Seven more patients have recovered from COVID-19 in Cameroon. The state media says the total number of recoveries stands at 165.
Ambazonian leaders will not be among several prisoners walking free thanks to President Biya’s decision granting clemency today. The decision clearly exempts those convicted for crimes against the state. The NERA 10 were handed life terms for secession and terrorism.
The decree says those sentenced on charges against the state won’t benefit from the presidential clemency, leaving out jailed journalists. Most journalists currently behind bars were tried at the military court, charges of crimes against the state the cry of the CPJ and other advocacy groups is that they should be released. Will this be an opportunity for them to finally be released?
The number of inmates to be released is not yet known to Cameroonians. Those in pretrial detention too have been exempted in the decision many say remains ambiguous. President Biya’s decision however follows a similar action by other African leaders as a means to limit the coronavirus spread in their countries.
The population of Mabanda Bonaberi in Douala has appreciated members of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking journalists (CAMSEJ) in Douala for donating materials for the fight against COVID-19. The quarter head, Tufion Joseph says the population should put the materials to good use. CAMASEJ Douala has promised to do more in other communities.
The President of MANIDEM political party is responding to treatment. Anicet Ekane contracted coronavirus days ago. In a release, he has appreciated the medical team for taking care of him.
The Popular Action Party (PAP) says internally displaced persons in Cameroon are the most vulnerable groups of people to the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking at the launch of a campaign to sensitise IDPs against COVID-19 in Limbe, Njang Denis national President of the PAP said “IDPs need assistance to be able to purchase or possess the equipments to protect themselves against the desease”. The sensitisation campaign was launched in the presence of top PAP officials.
MRC leader, Maurice Kamto has asked the Speaker of the national assembly to establish a power vacancy at the presidency with the assent of the the Parliament. “The law doesn’t say who can solicit the president of the national assembly for this purpose. It thus opens this possibility to any citizen or political organization” he says. Kamto’s call comes after he had called on President to address the nation on the coronavirus to no avail. The president has not been seen in public for weeks now.
A 28 man committee has been put in place at the National Assembly to examine the incompatibility of 13 members of parliament recently elected in the North West and South West regions in the course of legislative election rerun.
Prof Joseph Owona has been appointed member of the constitutional council. He is a former member of government. The last public office he held was that of the President of Fecafoot normalisation committee.
Paul Tasong and Njong Donatus have have been commissioned as the director and deputy director of the reconstruction plan of the North West and South West regions. They are to use a little over 89 billions francs cfa to reconstruct places destroyed in the course of the war. How they will do this many say is not practical given that the war is still on.
Critics and rights groups say the government of Cameroon should distribute face masks for free especially in places like the North-West and South West Regions hit by war. One of such groups, the Center for Human Right and Democracy in Africa has announced her accompanying measures against COVID-19 to the people of the conflict regions
Members of Parliament in Cameroon have come under huge popular criticism for failing to engage an action to sensitise or accompany Cameroonians in the fight against COVID-19. Apart from local administrative officials, individuals and Mayors, MPs, people’s representatives have done nothing to adress the covid-19 pandemic, according to Cameroonians.
Teachers of Ivan Bilingual College Bonaberi Douala are sending distress calls to public administrative officials, following what they call the refusal of school management to pay their salaries.
The teachers say they have not been able to receive salaries for the month of march, and management which has remained silent on the issue says it does not want to recieve them. With schools closed in Cameroon as part of government’s measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus, the proprietor of Ivan Bilingual College Bonaberi thinks teachers have not been working, and do not deserve to be paid according to some of the teachers. The teachers are soliciting the intervention of the public administrative officials.
Family members of a certain Papa Godefroy Ngameni are being demanded the sum of 3 million frs cfa. This amount is for ransom before his release by purported Amba boys. Papa Godefroy Ngameni was abducted by unknown armed individuals Tuesday night April 14th 2020, and taken to an undisclosed destination. Family members say the old man was taken away from his Mile one Towe residence at 7:30 pm.
Former Minister Joseph Owona is the newest member of the Constitutional Council in Cameroon. The one time acting President of the Cameroon Football Federation was appointed by a presidential decree Wednesday April 15th 2020. He replaces Arkam Fumen, who died earlier this year.
The chairperson of the African Union commission, Moussa Faki, has condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt its funding of the World Health Organization in a tweet: Mr Faki called the move “deeply regrettable” and said “today more than ever, the world depends on WHO’s leadership” in response to the coronavirus pandemic. BBC Africa health editor Anne Mawathe says the move will have a devastating impact in Africa, where the WHO has played an especially important role in the fight against malaria, TB and HIV in Africa.
Fighting in Libya continues to escalate this week amid calls from the United Nations mission and other NGOs to the country for an urgent need for a humanitarian pause. Attacks on civilians, residential areas and a prison break are just a few of a long list of violent incidents ongoing in Libya, according to the United Nations mission to the country. In a statement on Wednesday, the UN’s political mission says it is alarmed by the intensification of fighting in recent days which resulted in casualties, and warned of a risk of further internal displacement of civilians.
Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are considering extending the confinement zone to more neighborhoods of the capital Kinshasa. So far, La Gombe – an upmarket business and residential area – is the only part of Kinshasa where movement has been restricted and the current confinement measures are set to end on Monday. At least two people have tested positive at checkpoints of the area’s entrances.
Police have been deployed to a remote area in Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Taraba following deadly ethnic clashes over a disputed fishing pond. At least 19 people were killed in the violence on Sunday, according to Taraba State’s police spokesperson. Some reports suggest the number of people killed was higher with many others wounded on both sides. Dozens of homes have also been burnt down.
Veteran musician Kasongo wa Kanema, former band leader of Orchestra Super Mazembe, has died. The Congolese-born musician who has lived in Kenya for more than 30 years is said to have collapsed and died at his home in the capital Nairobi. Super Mazembe rose to fame in the late 1970s and maintained prominence through the 1980s.
Ghana has launched an application for mobile phones that is intended to help the authorities track and identify suspected cases of coronavirus. The government says the app will be a game changer in the fight against the pandemic and that around 100 suspected cases have already been identified using the app. The app will track the movement of users via GPS, enabling authorities to identify persons who might have come into contact with a confirmed case.
The governor of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has sparked controversy after announcing that he will distribute alcohol as part of food packs for poor families who are missing work because of coronavirus pandemic. Governor Mike Sonko made the announcement at a media briefing on Tuesday and has been trending on social media for saying he had “small bottles of Hennessy in the food packs that we will be giving to our people”. “From the research which has been conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) and various health organisations it has been revealed that alcohol plays a very major role in killing the coronavirus or any sort of virus,” he added.
Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has announced the cancellation of this year’s Union Day celebrations – which commemorates the merging of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to become Tanzania. It’s one of the most important dates in the country’s calendar, celebrated annually on 26 April. “President John Magufuli has also directed that a sum of 500 million Tanzanian shillings ($217,000; £173,000), set as a budget for the Union Day celebrations, should be reallocated to the fund for fighting coronavirus in the country,” said Mr Majaliwa
(Foreign news: BBC)
