The Chia Report

Cameroon Government Auctioning Mineral Resources - Part II

Co-written and edited by Innocent Chia

In part one of this multi-part series, we began laying down the historical and legal foundations upon which Mineral Mining or exploration in Cameroon is anchored. So far, it is highly debatable that the government has either been conned or has been conning the people of Cameroon even as foreign investment firms and a handful of Cameroonians laugh all the way to their huge bank accounts. If there is general public knowledge of the foreign investors, there is little known about the private investors from Cameroon…until now.

Cameroon Government Auctioning Mineral Resources - Part I

Co-written and edited by Innocent Chia

Officialdom in Cameroon, through its state-run media, has been plotting and pushing hard to highlight the prospects of dual citizenship and voting rights for Cameroonians in the Diaspora as the raison-d’etre of President Biya’s visit to France last week ending July 25th, 2009. The truth of the matter is, as outlined in “Vulture Funds” Preying on Debt-Drowning Cameroon, is that Biya and his government are facing such precarious times it is probable that the embassy in Paris could be seized and liquidated by a debt collections company. It is also within the ambit of the “Vulture Funds” to seize the President’s plane if they can secure it. 

“Vulture Funds” Preying on a Debt-Drowning Cameroon

Co-written and edited by Innocent Chia

President Paul Biya of Cameroon, on an official four-day visit with his French counterpart (or master) Nicolas Sarkozy, is reportedly not having the kind of warm welcome a sojourner of his caliber would expect upon arrival. Cameroonians in the French capital, Paris, are pressuring their host to use his bully pulpit to make demands on Biya. Amongst these are demands for Biya, now Dean of French-African heads of States since the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon, to declare his assets. Speculation, meantime, is rife in some well informed circles that it is much more that takes Biya to the Champs-Elysees: The Cameroon Embassy in France may be seized by foreign debt collection companies.

President Obama Urges young Africans to Revolution

By Innocent Chia

It will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future…it will be you, the men and women in Ghana's Parliament, and the people you represent. Above all, it will be the young people, brimming with talent and energy and hope, who can claim the future that so many in my father's generation never found."

There it is; silent words on paper. From the seat of Ghana’s parliament in Accra on Saturday July 11 2009, Ghanaians, Africans and indeed the world, listened attentively to their author, US President Barack Obama, reverberating a familiar message that the wealthy and well connected don’t want to hear. My postulation is that Obama’s most important message was to the youth of Africa; the message in the highlighted excerpt above.

Up Close and into the Den of Dibussi Tande - Part II

By Innocent Chia

The Chiareport: There is no denying that many have tried to pigeonhole you: there are those who have regarded your writings to be in favor of a unitary state as Cameroon currently is; there are those who believe you are a middle-of-the-road guy; and there are those who believe you a cautious supporter of the Southern Cameroons secessionists’ movement…. Who are you not?

Dibussi Tande: (Laughs). It was only a couple of weeks ago that someone asked me if I was a “silent supporter” of the Biya regime. When I asked why, the person responded that to the best of his knowledge, I have never insulted either the President or the ruling CPDM, even though I have criticized both. My response was that the facts about the president Biya’s rule in Cameroon are so compelling that giving in to emotion while analyzing the Cameroon situation only obscures those obvious facts.

Up Close and into the Den of Dibussi Tande - Part I

By Innocent Chia 

Why we call anyone or anything any name has always fascinated me. Maybe because my parents went curious on me with the name Innocent. No wonder then, I got tickled with “Scribbles from the Den” as I began to wonder why a Den? The part of a scribbling Scribe was self-explanatory,but why “from the Den”? As much as these seemingly trite questions took up valuable space in my mind, so did I get interested in the trailblazing man behind the powerful, brilliant and introspective pieces. 

If it is the power of his pen, or keyboard, that has put him on the high pedestal in the public eye, I have been fortunate to come close to the son, brother, husband, father, friend and consummate professional. On the occasion of his third title, Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon, I seized a pretext to talk to Dibussi Tande about his book, and much, much more…What he fails to reveal in his treatises is plentiful – for instance, that his fun-loving wife, Therese is fuel to his virtuoso; that his seven year-old son, Mokali is his heartbeat; and that his disgust for Africa’s dictators is only abated by the juicy flavors of well-done slices of barbecued pork or beef on a charcoal grill… 

Why is Archbishop Esua Visiting Chicago?

By Innocent Chia The first right answer to the title question would be that Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda comes to pray for, and bless, Cameroonians and their friends in the Chicago land area. In a mass that will be holding at the St. Henry Catholic Church on the North Side of Chicago, the prelate will be lifting up Cameroonians in prayer. This is an important but small part of the prelate’s mission to the United States, even as he will be meeting with Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, the current President of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops. Archbishop Esua will be visiting also a number of other cities and States where Cameroonian communities are equally finalizing hosting arrangements.

Losers and Winners – Biya’s new Government in Cameroon

By Innocent Chia

The June 30, 2009 government shake-up by Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has come as a surprise to a few and not so to many others that have, since late last year in 2008, been anticipating the change. Of seismic importance to many is the appointment of Philemon Yang as Prime Minister; even as the former PM, Ephraim Inoni, gets the boot and unconfirmed rumors that his passport has been seized. In Biya’s banana republic, a personnel recycling represents reform, or change as is known in the common lingo. Cameroonians know, meantime, that the appointment of Yang (from the North West) over Inoni (from the South West) fuels the perpetual burning fire among Southern Cameroonians just the way some politicians want it to be.