Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

SELLING AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE: Developing the Market for African Intellectual Property

ByDayo Ogunyemi

"Africans must lose any naïveté about how IP rights are managed and exploited in developed economies. Historically, African content creators have had a lack of awareness about the international market value of their IP creations as well as the complexities of copyright and contract law that govern their trade."

In the wake of the copyright / Intellectual Property controversy over the 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem, Scribbles from the Den republishes a very educaitonal article from 2003 in which Dayo Ogunyemi, who once ran an entertainment law practice in New York, argues that there is a dire need to raise awareness within Africa about the value of Intellectual Property (IP), and the remedies that are available when these rights have been violated. Read on...

Cameroon: A country not measuring up to its vast potential

By HARRIET ISOM (former US ambassador to Cameroon - Originally published in the East Oregonian)

In May I went back for a week to my last posting in the Foreign Service - Cameroon in Central Africa. I served there as U.S. Ambassador from 1993 to 1996. I wanted to see how this country of such great potential had changed - or not - in the intervening 15 years.

I had forgotten how beautiful this country is. There are the white and black sand beaches, the volcanoes, the lakes and lush highlands, the tropical forests, the old grassland kingdoms bursting with history and art and the totally different north with its terrain similar to America's southwest and boasting a nice game park. Cameroon should be, but isn't yet, part of the tourist route in Africa.

Cameroon: Our Future is Anglophone

By Patrice Nganang (Translated from French by Dibussi Tande)

Confronted with such a flurry of Cameroonian talent in English, how can we not breathe a sigh of relief? If our country's macabre present has become an unending one, we can at least proclaim today that Cameroon has a future, and it is Anglophone.

Our future is Anglophone. This should be obvious to anyone who is closely observing the evolution of Cameroonian intellectual output in the last few years. The reasons for this are not even linked to the fact that apart from their language of expression, Cameroonian writers in English have, without doubt, pulled the last chestnuts out of the fire that was colonization, with the language of Shakespeare giving them right away a global platform, with all the benefit that this has with regards to the dissemination of knowledge. No, there are other reasons, and here are five of them. 

Congo: So You Too Can Cry Mr. President?

A Guest commentary by Cédric Kalonji (Translated from French by Scribbles from the Den)

It is hard to believe. To see the very strong and powerful President of the Republic of Congo crying, supported by two women, is proof that he is a human being after all, made of flesh and blood.
 

Mr. Sassou Nguesso is crying for his daughter, Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, wife of Gabonese president Omar Bongo Ondimba, who died on Saturday, March 14, 2009 in Rabat, Morocco.

How Ahmadou Ahidjo Under-Developed Northern Cameroon

By Jing Thomas

A sophisticated and scholarly people, with a longstanding history of trade, politics, learning and animal husbandry, was lulled to sleep with the narcotics of "balanced development" and its dangerous by-product of favoritism.

Balanced development is not a new concept. In the context of post-colonial Africa, with its fragile ethnic patchworks that pass for nations and a development landscape disfigured by history and culture, the concept seems all the more imperative and provides a perfect recipe for social justice and political stability. After all, is there any greater claim to true development than one that is collective? And did all parts of any country see the light the same day?

In a multi-ethnic nation, while the benefits of development enjoyed by each tribal or regional component may not necessarily be commensurate with its contribution, a minimum sense of fairness demands that everyone should be seen to be making maximum effort, at least to justify entitlement to such benefits. The same sense requires that any development experiment should be based on strict and morally sound rules and devoid of double standards and opportunism. Here, Ahidjo's efforts at uniting around the notion of balanced development start to develop warts.

OBAMARAMA, or, the 2008 US Presidential Election through Cameroonian Eyes

By Brian (PCV in Cameroon)

Lots of Cameroonians are borderline obsessed with [Obama] and his candidacy... I think it’s also about what Obama’s candidacy tells them about America. It tells them that son of an African student can rise to become leader of one of the largest and most powerful nations on earth. It reinforces the idea that somewhere in the world is a place where people can rise above the limitations imposed on them by others and make something of their lives.

If you thought I was out of touch with US politics, rest assured that’s not the case. Even if I had no internet access and no desire to follow politics, I would still be hearing about the election from all my Cameroonian friends (and some passing acquaintances and occasionally even strangers). Cameroonians have plenty of access to international news on the TV and radio. Via satellite or cable many households even have CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, not to mention the BBC, Al Jazeera, French news programs, etc.

A Very Long Layover - Nightmare at the Douala International Airport

By Alexis Grant (Originally posted on Inksling in Africa)

Douala airport officials are known for demanding bribes from foreigners trying to leave the country.

But two South African men I met in the airport while waiting for my flight told me a story that trumps all the rest.

The men joined me in a small air-conditioned lounge attached to the airport’s lone restaurant, where I was killing time before my 2 a.m. flight to South Africa. We were the only three people there, and we chatted while I ate a plate of spaghetti, one of the few items on the menu. We quickly realized that all three of us were going to South Africa, albeit on different flights.

US Presidential Elections: A Prerequisite for the White House

A guest commentary by Eric Makuna Tande

"More than ever, the president of the ‘free world’ must have the intellectual girth and depth to devour and synthesize vast amounts of information in real time and make decisions that can profoundly affect the US and the world."

There is a very revealing moment in the long running Sen. McCain biography on CNN. With a smile on his face, Sen. McCain recounts the events of one of his earlier plane crashes while in the navy. He goes on to say that he realized only during the crash that he had not read the critical information on ejection during a crash. McCain had somehow made the determination that the chapter or chapters on emergency ejection were optional reading.

This decision is worthy of note.

The “Anglophone Problem” in Cameroon: A creation of “Counter Elite Intellectuals”?

By Jean-Germain Gros [Culled from « Preface » Cameroon: Politics and Society in Critical Perspectives. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America: 2003]

Rightly or wrongly, Anglophones in Cameroon today, or at least their elite, feel that they are second-class citizens of a country dominated by Francophones… I believe tat Anglophone nationalists (or at least the more ardent among them) miss several points about the Francophone-Anglophone divide.

First the division of Cameroon between “Francophones” and “Anglophones” is more historical and geographic than linguistic. A Mbororo (a member of the Peul ethnic group) cattle raiser, who has difficulties communicating even with her fellow Foulbe brethren in Fulfulde, might be quite surprised that she is “Francophone”.

Obama: The Community Activist - Republican Disconnect

By Eric Makuna Tande

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities... My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.” Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska at the Republican National Convention.

Even when Republicans have common roots, their understanding of the lives and concerns of the less advantaged is lightweight. How can Gov. Palin – and her speech writers - not understand what a Community Activist does?

US Senator Barack Obama with Eric Tande

How can she not understand the significance of a young man dedicating his life to mending the lives of people who have lost their livelihoods and the ability to support their families and community after the closure of steel mills in Middle America? Her attempt at belittling the service Obama rendered as a community activist does not even qualify as political theatre.

The New York Times Sells Cameroon for $250,000

By Sofia Jarrin Hurtado (Originally published on IndyBay)

On a silver platter this past Sunday, The New York Times magazine featured no less than eight pages towards the liberalization of the economy in Cameroon.
 
Showing off its excellence in corporate media advertising, the NY Times magazine sold prominent space to Cameroon business traders so they can in turn sell their country’s resources to U.S. investors, no doubt to the demise of many of its citizens. “Cameroon ready for growth, ready for investment,” reads a headline on page 59 which goes on to explain the country’s “quest for sustainable growth...”