New Magazine Hits Kiosks

By Njodzefe Nestor in Bamenda

The print media market in Cameroon has been blessed with yet another publication but this time around one that treats predominantly health issues.
    Health Mirror, a magazine published by the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, CBCHS, was officially launched on Saturday July 05 in Bamenda at the Baptist Center.
    The magazine that is unlimited to CBCHS according to its Publisher and Executive Editor, Prof Tih Pius Muffih, is coming to fill the gap in the media landscape in Cameroon where issues of politics, economy and conflict flood newspaper and magazine kiosks sometimes causing perpetual tension.
“Health Mirror is that one stop shop where you get your health needs in one package: prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, just like the mobile hospital it represents” Prof. Tih reveals.
    The maiden edition of the magazine with 28 colour pages zooms into the general health care system in Cameroon. In its banner the magazine insinuates that the world worries about disability more than persons living with disabilities. On its front page is the beautiful picture of CRTV’s journalist Hilda Bih has proved to the world that disability is not inability.

Leadership Excellence

 UB’s Nalova Lyonga recognized with award
By Ajongakou Santos in Buea

Prof. Nalova Lyonga- Vice–Chancellor of the University of Buea has been recognised for her role in the establishment and growth of the Catholic University Institute of Buea CUIB. An Excellence Award for Leadership was handed her in a ceremony presided over by the Bishop of Buea, His Lordship Dr. Emmanuel Bushu.
The plate presented bears inscriptions of the values of hard work, objectivity, and moral integrity written in gold, to what authorities of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) say is in recognition of the role Prof. Nalova Lyonga played during the creation and take-off of the University.
    In his address on the occasion, the chancellor of CUIB, Rev. Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa remarked that as a characteristic of CUIB, they have often embarked on identifying and honouring excellence, reason why they decided to recognise the significant role played by UB’s Vice Chancellor in significantly shaping the Institute to be recognised among the top 100 Catholic Universities in the World. In his words, “in a recent study published in the United States, CUIB was ranked among the top 10 Catholic Universities out of the over 280 others making a difference in the world today”. This, he says is partly because of the good mentorship the Institute receives from the University of Buea.

PAACS, CIMS programs

CBC Health Academy graduates three specialist medics 
By Njodzefe Nestor
Three specialists have graduated from the CBC Health Services’ Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) and Christian Internal Medicine Specialization (CIMS) training programmes. This was on 20 June 2015, at the Mbingo Baptist Hospital, MBH Chapel. The specialists are expected to serve CBC Health Services ever increasing patients.
Dr. Mwenyemali Benjamin Tony from Congo and Dr. Evaristus Etape Njume from Cameroon graduated from PAACS as general surgeons while Dr. Tumi Divine Bahtila from Cameroon is a certified internist.
    Beginning this year, the accrediting institution, Loma Linda Univeristy in the United States of America now co-signs the Diplomas of the PAACS and CIMS graduates.
Addressing all who turned out to witness the graduation ceremony, the Executive President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC), Rev. Ncham Godwill, said that the future of medicine lies in specialization.
    Rev. Ncham rejoiced that the graduation of the three new doctors from PAACS and CIMS is helping the CBC to go a step further in the realization of its goal to have specialized hospitals that partner with the government to bring quality health care closer to the population.
    In his commencement address, Dr. Philip Fischer, Professor of Pediatrics preached compassion and selflessness, citing the example of Dr. Salia Martin who recently died fighting Ebola in Liberia.
    The medic exhorted the PAACS and CIMS specialists to exercise humility and go to God for healing because they are inadequate. The result of their participation, Dr. Fischer said, will be the spread of the kingdom of God.

Accounts session:

L’be City Council notes weak coffers amid pressing challenges
By Ajongakou Santos in Limbe

Government Delegate, Limbe City Council

The city of Limbe will in the days ahead be transformed following the many projects being carried out and those still to be realised. This was revealed by the Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council, Mr. Motanga Andrew Monjimba while chairing the first ordinary session of the City Council that examined the Administrative, Management and Stores Accounts of the 2014 financial year last June 25, 2015.
    According to the Government Delegate, the 2014 year which was under review at the session was not good enough as previewed in terms of revenue given that, the revenue recovery rate slumped in 2014 to 66.4% from the 101.55% recorded in 2013.
    The fluctuation in revenue experienced over the past three years is principally due to the irregular payment of taxes by one the council’s major tax sources, the National Oil Refining Company, SONARA.
    In line with the city council’s drive to make the council self-sustainable and in keeping with the supervisory authority’s prescription of expanding the revenue base, the council has embarked on realizing projects with strong revenue generation potentials such as the construction of market stores at strategic locations around the municipality and the pursuance of the Left Bank Development Project in Down Beach.

CamCCUL Saga

Aminateh Nkemngu

B’da Court fines two journalists, prescribe jail terms

-The Sun’s Aminateh Nkemngu and Tarhyang Enowbika have been ordered by the Judge to each pay the sum of 500.000 FCFA plus another 350.000 FCFA or each serve 18 months in jail. The Sun Newspaper was also ordered to pay 5 million fcfa in damages. In this write-up, one of the journalists, Aminateh Nkemngu recounts his topsy-turvy relations with Camccul authorities, and how he is being victimised for practicing objective, investigative journalism.
By cin Bamenda
The court of first instance, Bamenda in a judgment delivered on Monday 15 June 2015 by Her Lordship Magistrate Makia Edith Epse Oben Ndip in charge no CFIBA/09C/PP/2014 between: The People of Cameroon and CamCCUL vs Tarhyang Enowbikah Tabe and Aminateh Nkemngu has ordered the two accused to each pay the sum of 500,000frs (five hundred thousand frs) or each serve 18 months jail and another 350,000frs each as costs giving a total of fcfa1.7 million. The court further ordered The SUN Newspaper where the two journalists work as Editor and Features Editor respectively to pay civil damages of 5 million frs to CamCCUL.

Genesis of the matter
    In November 2014,CamCCUL dragged the two accused to court on a one count charge of defamation based on a story captioned “CamCCUL’s Collapse Scares MINFI” published in The SUN Newspaper no 0287 of Monday 27 October.(copy attached). In the charge, CaMCCUL accused the duo of working deliberately to tarnish their reputation as well as conniving with some members of RECCU-CAM to achieve same.
    CaMCCUL thus prayed the court to award them a civil claim of 80 million frs (eighty million frs) for the enormous damage caused to CaMCCUL by the said article. The accused were both arraigned before the court and granted bail on 8 December 2014.

Enter Ngah Christian, the veritable Henry Kissinger
    While the matter was in court, the option of an out of court settlement came up. Ngah Christian Mbipgo, Publisher of The Guardian Post Newspaper, apparently in good faith, offered to play the “Henry Kissinger” and do the shuttled diplomacy.
The first round of the negotiations took place at Camccul head office Bamenda and witnessed the participation among others of the Editor of The Sun Tarhyang Enowbikah Tabe, who travelled to Bamenda from Limbe for the purpose, Board members of CamCCUL, including its president, Musa Shey Nfor, their legal counsel and the negotiator, Ngah Christian(who also travelled from Yaounde).
     During the negotiations CaMCCUL insisted on having an apology for the story, The SUN Newspaper turned down this option on grounds that the apology could be used against it in court. On a second option, it was proposed that CaMCCUL writes a rejoinder, according to the law and give The SUN to publish. This also did not work and The SUN suggested to do her own rejoinder and submit for the appraisal of CAMCCUL. This rejoinder was published in The SUN Newspaper no 0294 of Monday 8 December 2014 captioned: “RE: CamCCUL Hasn’t Collapsed” (copy here attached).
    Days after that publication, Ngah Christian contacted The SUN to say that CamCCUL had accepted the rejoinder and that the case would be dropped. The accused had been bailed on 8 December 2014 and ordered to reappear before the court on 9 January 2015. Though a verbal and mutual out of court agreement had been reached, the two accused and their counsel answered present in court on 9 January. There was no sign of any CamCCUL lawyer around and no sign of any hearing on the matter programmed for that day. Thus the accused went home in the hope that CamCCUL would proceed to withdraw the case as agreed.
    During the Guardian Post Achievement Awards at Azam Hotel, Bamenda soon after, I met Musa Shey Nfor, in the presence of Philo Happi of Eden during which we had a warm chat with prospects of chatting new avenues of cooperation. But behold, on Monday 15 June 2015, in the morning, I received a call from another journalist colleague who was around the court for another defamation case that a judgment had just been read out on our matter with CaMCCUL.

All Africa Games

Lionesses drawn in Group of death
Draws of the All Africa Games have been conducted with the Indomitable Lionesses housed in a group considered to be the group of death.
    Made know this Thursday July 9, 2015 at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo Egypt, the Lionesses of Cameroon will play in group B alongside South Africa, Ghana and Egypt.
    In group A, is host Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ivory Coast.
    The draws for both men and women was conducted by the Secretary General of CAF, Hicham El Amrani, who was assisted by Tesfaye Argaw Yosef, a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of CAF for organizing football tournaments in this competition, and Tariq Atta, Deputy Secretary General of the Sudanese Football Association.

Roger Milla

How Italia 90 changed the way the world saw African football

Roger Milla

It was arguably the most powerful emblem of the tournament that changed the way the world saw African football -- a Cameroon striker's joyous dance at a corner flag.
    Nobody had really expected all that much of Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
    Not many casual observers knew that much about 38-year-old Roger Milla -- the football veteran who, after each of his four tournament goals, shimmied his way into the spotlight.
    Exactly a quarter of a century ago today Milla was the man on the spot in his side's last-16 clash with Colombia, scoring twice as a second-half substitute to seal a 2-1 win and continue the Indomitable Lions' heroics.
    After each strike he headed straight for the corner flag, gyrating in front of it in a sort of Makossa dance before being engulfed by euphoric colleagues.
    He found that his celebration, almost more than his goals, had caught people's imaginations -- and that it also had a wider and more dramatic effect.