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Gov’t Is Liquid, It Has No Problems Paying Salaries

-Service providers are also being paid chronologically

-Moh Sylvester, DG of Treasury, Monetary and Financial Cooperation

What is the situation of the treasury at the moment?

               

Moh Sylvester, DG of Treasury

The treasury can never be empty. We paid salaries on December 21, 2018. Contrary to what people write and claim that we will not be able to pay salaries in January, we have no issues with paying salaries. Our main concern right now is to make sure that small and medium-size enterprises are paid regularly. We are trying to catch up with the delays we had due to certain circumstances. What I can say is that we are continuing to pay service providers chronologically - first in, first out- though we may have emergencies from time to time.

                Why do you put so much emphasis on payment of service providers?

                There was a time it came to our notice that people were no longer interested in public tenders, we focused on making improvements and so now that we are paying regularly, they will only have to come running. The Treasury Department has always had as objective to pay service providers and those who have accounts with the state in 30 days. That has always been the major objective contrary to the 90 days which is indicated in CEMAC texts. We have been doing that for the past five to six years. In June 2017, we started having financial difficulties and that is why we signed the Financial and Economic Programme with the International Monetary Fund to enable us meet up with our objectives of paying people regularly.

                Did you meet those objectives in 2018?

                We did, though the results were not what we expected. One of the reasons we could not meet up with our objectives in 2018 is the security situation of the country which was not very good. There was quite a huge expenditure on security and the situation also contributed in reducing government revenue. This was greatly witnessed in the brewery industry and telecommunications sector. The tax contributions of these companies actually reduced. We also had a reduction in customs revenue due to those difficulties in the North West and South West regions. The second challenge we had was the presidential election. A lot of expenditure on it caused the treasury to shrink. We had operations of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which had to be paid with a lot of diligence since we were struggling to meet up with a deadline. Then, we also had the PLANUT programme which was also being executed alongside the normal execution of the budget.

                We gave priority to salaries, not forgetting small and medium-size enterprises. I think those who were carrying out supplies with government realized that at one moment we were no longer following chronological payments. But from October 2018, most of them were called up by their bankers who informed them that their money was being paid. These payments were made, thanks to the budgetary support we got from our partners and with the FCFA 200 billion we raised from the financial market. The FCFA 200 billion helped us pay outstanding bills. By mid-December, payments for state suppliers were made chronologically. Even if we have difficulties, we do not have to give the impression that one needs to know someone in the treasury department in order to be paid or that there is disorder in payments. So even if we do not pay in 60 days, we make sure that payments are done chronologically. Most service providers can attest to that.

                We also got some budgetary support of FCFA 98billion from the African Development Bank and about FCFA 105 billion from the European Union in mid-December and we will use it to pay service providers. Service providers should rest assured we shall continue with payments.

Another Red Feather:

CSPH’s Okie Johnson Ndoh Wins Oscar Award

The Oscar Award for Management Excellence offered by Paris-based International Council of African Managers, CIMA, was handed Friday, in Yaounde, to the CSPH General Manager, by CIMA President, Senegalese-born SidiAbd Allah Sy. Okie Johnson is thus the 7th Cameroonian, and the 1st Anglophone to have won the prestigious Award, in 33 years of CIMA’s existence.

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

CIMA President, SidiAbd Allah Hands Oscar Award to CSPH DG Okie Johnson

The Director General of the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilization Fund, CSPH, Okie Johnson Ndoh, is the winner of the 2018 edition of the African Managers Leadership and Excellence Academy Award. Okie thus becomes the seventh Cameroonian, and the first Anglophone to win the Oscar distinction, which is awarded by the International Council of African Managers, CIMA.

                Other Cameroonians who had also won the CIMA Oscar Award include Finance Minister, Louis Paul Motaze; Tradex General Manager, Perriel Jean Nyodog; DG of the Douala  Ports Authority, CyriusNgo’o; DG of Standard Chartered Bank, Mathieu Mandeng, Francis Nana Djomou and Joseph Celestin Tinjou of Afriland First Bank.

                Handing the Oscar Award, during a dual ceremony to present the Award and New Year wishes to the CSPH DG, on Thursday, at the esplanade of the CSPH head office in  Yaounde, CIMA President, SidiAbd Allah Sy, said the organization’s Supervisory Committee found Okie Johnson worthy for the Oscar Award because of his exceptional patriotism, his high-level performance as GM of CSPH and above all, his commitment to nation building and contribution towards the emergence of Cameroon by 2035.

                SidiAbd described Okie Johnson as an “exceptional and astute manager”, who, apart from being the DG of CSPH, is also the National President of the Catholic Men’s Association of Cameroon, CMA.

                He exhorted the Oscar laureate to remain assiduous and committed to his exalting duties, reminding him that the Cameroonian people, and especially President Paul Biya, are watching him.

                Sidi used the occasion to extol President Biya, noting that it was upon his “wise advice” that CIMA was created in 1986, at the Mont Febe Hotel in Yaounde.

Post-Election Protest:

Police Open Fire on Kamto’s Supporters in Douala

-Two prominent opposition figures, Celestin Djamen and Lawyer Michelle Ndoki rushed to hospital with bullet wounds

-Protesters also dispersed with tear gas in Yaounde, Bafoussam and Mbouda

-Protesters storm Cameroon Embassies in France, Germany and Belgium

Barrister Michelle Ndoki was shot on the leg during the protests

Two frontline opposition figures, Celestin Djamen and Lawyer Michelle Ndoki were shot by police as they led a protest demonstration in Makepe, Douala II. They were immediately rushed to hospital where they are receiving treatment for the bullet wounds they incurred. Their lives are not threatened, we learned.

                Meanwhile, the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, Prof Maurice Kamto has to his supporters he ready to make sacrifices to bring about change in Cameroon. He was speaking Saturday morning at the Ndokoti neighborhood, in Douala III Subdivision, after members of his party were brutalised and maimed by the anti-riot Police, as they were staging a protest demonstration in the area.

                “The time is now or never. We have to sacrifice for you,” Kamto said.

                “Tell all those who are still at home to come out; tell your parents to come out. I am a parent and I am here,” Prof Kamto commanded.

                “There is no turning back. This is just the beginning of justice in our country,” he said.

                The peaceful protest saw over 1000 members of CRM marching in the streets. They were protesting against what they considered as electoral hold-up and bad governance by the regime of President Paul Biya.

                Social media images showed protesters being teargased by anti-riot police and gendarmes. The protesters in their thousands were beaten and some wounded. Many were arrested, according a government statement.

                CRM militants were seen carrying placards denouncing electoral fraud, military violence in the two Anglophone regions and corruption in the country.

                We received report that the police watched Prof Kamto talk at Ndokoti without touching him. Maurice Kamto declared himself the winner of the 7th of October 2018 presidential elections. He says he will fight to the end to secure his “stolen victory”.

                Protest marches were also staged in the towns of Yaounde, Bafoussam and Mbouda. Riot Police dispersed the crowds in all these towns. Many were arrested and dumped in police cells, while some in Douala were simply rounded up and driven to their party headquarters.

                Reacting to the protests in Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam and Mbouda, the minister of Communication, Rene Sadi, and the the minister of territorial administration, AtangaNji, called a late night press conference in Yaounde, during which they condemned the protest in very strong terms.

                Rene Sadi noted that in Yaounde, Bafoussam and Mbouda, several protesters caught in flagrante delicto disrupting public order, were arrested and put in custody. He said 62 persons were arrested in Yaounde, while 42 were rounded up in Bafoussam. 13 were arrested in Mbouda.

Human Rights Violations:

D’la Shooting Further Soils Biya Regime

Celestin Djamen shot on the leg by police in Douala during peaceful protest

Biya’s Government’s report card is definitely red. Apart from favorable gesticulations from supporters of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM) to which Paul Biya is National President, very few Cameroonians in the last few months ever wrote or said anything good about the Biya regime. Diplomatic missions have also expressed concerns over growing insecurity in the North West and South West hit by armed conflict, hoping the situation gets better.

                The Regime already has a dampened image at the International Scene. This has forced it to hire lobbyists, paying them huge sums to mend its really battered international appearance resulting from reports of Human Rights violations in the two English-speaking Regions as well as reports of consistent scenes of war crimes. Cameroon already has enough to handle and the International Community might have as well seen enough already.

                Reports of gross Human Rights violation are now being filed in from places other than the two English-speaking Regions, a thing that would only go a long way to reap Biya off the auxiliary good image.

                The government Saturday confirmed that Celestin Djamen, a militant of Prof. Maurice Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) was shot on the left leg by anti-riot police in Makepe, a neighbourhood Douala, in the Littoral Region, Saturday January 26, 2019.

                In the same line of protest, Barrister Michele Ndoki who hitherto was assaulted was also shot several times on the thigh.

                Celestin Djamen and many other CRM militants were participating in a peaceful protest called by Kamto, Chair of the CRM against what he describes as Electoral Hold-up and the declaration of war in the two English-speaking Regions of Cameroon, when police clamped down on them, government spokesman, Rene Sadi, confirmed Saturday evening. Djamen is a former militant of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) who resigned to join the CRM on August 9, 2018.

As a former member of Union for Active Diaspora while he lived in France, Celestin Djamen, on the behalf of this organization, filed a lawsuit against Paul Biya in December 2010 in a Court in Paris, Franc, for embezzlement of public funds in Cameroon.

Clampdown on Secessionists:

At least 10 Youths Killed in Mpundu, Muyuka

At least 10 youths were Friday shot dead in the village town of Mpundu, near Muyuka in the South West region, according to reports and graphic pictures that went viral on social media.

                The reports accused government forces of killing the youths, said to be former fighters of some Ambazonia militias groups but who had abandoned the fighting to return to normal life.

                National Telegraph quoted an Amba Commander as saying the ten youths had returned to normal life before they were rounded up and killed. The commander said the victims were unarmed and did not pose any threat to security.

Protesters Storm Cameroon Embassy in Paris, Pull Down Biya’s Photo

Protesters Storm Cameroon Embassy in Paris

Hundreds of protesters have attacked the Cameroonian embassy in Paris, leaving the premises severely damaged, including damaging the portrait of President Paul Biya, sources have confirmed.

                The attack occurred in the evening of Saturday 26 January, according to an eyewitness.

                The Cameroon Ambassador to France and his family had fled the Embassy at the time of the attack, reports said.

                The attack occurred as part of protest demonstrations organised by the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon CRM party, in dozens of cities in Cameroon and in foreign countries.