Camair-co, the business is ready for take-off

Camair-co is on the edge of some tremendous opportunities. It`s time to put some growth back into this business, said, Alex Van Helk, the Cameroon Airways boss. But for the moment Camair-co is not yet a member of the International Air Transport Association ( IATA).

For that, the firm needs to fill the application form that costs US$15.000 and also will have to decide which category they will like to be, because active members have to pay US$15.000 and associate will only pay US$12.000. IATA. represents globally some 230 airlines.

Reports that recruitment across the Camair-co human resources department and other services will pick up in coming months are particularly welcome given that unemployment is still rising in Cameroon and the economic capital city of Cameroon, Douala  has been hit very hard and high.


With the B767 now back home, it is a sign of increasing confidence between the management and authorities.

Alex and his team have worked very hard in the last several weeks to put back on the sky the Cameroon flagship airways.

But there is still much work to be done.

The airline industry is on the cusp of great things. Camair-co chief executive officer is fully aware that, the company has not grown for some considerable period of time and it is now time to put some growth back into this business. The new boss is in a good position to take the long view.

He has been chosen  by the government to do everything possible he can to send back into the sky the dying national airlines company.

The launch on the 28 March this year of the first connection flight to Europe will be another challenge between the government and  Alex`s team. 

There are no financial details available at the moment and no indication about the company financial and economic intention. The business will now start and they are all ready and determine to grow the airline.

The firm according to some reports is revamping all of its first, and economic cabins and the business ones will be done after a certain period of time.

Alex `s role since on permanent residence in Cameroon will be to run the airline day-to-day with his deputy and the entire team in order to improve its premium products. To avoid any disruption and problems the new boss will have to establish a working relationship with all of the trade unions. The last TJ-CAD ceased operations in March 2008 and now will resume with a new name.

Cadiz to welcome persecuted journalists.

Legend has it that Cadiz was founded as a result of the mythical 12 labours of Hercules which included separating Europe from Africa. The first settlers came here after their oracle advised them to construct a city overlooking the Atlantic between the Pillars of Hercules.

Santiago and his colleague

What we know as historical fact is that this is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. The Phoenicians established a trading post here in 1,100 BC and called the town Gadir (meaning enclosure), a name which later transmuted to Gades under the Romans..

Journalists in this particular city have decided to offer a refuge to colleagues fleeing persecution and torture from their own homeland due to the exercise of their profession.

The Cadiz Press Association ( http://www.prensacadiz.org/) with the help of the ( http://www.ifj.org/) has decided to build a house that will host journalists seeking refuge and asylum in Spain and the (http://www.nuj.org/) will provide some technical and referral support to the project. This cooperation has been materialised on Wednesday 16 March by the signing agreement between the Cadiz Press Association ( APC) and the International Federation of Journalists. 

Fernando Santiago Munoz, the acting president of APC and Jim Boumelha for the Ifj have both signed the cooperation agreement in the presence of the general Secretary of the Nuj, Jeremy Dear and his deputy Michelle Stanistreet.

Jim and Santiago signing agreement

Pete Murray and Donnacha Delong, president and deputy were also present at the ceremony that took place in the conference room situated at the fifth floor at the Headland House in London.

Jeremy explained to the spanish colleagues how the Nuj has been involved in campagnings in order to avoid one of his member been removed from the UK and also highlighted the support that asylum seeker members are receiving from the union...

On the agreement it is said that the APC undertakes to promote the construction and complete fitting-out of the journalists`house and also to provide sufficient staff for its operation and security.

 Journalists will be admitted in that house on condition that their asylum application has been approved by Spanish authorities and that they have the status of refugee. They will receive necessary services to pursue their journalistic work and also will have to learn the language that will be a criteria to integrate the community.

There are 16 rooms that are going to be funded by media groups in Spain in a scale of 50% of the management and the other 50% will be donated and collected through the European fund for refugee and other International federation of journalists. Funds will help the maintenance and the complete function of the House.  

The Ifj will put forward names and specific cases of journalists needing or requesting protection to the Journalists`House. The Spanish initiative comes after French and German and the Ifj hopes that other European countries will follow these examples of housing persecuted journalists.

Henriette to dismantle Biya`s authoritarian regime in US

The prestigious Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage annually that Henriette has received from the secretary of state, recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.

Henriette Ekwe  like many others have also traveled a long distance to be in Washington, and in the next three weeks they are going to be sent across the United States as the real ambassador from their country. They  are going to have to meet business leaders who have confronted challenges and succeeded.

And also they  are going to have to  meet government officials and those who are trying to make Obama government at the local, state, and federal level work better. While in US they are going  to have to talk with women entrepreneurs who have learned how to set their own businesses up and make them as successful as possible.

For the next three weeks they  will be going to cities such as Des Moines, Iowa; New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and others.

Secretary Clinton said "  we want you to meet Americans and talk with them about what they’re doing; we want you to talk about your own experiences, your own cultures, and what America and Americans can do to be better friends and partners to you in what you do at home.

We think Americans will learn a lot from you, and we hope that these next three weeks will be a valuable opportunity not only during the time you’re here, but as you go home we want to stay in touch with you through the Internet, through every other means of communication. "

As a promise to them, the secretary of state added that " We want to be there for you if you have questions or you have other problems that maybe we can offer some suggestions about."


This would then be an opportunity for Henriette as a publisher and editor to explain difficulties that face the media enterprise and journalists in Cameroon ahead of the presidential election and the political harassment and unfair and unlawful pressure and arrest from authorities, and also the help needed by the entire press in Cameroon and specially women in the media.

The award is just  one of the ways that  the State Department and in the Obama Administration are elevating the role of women and girls in our foreign policy.

Obama administration is working with the private sector to provide grants to NGOs in many countries in order to help women and girls and  encouraging  governments around the world and your own business sector to invest more in women and bring women into the financial system...

How Biya from Cameroon and others dictators still salt away their oil cash

As dictators are toppled and teeter, anyone could be forgiven for thinking we`ve been here before. It`s discovered they and their families have been billions stashed away in bank accounts in the west. And we thought money laundering controls had been tightened..

In the US, for example, the banks disclose the foreign assets they hold to Washington. But according to that official tally, the entire wealth held by US banks of the African oil producers, Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Libya and Nigeria, amounts to over $13.5 billion ( £8.3 billion), when so far $32 billion has been identified as belonging to Colonel Gaddafi and his associates alone.

How do they do it?  By using asset managers in Europe and giving a European address for the account holder.

When the cash eventually reaches a US bank it shows up as being of European origin. It`s a bit more complicated than that but effectively that is what occurs.

This is how Biya and others operate around the world.

From Cameroon they use state oil company money to send abroad in France, Belgium, Morocco and Switzerland for instance where family members are based time to time and live for sometimes and then they use local address to siphon the sovereign cash into the normal financial  system.

It is very difficult for someone apart from the local government and the law to trace that money into the country. They have been so wise for the moment and now the world is changing and we will not be surprised when a government will decide to tell the truth about this awful system where only few people use the sovereign oil cash for their own good.

On his private or official holidays abroad, you cannot understand and even explain or justify the spending of a huge amount of money. But Biya and his relatives do understand that they are loyal to him and will stand for him when difficult times come.

For over 28 years of reign, diversification of sovereign oil money from Cameroon to abroad has helped Biya to keep grip on the power without sharing it with others..

Britain cuts foreign aid to Cameroon

Britain would stop funding Cameroon and others 15 countries and four United Nations`agencies as it focuses its £6.5billion overseas aid budget on helping the poorest or conflict-ridden countries.

Public sector and some non governmental organizations workers face radical changes to their daily job under the coalition government new proposals to cut foreign aid to Cameroon. Tens of thousands workers, including civil servants will no longer enjoy having to receive double wages.

The country would have to improve transparency, accountability and evaluation system that would allow other countries to readjust their aid programme. Also the government needs to create an independent aid watchdog to scrutinise how the government uses the money that its receive from foreign donors.

The coalition government will phase out aid programmes by 2016 to 16 countries around the world considered no longer to need it.

In that list are included China, Russia, Vietnam, Cameroon, Kosovo, Iraq and others. According to Andrew Mitchell, International Development Secretary of State, " the coalition government is taking a radically different approach to aid. We want to be judged on our results, not on how much money we are spending".


This government has already taken tough decisions on dealing with the deficit by reducing spending and creating million of jobs loses and also a growing anger from unions. The major overhaul of aid policies follows a nine months review of their effectiveness by the coalition government.

There is a growing anger amount the public about the way the government is dealing with the protecting foreign aid policy and programme when many domestic services are being cut and reduce to help curb a record peacetime budget deficit. In return of the public huge anger, this has made the Cameron-Nick government determined to show it is getting value for money from one of the world`s biggest aid budgets.

The money now will be redirected to countries like Congo DRC, Ethiopia, India, Sudan, Zimbabwe and many others over the ground of poor and conflict-ridden or fragile states. On the other hand, Britain will increase funding to less than 10 organizations, which it says provide good value, including, UNICEF, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and the Global Fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

UNESCO, FAO,the development programmes of the commonwealth secretary and the IOM are on the edge of losing funding if they don`t improve the quality of their service and their performance.

Oxfam welcomed the review and they are pleased that the coalition government has kept its promises to the world`s poorest people at a time they need help the most.

Henriette Ekwe to be crowned for democracy and freedom of the press victory

Cameroonian veteran journalist Henriette Ekwe, Publisher of Bebela, and the first female vice president of the first union of Cameroonian journalists elected in July 12, 2008 during the fifth  ordinary general assembly in Yaounde, has been selected to receive an Award for International Women of Courage from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on March 8 in Washington, D.C. 

Ekwe, editor of Bebela, a daily newspaper published in Cameroon,  is one of ten women around the world who has been selected by the U.S. Department of State to receive this award in 2011. She will represent the whole Africa continent at that event and this for the first time since 2007.

Started in 2007 by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary’s International Women of Courage awards have honored women each year from around the world who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for human rights, social justice, and women’s equality and advancement.

And Cameroon is leading the way this year with Henriette Ekwe.

" Henriette was selected because of her sustained and exceptional courage, commitment, and leadership in promoting democracy, transparency, human rights, and the rule of law in Cameroon.  She is a living testimony of the courage of women around the world who are fighting for social justice and political freedom.  Cameroon should be proud of her, and we hope this award will inspire Cameroonians to participate actively in the continued development of democracy in Cameroon.  In the late-1980s and early 1990s, Henriette was forced into hiding, was the victim of physical abuse, and was imprisoned for opposing the one-party system.  Since then she has continued to promote democracy and good governance in Cameroon in the face of continued threats and harassment.  We hope Henriette’s life-long commitment to democracy will inspire Cameroonians to register to vote and to participate fully in Cameroon’s upcoming presidential and legislative elections.” according to Robert P. Jackson, the US ambassador in Cameroon and also that "Ms. Ekwe was selected because of the important role she has played in advancing freedom of the press and in organizations such as Transparency International, the Cameroon Union of Journalists, and the Coalition for Transparency."

On Monday, March 7, Secretary Clinton will deliver remarks at the launch of the 100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges, spearheaded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, at the Department of State.

The Department of State and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8 with a series of events this week.

On Tuesday, March 8, Secretary Clinton will host the 2011 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony with special guest First Lady Michelle Obama, at the Department of State. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and other U.S. and foreign dignitaries will also participate.

This will be another opportunity for the journalist and human rights activist  to explain to the  world what it is going exactly in Cameroon and how Biya administration is continuing to arrest and detain unlawfully journalists while just trying to do their job.

 And also an opportunity as well to show the world that women in Cameroon are still struggling to have their rights respected and also still have to fight to have their voice being heard by others. Its will be a great and huge challenge for her to highlight the real image of Biya authoritarian reign in Cameroon. This will be another big blow for the corrupted Biya regime.



Opposition to focus on "people power" for an election win

Opposition in Cameroon will not win the next presidential election unless it convinces the public it has shed its big and large state image. The opposition will then need to advise people that,

"we need to be as passionate bout people power as we are about the virtues of a strong country and governing body. Establishing this as part of opposition`s renewal is as important as rebuilding our economic credibility"


 Those opposed to John Fru Ndi leadership and ideology and the way he manage and conduct his own business within the party, will attack him and his ideas and predicting it will end in failure and derision.

They will also warn that opposition`alternative vision of a " strong, stable and good society" will no capture the public`s imagination unless the party shows it has changed attitude to the government and the state.

So many members in  opposition have left their own political party because they couldn't`t accepted been refused to explain themselves and even challenged a leader idea and they ended up creating their own political party with same ideas.

A former deputy secretary general of the presidency in Cameroon had said that, a divided opposition is destined to fail because the mainstream majority in Cameroon feel anxious and insecure as they face the prospect of an ideologically driven small state.