Month: September 2023

The Cameroon Music Corporation was dissolved and liquidated by the Mfoundi High Court on Thursday, September 28, 2023.

This decision meant that the Category B musical author’s rights company ceased to exist in Cameroon as a company.

For now, only Ateh Bazor’s SONACAM is the musical author’s right company to operate in that category.

This decision is the outcome of a judicial battle that has existed for the past years between some disgruntled artists and the company. The company had been accused of not paying authors’ rights to artists for the past years, thus going against its main mission which was to ensure the collective management of these rights and distribute them to member artists at national and international levels.

A situation that reportedly tarnished the country’s image as many Cameroonian musical artists remained or even died without ever perceiving a franc as the author’s right.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Reconciliation and Development Association, RADA has made public a study, on the perception of Cameroonian youths in ending the over 7 years Anglophone conflict.

The study was made known by the management of RADA on September 25, 2023, in Bamenda. It is done with support from stakeholders and the National Endowment for Democracy, NED, the association revealed.

The study which took 8 months to be conducted was done by administering surveys to over 875 youths. The study acts as a contribution by the young people to end the crisis.

Statistics from the research revealed that political factors are the primary cause of the Anglophone crisis. Historical, cultural, and personal aspects have also been cited as causes of the prolonged crisis.

Proposed recommendations to resolve the crisis

In the same study, the Reconstruction and Development Association said since the youths constitute about 65 to 70% of the population of Cameroon, their voices need to be heard when it comes to resolving the crisis.

Dialogue has been recommended by the youths as the only way to solve the crisis. “Overwhelmingly, participants identified political factors as the primary cause…,”

The study also made it known that despite the challenging situation in the North West, and South West region, youths must participate in peace initiatives if they want peace.

According to the study, the government of Cameroon and the media have a greater role to play when it comes to resolving the crisis.

Violence has been criticized and condemned as one of the strategies being used by the actors, which cannot help in ending the situation.

The keynote address at the virtual meeting was delivered by Professor Willibroad Dze-Ngwa, while the presentation of findings was done by the project director and project manager, Ferdinand Sonyuy, and Nange Hezelle, respectively.

Contributions also came from the Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

A group of Post and Telecommunications workers under the Multipurpose Community Telecenters and Digital Access Points (TCPs) in the North West and South West regions, have cried foul over the non-payment of their salaries.

They say their plea is yet to be heard despite multiple letters written to the Minister of Post and Telecommunications and others deposited at the Prime Minister’s office.

As indicated in their last letter to the Prime Minister on February 1, 2023, they are on a strike which “will continue till we know why we are not being paid”.

One of the affected workers, who opted for anonymity, wrote to CNA noting that their service was initiated to bring technology closer to the people in the local areas or villages, “but for over the years we haven’t been paid or compensated.

“We are not even recognized as workers under this ministry or better still not covered by the labour code in Cameroon” the worker added.

Concerns have also been raised over the loss of some colleagues during the anglophone crisis, with the striking personnel regretting that other government and private institutions are taking steps to assist victims, “but we have been neglected since 2015”.

The workers say they won’t relent till their money is paid.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The practice of bilingualism in some health facilities in the West Region is far from being a reality as the absence of both official languages on posters remains the major concern.

The remark was made on Thursday September 28 by a delegation of the National Commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism at the Bafoussam Regional hospital during a 2-day working visit in the West to assess the level of bilingualism practices in public services.

A failure admitted by the Director General of the hospital Dr George Enow Orock who also promised take necessary measures to improve the situation in his institution.

“Bilingualism is still timid here meantime to treat a patient, we must diagnose and convince him in both languages. We will henceforth have a day for bilingualism, multiculturalism and living together here at the Bafoussam Regional hospital ” says Enow Orock

Apart from the Bafoussam regional hospital, the delegation visited the University of Dschang and other structures where they reminded actors of the legal dispositions governing the practice of bilingualism in Cameroon.

The wish of this commission which is touring all ten regions, is to that bilingualism practices be applied on the field.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Advisors to Board of Directors of African Development Bank (AfDB) met with the officials and advisors of the Ministry of Industry to review the progress the manufacturing industry has made and the support being provided by the bank.

The two sides also discussed on how the AfDB would continue providing support to the sector and the efforts being made by the government to intensify the manufacturing sector, according to the Ministry of Industry.

Members of the AfDB delegation have been provided briefings by officials of the ministry on development facilities of various Industrial Development Parks in the country, on commitment of the federal government to further boosting the manufacturing sector as well as on results and challenges.

The delegation of AfDB also visited Yirgalem Integrated Agro-Industrial Park and Hawassa Industrial Park.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Construction of the Koysha Hydro Electric Power Station, which is under construction on the Omo River in the South Western Ethiopia Region, has reached 61 percent completion.

A group of journalists from local media organizations visited the ongoing construction activities of the project.

Deputy head of the project Engineer Abayneh Getaneh said the dam, which is under construction on the Omo River, will have an installed capacity of 1,800 Megawatts.

He explained that the project will be equipped with 6 turbines, each generating 300 megawatts, and construction of the turbine house and ventilation is underway.

the Deputy head noted that the civil work of the project, which started in 2016, is now 52 percent complete, the dam reinforcement has reached 30 percent, the ventilation 13 percent, and the electromechanical work is under study.

Overall the project completion has reached 61 percent, Engineer Abayneh confirmed.

He added that the project has created jobs for five thousand people and is making a great contribution to the transfer of knowledge and technology.

When the Koysha Hydroelectric Project is completed, an artificial lake of 130 kilometers long and 200 square kilometers in area will be created, it was noted.

Koysha Hydroelectric Project Manager, Engineer Eugenio ZOPPIS said the project is contributing in terms of knowledge and technology transfer in addition to job opportunities.

The State Minister of Government Communication Services, Selamawit Kassa, on her part said Koisha is one of the mega projects that have been around for a long time and have great significance.

However, she added that currently the construction of the hydropower project is well underway due to the special attention given to it by the government as part of the on going reform measures.

Selamawit further stated that the project includes national parks which are endowed with potential natural resources vital for tourist destinations. According to her, the artificial lake impounded behind the dam will increase the flow of tourists.

On the other hand, the project will connect the local community with the infrastructure networks and make the local products, including vegetables and fruits, accessible to the market, she said.

According to the State Minister, the government of Ethiopia has given a great deal of attention to Koysha Hydroelectric Project. She also affirmed that works are well underway to complete the project within short period of time.

Ethiopia has some of the richest fresh water resources in Africa by volume, distributed across eight major basins with an exploitable hydropower potential of 45,000 MW.

To help address the energy deficit, the government has developed large hydropower projects along the country’s major river basins.

This includes the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which once completed will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa and the recently-completed 1,870 MW Gibe III project.

Experts say that Ethiopia has the capacity and capabilities to become a great energy exporter within the region, which could benefit also the neighboring countries.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has arrived in Jimma, Oromia region for a review of projects under development.

According to Office of the Prime Minister, the premier has been accompanied by First Lady Zinash Tayachew and Federal and Regional leadership.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

UNICEF Representative to Ethiopia has vowed his organization would advocate for the resumption of food aid to refugees.

Director General of Refugees and Returnees Service(RRS)Teyiba Hassen discussed with UNICEF Representative to Ethiopia, Aboubacar Kampo, on matters of mutual concern.

Teyiba also briefed Kampo how complete food aid suspension has been miring the lives of refugees and underlined on the need to voice to the international community and donors as the decision is depriving persons of concern the right to live, according to Refugees & Returnees Service (RRS).

The director general commended the representative for UNICEF’s support to persons of concern and called on the need to further ties between the two institutions.

The two sides also had candid discussion and agreed to work together on several initiatives, including the health service at Bokh refugee site.

The representative told the director general that his Fund would advocate for the resumption of food aid and vowed to bolster its intervention in the areas of water, sanitation and health.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency