The Chia Report

Dipanda Mouelle and the Judicial Independence Conundrum

By: Julius Nyamkimah Fondong*

During the recent solemn opening of the judicial year in Cameroon, Supreme Court Chief Justice, the Honorable Alexis Dipanda Mouelle took advantage of the occasion to again raise the issue of the independence of judges in Cameroon. The Honorable president of the court pontificated that the independence of judges was an essential prerequisite for the dispensation of “quality justice”. And for this to be attained judges must be free of all pressure, especially financial, political and social pressures.  The Chief Justice further lamented the numerous ills that plaque Cameroon’s judiciary, to wit, long delays, its irrational organization, its inaccessibility, the frequent use of “esoteric language”, prohibitive costs, lack of transparency, multiple adjournments, protracted litigations etc. 

 
This comprehensive laundry list compels one to concede that the Honorable President of the Supreme Court exudes total mastery of his subject matter. He himself wears the shoes and so stands a better chance of knowing where it pinches. But the fact is that there is really nothing new in what Chief Justice Dipanda is saying.  It is a situation well known to the nation.

Constitutional Quagmires in Niger and Nigeria: Same Shit Different Toilets…

By Innocent Chia

Sickness is not a bad thing at all. At least, it is one of the greatest takeaway lessons and gifts from the ailing President of Nigeria, Yaradua to students of Constitutional law, political observers and other commentators in Africa. President Yar’Adua’s debilitated sojourn in Saudi Arabia and recent return – 23rd November 2009 to 25th February, 2010 – confirms why law maker and politician stand steadfastly behind patently inexplicit pieces of law. In this piece The Chiareport clues-in on the source of vagueness.
Also, we explore why February’s coup d’Etat ousting President Mamadou Tandja of Niger has to be seen as the legacy of choice by leaders who want to eternalize themselves in power. The obvious argument here is that there would have been no coup if the President had respected the constitution in the first place.

The Haitian Apocalypse (Part II) - “We saw a light”

By Julius Nyamkimah Fondong*

Six weeks after a ferocious earthquake hit Haiti, claiming 225,000 lives and causing untold damage to life and property, life is gradually but surely coming back to normal.  For the United Nations staff - who lost close to 100 of their colleagues with about 2 dozen others still unaccounted for - a long healing process has begun. The Mission is in the process of re-structuring itself and re-defining its mandate.

Banks, Poverty and Cameroon

Written by Hinsley Njila and edited by Innocent Chia
Warning: This article requires a basic understanding of country-level economics.

Cameroon must urgently reform its banking sector or delay its economic progress indefinitely.

Common sense tells us that for any country to have any kind of sustained economic growth, people and businesses must have access to capital in order to take risks, buy equipment and supplies, undertake capital investments, hire workers etc. Banks and major lending institutions are typically the best and most effective channels for central banks to manage money supply and control inflation in any economy. In our article, we are looking at how banks in Cameroon are contributing to economic development compared to those in South Africa, Nigeria and South Korea in their respective countries.

 
All the data we use come from the world development indicators database (WDI) at the World Bank.

The Chinese Charm

By Innocent Chia
  Regardless of who we are and where we live, there are a finite number of variables determining why we elect to pay so much for a piece of furniture, a car, a loaf of bread, or a medical service at the local clinic or hospital. A most important of these variables is price – Can I afford it? More often than not, the price is secondary to or dependent on the need. Therefore, if we desperately need the item or service and can afford it, we are willing to pay the price tag. In this follow-up piece to an earlier posting which I titled “The Chinese of Province of Cameroon”, I am positing that the Chinese bait of selling new and defective products is largely succeeding in Africa because of a wanton absence of any consumer protection agencies, little consumer knowledge, and governments made up of officials who have inoculated themselves from the ability to care enough for their people.

If Cameroon Were Haiti

By Hinsley Njila and Innocent Chia

The horrors of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti’s capital last week, six miles below the surface of the earth, will be etched in many a mind for the rest of eternity. Its infamy also guarantees that we will never find out the exact number of people who’ve died as a result. Moreover, the world will never know the identities of these brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters. While it’s obvious that such a tragedy couldn’t be avoided, there are lessons in this calamity for Cameroon and other poor nations to be better prepared to potentially save thousands of lives if the un-likable happens.

God!!! Why Haiti Again?

By Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum* (Intro and Editing by Innocent Chia)
The human toll in the natural calamity that has blanketed Haiti may be reaching the six figures (100,000) by the time a complete count is done. Unfortunately, that “complete” count may never be complete even as eye reporters are conveying tales not only about mass graves, but also the doubling, tripling and squeezing of corpses into old crypts. Its ugliness is so compounding one easily forgets recent man-made and natural disasters that have sworn the kiss of death on the impoverished Island of Black descent that gained independence in 1804.

Worldwide cheap calling cards

 
  
In the several paragraphs that follow, Pastor Eric Ngum Mangek takes the approach of the healthcare professional that must apply iodine to a fresh wound to cut off the bleeding and stop possible infection while the patient is cursing under their breadth. I, Innocent Chia, personally thank God for “Passing Over” the offices of several Cameroonians working in Haiti. Some names that come to mind are Collins, Mengale and our regular contributor on the Chiareport – Julius Fondong. Another friend, Laura was devastated on her Facebook page as she watched helplessly on TV from Cameroon. But could God not Passover the entire Haiti and spare its already afflicted people? 

A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – BARACK OBAMA

By Walang M. Abang
Mr. President, accept greetings from the people of Africa. This essay may not represent the view of all the peoples of Africa, but it will certainly cut across the lives of all people of African origin living in the Diaspora. Africa is blessed abundantly with many natural resources and peoples of various backgrounds and cultures. We are a generation that has started taking our responsibilities into our hands by working hard to excel in whatever domain we engage. What I write here should not be taken for a complaint; these are just my observations which I want to share with you, hence, with the rest of the world.
 

Worldwide cheap calling cards

Yang Vs. Biya

Worldwide cheap calling cards

By Innocent Chia
For those of us that have lived long enough to endure the ineptitude of 27-plus years of President Biya, palpable frustrations in his inability to manage the country star in reminders such as the recycling of the Ebolowa Agro-Congress that was scheduled to hold on the aftermath of the Bamenda Congress of 1984. Injecting the Ebolowa Agro-Pastoral Show in his year-opening 2010 address to the nation is a painful reminder of projects that have either been abandoned on the sole premise that they were part of Ahidjo’s Five-year Development plan, or because the regime has never ever had a clear agro-pastoral vision for Cameroon. Whatever the case, Biya’s regime hardly can showoff more than a palm-full of projects it has initiated and completed successfully. Most everything is copy-work from the haunting ghost of Ahmadou Ahidjo, the Post Master.
The purpose of this piece is twofold: the first is to fact-check the mining projects that Biya has outlined in his 27th consecutive speech to the nation on December 31st, 2009. By the end of the day we conclude with absolute certainty that his speech writers either failed in their research work or that Biya warned them to include misleading falsehoods as to the beginning dates of projects in the Mining sector. Seccondly, we attempt a lopsided comparison of Yang’s six months in power to the 27 plus years of Master Biya bi Mvondo. Our conclusion does not fail you either – P.M Philemon Yang has been absolutely brilliant in comparison to the F grade score of his boss.

P.M Philemon Yang Promotes Canadian Interests; Tipped to Betray SCNC

Worldwide cheap calling cards

Co-written and Edited by Innocent Chia
Philemon Yunji Yang has never before held elective office. He has always enjoyed being golden-spoon fed into bureaucratic bottlenecks and by machinations of autocratic regime(s). This readily explains his abrasiveness when,  barely a week following his appointment as Prime Minister of President Paul Biya’s farmland - the Republique du Cameroun – he eagerly handed the trophy to the heavy delegation of uninvited Northwest Fons who were trading greed for shame. The Prime Minister said ‘thanks, but no thanks” and returned the symbolic traditional gifts - North West traditional regalia and “red feather” – that the delegation of traditional fossils had offered to him. But his sassiness or lack of sophistication in dealing with the band of Royal beggars – who considered it insulting to have been handed a paltry CFA 100,000 per delegation – has lasted less than a full moon. He learnt on the way to a recent mission to the North West province – for festivities marking Biya’s 27 year monarchy – that you can only curse the barber if you are perennially bald.

"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.

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.

Will Mankind Self Destruct or Agree To Save Itself? - Dr Richard T. Munang on Climate Change

Interview conducted by Innocent Chia
 
A little less than a month from today (Dec. 7th – Dec. 18th), in the Danish cosmopolitan capital city of Copenhagen, environmental experts like UNEP’s Richard Tingem Munang will  look to President Obama and his peers to provide political will and leadership on the pressing issue of climate change. While the big boys, and girl, club will be making these far-reaching decisions of global import, a looming concern for activists is what will happen to the Africas of the world that pollute least but are set to suffer most if nothing is done? As climate change Deputy Project Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Cameroon-born Richard T. Munang (PhD) is part of a team charged with the daunting task of saving the world from itself with smart policies that build communities while saving the world.  

Thanks to the convenience of social media networks, Chiareport caught up with Dr. Richard T. Munang for an exclusive focusing on what Climate Change means to Africa and Africans.

DISCLAIMER

The Chiareport (www.chiareport.com) article: "President Paul Biya's cabinet in jail - G11" has been defaced and mischievously reproduced by an online publication (ICICEMAC) without prior express or implied permission from its publisher, affiliates or legal representatives.

We sincerely apologize to you, our cherished readers and more especially to the family, friends and legal counsel (s) of Professor Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara that our original article does not carry any images suggesting or linking the accused former Minister of State to a "coup d'etat."

Also, the insinuation that the chiareport is published in Buea is patently false.

In view of upholding the high standards of universal journalism, the chiareport has undertaken the following actions: 

• Immediately exercised the right to post this disclaimer on the website of the online publication spreading falsehoods and misrepresentations    
• Immediately discontinued referencing their weblink on www.chiareport.com 
• Taken any and all relevant legal action to ensure that the chiareport is not associated with similar acts of willful misrepresentation of journalistic facts.

We plead you, once more, to accept our regrets. 

Regards, 

Innocent Chia 

Publisher 

www.chiareport.com

Professor Titus Edzoa’s Seeding of G-11 – Part II of President Paul Biya’s Cabinet in Jail

Co-written and Edited by Innocent Chia The arrest this Wednesday of the former boss of the National Petroleum Depots of Cameroon (SCDP), Jean-Baptiste Nguini Effa, is but another casualty in the all-daggers–drawn Fang Vs Ewondo ethnic rivalry. Even as the Government of Cameroon dutifully makes its case of embezzlement against Nguini Effa and conspirators, it will tread far off from the motive that Effa’s real crime is that he is Ewondo from Ngoumou Sub-Division in the Mefou Akono Division like Edzoa. Indeed, Jean-Baptiste Nguini Effa rose to power under the wings of an anomaly in the cabinet reshuffle of March 1985. In that reshuffle the arch-rivals of President Biya were booted out in favor of his ethnic Bulu / Fangs. The anomaly was Titus Edzoa. Irrefutably considered a very smart, dedicated pediatric surgeon, Professor Titus Edzoa was a workaholic employed at the Yaounde Central Hospital. He emerged as Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency.

President Paul Biya's Cabinet in Jail - G11

Co-Written and edited by Innocent Chia 

With elections a couple of years away in 2011, it is no-holds-barred in the raging battle to define ultimately whether or not power oscillates in the failed state of La Republique du Cameroon. In spite some brouhaha chiefly from some in Cameroun’s American Diaspora about fielding an “aboriginal Anglophone”, push is coming to shove and the main rivalry is an age-old hatchet between ethnic cousins: the Bulu / Fangs - of President Paul Biya - Vs the Ewondo’s - of the belated Ayissi Mvondo, who was murdered cold blood in Paris. In spite his death, his affect is far from over. The torchbearers of the Ayissi Mvonvo clan are known today as G-11, a pseudonym that aptly describes the goal of regaining supremacy in Cameroon’s geo-political landscape in 2011. 

Hammering another nail into Cameroon’s economic coffin

By Hinsley Njila - Senior Economic Analyst at www.chiareport.com 

Illustrated and edited by Innocent Chia

The lifeblood of any economy, whether it be that of Burkina Faso or United States is the small business owner. In fact, one can easily make the case that small business owners are far more important in developing countries in terms of their relative contribution to GDP in their local economies than they are in developed countries. Plus what is ‘big’ business in developing countries is so easy to define as there are only a handful of companies that would fit the criteria. In the following piece, we will be making the case that to strengthen its economy, Cameroon should be encouraging competition among small business owners, as well as enabling consumer groups that would educate and empower consumers. These are clear, reasonable and proven choices that are working the world over, not the choices made by the Cameroon Minister of Commerce.

Dieudonne Ambassa Zang – A Nightmare for Biya’s 2011 Presidential Bid

Co-Written and Edited Innocent Chia Even though the 2011 presidential elections appear to be far a-field, there is growing concern in the Biya household that self-succession to the throne of his Cameroon kingdom is looking a lot less than a slam dunk. The “boy’s” recent trip to Monsieur Sarkozy in France yielded a mixed bag: “Yes” Sarkozy said to Biya, “I will give you money on condition that you conduct free and fair Senatorial Elections before the 2011 Presidential”. But that is just one headache. Major trouble for the headache of State is coming from within the house itself – L’ennemi est dans la maison. Armed with a lot of cash and sufficient backbone to split Biya’s electoral stronghold in the Center Region, the Honorable Dieudonne Ambassa Zang - a former Presidential Aide and confidante of President Biya - is out on the loose.

A Successful Network Marketing Couple Share their Recipe

A review by Innocent Chia Albert and Lema Nsah are, for all intents and purposes, the embodiment of the typical immigrant that settles wholesale for the American dream because motherland mostly offers a little less than a nightmare. They have walked through the valley of the shadow of doubt, insecurity and uncertainty: picking and choosing which bills to pay and which to pay at another date; cringing at the thought of walking the tight rope between home ownership and homelessness; wondering whether returning “home” with nothing to show for is an option… But all of that anxiety is nothing more than a story in a book that Albert and Lema authored about what has brought them unsuspecting success – Network Marketing.