Imhotep: The Collective African Blog

Obama's Humble Shoes

By Samira Edi

The time-honoured message is etched on the sole
Like a metaphor— an understatement of a rare gem’s soul
Just half of his story which reflects our very own lives
That from adversity, a patient phoenix soars and thrives

It is the seal of greatness encased in meekness and modesty
They bespeak the spirit that underscores his great personality
The logo of a man of unblemished integrity
Here’s the insignia of one who knows his priority

Niyi Osundare Wins the Tchicaya U'Tamsi Award for African Poetry

The Nation Online

Niyi Osundare, storyteller, a poet, dramatist, and literary critic whose mastery of English in its local fecundity brings life to mere words is not one for keeping silent. His personae has set a trailblazing path for Africa and Africans.

Osundare speaking in Buea on July 18, 2008 during the EduArt awards for Cameroon Literature in English

And come 7th of August 2008, in Assilah, Morocco, he will be setting yet another mark. This time, at the official presentation as the 2008 Laureate of the Tchicaya U'Tamsi Award for African Poetry.

Meet Dinkenesh, the (not so) Hidden Treasure of Ethiopia

Kangsen Feka Wakai (Originally published in Mshale)

Dinkenesh’s living quarters on the second floor of the Houston Museum of Natural Science is part of a 9,000 square-foot abode befitting a guest of her stature.  Hers is a journey that began in antiquity in a site she might be unable to recognize or remember – a place we humans call Ethiopia.

These days, Dinkenesh – or Lucy, as some like to call the 3.2 million-year-old fossil, the oldest ever found – slumbers in a glass casing under the watchful stare of an armed city of Houston police officer.  Houstonians owe her presence here to the Ethiopian government, museum authorities, and the exhibition’s financial underwriters. 

Black Struggle in America Today: Voices From Beyond

Thomas Jing

At The Slave House in Goree in Senegal, the large portal that opens onto the ocean was once said to be The Door of No Return to black people taken from Africa as slaves. This fortress that used to be a warehouse for slaves for about five centuries has now become a place of pilgrimage. Hundreds of thousands of black people have shuffled through the gloom of its dank corridors and stared with teary eyes and bleeding hearts at the corroding chains and shackles that secured their ancestors as they awaited shipment.

Nollywood: Too Compelling a Story to Ignore

Kangsen Feka Wakai (Originally published in Mshale)

According to urban mythology, Nollywood, as the Nigerian film industry has been dubbed, owes its birth partly to an excess of blank videotapes that flooded the Lagos streets in 1992.  The source: a single businessman. The myth goes on to claim that these tapes, which were likely to be discarded, would become the manger in which the Nollywood was born. This narrative coincides with the release of “Living in Bondage,” Nollywood’s version of Hollywood’s “Birth of a Nation.”

A Random Rant (for Joe La Conscience and Lapiro de Mbanga)

Kangsen Feka Wakai

I relish the hypocrisy!  A man is sentenced in a hasty trial for having an opinion.  Songs of opinion!  They retaliate.  Songs of condemnation!  They retaliate!  Songs of protest!  They retaliate!  Songs of peace!  They retaliate! 

An eleven-year-old boy is shot point blank in front of his mother and siblings. His crime, his artist father almost trekked a few kilometers to express his opinion about an on-going political debate.  He didn’t actually make it all the way because he was stopped by military authorities.  For that he is prison today.   

Disco in E-Major (A Poem)

Kangsen Feka Wakai

Time and time again
We’ve been told
How much they love the Zimbabweans
Just as much as they loved the Rhodesians.
Time and time again
We’ve watched from the sidelines
As they’ve made monsters of heroes and heroes of monsters.
Songs sung with the same zeal
With which they defended Smith and Botha.

Video: Breast Ironing in Cameroon

Warning: Video may be too graphic for some.

Rites of Passage (For the Cameroonian Youth)

Kangsen Feka Wakai

Daybreak…
So we substitute imminent adversity
With fantasies of bread loafs and sardines
Sixty pushups in twenty-seven seconds
Inhale Buddha’s breadth
Through the rusty tunnels
Of Babel’s abandoned underground towers
Exhale the fumes of yesterday’s infernos
So we can soar above today’s slums
And glimpse into the vast void of tomorrow.
Buzzing like bees

March 4th and Jim Crow in Houston

Kangsen Feka Wakai

Texas Southern University was born out of the struggle for equality in the realm of education within a larger society rife with racism and discrimination. 

It was initially named Texas State University for Negroes.  According to campus folklore, TSU came to being as a way of preventing a black student from enrolling at the University of Texas in Austin.  He had argued it was his constitutional right.

It's a Tough Life!!!

Of Monarchs and the Power Drunk in Cameroon

By Kangsen Feka Wakai (Originally published in Pambazuka News)

This is the problem with Cameroon: All power in the country rests in the hands of one man, the President - Paul Biya.

He is the commander-in-chief-of the armed forces, the Fon of Fons [Chief Monarch amongst all monarchs], the chief magistrate of the land, head treasurer and of course chief legislator.

Truth be told, most of those passing for legitimate legislators and representatives of the people, and they know it, owe their seats to his benevolence. To say the least, Cameroon is a one sophisticated scheme of a neo-colonial entity.

Will Bongo Outlast them All?

The Adamu Family

The bushbabies crew are a pair of escapees from an exotic hunter’s trap. Rescued by benevolent animal rights activists, the bushbabies now live in the comfort in a safe location amongst safe people.

The Adamu Family

xxxx

Systemic Change in Cameroon: What Role for the Diaspora?

By Samira Edi

When it comes to unconstitutional misbehavior, Biya is in good company. Our protestations not withstanding, the government is a deaf mute. The protestations of the people count for nothing, especially when the international community backed by the western media does not give it tannoy support. Biya is following the footsteps of the Omar Bongos, the Sasso Nguessos, the Obasanjos,  the Kibakis, the Mugabes, the Obiang Nguemas of Africa... disreputable zoo community of dictators who cling to power!

Shifting Nationalities and Fleeting Identities

Kangsen Feka Wakai

When my mother’s father, Big Papa, was born, the area now known as Cameroon was under German occupation and administration.  It was called Kamerun.

Having hosted the colonial buffet of 1884 in Berlin, Germany, like other European powers of that day had carved and designated the region where my forbearers resided as theirs to own and possess. 

It was to be a laboratory for their civilizing project. 

Post-Communal Urban Palava

Kangsen Feka Wakai

At nighttime, they cast diabolic spells along
The seedy concrete boulevards
That line Pothole Avenue.
They sleep to a soundtrack of their snores.
Theirs is a universe of forgotten cosmologies
Where they imbibe the fragments of discarded beliefs.
They desecrate the glyphs of disbanded nomads; instigate the profane
And turn neighbor against neighbor like untrained pit bull dogs.
Bloodied graffiti on the fragile walls in Kibera slums
Odinga sleeps to a soundtrack of Kibaki’s snore.

What Future for South Africa after Jacob Zuma's Victory?

By Samira Edi

Interestingly, today is the  day when Zuma will be sworn in as the new ANC Big Chief. Coincidentally, reports are coming out that the South African prosecutors have enough evidence to charge him for corruption. When it comes to the "C" word, there is no compromise in my view, as Africa is the Augean Stables that it is today, no thanks to the traditional gene pool of dishonest politicians who have made this scourge their modus operandi - and thus a badge of "black empowerment." In this dance, Zuma seems to be the Prima Donna twinkle toes and master of impropriety!

Alone In My house (A Poem)

Samira Edi

"It is an edifice of perfection, your villa of gold
An architectural splendor in luxury," I'm told.
Countless hours of hard labor and bitter disdain
Have gone into building my husband's domain

Colossal, ugly and aloof; to me it is plain!!
In a neighborhood so poor; people are dying in pain
Alone on our balcony, I look out yonder in shame
This monument is fraud is a stain to my name

Higher in office, my belovèd had grown
But never an honest day's work he had ever known
Fearlessly, he emptied state coffers with impunity
To build our house of shame, he had government immunity

Weep not for him, no, you merciful at heart
In grief, he must languish in jail for his part
The New Power of The Day has found good reason
To keep my rich husband forever in prison.

African Literature in Mourning: Cyprian Ekwensi is No More

From Uduma Kalu, Literary Correspondent, Enugu (The Guardian November 5, 2007)

DARKNESS fell again in the Nigerian literary firmament yesterday when veteran novelist, pharmacist and public commentator, Cyprian Ekwensi passed on. He was 86 years old. The author of the popular Jaguar Nana series of novels was said to have died at the Niger Foundation in Enugu where he underwent an operation for an undisclosed ailment. It was not clear as at press time yesterday if he died during or after the operation.

Earlier this year, Ekwensi released Cash on Delivery, a collection of short stories, which turned out to be his last book. When he turned 86 last year, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos State
chapter and the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA), feted him.

Revisiting President Biya's "France 24" Interview

Samira Edi

Click here to view Biya's interview with France 24 (English version)

Here is President Paul Biya literarily rising from the grave, 17 years after he gave his last unscripted interview to Yves Mouroussi of Radio Monte-Carlo. Even though in his characteristic enigma, he answers only the questions he wants to answer and ignores the rest, let us be thankful for small mercies.

Thanks to the Internet living up to its reputation as the most democratic medium for the dissemination of information, many Cameroonians are able to peek into the recesses of their enigmatic leader's mindset for the first time.

Book Review: "Dance of Scorpions" by Lloney Monono

A Review by Samira Edi

Lloney E. Monono. Dance of Scorpions. September 2007 (Available on lulu.com and amazon.com)

I’ve just been reading my autographed copy of The Dance of Scorpions, an anthology of poetry written by Lloney Eyole Monono, a man I am proud to call my friend. What a pleasurable reading cocktail and a clandestine peep into this quiet man’s soul. 

While some of us straddlers have danced and ducked around that duty of chronicling our “memoirs” in whatever guise was befitting to our station, Lloney went ahead and “shot our fox as it were!” by releasing his second book in as many years!

I’ve giggled and guffawed over some of his hilarious little witticisms; been stimulated both emotionally and intellectually by others and I've been plain blown away by the profoundness of some. Lloney’s poetry manages to touch most fibres of our being  with the diversification of his themes.

Book Review: "Stories from Abakwa" by Francis Nyamnjoh

Reviewed by Kangsen Wakai (Originally published in The Post)

Francis Nyamnjoh. Stories From Abakwa. Bamenda: Cameroon. Langaa Publishers. 2007.

When Cameroon sells itself in the realm of public opinion, at home and abroad, it is sold as a bilingual, highly literate, naturally endowed, ethnically diverse, democratic and peaceful country. That is not the whole truth. 

Cameroon is in fact a bilingual country endowed with natural resources; it is culturally diverse and boasts a highly literate, albeit unemployed and underemployed, adult population. However, the truth is that Cameroon is far from being as united, democratic and the haven of peace its leaders would want Cameroonians and the world to believe. Plainly speaking, it is not.

CNN is on Steroids

By Innocent Chia

How else do you explain the robotically senseless commercial interruptions plaguing newscasts, interviews and almost every program that is aired on CNN? Yes, even commercial breaks now seem to be interrupted by the shows and other news programs of the renowned cable network… Right in mid-sentence or question the interviewee or interviewer is brutally and unprofessionally cut-off the air by an ad and, several precious minutes and missed sentences later, the show continues unapologetically. Evidently, there is some bugged programming software for time management that is on rampage and someone at CNN better save the day!

Juju Music!

By Kangsen Feka Wakai

We danced under a hail of confetti, witnesses to an overdue conception. We heard Zimbabwe scream her way out of Rhodesia’s putrid womb, Her Majesty’s tabooed concubine. We slit the chord, which bound child to mother and mother to child, wiped droplets of melanin and gooey mucus from the baby’s bosom with the ruffled flags of frontline states. We were infants and Namibia was still under occupation.

The Waterloo of Democracy in La Republique du Cameroun

By Innocent CHIA

Avid observers of the political drama called La Republique du Cameroun are now poised to make another certain prediction: President Paul Biya will be made “President a Vie” by CPDM parliamentarians and a system that overwhelmed the populace with a combination of known and unknown titanic fraud schemes at the twin polls of July 22. While the pundits have been right on mark about the irregularities that are the hallmark of the democratic process in Cameroon, there always seems to be renewed surprise at the scale of impunity with which the ruling regime perpetrates its unabashed rape of popular will.

Lightning Strikes The Sinking Glass Tower

Kangsen Feka Wakai

The baboons and gorillas
Are licking fetid sores
Dripping with shame.
No green and white flags
To conceal the disgrace
Glaring from their bat-like faces.

The Cameroon Business Environment

By Kenneth Ndeh

I registered my US Company in the state of Virginia, USA for about $100.00 (50,000 CFA)and the same business in Cameroon I registered for about 500,000 CFA (US$1,000.00). I was taxed on anticipated revenue and not on revenue already generated.

At least 98% of Cameroonians in the USA work for the private sector and not for the United States Government. In turn, the amount of money Cameroonians in the USA send to their relatives in Cameroon far supersedes the money that the Bretton Woods Institutions, i.e. the World Bank (IBRD - International Bank for Reconstruction & Development of Europe) and its sister institution the IMF, lend the Cameroon government

Multiparty Elections in Cameroon... Another Charade?

By Samira Edi

Finally, the silly season is here once more. Today is Parliamentary and Municipal elections Day in Cameroon. The CPDM Government has built up the hype, trying to polish their tarnished image leading up to these elections by unnecessarily canvassing for votes, with their litany of false promises. Over in America, they showed their sleight of hand with another blah talk of scholarships. In Cameroon, they made a song and dance about the imprisonment of one of their kind- Ondo Ndong, but how many more are still walking tall and free?

Fela Kuti – Dog Eat Dog

Revisiting the Paucity of Anglophone Cameroon Writing

By Samira Edi

I am glad that Mr. Ngwane has revisited the issue of the paucity of Anglophone Cameroon writing in his interview with African Writing magazine - the problems facing the writer in Cameroon are legion. Not least is the fact that the region does not even have bookshops worthy of the name. Undoubtedly, there is a lot of talent in Cameroon. Mr. Ngwane is in a fine position to talk about the challenges that face writers back in Cameroon. His account of the ordeal suffered at the hands of the American Embassy officials is an eloquent testimony of double standards of the Foreign Embassies. They are responsible for frustrating many gifted Cameroonians from having the required outlet to realize their full potential outside.

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...”

A Letter to a Friend I Never Met (Simon Mol)

By Kangsen Wakai

Simon,
It is quite disheartening that our introduction, much anticipated on my part, should be by way of a letter.  By the way, I had often envisioned a much more idyllic and poetic setting for such an occasion.  But alas, circumstances have dictated otherwise, and here we are meeting one another in the most unusual of terms. 

My name is Kangsen Feka Wakai and like you I am a journalist and writer from the English speaking part of Cameroon.

Cameroon’s New York Times Advertisement Supplement: An Exercise in Futility

By Samira Edi

The June 7, 2007 issue of the New York Times Magazine contained an eight-page advertisement supplement on Cameroon which was allegedly cost the Cameroonian taxpayer $250,000 (About 120 million FCFA).

This is another exercise in futility or are we to say Cameroon is being preened and pimped about for the Bohemian Westerner? Have we been bewitched in Cameroon? No matter how much they slice and dice it, the most virulent of all the viruses killing the country is corruption.

Cameroon: A Diplomatic Corps in Disarray

By Kenneth Ndeh

The nation state of Cameroon in the last fifteen (15) years has completely abandoned its diplomatic corps. Excepting circumstances where the image of the President of the Republic alone - Paul Biya - that is, is at stake does the nation of Cameroon react; often in a knee-jerk fashion and not in a well properly thought out manner for longevity of nation building.

Within the last year or twelve months alone, the following Ambassadors have DIED abroad, during their terms of office as Ambassadors to the respective countries:

Abakwa (An Ode to Bamenda)

By Kangsen Feka Wakai

Androgynous beauty of the tropical grass-fields: You emit subtle whiffs of wet eucalyptus leaves that titillate the palates of sweet-toothed charlatans. You are the defaced cradle of betrayed ancestors and abandoned tomb of disinherited monarchs. 

Your strength and valor has transformed you from the quaint colony of a jittery Kaiser to a Grande fort of resistance. 

Your undulating bosom bears the vestiges of primordial dramas that now assume the forms of hills and the personalities of lakes.

Calling From:USAAntiguaArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBahamasBelarusBelgiumBermudaBoliviaBrazilBruneiBulgariaBulgaria - SofiaCanadaCh Cocos IslChinaColombiaCosta RicaCroatiaCyprus (Rep of)Czech RepDenmarkDominican RepEgyptEl SalvadorFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaGermanyGhanaGreeceGuadeloupeGuamHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIrelandIsraelItalyJapanKenyaKuwaitLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMacedoniaMalaysiaMaltaMauritiusMexicoMonacoNetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNorwayPapua NGPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoReunion IslandRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSenegalSingaporeSlovakiaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainSri LankaSt KittsSt Pierre MiqSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanThailandTrinidad TobagoTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomUruguayUS Virgin IslandsUSA AlaskaUSA HawaiiVatican CityVenezuela Calling To:USAAfghanistanAfghanistan CellularAlbaniaAlbania CellularAlbania TiranaAlgeriaAlgeria AlgiersAlgeria CellularAmerican SamoaAmerican Samoa CellularAndorraAndorra CellularAngolaAngola CellularAnguillaAnguilla CellularAntarcticaAntarctica CellularAntiguaAntigua CellularArgentinaArgentina B.A. cellularArgentina Buenos AiresArgentina CellularArgentina CordobaArgentina La PlataArgentina Mar Del PlataArgentina MendozaArgentina RosarioArmeniaArmenia cellularArmenia YerevanArubaAruba CellularAscension IslandAscension Island CellularAustraliaAustralia cellularAustralia MelbourneAustralia SydneyAustriaAustria CellularAustria ViennaAzerbaijanAzerbaijan CellularBahamasBahamas CellularBahrainBahrain CellularBangladeshBangladesh CellularBangladesh ChittagongBangladesh DhakaBangladesh SyhletBarbadosBarbados CellularBelarusBelarus CellularBelgiumBelgium AntwerpBelgium BrusselsBelgium cellularBelizeBelize CellularBeninBenin CellularBermudaBermuda CellularBhutanBhutan CellularBoliviaBolivia CellularBolivia CochabambaBolivia La PazBolivia Santa CruzBosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia CellularBotswanaBotswana CellularBrazilBrazil Belo HorizonteBrazil Belo Horizonte CellBrazil CellularBrazil Governado ValeresBrazil Governado Valeres CellBrazil Rio DejaneroBrazil Rio Dejanero CellularBrazil Sao PauloBrazil Sao Paulo CellularBritish Virgin IslandsBruneiBrunei CellularBulgariaBulgaria SofiaBulgaria CellularBurkina FasoBurkina Faso CellularBurma (Myanmar)BurundiBurundi CellularCambodiaCambodia CellularCambodia Phnom PehnCameroonCameroon CellularCameroon DoualaCameroon YaoundeCanadaCape Verde Island CellularCape Verde IslandsCayman Island CellularCayman IslandsCentral Africa Rep. CellularCentral African RepublicChadChad Rep CellularChileChile AudiotexChile CellularChile SantiagoChinaChina BeijingChina cellularChina ChengduChina DalianChina FuzhouChina GuandongChina Qing DoaChina SanghaiChina ShenzhenChina TanjinChristmas & Cocos Is CellularChristmas IslandsCocos IslandsColombiaColombia ArmeniaColombia BarranquillaColombia BogotaColombia BuenaventuraColombia CaliColombia CartagoColombia CartegnaColombia cellularColombia ManizalesColombia MedellinColombia PalmiraColombia PereiraColumbia BucaramangaColumbia BugaColumbia TuluaComorosComoros CellularCongoCongo Rep CellularCook Island CellularCook IslandsCosta RicaCosta Rica cellularCroatiaCroatia CellularCubaCuba CellularCuba Guantanamo BayCyprusCyprus CellularCzech RepublicCzech Republic CellCzech Republic PragueDenmarkDenmark cellularDiego GarciaDiego Garcia CellularDjiboutiDjibouti CellularDominicaDominica CellularDominican RepublicDominican Republic CellEast TimorEast Timor CellularEcuadorEcuador cellularEcuador CuencaEcuador GuayaquilEcuador Otecel CellularEcuador QuitoEgyptEgypt AlexandriaEgypt CairoEgypt CellularEl SalvadorEl Salvador CellEquatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea CellularEritreaEritrea CellularEstoniaEstonia TallinEstonia CellularEthiopiaEthiopia Addis AbabaEthiopia CellularFaeroe Island CellularFaeroe IslandsFalkland Island CellularFalkland IslandsFiji Island CellularFiji IslandsFinlandFinland CellularFranceFrance CellFrance ParisFrench AntillesFrench Antilles CellularFrench GuianaFrench Guiana CellularFrench PolynesiaFrench Polynesia CellularGabon CellularGabon RepublicGambiaGeorgiaGeorgia CellularGeorgia TbilisiGermanyGermany cellularGermany FrankfurtGhanaGhana AccraGhana CellularGibraltarGibraltar CellularGreeceGreece AthensGreece CellularGreenlandGreenland CellularGrenadaGrenada CellularGuadaloupeGuadeloupeGuadeloupe CellularGuamGuatemalaGuatemala CellularGuatemala CityGuineaGuinea Bisseau CellularGuinea CellularGuinea ConakryGuinea-BissauGuyanaGuyana CellularHaitiHaiti CellularHaiti Port-Au-PrinceHondurasHonduras CellularHonduras TegucigalpaHong KongHong Kong cellularHungaryHungary BudapestHungary CellularIcelandIceland CellularIndiaIndia AhmedabadIndia BangaloreIndia BombayIndia CalcuttaIndia CellularIndia GujaratIndia HyderabadIndia KarnatakaIndia KeralaIndia LudihanaIndia MadrasIndia New DelhiIndia PuneIndonesiaIndonesia CellularIndonesia JakartaIndonesia SurabayaInmarsatIranIran CellularIran TehranIraqIraq CellularIrelandIreland CellIreland DublinIsraelIsrael cellularIsrael JerusalemIsrael Tel AvivItalyItaly cellularItaly MilanItaly RomeIvory CoastIvory Coast AbidjanIvory Coast CellularJamaicaJamaica CellularJapanJapan cellularJapan OkinawaJapan OsakaJapan Osaka cellularJapan Osaka militaryJapan TokyoJapan Tokyo cellularJapan Tokyo militaryJordanJordan AmmanJordan CellularKazakhstanKazakhstan CellularKenyaKenya CellularKenya NairobiKiribatiKiribati CellularKuwaitKuwait cellularKyrgystanKyrgyzstan CellularLaosLaos CellularLaos VientianeLatviaLatvia CellularLebanonLebanon BeirutLebanon CellularLesothoLesotho CellularLiberiaLiberia CellularLibyaLibya CellularLiechtensteinLiechtenstein CellularLithuaniaLithuania CellularLuxembourgLuxembourg CellularMacaoMacauMacau CellularMacedoniaMacedonia CellularMadagascarMadagascar CellularMalawiMalawi CellularMalaysiaMalaysia CellularMalaysia Kuala LumpurMaldivesMaldives CellularMaliMali CellularMaltaMalta CellularMariana IslandMariana Island CellularMarshall Island CellularMarshall IslandsMauritaniaMauritania CellularMauritiusMauritius CellularMayotte IslandMayotte Island CellularMexicoMexico CellularMexico CityMexico GuadalajaraMexico MonterreyMexico PueblaMicronesiaMicronesia CellularMoldovaMoldova CellularMonacoMonaco CellularMongoliaMongolia CellularMonoco CellularMontserratMontserrat CellularMoroccoMorocco CasablancaMorocco CellularMorocco MeknesMorocco RabatMozambiqueMozambique CellularMyanmar BurmaMyanmar CellularNamibiaNamibia CellularNauruNauru CellularNepalNetherlandsNetherlands Ant CellularNetherlands AmsterdamNetherlands AntillesNetherlands CellularNetherlands RottNevisNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia CellularNew ZealandNew Zealand AuklandNew Zealand cellularNew Zealand WellingtonNicaraguaNicaragua CellularNicaragua ManaguaNigerNiger RepublicNiger Republic CellularNigeriaNigeria AbujaNigeria CellularNigeria LagosNiueNiue Island CellularNo.Mariana IslandsNorfolk Island CellularNorfolk IslandsNorth KoreaNorwayNorway cellularNorway OsloOmanOman CellularPakistanPakistan CellularPakistan IslamabadPakistan KarachiPakistan LahorePalauPalau Republic CellularPanamaPanama cellularPapua New GuineaPapua New Guinea CellularParaguayParaguay AsuncionParaguay CellularPeruPeru CellularPeru LimaPeru Lima CellularPhilippinesPhilippines CellularPolandPoland CellularPoland WarsawPortugalPortugal CellularPortugal LisbonPuerto RicoPuerto Rico CellularQatarQatar CellularReunion IslandReunion Island CellularRomaniaRomania BucharestRomania CellularRussiaRussia CellularRussia MoscowRussia overlayRussia St. PetersburgRwandaRwanda CellularSaipanSan MarinoSan Marino CellularSao TomeSao Tome CellularSaudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia CellularSaudi Arabia DhahranSaudi Arabia JeddahSaudi Arabia RiyadhSenegalSenegal CellularSenegal DakarSenegal RepublicSerbia-YogosloviaSerbia-Yogoslovia CellularSeychelles IslandSeychelles Island CellularSeychelles IslandsSierra LeoneSierra Leone CellularSierra Leone Free TownSingaporeSingapore CellularSlovakiaSlovakia BratislavaSlovakia CellularSloveniaSlovenia CellularSolomon Island CellularSolomon IslandsSomaliaSomalia CellularSouth AfricaSouth Africa Cape TownSouth Africa CellSouth Africa DurbanSouth Africa JohannesburgSouth KoreaSouth Korea CellularSouth Korea SeoulSpainSpain BarcelonaSpain CellularSpain MadridSri LankaSri Lanka CellularSt Helena CellularSt Kitts CellularSt Lucia CellularSt Pierre&Miquelon CellularSt Vincent CellularSt. HelenaSt. LuciaSt. Pierre & MiquelonSt. VincentSt.KittsSudanSudan CellularSudan KhartoumSurinameSuriname CellularSwazilandSwaziland CellularSwedenSweden cellularSweden StockholmSwitzerlandSwitzerland CellularSwitzerland GenevaSwitzerland LiechtensteinSwitzerland ZurichSyriaSyria CellularSyria DamascusTaiwanTaiwan CellularTaiwan TaipeiTajikistanTanzaniaTanzania CellularTanzania Dar es SalaamThailandThailand BangkokThailand CellularTogoTogo CellularToklauToklau CellularTonga Is CellularTonga IslandsTrinidadTrinidad & TobagoTrinidad & Tobago CellularTunisiaTunisia CellularTurkeyTurkey IstanbulTurkey CellularTurkeyAnkaraTurkmenistanTurkmenistan CellularTurks & Caicos CellularTurks & Caicos IslandsTuvaluTuvalu CellularUgandaUganda CellularUganda KampalaUkraineUkraine CellularUkraine KharkovUkraine KievUkraine LvivUkraine OdessaUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates CellularUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom cellularUnited Kingdom LondonUruguayUruguay CellularUs Virgin IslandsUs Virgin Islands CellularUzbekistanUzbekistan CellularVanuatu CellularVanuatu RepublicVatican CityVatican City CellularVenezuelaVenezuela CaracasVenezuela CellularVenezuela MaracaiboVietnamVietnam CellularVietnam HanoiVirgin IslandsWallis & Fortuna CellularWallis & Futuna IslandsWestern SamoaWestern Samoa CellularYemenYemen CellularYugoslaviaYugoslavia BelgradeYugoslavia CellularZaireZaire CellularZaire KhensasaZambiaZambia CellularZanzibarZimbabweZimbabwe Cellular

The Law of "Diminishing Returns" and African Leadership

By Innocent Chia

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, former President of South Africa and its first to be elected in fully-representative democratic elections, may have been the one leader that the world and his people would have readily forgiven if he had chosen the transgression of holding on to power. After all, it was before the eyes of the world that the anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African NationalCongress (ANC) served 27 years of his life sentence in prison, much of it in a cell in Robben Island, for sabotage after he went underground and began the ANC's armed struggle. But after five years of presidency, 1994 to 1999, the cultural icon of freedom and equality knew he had given enough of himself and passed the relay baton for someone else (Thabo Mbeki) with a fresh set of eyes to either change or continue with the same trajectory.

Cameroon: Whose President? (Part IV: How Education is Undervalued and Ridiculed)

By Jing Thomas

Cameroonian Francophone leadership seems more interested in pleasing France when it comes to designing the country’s educational programs than actually tailoring them to respond adequately to national development challenges.

Yaounde. It is the morning hours and government offices have just opened. A rap at one of the office doors and a man walks in. He has just returned from a university abroad with a hard earned degree in zoology and is about to apply for a job at the Department of Forestry, a seemingly normal thing for a country with vast expanse of virgin equatorial forest and numerous national parks.

Cameroon: Whose President? (Part III: Paul Biya and the Policy of Ethnocentrism)

By Jing Thomas

As for Biya, he at least makes no pretensions of borrowing a leaf from Ahidjo's balanced development program. He simply hides behind the facade of "national unity" to perpetuate a similar practice of ethnic and regional favoritism. When he single-handedly and arbitrarily abolished the United Republic of Cameroon, national unity was used by some quarters to justify this action. And yet it has now become standard practice for his tribesmen, who have confiscated the nation for themselves and are exposing it to the worst economic rape, to throw non-natives out of their own region.

Cameroon: Whose President? (Part II: 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.

In Ahidjo’s native North Cameroon, children were compelled to go to school and all kinds of incentives and inducements were provided, from free books and uniforms to attractive scholarships. It was far easier for a Northerner to join the military, a formidable lever of power, than members of other regions; special entrances, often made simpler to suit northern whims, were reserved for people of this region to gain easy access into most of the professional schools.

It was almost standard practice for many of its businessmen to grab huge loans from banks and some national financial institutions like FONADER with no intention of repaying.