Minister Jean De Dieu Momo has denied supporting Prof Maurice Kamto of the MRC party. Citing a telephone record in circulation, the minister says a voice sounding like his voices support the MRC leader on his COVID-19 relief plan. The interviewee in the audio- purportedly, the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of justice appears to have endorsed the move, urging others to contribute. “You can be rest assured that the money will be safe, ” the individual states as he urges others to contribute. Denying responsibility for the call, Momo says Kamto will never be president of Cameroon.
Two makeshift centres in Yaounde to host COVID-19 patients expected to go operational this week. Cameroon Minister of public health visited the centres under construction today in Yaounde. Upon completion, officials say the centres will host at most 500 COVID-19 patients .
Presidential gifts of health and medical kits to be distributed to vulnerable families in the 360 sub divisions in Cameroon in the days ahead. The goods were presented today in Yaounde by the Minister of territorial administration. The goods are worth 2 billion francs cfa.
Minister Paul Atanga Nji is calling on leaders of political parties and other people of good will to join what he calls the good intention of Paul Biya. He stresses that governors will distribute to divisions and the SDOs will intend share to the sub divisions for the DOs who’ll share to villages and local population.
Prof. Maurice Kamto has called on leaders of “Survival Cameroon” to find out any assistance Archbishop Samuel Kleda will need for a massive production of COVID-19 cure. The leader of Cameroon Renaissance Movement has applauded all Africans making efforts to help in the health crisis.
After ordering Afriland First bank to close bank accounts of people raising funds to assist victims of COVID-19, the Minister of territorial administration is calling on Orange and MTN mobile telephone networks to close all accounts credit by people raising funds to assist those affected by COVID-19.
After months of silence, the case of Buea based journalist Samuel Wazizi will be revisited once more. After being held incommunicado for 9 months, the case has again been postponed. Ever since Wazizi was abducted in Buea by the security forces 8 months ago, the government has remained silent on the broadcaster’s whereabouts despite increased pressure from groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the American Bar Association (ABA) for his release.
The National Episcopal Conference has called on Cameroonians of goodwill to perform a novena from Friday May 1st to Saturday May 9th, 2020. Set to be launched on the feast of Saint Joseph, the clergymen called on everyone to take the opportunity to pray for an end to the coronavirus. Cameroon currently has over a thousand positive cases.
The Social Democratic Front (SDF) has applauded the action of the inquiry committee into last February killings in the village of Ngarbuh. While describing the findings as an important step in the process of healing the nation, the SDF said proper judicial actions must be taken to bring perpetrators of the massacre to book.
The Donga Mantung Divisional President of the National Youth Council has been buried. Abanda Marcel was removed from the mortuary and taken to his native Wat village for burial. He died in Bamenda last Sunday.
The Minister of public health says he has dispatched medical experts to Douala to examine a COVID-19 cure discovered by the Archbishop Samuel Kleda. Since the discovery at the weekend, the government has not issued any official statement on that.
The public health sector in Cameroon has come under huge criticism from the general public and the private health sector for abandoning corpses of Coronavirus victims to family members for burial. Several families say their love ones killed by COVID-19 have been abandoned by health officials to burry despite the risk. The act has been criticised by health personnel of the private sector who say abandoning death bodies of COVID-19 to non experts is dangerous for public health
Health workers recruited as field agents for the door to door data collection on COVID-19 patients in Cameroon, say the government has refused to pay their allowances as promised for three weeks today. Expressing their disappointment, the officials say the ministry of public health promised them 15 000frs as daily allowance at the start of operation. The money according to the ministry was meant to be 5000frs as fare, and 10000 frs for feeding, but the health workers have not received a penny for food, three weeks after. The health personnel are still seeking integration into the public service
The Government of Cameroon is now involved in the coronavirus cure discovered by his grace Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of the Douala Metropolitan Archdiocese. According to the Minister Manaouda Malachie of public health, a team from the central services in Yaounde has been dispatched to work with the Archbishop in Douala. This is within efforts to scientifically certify the protocol. Bishop Samuel Kleda says he administered the cure to some COVID-19 patients, who later tested negative
A young man has been arrested for the alleged murdered of his four-year-old niece in Koutaba, a locality in the Noun Division- West region of Cameroon. Reports have it that the young man named Ahmidou murdered Raissa, with the aim of selling her body parts. He was unfortunately arrested alongside his two accomplices and detained at the West Regional Gendermarie legion for further investigations.
The CDU Opposition political party in Cameroon is mourning the demise of two of its key militants. The CDU Secretary General in charge of information cum member of the political Bureau , Mr Mounde Nsangou, and Fouanta Ibrahim, Deputy Secretary General in charge of administrative affairs. They died in a road accident in Mbanga, in the Moungo Division of the Littoral Region of the country. They were heading for the UDC national convention in Douala
The United Nations food agency has warned that the number of people who risk going hungry in East Africa could double in the next three months as a result of coronavirus. The World Food Programme said 43 million people risk lacking access to food in nine countries. They are Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and South Sudan and Uganda. It said that, although the number of confirmed cases was relatively low compared with elsewhere in the world, the economic effect of the virus is already being felt.
The United Nations has accused the authorities in eastern Libya of breaching international human rights obligations by expelling migrants and refugees. A UN official said 1,400 people had been deported since the start of the year. Nothing was done to ensure their protection as they were returned to sub-Saharan countries like Sudan and Somalia, where they might face persecution.
Images of thousands of people mingling at political rallies in Burundi on Monday have sparked concerns that coronavirus infections could soar. Olivier Manzi, a specialist in infectious diseases, says large gatherings of this nature risk accelerating the spread of the virus. Official World Health Organization advice during the pandemic is for people observe social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading.
Uganda’s health minister has denied that the country repatriated 14 truck drivers who tested positive for coronavirus. The minister, Jane Aceng, said only one driver was repatriated and that 13 others left on their own. On Monday, director general of health services Dr Henry Mwebesa announced that 14 drivers returned to their countries. The announcement triggered reactions from Kenyans and Tanzanians online prompting the minister to clarify that 13 of the drivers left Uganda of their own accord.
A row has erupted in Nigeria where some states have been rounding up street beggars and sending them back to their home states – saying that they are potential spreaders of coronavirus. Rivers state is the latest example. Governor Nyesom Wike says he has instructed officials to “round-up and deport all vagrants, including the almajiris [young street beggars sent away from home to Koranic schools] to their states of origin to protect our people from the threat they present to the transmission of this pandemic.” Similiar actions were announced by the governors of Kano and Kaduna states a week ago, prompting condemnation.
A large queue of traffic stretching as far as 40km (25 miles) is building up at the Kenya-Uganda border as lorry drivers await mandatory coronavirus testing. Five lorry drivers tested positive for Covid-19 after crossing into Uganda, prompting the Kenya government to initiate the mass testing of them. Locals are worried some drivers could potentially spread the virus, because as they await the testing, they freely mingle in the shopping centres and villages in search of supplies, accommodation and company.
The authorities in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state have apologised to a coronavirus patient after it was wrongly announced that she had escaped from an isolation centre in the city of Maiduguri. The woman was one of two patients authorities said had fled from a treatment centre. The other patient, a man, was traced to his house in Maiduguri where he was found in a “critical” condition. He is undergoing treatment in hospital. The authorities apologised to the woman when she turned herself in at the hospital. In a statement, Borno state government said it emerged that the woman was not informed that she had tested positive for the virus and needed to be in isolation.
Tanzanian rapper Mwana FA, real name Khamis Mwinjuma, has been discharged from hospital after treatment for Covid-19, the Citizen newspaper has reported. The rapper spent 28 days in hospital and is quoted as saying he was tested eight times during the period. He said he was released after testing negative twice. Mwana FA said Tanzania’s President John Magufuli called to check on him while he was hospitalised. The rapper was among the first people in Tanzania to test positive for coronavirus.
(Foreign news: BBC)
