The Chia Report

P.M YANG IN THE MIRROR

Co-Written and Edited by Innocent Chia

Depicting the future of La Republique du Cameroun as bleak is the best way of whitewashing the devastating social consequences of the 2010 fiscal policies that P.M and his team are outlining. It is to this effect that the Chiareport, in this two part-series, is providing an exclusive insight analysis into P. M Philemon Yang's six months on-the-job training at the star building, background of his 34 year political career, infiltration of the SCNC, participation in the plundering of Cameroon's mineral resources by Canadian companies, scraping of the Limbe Deep Sea project and potential role as Paul Biya's next anglophone campaign manager! Of even greater importance is the perception of conflict of interest as CAMAIRCO's board chairman and his inability to fairly arbitrate conflict within the cabinet.

"Happy Christmas"

By Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum* (Intro and Editing by Innocent Chia)

The economic squeeze is real. In many more homes than at anytime in recorded recent history, families are making tough choices between want and need. Christmas trees are not only bare with ornaments, they are withered at the bottom with the quantity, and probably quality, of gifts. Even though many still utter wishes of “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Christmas”, there is brazen apprehension of tomorrow. Many families are pinching a penny here and stretching a dollar there to make ends meet, yet it still is not obvious that they will make it through the day. The Chiareport took these cares and concerns to Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum of Victory Baptist Church in Dekalb, Illinois and asked him to comfort us, you and me, in these trying times that we may continue to see hope where hopelessness is fast gaining ground.

Requiem to “The Anglophone Character: Myth or Reality?”

Anonymous Contributor

It's high time we identify what is happening in the Southern Cameroons for what it is...The Southern Cameroons, which has her own internationally defined borders, is an occupied territory. All the agitation surrounding what is euphemistically called the “anglophone problem” is as a result of this relationship between a colonized people - to Mr. Fondong, “anglophones”, to me, Southern Cameroonians -  and the colonizer - to Mr. Fondong “francophones”, to me, the Camerounese. Wherever we stand, we mostly have imbibed the sizeable body of scientific literature on colonialism which holds that the colonizer always uses natives of Mr. Fondong’s caliber to maintain their rule over fellow natives.

The Anglophone Character: Myth or Reality?

By Julius Nyamkimah Fondong*
Sometimes in March, 2007 I went to the Service of Lands in Bamenda to register a piece of property I had just acquired. The technician I met in the office that Monday morning told me the registration will cost 157, 000 FRS CFA, which I promptly paid. Curiously when he brought my receipt I discovered that only the sum of 90,000 FRS had been receipted for. When I asked to know what had become of the outstanding 67,000 FRS, he gave me a long convoluted explanation of some unofficial charges connected with the transaction which I obviously did not understand. Because I was in no mood for a fight that early on a Monday morning, I let the matter drop but insisted the job had to be done immediately. While we were in the car going to inspect the property,  the technician – a gentleman of Aghem extraction – delved into a long tirade on how the francophones, especially the Betis, have destroyed Cameroon with what he called  their “chop-broke-pottism”. At that point I politely drew his attention to the fact that he and his colleagues had just ripped 67, 000FRS off me and I didn’t recall seeing any francophone or any Beti native around that office.

S . Cameroonian-American named Finalist for Heisman Trophy

Portland's own, Ndamukong Suh, named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy

Kari Chisholm

On Monday, a local kid named Ndamukong Suh was named one of five finalists for the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious individual award in college football (and, arguably, in all of sport.)

The selection of Suh, who went to Portland's Grant H.S. and now attends the University of Nebraska, is particular notable since it's almost unheard-of for a defensive player - especially one of those big grunts on the line - to earn a Heisman bid. (Since the days of playing both ways in leather helmets, only one defensive player has ever won - and only a handful have been finalists.) Suh would only be Portland's second-ever Heisman winner. (Oregon State's Terry Baker won in 1962.)

Continue reading story at http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/12/portlands-own-ndamukong-suh-named-a-heisman-finalist.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef012876309bba970c

WIDIKUM: A Forgotten Fondom Comes Alive!

By Innocent Chia
To the cross majority of Cameroonians in Chicago-land, kids and their parents simply called this affable figure “Uncle Joe”. That was before “Uncle Joe” traveled to Cameroon in the mid of 2009 to accept the honor his departing father had bestowed on him as he parted this World to the great beyond. Meantime, without ever letting the cat out of the bag that he was a “Mbeii” – enthroned royalty – Uncle Joe’s home has always been palace-like, bustling with activity and people shuffling in and out. The pots on the gas cooker have always been commercial-type pots, not because of his four kids – Iya, Franchika, Claude and Destiny. Auntie Mabel, with unparallel culinary skills, may have been cut out for her husband’s destiny (no pun intended); feeding large numbers that come and go like at the Widikum Palace she seemed to have been prepping for.

The Chiareport caught up with the Fon – a self-confessed friend of the Chiareport – and the man whose dexterity on computers has earned him a living in Chicago for the last decade, was at ease in his new wardrobe.

The SDF: Arrogance in Failure

By Julius Nyamkimah Fondong*

Since its audacious launching in May 1990, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), Cameroon’s frontline opposition party has gone from an influential political powerhouse to an inconsequential player on Cameroon’s political chessboard. The story of the SDF as a political formation during the last nineteen years of its existence is also a story of deferred dreams, bungled chances, unfulfilled promises and dashed hopes.

If performance at elections can be considered the main barometer for measuring progress made, or lack thereof, by a political party, then as far as the SDF is concerned, the numbers speak eloquently for themselves.