
Cameroon: North West Region – Office of the Governor – Communique (22.02.2022)



“The French Cameroun political commentator had been invited to sing the normal CPDM praises on Biya who turned 89. However, the outspoken Dieudonne Essomba instead told the world via Club d’elites that Biya is now unable to lead Cameroon. Essomba furthered “At 89 years old, one cannot manage a country. Biya who is 89 years old is at 25% of his capacity.” (…) “In a statement published by the Groupe L’Anecdote accompanied by Essomba’s picture, Vision 4 said Dieudonne Essomba’s contract had been terminated. “We would like to advise the public that Dr. Dieudonne Essomba, who was a consultant, in the capacity of guest speaker in Club d’elites, is no longer a member of staff with immediate effect. Vision 4 disassociates itself completely with any statements, be they political or of any other nature, that he has made in the past or may make to the press in the future.” (Daily News Cameroon – ‘Who decides if President Biya is unfit to serve?’ 16.02.2022).
We know that Cameroonian President Paul Biya have been the President since 1982 and was the Prime Minister from 1975. With this knowledge, we know that Biya have been the head of state and the in the inner-circle since mid-70s. Biya has with this been 39 years in power or 471 months in office.
With this in mind… we know that Biya has had his time… and he could have expressed a fair successor or someone to takeover for him. Yes, we know the son Emmanuel Franck is in the works, but certainly the Republic of Cameroon isn’t a monarchy. Nevertheless, he hasn’t ensured that or made the preparations for it. As his family lives lavish in Geneva and only temporarily visit the republic now and then.
The ones to look out for and the ones who is really the driving force in this government. That isn’t the old and advanced aged Biya. It is true he doesn’t have the capacity and his busy eating in Switzerland anyway. So, there is other people who is running it for him.
These are most likely the likes of presidency’s secretary general, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji. The third fellow who could be recognized in Cameroon Joseph Dion Ngute. In this regard, the two first should be the ones to really look out for because they have real power and influence.
We are clearly seeing that the state is vindictive and reactive towards the dissenting voices. Which I am sure is a reflection of the sentiments in Cameroon. It isn’t like the ruling regime is delivering any sort of services or fruitful peace. There is still brewing conflict in the Anglophone region. Not like any of the conflict or lack of progress has been resolved. No, Biya has ruled with an iron fist from afar and that’s evident here.
That’s why the journalist who spoke out got fired and lost his job. Because, he dared to question the competence and ability of the ageing President, which anybody can understand. It is not like your growing stronger and has more abilities with advanced age. Instead your reflective mind stagnates and body winds down. That’s why retirement age is an important tool to ensure people are fit for the jobs they are working. The same should be for the heads of state too. As they are the representative and the executive with massive powers in a territory.
Biya is only prolonging the agony and there will only be more of this. It will not stop and people will question him even more. As his age and the ghosting from the Republic is so apparent. We know he lives most of his days in his “retirement” home in Switzerland. While other rules on his behalf in Cameroon. That’s why he could practically retire and let new blood rule the Republic. Since, he has served and his dictatorship should cease to exist. However, I know that is a dream, which is a nightmare for the family of Biya. Peace.






In the East, Adamawa and North regions, World Food Programme cash grants are a lifeline.
ROME, Italy, January 5, 2022 – “Go get the children, we have to leave, they will kill us,” shouted Ousmane, Djanabou’s husband in the middle of the night, in December 2013. Having woken up abruptly, she gathered their four children, took the first bag of clothes she could find and got into her husband’s car. That night, Djanabou’s life was to change forever.
Djanabou and her family had no choice but to leave their home Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. On the road fleeing her hometown, cradle of a previously happy life, the muffled sounds of gunfire echoed through the screams and cries. Her husband continued to drive silently; their survival depended on it.
“We were shot at in the car, I was afraid we wouldn’t make it out alive,” she says, with tears in her eyes. It has been almost eight years since that fateful night, but she still remembers every detail of the narrow escape.
For years now, CAR civilians have continued to be victims of violence and abuses that have left thousands dead and injured. More than 290,000 Central Africans, like Djanabou and her family, have fled the fighting to the North, East and Adamawa regions of Cameroon, forced to abandon their homes, land and livelihoods.
Djanabou and her family found refuge in Ngaoundere in Adamawa.
Having abandoned their belongings, by 2016 the family were enrolled in WFP’s cash-based transfer programme which allows them to cover basic food needs in local markets. “We suffered too much from hunger after we left home,” says Djanabou as she finishes cooking jollof rice, a local delicacy with smoked fish, beef and seasonings, all mixed in a pot.
Her family, who used to be traders back at home, managed to save whatever was left from the monthly cash assistance the received once basic food needs were covered. With that saving, they were able to buy a table on which they began selling oil, peanuts and cornflour. With payback from this activity, they are able support their children’s education and health.
Djanabou was four months pregnant when she lost her husband to an illness. The mother of four ended up selling their food supplies and stuff from the small business to pay off the hospital debts.
Now, she is dependent on her 14-year-old daughter who engages in the sales of peanuts after school, earning barely US1 a week – though it’s such a small amount, Djanabou hopes to save so she can resume trading flour and peanuts, once her medical debts are paid off.
Hunger continues to be a problem as more and more people are uprooted in CAR. More than one in three refugee children under the age of 5 suffers chronic malnutrition. Meanwhile, funding to support humanitarian activities has declined significantly. In 2019, WFP was forced to cut its cash assistance by half. By November they had stopped altogether.
This risks rolling back the progress made in the fight against hunger in these regions, especially for someone like Djanabou, who finds herself affected by poor nutrition and no longer able to breastfeed her 4-month-old daughter. “With the money from the cash transfers, I could buy milk powder for my daughter,” she says. “Now that the money is reduced, I can hardly do so.”

There are now around 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom are women and children, living in around 20 informal sites.
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 4, 2022 – Over the past few weeks thousands of people from Cameroon have crossed the Logone and Chari rivers to find refuge in Chad due to ongoing violence. There are now around 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom are women and children, living in around 20 informal sites. We are mobilising teams in response, to provide care for people in need.
“The first inter-communal conflicts between Mousgoum fishermen and Arab herders in Cameroon began in August this year,” says Jessie Gaffric, MSF head of mission in Chad. “For a few weeks, we organised mobile clinics to provide basic healthcare to 11,000 refugees in Chad, before the situation calmed down.”
However the violence resumed suddenly and brutally, as it did on 8 December in Kousseri, a Cameroonian town on the border with Chad’s capital N’Djamena due to tensions over agricultural, pastoral and fisheries resources, which have not been resolved.
Forty-three people were injured by knives, bullets or arrows. Twenty-five of them had to be hospitalised in N’Djamena because of the lack of appropriate care in Kousseri.



