Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

In His Own Words: Biyiti Essam Explains How State Funds Ended Up in His Personal Bank Account

"I was expecting a treasury check [from the Minister of Finance]... instead, three brawny fellows came into my office with a bag containing 250 millions Fcfa... Tell me, where should I have kept this money? You wanted me to keep the money in my home… for them to to come and knock off my kids before stealing the money?" Biyiti Essam

Jean-Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, Cameroon’s Minister of Communications and government spokesperson (whom his detractors like to refer to as "petit Goebbels") is in hot water. He is accused of diverting 140 million Fcfa, meant to prepare for the Pope’s visit, into his private bank account. There are also questions about the 70 million Fcfa paid to a Gabonese firm to supply four giant screens used during the Pope’s mass in Yaounde. The Minister has already appeared before the state prosecutor. Here are excerpts [in English] of an interview which he gave to the French language daily Le Messager (my translation).

This interview gives us a rare first-hand insight into how government works (or does not work) in Cameroon. Even more significant than the issue of embezzlement, is the realization that neither Cameroon nor the entire CEMAC region seem to have modern financial mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of funds within the country or the entire region - bags and bouncers play the role usually reserved for financial institutions… This story would have been quite hilarious had the stakes not been so high…

Obama: 100 Days, 100 Ways

By David Usborne (Originally published in The Independent)

From closing down Guantanamo and banishing lobbyists, to dressing down in the Oval Office and planting vegetables on the South Lawn, the Obama presidency is reshaping America. 

1 When presidents get invited to the annual Gridiron Dinner for a night of political skits among the Washington press corps, they always go. Not this one, who became the first sitting President politely to decline.

2 We have had lots of canine companions on the rugs of the Oval Office, but Obama's is the first first whose name, Bo, is also his master's initials. Better still, Portuguese water dogs come with fine Democrat credentials – Senator Ted Kennedy has litters of them.

Book Review - "No Turning Back" by Dibussi Tande

Reviewed by Lyombe Eko

Dibussi Tande. No Turning Back: Poems of Freedom 1990-1993. Langaa Research and Publishing (Bamenda, 2007).

   Writing is an existential act. To write is to proclaim loudly and clearly that one exists. From an historical perspective, those who would not have written something, anything, would not have existed!  However, writing is more than a mere proclamation of existence. Writers who have made their mark in life, whose proverbial pens have left strokes on the body politic of humanity are those who are engaged in the eternal struggles of human existence, ­the fight for justice, fairness, human dignity, as well as the right to appreciate the sacred and the aesthetically pleasing things of life.

25 Years Ago... Former First Lady Germaine Ahidjo on the 1984 Coup Attempt

In this final installment in our ongoing series on the April 6, 1984 coup attempt, we finally hear from former First Lady Germaine Ahidjo. In Part 1, she responds to long-standing claims that the April 1984 coup was the handiwork of her husband Ahmadou Ahidjo, Paul Biya's predecessor. And in Part 2 she talks about the life of the Ahidjo family immediately after the coup, of the Ahidjos being stripped of their Cameroonian nationality by the Biya regime, and the death and burial of the former president in Dakar, Senegal, in November 1989 (French).

See also: Repaid in his own Coins: Ahmadou Ahidjo and the Politics of Ostracism

25 Years Ago… Captain Guerandi Mbara on the 1984 Coup Attempt

25 years ago a 30-year old army Captain cast in the mold of the young African revolutionary soldiers of the 1980s rallied young officers in Cameroon in an attempt to overthrow the Biya regime. After the failure of the coup attempt, that soldier, Captain Guerandi Mbara, successfully evaded the massive security dragnet of loyalist forces and made his way to Burkina Faso where his friend and former classmate at the Yaounde Military Academy, a certain Blaise Compaore had just organized a successful coup less than a year earlier which brought Captain Thomas Sankara to power.

Upon arrival in the “land of the incorruptibles", Guerandi did not simply fade away, a bitter and frustrated former soldier unable to adapt to civilian life or to life in exile.

25 Years Ago... Tales of Ex-Leader's Role In Revolt Stun Cameroon

By Jonathan C. Randal (Washington Post Foreign Service)

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, April 14, 1984 -- A week after loyalist troops crushed a coup attempt by the elite palace guard here, shocked Cameroonians are assessing the damage to their once proud image as a rare example of African political stability and prosperity.

The official Cameroon Tribune summed up the gloomy mood in an editorial lamenting that now Cameroon had "joined the list of 32 out of 51 independent African states that have suffered at least 62 attempted, or successful, coups since 1960."

But perhaps the most disheartening aspect for residents here is the widespread belief that behind the episode is former president Ahmadou Ahidjo, the man who put Cameroon on a stable footing following independence in 1960 and voluntarily turned over power in 1981 to his hand-picked successor, President Paul Biya, to finish his term.

25 Years Ago... Gabriel Ebili: "How I Saved the Biya Regime"

Originally published in Le Jour, July 1, 2008.

  A technician at Radio Cameroun during the April 6, 1984 coup attempt, it is thanks to his actions that the mutineers’ coup proclamation was never heard beyond Yaounde. 24 years after his act of bravery, he is now a poor winemaker living in Bibondi in the Ocean division (South province).

The April 6 1984 coup failed in part because of this Radio Cameroon technician whom many Cameroonians believe is dead. Gabriel Ebili, the technician, is still alive.

The face of the man whom we met yesterday in Yaounde is marked by misery. With his hair unkempt hair and his clothes old and dirty, Gabriel Ebili was anxious to tell us about the crazy day of April 6 1984. His voice trembling with emotion, the former technician at the Department of Radio Operations is proud that he saved the institutions of the republic, particularly "the Biya regime" as he puts it. "But to what benefit?" he asks.

25 Years Ago... "Le 6 Avril": Ruminations on a Date with Destiny

Isaac Njoh Endeley*

On the 6th of April 1984, I was an ambitious and enthusiastic young student simultaneously enrolled in the Advanced School of Mass Communication (ASMAC) and the Faculty of Law & Economics at the Université de Yaoundé in Cameroon. Like many others in my age group at the time, I was very optimistic about the future of my country, having previously witnessed what appeared like a smooth and peaceful transfer of power from President Ahmadou Ahidjo to his hand-picked successor, President Paul Biya.

25 Years Ago... The April 6, 1984 Coup Proclamation

Here is the English version of the April 6, 1984 coup proclamation, reportedly written by Issa Adoum, the civilian head of the coup and former CEO of Fonader, who was executed in Mbalmayo on May 2, 1984. The proclamation was read on the national radio station in Yaounde by 2d Lt Yaya Adoum.

25 Years Ago... The April 6, 1984 Coup Attempt in Cameroon

Shooting and tank movements were reported around Cameroon's presidential palace today in what appeared to be West Africa's second coup in three days - LA Times

On April 6, 1984, rogue elements from the Republican Guards, led by Colonel Saleh Ibrahim, tried to overthrow President Paul Biya who had succeeded President Ahmadou Ahidjo on November 6, 1982. Throughout this week, this blog will revisit this event which many believed changed the course of Cameroon's history. We begin with a video narrative of events leading up to the coup attempt, particularly the split between President Biya and his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo (French).

Memory Lane Video (March 13, 1962): President Kennedy Welcomes Ahmadou Ahidjo

President Kennedy welcomes President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon at Washington National Airport - March 13, 1962.

Mr. President:
I want to welcome you to the United States and to this Capital on behalf of the American people. I think all of us, living as we do a great many thousand miles from your own country, having a different history, separated in time and space, are impressed by the efforts that you personally have made, and your people have made, to build a viable and strong economy and country.