conducted by Chief Ndedi Penda and four other traditional rulers designated by the president of the Bakundu Chiefs Conference, Hon. Motasse David. After performing the traditional rites, most of them indoors, the latter ushered the new chief to the population who received him with pomp and fanfare. Chief Ndedi Penda, it should be noted, is the traditional ruler of Pete Bakundu and vice president of the Bakundu Chiefs Conference. The new chief, we learned, would eventually be presented to the administration which does not make chiefs.

Boko Haram insurgency blamed on open-door policy
Cameroon’s open-door policy and one of good neighbourliness which make it possible for foreign nationals, especially those from her neighbours, to enter the country, have been identified as a major contributory factor to the insurgency carried out by the jihadist sect Boko Haram in the Far North region. The Meme YCPDM 1B Section president, Ayemelong Gabriel, made this observation at the end of a protest march against Boko Haram organized by that section recently. The march, which was carried out throughout the length and breadth of Kumba and led by the Meme CPDM 1B Section president, Mbachu Jacob Kay, saw CPDM militants brandishing placards bearing such messages as: “CPDM Meme 1B section joins President Biya to fight Boko Haram;” “Victory for the Cameroon military over Boko Haram;” etc.  Talking to The Median at the end of the exercise, Mbachu Jacob Kay said it was meant to showcase his section's support to President Paul Biya, given that the fight against the Islamic sect is national and collective.

Fake Kumba City Council workers dismissed
The Government Delegate to the Kumba City Council, Victor Ngoh Nkele, has dismissed 18 workers of the Council for presenting fraudulent First School Leaving Certificates (FSLC) during their recruitment. The Government Delegate’s circular N⁰ KCC/1256/Vol.7/170 which was made public recently, came at the end of the findings of an ad hoc committee created by the Council to look into queries issued to the Council staff relating to the matter. The Circular further notes that the senior councillors in their 2014 budgetary session recommended the reduction of plethoric staff in the Kumba City Council. The decision was equally predicated on the letters the City Council sent to the Regional Delegation of Basic Education on 29 November 2014 concerning fake First School Leaving Certificates after the verification of the authenticity of certificates presented. After citing the necessary decrees and internal regulations in the Circular, the Government Delegate declared the workers as summarily dismissed from the Kumba City Council on grounds of gross misconduct and fraud, with effect from the date of the issuance of the Circular. The dismissed workers would forfeit all their entitlements rather than go to prison, the Circular states.