Cameroon will receive 226 million US Dollars from the International Monetary Fund as assistance for the fight against COVID-19. The IMF says the amount approved under its Rapid Credit Facility, RCF is intended to enable government address its urgent balance of payment needs due to the economic challenges posed by the pandemic as well as the sharp drop in oil prices. Cameroon has over 2,000 positive COVID-19 cases now making it the most affected in Central Africa.
Survie Cameroon Survival Initiative, SCSI has offered to provide face masks and hand sanitisers to Cameron’s main prisons. In a letter addressed to Justice Minister, Laurent Esso the Chairman of the SCSI management committee, Penda Ekoka says the choice of detention facilities is because they are high risk environments exposed to the spread of the virus.
Cameroon’s health minister, Manaouda Malachie says there are currently 958 active COVID-19 cases in the country with 115 hospitalized and 46 on Oxygen therapy. 1221 have recovered and 86 died so far. Cameroon remains the most affected nation in the Central African sub region.
Hon. Nourane Molluh Fotsing of the PCRN political party has expressed her dissatisfaction with government’s silence over her demand for authorisation to assist in the COVID-19 fight. Thirty days after demanding an authorisation from Cameron’s Ministry of Territorial Administration, she says no official response has been given.
Rapid coronavirus test kits from South Korea have been handed over to the Minister of Public Health. Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of territorial administration handing over the kits today said people can be tested and the results given in fifteen minutes.
Cameroon has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Central African Republic over treatment of its citizens. This comes after CAR’s Health Ministry made Cameroonians undergo compulsory tests after they were accused of being COVID-19 carriers. External Relations Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella also raised concerns over the security of Cameroon’s embassy in the Central African Republic.
The Syndicate of Councils in the Noun Division of the West Region of Cameroon has told President Paul Biya that Cameroonians at this stage of COVID-19 pandemic no longer need face masks, Savon, hand gloves and hand washing buckets. In a letter addressed to the President through the Minister of decentralisation and local development, the municipal officials say the priorities of the population today include; test kits, respirators, equipped facilities to take charge of COVID-19 patients, as well as equipment to burry the deaths. The move comes after the Presidential COVID-19 gifts arrived Noun.
Another medical Doctor has fallen at the front in the fight against Coronavirus in Cameroon. Dr Tifen Inoussa died Thursday morning May 7th 2020 at the Gynaeco obstetrics and Pediatric hospital in Yassa, Douala III. He is the 3rd medical official to die of COVID-19 in Cameroon since the outbreak on March 5th 2020.
Bar. Agbor Felix Bala has not reacted to the decision of the University of Buea terminating his contract as an instructor. Yesterday, the common law Lawyer and lecturer in the department of English law refused to attend a disciplinary council on grounds that he was served the summon late. The dismissal is for setting an exam question on the Anglophone crisis.
Some students of the University of Buea have condemned the termination of the contract of Bar. Agbor Felix Bala as an instructor in the University. The students think injustice and the Yaounde administration are responsible for the sanction. The decision from the Vice Chancellor Prof. Horace Manga came about after a disciplinary panel yesterday.
Cameroon’s media family and sympathisers of journalist, Samuel Wazizi left the Buea High court today disappointed. They encountered another road block in the case if the journalist after the court rejected a habeas corpus plea citing a “wrongful quotation of law”. The journalist’s lawyers say they will reconstitute and resubmit the document. Wazizi has been held incommunicado for about nine months leaving doubts about his wellbeing.
Some lawyers in Limbe say most of their important documents for cases have been consumed by flames at the Limbe court of first instance. The flames broke out near 3:00 am today. The Lawyers have called for the construction of a befitting structure.
The Cameroon government says there is the need to beef up security at it’s embassy in Berlin, Germany. The request was made after members of the Brigade Anti Sardinade, (BAS) stormed the embassy in a protest on May 4th. The BAS members criticised government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic back home as they kept asking for proof if President Paul Biya is still alive.
The corpse of a 50-year old woman has been pulled out of a well in Kouseri, a town in Cameroon’s Far North Region. The lady passed away before her body could be retrieved from the 30-meter deep well by firefighters that were called to the scene.
Justin Diffo has been installed as the Board Chairperson of Telecommunications regulatory agency. She was installed today by the Minister of post and telecommunications today in Yaounde.
Mayors in Cameroon are contesting the decision of the government to put Divisional Officers, DOs at the head of Sub-divisional commissions in the distribution of COVID-19 gifts from President Paul Biya. The local representatives say the move is a direct violation of the concept of decentralisation in the country and interference in their direct domain of Mayors. The Mayors say they master the needs of their people and should not receive orders from DOs. Some of these grudges were transmitted to the government through the Ministry of decentralisation and local development.
Several persons have been rendered homeless in Eseka- Nyong and Kelle Division of the Centre Region of Cameroon. This follows a demolition exercise ordered by the new Mayor Mbock. The people whose houses have been destroyed say the Mayor destroyed their homes at a time when their economic activities have been shattered by COVID-19 and they can’t afford new homes.
At the Mawoh neighbourhood in Limbe, 10 families have been left homeless, following the burning of a 14-room house in another fire incident. The fire incident broke out at about 1pm Wednesday, May 6th 2020, and local efforts to put off the flames proved abortive. Though the cause of the fire incident is yet to be identified, locals blame the absence of a fire fighting unit in Limbe, for the destruction.
The authorities in Nigeria are investigating a reported rise in deaths in the northern state of Jigawa. The state government has sent a five-person team to report back before the end of the week after residents said there had been an increase in deaths in some communities. Local reports quoting residents of Hadejia town say about 100 people were reported dead in 10 days. Doctors in Jigawa initially attributed the deaths to illnesses such as asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure. The visiting medical team, which includes a representative from the World Health Organization (WHO), will now investigate whether the deaths are linked to coronavirus.
Tanzania’s parliamentary speaker has threatened to press charges of theft against opposition MPs for boycotting parliament. Last week, the main opposition party Chadema told its MPs to self-isolate for at least 14 days and stay away from parliamentary buildings in the capital, Dodoma. It took the decision following the death of three MPs in less than a fortnight – though the deaths have not been linked to coronavirus. President John Magufuli in response called for the withholding of their allowances paid to them to attend parliament.
A government official who criticised an aide of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari after he died of coronavirus has himself tested positive for the virus. Muazu Magaji was sacked from his post as a commissioner in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano after saying on social media he refused to grieve for Abba Kyari, the former chief of staff to President Buhari. On Thursday, Mr Magaji posted on his Facebook page that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been moved to one of the state’s isolation facilities.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan of $491m (£399) to Uganda, to help the country’s economy cope with the cost of containing the coronavirus pandemic. The international lending institution said weakening economic conditions from the impact of Covid-19 had put “significant pressures on revenue collection and expenditure” by the government. The Washington-based lender says the money will help to finance healthcare and measures to stabilise the economy, as well as catalyse additional financing from the international community.
The head of the African Union (AU) body that is co-ordinating the continent’s coronavirus response has rejected the suggestion from Tanzania’s president that tests for the virus are faulty. Last weekend, President John Magufuli, who has been criticised for his approach in dealing with the virus, said that he had secretly had some animals and fruits tested at the laboratory and that a paw-paw, a quail and a goat had returned positive samples. But responding to a question about Mr Magufuli’s comments, John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told journalists that the tests that Tanzania and other African countries are using had “been validated and we know that they are performing very well”.
The bodies of four people who died in a plane crash in south-western Somalia have been repatriated to Kenya as investigations into the incident continue. The Kenyan-registered cargo plane, which went down in the town of Bardale on Monday, was carrying medical supplies meant to help in the fight against coronavirus. There has been speculation that the plane was shot down The authorities say joint investigations between Somalia and Kenya are under way. Ethiopia – which has thousands of troops operating under African Union mission is Somalia – is yet to respond to the accusations.
Beninese President Patrice Talon has ordered investigations into allegations of sexual harassment made by two female journalists. Angéla Kpeidja, who works for the national television station ORTB, and Pricile Kpogbeme made claims of sexual harassment and abuse in separate Facebook posts. Ms Kpeidja’s post on 1 May condemned the “silence in frustration” among women journalists. Ms Kpogbeme marked World Press Freedom Day on 3 May with a video post that highlighted the abuse she has faced in her career. She said women were regarded as “sex objects” in the media industry and that she was unemployed because she refused the sexual advances of those in authority.
(Foreign news: BBC)
