Cycling Tour of Cameroon: Nsengimana Joins The Fray

The Rwandan who runs for Bike aid of Germany won the fifth lap of the race.
After Er Rafai Mohamed Amine, Saadoune Abdelati, Kamzong Abessolo and Mraouni Salaheddine, it was the turn of Nsengimana Jean Bosco to win a lap of the ongoing international tour of Cameroon. The Rwandan who runs for Bike Aid velo club of Germany covered the 122km distance between Douala and Kumba yesterday in two hours 59 minutes and 30 seconds. He was followed by Nzeke Geremie of Cameroon in the second position who crossed the finish line 53 seconds after the lap winner. Kovac Maros of Slovakia came third for the second time in the race.
Despite not appearing among the top trio of the day, Morocco conserved the yellow jersey of the leader of the race in the person of Er Rafai Mohamed Amine. In fact the top trio of the general classification is the exclusive reserve of Moroccans with Saadoune Abdelati in the runner up position and Mraouni Salahaddine. The first Cameroonian on the general classification table remains Mbah Hervé Raoul who has again dropped one place down from the third to the fourth position and also narrowing the gap between him and the bearer of the yellow jersey from two minutes and fifteen seconds to two minutes and nine seconds to keep Cameroon’s hope intact of winning the competition.
Tekou Fokou Damien, the second Cameroonian on the general classification table dropped from the 10th to the 15th position but however maintains the four minutes 48 seconds margin that was separating him from the race leader.
Though morocco boasted of having three good climbers, there was no Moroccan in the escape during the ascent from Tiko to around Muea and only two of them were in the peloton, revealing they were not good climbers as earlier declared. However the danger may be coming from the Rwandans during the hilly part of the race as illustrated in the performances of Nsengimana though he is no longer running for Rwanda and that of Hakuzimana Camera who happens to occupy the fourth position on the general classification table.
The Douala –Kumba lap of the race proved to be the most popular so far as people thronged the roadside and cheered as the cyclists rode past. The excitement was higher in Kumba probably due to the fact that it is the first time the race was coming to Kumba since 2013. The points of attraction were the heavy motorbike riders who displayed their skill in riding to the amazement of the people. There were also other talented Cameroonians who displayed their skill either with the ball, a single wheel cycle or a simple motor bike popularly referred to as ‘benskin’
Today there is a day of rest in Limbe before the race engages the mountainous region of the West with the sixth lap to be run between Mbanga and Bafang. The stage is characterized by undulating mountains with the arrival on a hill in Bafang. Though Cameroonians are reputed to be good climbers, experts says they are just eighty per cent of their usual fitness probably due to the fact that cyclists of the SNH velo club, the flag bearer of Cameroonian cycling joined the training camp barely one week to the kick off of the competition due to a strike action as they clamored for better pay. Hopefully that they regain their top form in the last three stages of the competition so as to conserve the yellow jersey which they won last year through Kamzong Abessolo.
Meanwhile three other cyclists have dropped out of the race in addition to Yemeli Herman who threw in the towel during the fourth lap. They are Pernot Nathan of Martigues sports of France, Ouattara Bolodigui of Cote d’Ivoire as well as Moukagni Leris of Gabon who was eliminated for arriving after the delay. The Congolese are on a tourism trip with the race caravan since they are not taking part in the competition due to late arrival.
http://www.cameroon-tribune.cm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95075:cycling-tour-of-cameroon-nsengimana-joins-the-fray&catid=6:sport&Itemid=3#contenu

The downpour, coupled with ongoing work on the Rond Point-Bekoko road, is not helping matters.
http://www.cameroon-tribune.cm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95074:heavy-rains-compound-douala-traffic-jams&catid=2:economie&Itemid=3

Brazil's Rousseff Faces Mounting Crisis

The bone of contention is the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption in the management of State oil company Petrobras.

Interview: «Les camerounais sont a moins de cent pour cent des leur moyen»

Jean Philippe Duraka, directeur technique de l’équipe de Bike Aid et ancien entraineur de l’équipe nationale du Cameroun.

Canada Offers Support To Camair-Co

The Minister of Transport held discussions with the Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroon on March 16, 2016.

Yaounde: Man Killed, Lawyer Held Over Aborted House Eviction

Neighbours alerted gendarmes, taking them for burglars.

Bounties For Education, Health Sectors

If there is one thing to draw from the just-ended visit of the Italian President to Cameroon, it is certainly the huge gains that are coming into the educational and health delivery systems in our country.

Publicité:
SIARC 2016, la 5ème édition du Salon International de l’Artisanat du Cameroun, organisé par le Ministère des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises, de l’Economie Sociale et de l’Artisanat, sous le très haut Parrainage du Président de la République, se tiendra au Parc des Expositions de Tsinga du 31 mars au 9 avril 2016.

SIARC 2016, du 31 mars au 9 avril 2016 à Yaoundé.

Cameroon Tribune du mercredi, 23 mars 2016.

Cameroon-Italy: Valorising Cameroon’s Local Technology

Victorine Biy
The immortalising agreements signed between Cameroon and Italy during the four-day State visit to Cameroon of the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella, will certainly have far reaching effects on the local material production sector.
The optimism of the future implementation of the agreements threaded through the joint press statement issued at the end of the visit. In effect, the protocol agreement signed between the Cameroon School of Public Works and the University of Padoue, Italy as well as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development on the one hand and the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment of the same University, on the other, tells of a sector that is of great economic interest to one of the G-Seven nations.

Mauro Battistella, Coordinator of Italian business in Cameroon (CAICAM) was even more assuring stating inter alia during the Economic Forum at the Hilton that the Italian community is ready and has been eying sectors such as brick manufacturing, rural development, food production, hotel development and marketing of Italian products in Cameroon. Already, a Partnership Contract has been signed between the Cameroon government and the Italian company, Pizzarotti for the construction of 10,000 low cost houses in Yaounde, precisely in Mbankomo, a project that is expected to begin this year.
Structures such as MIPROMALO will certainly play an important technical role in the execution of projects of this nature.

Interview:“Italian Companies Should use Their Expertise both on Brick and Ceramic production”

LUKONG Pius NYUYLIME
Prof. Uphie Chinje Melo, Director of MIPROMALO.
On the occasion of the visit to Cameroon of the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella, some Italian companies expressed the wish to open brick factories in Cameroun. What appreciation do you make of this zeal towards local materials in which you have been operating for several years?
My opinion on Italian companies interested in operating brick factories in Cameroon is positive, very positive. MIPROMALO has attempted to partner with two Italian companies, Modena ImpiantiLaterizi and MarchelluzzoImpiantiS.r.l (among several European companies), to set up brick factories in Cameroon but encountered several difficulties linked to the inadequate status of our institution and the very lengthy procedures in setting up an industrial plant exploiting national resources. During the Head of State’s toast at the dinner offered to the Italian President, he once more called on increased local transformation of our rich sub-soil to build multiple economic and social infrastructures. The Italian companies should not limit their expertise on brick production which could be extended to other ceramic products (sanitary ware and tiles) and stone (granite, marble etc..) dimensioning. I hope the installation of European companies producing local materials will defy the myth that Cameroon must remain dependent on imported construction materials.
MIPROMALO has exhibited a lot of competences in the production of local materials, yet the demand for it remains extremely low. Does this reticence match with your expectations?
I am delighted that Cameroonians in general are not reticent in using local materials. The vast majority of traditional houses in Cameroon especially in rural areas employ local materials, essentially earth, wood and stones. The inability to modify these materials exploiting the competences of MIPROMALO is a failure on the part of those responsible in the development of the welfare of the people. What do you say when quality imported earth block presses are distributed free of charge to 70 municipalities (in 55 Divisions in all 10 Regions) followed by training of technicians in these councils, but three years down the line, about 90% of the presses have not been removed from their packages! It is a pity. These decision makers I think are reticent or lazy to change, even to such positive change. Civil engineering technical education establishments have over the decades remained clued to training only on cement and concrete (all cement factories in Cameroon import clinker as primary input in spite of the abundance of clay and limestone local resources). Studies have shown that using local materials : (a) has a 4.3 times economic advantage to imported materials; (b) is about 25% cheaper (compressed earth blocks to sand-cement blocks) in wall construction and 90% more ecological (CO2 emission) than cement; (c) does not require regular painting; (d) creates more jobs; etc, etc. Cameroonians who travel abroad admire the beauty of brick cities. MIPROMALO has trained thousands from all ten regions and built prototype schools and homes. It is time decision makers join the Head of State in his 2035 Vision, it cannot be achieved without “made in Cameroon”materials.

How far has public authorities complied with the Prime Ministerial decision obliging public buildings of at least one storey to be constructed with the use of local materials

Parliamentary Cooperation:Kuwaiti MPs In Cameroon

Roland MBONTEH
The Senior Vice Speaker of the National Assembly yesterday received a delegation from the Kuwaiti Parliament at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport.
It was exactly 10:45 am; Monday March 21, 2016 that the aircraft (KQ526) belonging to the Kenyan Airways touched the tarmac of the Yaounde -Nsimalen International Airport on board the delegation from the Kuwait Parliament on a five-day (21-25 March) official visit to Cameroon. The Kuwaiti Members of Parliament led by Saud Nashmi A.M Alhuraiji, were received on arrival at the airport by the Senior Vice Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Hilarion Etong in the company of other members of the Cameroon-Kuwait Parliamentary Group, the Secretary General of the National Assembly, Victor Yene Ossomba and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Cameroon with residence in Abuja (Nigeria), Abdulaziz Al-Sharrah.
After welcoming the Kuwaiti MPs with a bouquet of flower, both delegations moved to the VIP Lounge of the Nsimalen International Airport where they held a brief discussion before the convoy drove to the Hilton Hotel in down town Yaounde.
Speaking to reporters in a brief interview at the airport, the leader of the Kuwaiti Parliamentary delegation, Saud Nashmi A.M Alhuraiji, said their official visit is within the framework of reinforcing friendly and cooperation ties between the Republic of Cameroon and the Republic of Kuwait. Kuwait Members of Parliament, he stated, are representative of the people of Kuwait and as such ensure that the relations between the two countries are strengthened in addition to its constitutional role of legislating and ensuring that laws are respected. “As a Member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, I am leading a delegation of three parliamentarians with an objective to consolidate and strengthen the existing relations between our two countries”, he stated.
Asked whether the ill treatment meted on Cameroonian female emigrants to Kuwait would be discussed during their official visit, Saud Nashmi Alhuraiji who is also Chairman of the First Friendship Group Committee of the Kuwait National Assembly stated briefly that his country attaches a lot of importance and respect for human rights. He said the United Nations considers Kuwait as a nation that respects human rights particularly those of women. The five-day official visit will be marked by a series of audiences and working sessions with Cameroonian authorities.

National Assembly:MPS Scrutinize Two Bills

Roland MBONTEH
Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and those of Economic Affairs, Planning and Regional Development yesterday examined two bills at the National Assembly.
Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and their counterparts of Economic Affairs, Planning and Regional Development of the National Assembly have examined two bills forwarded to it by the plenary. The two committees met yesterday March 21, 2016 in separate sittings to securitized bills tabled by the government. Business began at 10 am with the Foreign Affairs Committee that examined the bill to Authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the agreement on trade facilitation concluded on December 7, 2013 in Bali, Indonesia during the 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana was on hand to defend the bill. According to the explanatory statement of the bill, it aims to ease border procedures of Member States so as to facilitate trade operations at exports and imports. Its implementation should thus facilitate the movement of goods through simplified customs procedures and enhanced cooperation between member States.
Meanwhile, the Committee on Economic Affairs, Planning and Regional Development also met at the 2nd floor Ngom Jua Commission Room where the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Yaouba Abdoulaye defended the bill to ratify Ordinance No. 2015/5 of 23 December 2015 to amend and supplement some provisions of the Law No. 2013/11 of 16 December 2013 governing Economic Zones in Cameroon. It emerged that the purpose of the Ordinance issued by the President of the Republic was to extend by three years, the transitional period granted by Law No. 2013/11 of 16 December 2013 for enterprises formally registered under the industrial free zone regime to be transferred to the economic zone regime. The explanatory statement of the bill indicates that 29 enterprises registered under industrial free zone regime would have been closed with about 4037 direct jobs lost, had it not been extended. The Minister of Labour and Social Security, Grégoire Owona sitting in for the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Parliament and the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance, Elung Paul Che assisted in the defence.

Inteview:“Government Economic Policies Paying Off”

Victorine BIY NFOR
Dr Ariel Ngnitedem (PhD), Economic Scholar and Public Finance Expert.
The Fourth Household Suvey for 2001 and 2014 has been published with figures indicating that poverty reduced by 2.4 points in percentage between 2007 and 2014. What explains this drop?
Before getting to the explanation of this drop, let’s first understand the meaning of this figure. The figure represents the decrease of the poverty rate or the incidence of poverty between 2007 and 2014. By definition the poverty incidence or poverty rate is the ratio between the number of poor individuals (living under the poverty line) and the whole population. The survey indicates that this ratio reached 37.5% in 2014 down from 39.9% in 2007, which means that the proportion of poor individuals in Cameroon relatively to the whole population experienced a drop of 2.4 between 2007 and 2014. This should not be equated to the drop in the number of poor individuals in Cameroon during the period. This number actually increased during the same period!
Having said this, the drop in the incidence of poverty could be explained either by the government economic policies outcome or a difference between the growth rate of the number of poor individuals and that of the whole population. In the final analysis, the drop is explained by both. That is, the contribution of government policies to poverty reduction has kept the growth rate of the number of poor persons (1.4%) below that of the whole population (2.5%). Thus, the denominator (whole population) has grown faster than the numerator (number of poor), leading to the drop of the ratio.
What are the prospects of reducing the poverty index from the current 37.5 per cent to 28.7 per cent by 2020 as prescribed by the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP)?
The prospects are not good enough although the situation is not totally desperate. The government can still salvage the situation and manage to reach the 28.7 percent prescribed by the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper by 2020 provided that it changes radically the course and be resilient all through the period. The difference between the poverty rate of 2014 and the expected one in 2020 is 8.8%. If the government simply stays the course and everything else stays the same, only a drop of nearly 2.4% in the poverty rate will be achieved during the 2014-2020 period; which will take the poverty rate to 35.1% in 2020. A good 6.4 points shy of the 2020 GESP target!
Again, the prospects of hitting the 28,7% targeted by the GESP in 2020 is not quite impossible considering that, according to the survey, a performance of nearly 13 points drop was achieved in a similar timeframe when the poverty rate went from 53% to 40.2% between 1996 and 2001.
The survey notes that the economy generated numerous employments but did not succeed to scale down under-employment. What could have accounted for this?
The fact that most of the employments generated by the economy were in the public sector and urban areas is one of the main reasons why the economy failed to scale down the under-employment. This spells out the failure of the private sector to create enough decent jobs. Another main reason is the inappropriate targeting of job creation policies. In fact, there are no job creation policies designed specifically for those working in the informal sector, the agriculture and the rural areas where the majority of under-employment lies. Last but not the least is the fact that the agriculture sector of activity has lost quite a good number of employments, moving from 57% to 45%, due in part to the migration of individuals towards other sectors of activities for probably more ...

Inteview:“Government Economic Policies Paying Off”

Victorine BIY NFOR
.. under-employments.

What best practices should be employed to turn the tides and most especially, reduce poverty in the rural areas where about 60 per cent of the total population with 90 per cent lives under the poverty line?
The government should continue with the expansionary economic policy that it has been implementing for quite some time while putting in place incentives for the private sector and local councils to create decent jobs. In the meantime, the measures of social protection put in place in 2008 following the social unrest resulting from a high inflation rate (5.3%) should be refocused to target the intended population which is the poor persons. These policies, based on the subsidies of petroleum products and basic consumables, were ill targeted and only a marginal number of the poor persons, to which they were intended, actually benefited from it. These policies have contributed to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban dwellers and the villagers. There are a number of economic instruments that can be used to make sure that these subsidies benefit solely the poor persons. They include food stamps, vouchers, etc...
There is a need to put in place poverty alleviation policies designed specifically for rural areas in general and gear towards creating decent jobs in the agriculture sector in particular. There is also a need to come out with measures aimed at improving the working conditions and revenues of the workers in the informal sector and a path to move them into the formal economy.
All in all, the lack of health coverage has proven to be one of the main problems plaguing the poor and vulnerable persons across the globe. Therefore I strongly recommend the provision by the government of health coverage including free preventive care and coverage for prescription drugs for the poor and vulnerable persons in urban and rural areas all around the country.

Atteinte à la déontologie professionnelle: 13 professionnels frappés par le CNC

Elise ZIEMINE
Avec sept organes de presse, ils écopent des suspensions allant d’un à six mois. L’Anecdote
Aboubakar Dewa, journaliste, ne pourra pas exercer pendant trois mois, pour publication dans le numéro 735 du journal sus-évoqué, d’un article contenant des accusations non-justifiées à l’encontre de Alhadji Mohamadou Abbo, président du groupe Amao. Extraits de cet article contenus dans la décision du Conseil national de la Communication du 21 mars dernier : « Déchéance/ Alhadji Abbo indésirable à Ngaoundéré… », « Amao reste insensible aux malheurs des populations… » Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, directeur de publication de l’organe de presse, s’en tire avec un avertissement.
Aurore Plus
Michel Michaut Moussala, le directeur de publication, est suspendu par défaut, pendant trois mois pour publication d’accusations non-justifiées à l’encontre de Jean Paul Nana Sandjo, directeur général de CAMAIR-co. Et les journalistes Barthélemy Nzock et André Som sont suspendus par défaut, pour une durée de six mois pour les mêmes causes. Il ressort des documents du CNC qu’ils ont écrit : « Jean Paul Nana Sandjo, au lieu de concentrer son énergie à faire décoller la CAMAIR-Co... distrait de fortes sommes d’argent pour financer les journaux de pacotille ». Accusations qui sont, selon le CNC, constitutives d’atteintes à l’éthique et à la déontologie professionnelles en matière de communication sociale. Le journal lui-même est suspendu pendant trois mois.
L’Indépendant
Eric Doualla Manga et Arsène Ndzana, des journalistes de cet organe de presse écrite, ne pourront pas exercer pendant trois mois pour publication d’articles contenant des déclarations non-justifiées à l’encontre de Paul Kammogne Fokam, président directeur général d’Afriland First Bank. Dans le numéro 261, ils avaient entre autres écrit «... Paul Fokam Kammogne : Les exploits explosifs d’un artificier…» Le journal L’Indépendant lui-même est également suspendu pour la même cause et pendant la même durée.
La Nouvelle presse
Conrad Atangana, journaliste, est suspendu pour trois mois. Sa faute : publication dans le numéro 416 du journal d’un article contenant des déclarations non-justifiées à l’encontre de Paul Kammogne Fokam, président directeur général d’Afriland First Bank. Ce dernier a saisi le CNC. La décision est tombée le 21 mars dernier. A côté de ce journaliste, Jacques Blaise Mvie, directeur de publication, est suspendu pour un mois. Suite à une autre plainte déposée par René Mbayen, président du conseil d’administration de Consignation et Logistique du Golfe de Guinée, Charles René Nwe, journaliste dans le même organe, écope d’un avertissement pour publication d’un article contenant des accusations non-justifiées. Le texte du CNC précise que « le directeur de publication de La Nouvelle presse est tenu de faire publication de cette décision avec annonce à la Une. »
La Météo
« Déstabilisation : Paul Biya dans le viseur de Fokam Kammogne ? », « Paul Fokam Kammogne, un putschiste par télécommande ? ». Pour ces extraits et après examen de la plainte déposée par le président directeur général d’Afriland First Bank, Mamadou Labaran, journaliste à l’organe de presse écrite La Météo, est suspendu pour trois mois. Motif, publication de déclarations non-justifiées. L’organe de presse est aussi suspendu pour un mois.
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