Pastor impregnates 14yr old girl

A certified pastor in the US state of Colorado has been arrested after allegedly impregnating a 14-year old girl, who gave birth to his child.

                The 22-year-old pastor, identified as Romello Leach of Colorado Springs, faces multiple charges of sexual assault against a minor, local daily The Gazette reported Saturday, adding that he served as a pastor for several local churches in the city.

                According to the report, the unidentified teenage girl gave birth to the child on September 15 when she was 15 years old.

                She reportedly did not inform anyone about her pregnancy until her mother noticed her “larger belly” in May, according to arrest records cited in the report.

                The teenager’s mother took her to the Colorado Springs Pregnancy Center where they notified an employee that Leach was the father, the affidavit further stated. The employee then informed the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office of the pregnancy, prompting the launch of an investigation.

Fallout of Anglophone crisis:

Biya creates Polytechnic Institute in West Cameroon

By Njodzefe Nestor

UBa VC and Registrar

President Paul Biya on 24 November 2017 created a National Higher Polytechnic Institute in the University of Bamenda. The institute was created by presidential Decree No 2017/582 of Nov 24, 2017 to amend and supplement some provisions of Decree No. 2011/45 of 8 March 2011 to organize the University of Bamenda, UBa.

                The missions of the institute according to a separate decree signed the same day to lay down the administrative and academic organization of the school is to “provide initial and continuous training as well as research in the fields of engineering and technology, carry out the retraining and further training of professionals in the aforementioned fields and to provide development support, particularly through service sustainable development management”

                By virtue of the decree which amends the provisions of article 49 of the 8 March 2011 decree organizing the University of Bamenda, UBa, the University now has six faculties and six schools.

Money palaver:

Biya’s appeasement ‘envelope’ divides Konye chiefs

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Chiefs in Konye Sub-Division in Meme Division of the South West region under the Konye Chief's Conference are divided over the sharing of the appeasement envelope that was handed to them by the head of the CPDM delegation that was sent to Konye Sub-Division during the recent peace and reconciliation mission ordered by President Paul Biya, The Median was hinted.

                The bone of contention is the FCFA 500 000 that Mrs Ndoh Bertha Bakata handed to the president of the Konye Chief's conference, Chief Eseme Elis of Kokobuma, to share among the 36 chiefs that constitute the Konye Chiefs’ Conference, we learnt.

                Our source said trouble ensued after it was alleged that Chief Eseme had decided to keep FCFA 200000 for the presidency and handed the rest FCFA 300000 to be shared among the other chiefs.

                Realising that Chief Eseme had retained part of the money, the chiefs cried foul, castigating their president for “greed and selfishness”, our source told us, adding that the Chiefs have addressed a strongly-worded petition to Mrs Ndoh Bertha explaining the situation to her.

One, United and Indivisible Cameroon

- French Cameroun Lies & Bad Faith (2)

Anglophones never opted to become the footstool of French Cameroun exploitation and plunder.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai*

*Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Despite claims to the contrary, French Cameroun never wanted any union with Southern Cameroons. In the countdown to the 1961 plebiscite, the standing view in Britain was that Southern Cameroons was not economically viable and would be a drainpipe on British taxpayers. If Her Majesty’s government had consulted the geological survey maps left by the Germans after their defeat in WWI, they would have granted Southern Cameroons independence without even a referendum because the Germans had documented huge potential oil reserves in the Rio del Rey basin.

                Thanks to British indolence, the option of independence; agreed by the 43 delegates at the August 1959 all party plebiscite conference in Mamfe, chaired by Sir Sidney Phillipson, Acting Southern Cameroons Commissioner, was rejected by Andrew Cohen, Britain’s representative to the UN Trusteeship Council; and not presented as an option. 

                Even after the 1961 UN Plebiscite, in which Southern Cameroons voted for independence by joining French Cameroun, French Cameroun acted in bad faith by challenging the plebiscite results and proceeded to vote against UNGA Resolution 1608 (XV) of April 21, 1961 to prevent unification with Southern Cameroons. There were 64 votes for; 23 against and 10 abstentions. Amongst the countries that joined French Cameroun to vote against unification with Southern Cameroons were France, Ivory Coast, Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire, Senegal, Dahome (Benin), Niger, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Chad, Central Africa Republic and Gabon (the last three being former German Kamerun territories). President Ahidjo even went ahead to declare Feb 11 a day of national mourning for British Northern Cameroon, which had voted to join Nigeria. This begs the question: if Cameroon was one, united and indivisible as Francophones are now claiming, why did French Cameroun vote against unification at the UN?

                This act of bad faith speaks directly to the hypocrisy and contradiction of French Cameroun’s assertion that Cameroon is one, united and indivisible and has remained a sore point in Cameroon’s history. By rejecting political association with Southern Cameroons, French Cameroun maintained its territory with the instruments attesting to its independence and international boundaries duly recorded when it was admitted to membership of the UN on January 1, 1960.

                French Cameroun started asserting territorial claims over Southern Cameroons only after Yves Bie’ville; the French jurist who drafted the French Cameroun constitution learned about the existence of huge oil deposits in Southern Cameroons from a German intelligence source and informed officials at the Quai d'Orsay, who ordered Ahidjo to drop his opposition to unification.

                The French then dispatched a team of advisers to help Ahidjo navigate the Foumban conference of July 17-21, 1961. The Foumban conference was to be followed by a four party conference to work out modalities of the federation ahead of the planned October 1st unification date. But the conference never held. Rather, on August 6, 1961, Ahidjo announced an amendment of the French Cameroun constitution to “accommodate Southern Cameroons as the western part of German Kamerun.”

Hon. Arthur Ekeke Lisenge forever:

Befitting funeral for an iconic ‘home boy’

Crowds of mourners turned out in Buea Saturday 25 November for the funeral of the MP for Buea urban, Hon Arthur Ekeke Lisinge, who died on 10 October 2017

By Boris Esono in Buea

It was a sad but memorable moment on Saturday 25 November 2017, as huge crowds converged on Bonalyonga, Buea, to pay their last homage and bid farewell to Hon. Arthur Ekeke Lisenge, the MP for Buea Urban, who died on 10 October 2017 in Buea.

                The number and caliber of mourners at the funeral ceremonies spoke volumes of the life Hon. Lisinge led whilst he was alife, and the rapport and esteem he enjoyed from those around him.

                All speakers at the funeral service in the Presbyterian Church Mokunda, Buea town, and at the grave side, at Bonalyonga, Buea town, spoke of a veritable socialite, a man of the people and a development-oriented public servant and politician, who exits the stage head high, living behind his home town, Buea, as one of the fastest growing cities in Cameroon, with a growth rate that is arguably second to none in the whole of Cameroon.

                The Vice President of the Cameroon National Assembly and current Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA, Hon Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, who led the delegation of Parliamentarians to the funeral, described Hon. Ekeke as a man who served his people with all his heart and who left nothing to chance in matters concerning his people. Hon. Lifaka said Hon. Lisinge’s death was a bitter pill to swallow for his constituents and the national assembly especially.

                "Every death is a new lesson and we must learn that lesson. It is a very sad moment for me, the people of Fako Division and the entire SW region. It is even more so for the national assembly which is losing the 6th MP in a row in this 9th legislature," Hon. Lifaka regretted, recalling how Hon. Ekeke Lisinge was one of those MPs whose knowledgeable interventions helped to quell tensions during some of the very heated debates in the National Assembly. 

                For the Vice Chancellor of the Buea University, Prof. Horace Ngomo Manga, the University is still to come to terms with the sudden death of Hon. Lisenge, who was member of the university’s council.

                "Since 13 November 2013 when Hon. Lisenge became a member of the UB Council, he has always marked his presence physically and also through his objective assessment of the issues tabled for discussion during Council sessions,” Prof. Ngomo noted, recalling that Hon. Lisinge was co-opted to the Council four (4) years ago, to fill the vacancy that was created by the passing of another Buea MP, Hon. Ngale Monono.

Zimbabwe Gov’t amends indigenization law

Imbabwe government is amending the indigenization and Economic Empowerment act to reflect its policy position that the 51-49 percent requirement only applies to natural resource-based investments. In this investment area, which is classified as the natural resources sector, foreign investors are required to have 49 percent shareholding, while Zimbabweans own 51 percent.

                The policy position is contained in a Presidential statement that was issued by former president, Robert Mugabe on April 11 2016, where he carried conflicting positions on the interpretation of the empowerment law. Presidential spokesperson Mr. George Charamba told The Herald that the new President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa instructed the Chief Secretary to the president and cabinet, Dr. Misheck Sibanda, yesterday that the law be urgently amended to reflect government policy. In doing so, Mr. Charamba said, President Mnangagwa emphasized that speed and urgency were of essence.

                “One talking point especially on the investors world has always been related to the indigenization law and we found ourselves in an invidious position where the law, as presently constructed, promised empowerment for the indigenes without delivering it on the other hand, while creating discomfort or even suspicion to would-be investors on the other”, he said.

                “Either way, we remained with the paradox of a promise which could not be fulfilled and a need which could not be filled and this difficult situation did not arise from a lack of policy clarity on the part of the leadership. If anything, that clarity was spelt out in black and white by the previous president, except that statement well-intentioned though it was, was not translated into law, which means on our statutes we still had the law unchanged.

                “Thankfully, this morning, the new president instructed the chief secretary to the president and cabinet (Dr. Sibanda) to ensure that the indigenization law is amended to reflect the correct position spelt out in the policy as agreed to by Cabinet, and he emphasized that time and speed are of essence. The cabinet office is close to unveiling a new investment framework, which will be clear cut in terms of what’s on offer to both domestic and foreign investors.”

                Mr. Charamba said the policy also sought to accommodate Zimbaweans int eh Diaspora. In this regard, Mr. Charamba said President Mnangagwa appreciated the value of Zimbabweans in many respects.

                “The President appreciates their four-four-fold value,” he said.

                “One, they wield skills that are critical to economic recovery. Secondly, they may have made some savings which if pooled together will make a difference. Thirdly, they may have struck partnerships with well-resourced foreigners who might want to consider Zimbabwe as an investment destination. Finally, they can vouch for their homeland as a good and safe destination for investment-in other words, they can play an ambassadorial role.”

Frailty, thy name is woman:

Grace Mugabe files for divorce from Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwean first lady, Grace Mugabe is leaving her twenty one year marriage over concerns about her role as an irresponsible former First lady of Zimbabwe and a bane on the nation’s economy.

Culled from Zimbabwe Today

The world is in shock today after sources close to the Mugabe family confirmed that Grace Mugabe has filed for divorce on Wednesday. The South African born woman has voiced concerns over her role as the former first lady of Zimbabwe, claiming that it’s about time she enjoys some peaceful life and she is not prepared to be ridiculed for the years ahead, her ostracism and her husband’s resignation as the leader of Zimbabwe have gradually grown into life threatening headache.

                “She’s been very upset ever since Mugabe gave up to hanover power to his ousted Vice-president”, said a source close to the family. “She wanted a role as a first lady, not as a woman who acts as subordinate.  She is also not prepared to leave her luxurious lifestyle to live in a home of captivity. She thinks that the décor is despicable and beyond repair.” – the source disclosed.

                Other reports claims that the key figure and the center of the ongoing Zimbabwean political crisis ‘Gucci Grace’ has filed for divorce on the alleged claims of eschewing any form of further embarrassment and disgrace that has already befallen on her family. Ex-Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace Mugabe is divorcing her husband so she can free herself from public ridicules, the reports claim.

                Judiciary spokesman, Lawrence Brown has confirmed divorce proceeding were in motion and if both parties agree, they could go their separate ways in about a month.

                Throughout her husband’s presidency she had supervised the government’s poverty  relief programmes and a strong force behind women’s affairs in SANU-PF.