Biya is considered as a reformer but he must stop repression and intimidation, says The Foreign Office

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A Foreign Office source yesterday claimed President Paul Biya of Cameroon has been a reformer for overs years despite his regime brutal attacks on pro-regime change protesters.

The Foreign Office insider suggested President Biya`s aims were being thwarted by other members of his long standing regime.

The Foreign Office believes that for Cameroonians authorities it is not too late to abandon totally the brutal repression and follow through on promised democratic institutions reforms.

The violent regime repression must stop and president Biya  should order his authorities around the country to show restraint and to respond to the legitimate demands of his own people with immediate and genuine reform not with brutal repression.

For the moment it is impossible to scrutinise the future and even to know what will happen next after the presidential elections that will be held next October 9 or 10 or 11 in Cameroon, the source added. The Foreign Secretary close`s advisor said  Britain " utterly" condemned the brutal repression and disappearances of people in Cameroon.

 President Biya`s power depends on a wider group of people in his own family and relatives and of course other members of his government and for that, we " Britain" are not sure how free will be the next crucial presidential elections and how free the president he is or will be to pursue a reform agenda.

Opposition figures in Cameroon strongly believe that, they will be ready to break the corrupted regime unless real democracy is introduced. A group called, Cameroon O Boso, said change and only a real change of regime would safeguard the nation from failing into a period of violence, chaos after the election results will be published.

1 in 4 cameroonian doesn`t have enough to eat after 28 years of Biya`s rule

Paul Biya has decided to bring back alive an old policy idea in order to attract more and more voters for the next presidential election. He wants Cameroon to become an agricultural bounty for the Central African countries and for the whole Africa and even for the rest of the world.

Last week in Ebolowa, Southern capital city of Cameroon, in front of some happy farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs and most of them members of his political party,

he said that a food secure and prosperous Cameroon will not only provide new opportunities for its people, but for the rest of the region, the Central Africa region..He met with with selected farmers and their product.

He took his courage to look back over the past double decade. He saw what has worked for the farmers and his own agricultural policy and also the failure of that policy and what has not worked and has decided with his entire government to work on a plan of action for the coming 5 years. One thing is clear, the government budget bill has allocated more billion francs cfa to the ministry of defence rather than to the agricultural one...

For this year bill, CFA 2571 billion  adopted by the Parliament, the government has allocated  CFA 230.378 billion for the defense and policing and only CFA 71.424 billion  for the development of the agriculture.

That is less than 2.72% for the entire budget and and the army has 8.96% of the budget. The agriculture budget represent only 32% of the defense budget. This is a sign that in Cameroon, Biya is doing everything to keep grip on the power and hand more financial power to the army.

The good news is that he can still make the real change and bring back the agriculture in the heart of his political reforms and agenda.

The bad news is, that there is no money available for that at the moment and even for the next coming 5 years as he will have to find that money to inject in the agricultural sector and improve the quality of his own agricultural reforms.

As every ambitious politician, he said and recognised that there are tools to make things work in that sector, because he came to power under the agricultural reform and benefits but all that benefit has been used for other purpose other than the agricultural and farmers are still suffering for that policy failure of the government.

Biya forgot about the fast spread of new agricultural technologies by giving away machetes to young farmers and advising and encouraging them to go back to the farm while in the other world it is a modernism and fast growing technology,

 with mechanism and industrialization of the agriculture.  Farmers in Cameroon have the know- how and just lack of resources to tackle the real and big problem.

To accelerate progress in the agricultural sector, the government need to redirect, funding and subventions and even create a global strategy for the agriculture.

Now the global picture on numbers of those who are hungry in Cameroon it is unknown and statistically speaking, it could be around 1 in 4 people in Cameroon who don`t have enough to eat according to the latest United Nations Development Programme report on Cameroon, about population undernourished, and that number is on the rise and nothing in reality is being done to alleviate that..

Progress on political reform in Cameroon still slower

The progress on political reform in Cameroon since the amendment of the constitution in mid 2008 has been slower said her majesty`s government while assessing the political and economic situation in Cameroon, on Tuesday 2 November 2010 in the House of Lords.

Lord Howell of Guilford

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford), responding to a question put forward by Lord Luce in the House of Lords, regarding the situation in Cameroon ahead of the next crucial presidential election in 2011, said,  the little  power-sharing inclusive Government have made some progress since their formation  by the beginning of 1992-1994 and until today, most notably on the stabilisation of the economy.

One thing is real and scrutiny is the stabilisation of the economy with some slower progress on political reform and also a huge deficit and lack of political system of fighting against corruption in Cameroon.

There has been a considerable increase  in the severity and frequency of human rights abuses since the amendment of the constitution by the president Paul Biya in order to be able by the constitution to run for another presidential mandate next year. From different reports and press released, there has been some improvement .

Despite this, we remain concerned about ongoing abuses, particularly around the rule of law and the hardliners' continued exploitation of their control of the security apparatus and judiciary for political ends.

 The recent constitutional reform process has shown that state actors still have a capacity for violence and intimidation with no real intention of power-sharing in the government.


 The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front has been out off the power-sharing government since 1994 while his members of the parliament or parliamentary group still acting in the parliament.

Persistent intransigence from hardliners, including the recent unilateral appointments made by President Paul Biya , led John Fru Ndi, leader of the Sdf,  to declare  unconstitutional crisis earlier last month the job previously  done by the Elecam, the government body that will organise, and monitor  the next presidential election.

We share opposition leader's frustration in Cameroon with the lack of a real political and ambitious reforms and support them in their  determination to remain in, for those who are at the moment in  the power-sharing Government and also encourage the Sdf, now  to seek advice on ways to start a new political life on power-sharing in the government.

In the absence of a road map to credible and properly monitored elections, Biya administration continue to offer the only credible means of transforming Cameroon  and delivering basic services to its people.

But to succeed, it needs a clear commitment from all parties to work together to implement the reforms set out in the global political agreement.

We will continue to work with our international partners in considering how best to work with reformers in Cameroon  and the region, to improve prospects of reform in Cameroon and to prepare for credible and properly monitored elections. A message to them will, Cameroon, the world is watching you.

Can European nations give up seats on the board of the IMF?

By saying in a personal capacity   that European countries must give up seats on the board of the International Monetary Fund if the institution is to remain credible, Paulo Nogueira Batista who represents Brazil and eight other countries on the fund`s executive board took the lead here to warn his colleagues and the rest of the world.

 Correcting the over-representation of Europe in the fund executive board has to and must be the natural way to make the International Monetary Fund more representative of the global economy. Laurean W Rutayisire from Rwanda and Kossi Assimikidou from Togo who represent 23 African countries and Samuel Itam from Sierra Leone with Moeketsi Majoro from Lesotho who represent the other 20 African countries should joint voices with the Brazilian representative at the IMF.

The financial institution is changing and has to move for the better in the right direction despite the scope of its development challenges.

Paulo just want words and intention to be put in practice. In a letter sending to the Financial Times, he wrote, < advanced countries talk loftily of shifting power to emerging markets, but we now need more than speeches and noble declarations....>  He thinks that europeans will drag their feet to put in act what they promised long time ago.

 His views are shared by officials from emerging markets who have long complained that the IMF is dominated by Europe and the US. By convention The International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to foster international monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

Created in 1945, the IMF is governed by and accountable to the 187 countries that make up its near-global membership. and European countries appoint the managing director of the IMF. 

Debate on IMF reform has been forced by a procedural manoeuvre undertaken by the US last month, in which it declined to re-elect the 24 member board in its current form. The move compels countries to reorganise the board before November 1.

In another hand might be the US are pushing emergent markets to play their part in a democratic way and in a world where they are allowed to decide which direction they want to go. The move might be another blow for the relationship between Us and Europe...And European nations might have to review their long-established coalitions of countries and also US to lose some power over important decision...