Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

100 Ways to Pilfer a Public Corporation: Notes from the Trial of Gerard Ondo Ndong

Dibussi Tande

As the trial of disgraced former Director General of FEICOM, Ondo Ndong, continues this week, the facts that have so far emerged illustrate how Cameroon’s public corporations, or parastatals as they are commonly known, have become milking cows for the ruling elite and their cronies. Prebendary practices which were hitherto the subject of rumor and conjecture have now been confirmed in open court. The FEICOM case has also exposed the complete absence of credible oversight mechanisms to either oversee the management of these corporations or to monitor compliance to their statutory missions. As a result, these corporations are run like private estates. And their budgets simply serve as piggy banks for officials who spend every living moment planning the next big swindle.

African Path: Filling a Huge Void in African Cyberspace

One of the most exciting events in the African cyberspace this year has undoubtedlty been the launching on January 1, 2007 of African Path, an innovative and ambitious news and blog aggregator dedicated exclusively to African affairs.

According to Joshua Wanyama, one of the brains behind African Path initiative, the site was created “to fill a void in the marketplace for a strong Pan-African web site where news content and blogging can be merged into a unified voice.”

2007 World Freedom Survey: Cameroon Still "Not Free", Rest of Africa Suffers "Modest Reversals"

Freedom House, the US-based think tank which monitors development and freedom around the world, has released its worldwide survey of political rights and civil liberties for 2007.

Titled Freedom in the World 2007, the report points to the "emergence of a series of worrisome trends that present potentially serious threats to the expansion of freedom in the future" and notes that "the percentage of countries designated as Free has remained flat for nearly a decade and suggests that a ‘freedom stagnation’ may be developing."

Cameroon Newspapers on the Web: Eden Newspaper Joins the Club

Martin Jumbam has just drawn my attention that the Limbe-based Eden newspaper, which is a subsidiary of the Eden Media group, recently established itself on the web.

Eden Newspaper and Buea-based The Post are the most popular English language newspapers in Cameroon.

Click here to go to the Eden Newspaper website.

Another Cameroonian English language Newspaper Goes Online

After the launching of its maiden (print) issue in December 2006, the Limbe-based The Sun newspaper becomes the latest Cameroonian English language weekly to establish an Internet presence. It joins a select group of newspapers such as The Post, L'Effort Camerounais, and The Entrepreneur which have already carved a niche for themselves on the web.

The Sun hopes to become a credible and respected presence on the Cameroonian media scene with what its staff promises will be balanced, fair and factual reporting.

The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba - January 17, 1961

"The day will come when history will speak... Africa will write its own history... it will be a history of glory and dignity." - Patrice Lumumba

BY Kevin Whitelaw

It was the height of the Cold War when Sidney Gottlieb arrived in Congo in September 1960. The CIA man was toting a vial of poison. His target: the toothbrush of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's charismatic first prime minister, who was also feared to be a rabid Communist.   

Lumumba being humiliated after his arrest while an elated Mobutu looks on

As it happened, Lumumba was toppled in a military coup just days before Gottlieb turned up with his poison. The plot was abandoned, the lethal potion dumped in the Congo River.

Deconstructing Regional Balance and Higher Education in Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

Should admissions into state-owned universities be based solely on merit or should “sociological balance” be taken into account?

At the root of the deadly crisis that engulfed the University of Buea in November / December 2006 were deep-seated disagreements over the application of the principle of “regional balance”, Cameroon’s attempt at affirmative action. The crisis began when Prof. Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Higher Education invalidated the list of successful candidates eligible to participate in the oral part of the entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine which had been published by that university’s Vice Chancellor.

Can Cameroon’s New Criminal Procedure Code Deliver “Justice with a Human Face”?

Dibussi Tande

Cameroon’s much heralded new criminal procedure code went into effect today, January 1, 2007.  Adopted by Parliament in July 2005, the new code is a hybrid system which merges key features of the French Civil law and English Common law systems, along with customary law.

Before the adoption of the new code, criminal procedure was governed in Francophone Cameroon by the French code d’instruction criminelle of February 14 1838 and its subsequent amendments, while in Anglophone Cameroon, it was governed by a variety of common law texts, primarily the Nigerian Criminal Procedure Ordinance of 1958.