Caring for the needy:

Nnoko Mbele and Rotarians give out to K’ba Prisoners, mothers
-Former Gov’t Delegate, Cavin Nnoko Mbele takes over as president of the humanitarian club
By Sirri Ntonifor in Kumba in Kumba

Nnoko Mbele & Rotarians Give Out

The Rotary Club of Kumba City has made a donation of clothes and other items to inmates of the Kumba Principal Prison. Handing over the gifts on July 31, the incoming president of the Club, Caven Nnoko Mbele, said the visit was aimed to communion with the prisoners, understand their problems and establish a long-term relationship with them. 
    While thanking the Club for the initiative, the prison superintendent, A/P Pekariekoue Amidou, revealed that many inmates have been abandoned by their families and are in dire need of help.
    The spokesperson of the prisoners, fondly called ‘Pastor’, equally appreciated the gesture, saying that there was dire need to improve medical facilities and food provision for inmates. Pastor used the opportunity to also urge gov’t to provide a centre for general and vocational training within the prison.
    Responding to the requests of the inmates, Nnoko Mbele assured that the Club is already working on a project to provide drugs and other sundry needs for them.

Preempting Kamikaze attacks:

K’ba on Red alert against Boko Haram!
-SDO prescribes dusk to dawn curfew, closure of bars and pubs among others
By Sirri NTONIFOR TANGWE and ATEMNKENG Evaristius in Kumba
The SDO for Meme, Koulbout Aman David has urged his collaborators to implement to the letter all the security measures prescribed by the Governor to check the Boko Haram menace. At an enlarged coordination meeting that brought security stakeholders of the Division, on Friday 31 July 2015, at his office, Koulbout Aman David exhorted participants to ensure that the measures are adhered to by all and sundry in their respective areas of command.
    The meeting brought together all the DOs of the division, Mayors, MPs, opinion leaders, heads of syndicates, activists, and leaders of legalised political parties. 
    The Senior Divisional Officer used the forum to appeal to denizens of Kumba to unite in the fight against Boko Haram, denouncing strange fellows and strange actions. He pointed out that since Kumba is a junction town and Meme, a division which borders on to Nigeria with several penetration points, it stands to reason that Kumba could easily become a recipient of insurgent attacks.
    Among measures decided upon was the suppression of public activities at late hours. Forthwith, off-licensed bars and churches are expected to shut their doors by 9pm while on-licences will close at 12 midnight. Defaulters would be sealed for three months.
    Motorbike riders, considered to be primary transporters of suspects, are also supposed to stop working at 9pm and to resume at 5am. The riders were called upon to convey suspected Boko Haram members to police and gendarme posts. These suspects, it was said, could be identified by the offering of large sums of money disproportionate to the distance to be travelled.
    The SDO equally directed the forces of law and order to enforce control around entrance points of the city such as Mbonge Road, Konye Road, Buea Road and around motor parks, with security posts constructed in the parks. In the quarters, vigilante groups shall be revamped.
    As in other parts of Cameroon, citizens without national ID cards in Kumba are making plans to rapidly acquire one. Hotel managers must now check ID cards of their customers, while forces of law and order in Meme have been mandated to insist upon the identification, not only of people and luggage, but also of uniformed officers during travel. The armed forces were also instructed to disregard Attestations of Loss of Identity Cards, constraining the population to go in for new ID cards.

Dr. Tiku Robert is no More!

Tiku Robert

Thursday 30 July, 2015 will always be remembered in Buea. The day started well for most people, with everyone going about their activities, unaware of the roaming of the angel of death. Then, at about 11:00, news of the death of one of the town’s socialite and academic, Dr. Tiku Robert (a.k.a. Travo) would break the serenity of the day, jamming the mobile phone networks and causing general pandemonium.
    When the news of Travo’s demise first broke, no one wanted to be the bearer, so everyone wanted the other to check first, even those who were on the ground. I mean the disbelief was total. A mutual friend of ours first called me at 11:30. In fact, I had not seen her for about three years and was busy screaming long time no see and telling her where to me although I was in a meeting with my HOD, but she cut the discussion short and asked me if I had any news about Travo. Pretty unexpected, I smelled something foul and asked gently, “What happened to him”, suppressing the terror in me and forcefully sounding calm. For those who have been used to hearing these kinds of bad news, the bringers always have a similar way of framing their questions, so once you hear such questions you know at once that trouble has come to paradise. “Please, fine out what has happened to him, I don’t like what I’m hearing,” she added. I quickly stepped out and called his number, but it continued to sound busy for more than five minutes. Then, running out of patience, I called Dr. Nkongho (SYNES Chief for FSMS) and asked if there was any news. “Well, I don’t know how to put it”, he said, “we have just lost Travo… Dr. Tiku Robert”, sounding very distant. I still wasn’t sure, so I called Dr. James Abangma (SYNES President). As soon as he picked the phone, he unleashed the bomb, confirming that it was Travo’s wife herself who had told him a short while ago. Then it became obvious that we had lost a silent star to monstrous death. That was when I called Gladys Mojoko back to confirm what she had. Naturally, we joined the frenzy me a few minutes ago.

University of Buea:

Prof. Roland Ndip, UB Registrar

Semester results spark criticism
By Ajongakou Santos in Buea
University of Buea students have fiercely criticised the recent innovation that demands they “buy” their end-of-semester results from a popular mobile telephone network of the country. The move which began this year has been seen as exploitative because of the prize tag imposed on the students.
    According to several UB students, they have to pay the fluctuating sums of 1000frs, 500frs and 300frs CFA respectively to have access to their end-of-semester results. Many of them say the idea of getting their results online is in itself not bad, but horrible as these results have been commercialised.
    The switch from analogue to embrace the social media and its platforms is seemingly the raison-d’etre for the confusion that looped the entire university community (students, lecturers, top administrators) given that most students who are basic users and can barely understand the demands of the internet found it difficult, if not problematic to access their results. Since most of these “internet laggards” could not access their results easily, most cyber café owners in Buea and internet gurus used this platform to make hundreds of thousands to themselves. This is seemingly part of what sparked the unending-debate in the University of Buea recently as most students are yet to get a grasp of why they should be subjected to paying FCFA 300 (stipulated price by the Vice Chancellor) to have access to their results.

New SW ELECAM boss commissioned

By Ajongakou Santos in Buea
The Director General of Elections at Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) Dr. Abdoulaye Babale has enjoined the South West Regional delegate of Elections Cameroon, Mr. Oka Bao Oka, to work in close collaboration with elections stakeholders in order to meet up with the challenges that await him. The Director General made the call recently in Buea while installing the regional delegate of Elections Cameroon.
    The installation ceremony was done in compliance with the rules and regulations governing Elections Cameroon, which provide among other provisions that; the Director General of Elections is entitled to install each the regional delegates following their appointment by the electoral board. Mr. Oka Bao Oka was appointed ELECAM regional delegate for the South West Region, by a decision of the electoral board of Elecam in its resolution No. 0159/ELECAM/CE, adopted on July 9, 2014.

Fight against Boko Haram:

Nigerian Community Urged to Cooperate
-They have been told to respect all the measures put in place to ensure security in Meme Division.
By Atemnkeng Evaristius, Linda Nkeze (UB Intern)

Chief Augustine Nwafor

The President of the Nigerian Community in Meme Division, Augustine Nwafor, has called on his fellow Nigerians who have not regularized their stay in Cameroon to do so with immediate effect. He was speaking during a press briefing with The Median in his residence in Kumba on 7 July 2015.
    According to Chief Augustine Nwafor, after the recent bombings in Maroua by the terrorist group Boko Haram and the decision by the Meme SDO, Koulbout Aman David, to tighten up security within the Division, the Nigerian Community in Meme are not exempted in the fight against Boko Haram. As a result, the Nigerian Union in Meme Division has been going around sensitizing its members to respect the rules and regulations that have been put in place by the Meme Administration to ensure security of people and their property.

Fecafoot General Assembly:

Biya orders belligerents to drop the hatchet, adopt statutes
On the instructions of President Paul Biya and following secret meetings between the warring parties at the Prime Minister’s Office earlier, a consensus was reached at the extra-ordinary session of Fecafoot, paving the way for the final adoption of the statutes of the football association.
    After four hours of deliberations at the Mont FEBE Hotel in Yaounde, the conclave convened on Wednesday 5 August 2015, under the chairmanship of Professor Joseph Owona, President of the Fecafoot Normalization Committee adopted the statutes and the electoral code without much ado.
    By virtue of Article 32(7) of the statutes, the General Assembly established a joint committee comprising some representatives of the two belligerent groups to reflect on contested points of the draft statutes.
    Unlike during the last General Assembly in June this year, and upon the proposal of the joint commission, the statutes was voted by a show of the hand- one man one vote. 97 delegates voted for, 2 voted against, and zero abstention.
In the end the following resolutions were made:
    • The Statutes of FECAFOOT are amended and adopted;
    • The Electoral Code of FECAFOOT are amended and adopted;
    • Article 4 on the special status of regional and departmental leagues is amended.
    At a press conference after the adoption, Prof Joseph Owona thanked the different stakeholders for their understanding, stating that it is a good beginning for Football in Cameroon.