Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Israel: The Right to (Self) Defend and not to (Collectively) Punish

Dibussi Tande

I have tried very hard to be “intellectual” and “academic” about what is going on in Lebanon, and to rationalize Israeli actions as a desperate act of self preservation (in fact this article was initially conceived in that mold), but I cannot just bring myself to accept that conclusion. There is no justification, moral, legal or otherwise, for the complete destruction of a country and its infrastructure, and for the indiscriminate killing of innocent and hapless civilians as it happened in Qana, in the name of the right to self defense.

Web Polls by Vizu

The Untouchables: Politically Mediated Loans and Political Impunity in Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

In his 1993 study on accumulation and the cultural politics of identity in the Grassfields (in Pathways to Accumulation in Cameroon), Michael Rowlands observed that in Cameroon, there was a “natural affinity between the stream of power and the stream of money or credit”.  He argued that the country was plagued by "an ethos of ostentatious consumption" and by "unproductive patterns of investment and reliance on the state patronage for accumulation".  The surest path to the accumulation of wealth in Cameroon was through politics.

Higher Education in Cameroon: When Chickens Come to Roost

It was an apparently innocuous article tucked deep inside a recent issue of Cameroon Tribune, but its content was yet another message of despair from Cameroon. According to the article,

"Out of some 10,000 candidates who sat for the competitive entrance examination into the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance, recently launched for holders of First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC), over 4,000 were university graduates."

Paradise Lost: Robert Fisk's Elegy for Beirut

The Independent (UK)

Elegant buildings lie in ruins. The heady scent of gardenias gives way to the acrid stench of bombed-out oil installations. And everywhere terrified people are scrambling to get out of a city that seems tragically doomed to chaos and destruction. As Beirut - 'the Paris of the East' - is defiled yet again, Robert Fisk, a resident for 30 years, asks: how much more punishment can it take?

Introducing the Imhotep Blog (Contributors Wanted)

By Emil I Mondoa, M.D. (Culled from JimbiMedia)

You  most likely  do not know the distinguished looking man on the right, but perhaps you should. If you are a Nigerian or English-speaking Cameroonian who has tried to exercise academic excellence, he has influenced you directly or indirectly through people whom he has influenced. He is the legendary Nigerian mathematician, Chike Obi. Growing up, the name Chike Obi was synonymous with superhuman mathematical ability. I did not even believe that he was a real person until my aunt and I went to visit the late Professor Obenson at his office at the University of Lagos. Next door or a few doors down were the magical words: "Professor Chike Obi, Head of Department of Mathematics". I nearly fainted.

The State of Information & Communications Technologies in Cameroon: A Government Perspective

Cameroon: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Third Annual Progress Report
Published: July 18, 2006
Series: IMF Country Report No. 06/260 (70 Pages)
Format: Electronic (free) & Paper (US$15.00)

The IMF today made public Cameroon's Third annual Progress Report which was submitted by that country's Government in February 2006,. The report is based on data which was valid as of December 31, 2005. According to the IMF, these country progress reports “describe the country's macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing.”

New Blog on the Block: www.ekosso.com

Sometime last week, I wrote about the virtual absence of Cameroonian bloggers in the African bloggosphere. I am happy to report that since that posting, the Cameroonian blogging community has been enriched with a new blog, www.ekosso.com, which is maintained by Rosemary Ekosso, a translator and courtroom interpreter at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

Creative Appropriation of the Internet by Africans

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Culled from Africa's Media, Democracy and the Politics of Belonging. London: Zed Books. (May 2005). 320 pages. Cost: Hardback: £ 60.00 $85.00; Paperback: £ 18.95 $29.95

1. Africa and the Information Superhighway: What Future? (pp. 14-15)
Politically and socially, the Internet once fully developed and widely installed, could indeed offer Africans many avenues to address current predicaments and promote good governance (Berger 1998; Jensen 2000; Leslie 2002).

Forza Italia after All...

World Cup Finals: France’s “African Legion” at the Center Stage

Dibussi Tande

As I write these lines, about one billion football fans across the world have already congregated around TV and radio sets to watch or listen to this year’s World Cup finals between France and Italy, two outsiders whom the bookmakers did not expect to be the last men standing. Football aficionados will tell you that this is the first all-European World Cup finals since 1982 when Italy beat Germany to win the trophy. They will also remind you that this will be the last game and final au revoir in the scintillating football career of Zinedine Zidane, three-time FIFA World Player of the Year and legendary captain of the French national team.

Blogging among Africans: Is a Revolution Really at Hand?

For next few days, we will take a look how Africans at home and in the Diaspora are harnessing the Internet (particularly the power of weblogs) to build vibrant cyber-communities, provide alternative analyses of events in the continent, challenge oppressive national regimes, and express personal views on a variety of issues.

We will also attempt to look at the future of African blogging. Can the African blogosphere become as influential and dynamic as that of the United States where leading political blogs have become part of the mainstream media, and where leading political bloggers play a major role in shaping political discourse?

In Search of the Elusive “BigFoot”: Where are the Cameroonian Bloggers?

By Dibussi Tande

In March 2006, South Africa organized its second annual South African Blog Award to recognize and celebrate the best of the South African blogs. The vibrancy of the South African blogging community was evident from the wide range of blog categories that were short-listed.

On June 1, 2006, Kenyan bloggers celebrated the first ever Kenyan Bloggers Day during which Kenyan bloggers around the world wrote about the state of Kenyan society, presented their vision of Kenya, and celebrated the ties that bind the tight-knit Kenyan blogging community.

Reuters - "Cameroon May Lose all Doctors by 2009"

Reuters - Cameroon coulld lose all of its 3,000 practising doctors within three years if the Government does not act quickly to stem a brain drain in the health sector, the national doctors' association says.

"Between now and 2009, if nothing is done to stop this mass exodus, our hospitals will be empty," Professor Tetanye Okie, vice president of the ONMC association of doctors, said.

"The Government may be forced to undertake a massive recruitment of young doctors."