Imhotep: The Collective African Blog

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.

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