Press and
Associates is in its 31st edition, which means, as the ruling party
was celebrating its 3oth anniversary last March 24, 2015, Press and Associates
was also celebrating its 30th edition.
Like the Cpdm chairman, President Paul Biya, who just
returned from a 30 day brief private visit in Europe yesterday, said 30 was an
age of maturity. At its 30th edition, Press and Associates is also
just too mature and that’s the reason we are packaging and repackaging the
program, just for you.
From this edition, you will savour a new spirit and get new
dimensions to our handling of critical issues as raised in the media down the
week. This, after your numerous commendations and recommendations.
Thank you so very much for being there for us. As usual, our
team of sound minds and panelists are here to accompany you in articulating the
issues behind the news down the week, and we promise you will not regret being
in our company. For the next 120 minutes, you will be in the company of John
Menkafor, Afuh Stephen, Ngah Benjamin and Fung John who ill be joining us on
the line to Wum.
Before we unveil our rich package, lets have our though of
the week:
‘If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would
be literally astound ourselves’, Thomas Edison.  |
| From left to right-John Menkefor, Afuh Stephen, Ngah Benjamin and me, Gwain |
As usual, you can
contribute to any of our talking points by calling phone number 676 25 89 17.
And you will be live on Ndefcam radio, 94.9 FM. We are also on social media and
on twitter @thecolbertfacto. Reactions by email can be addressed to
gwaincolbert14@gmail.com.
As I announced earlier, this edition is a marked departure
from the previous ones and our hope is to keep on keeping on satisfying you.
Rather than just reviewing issues in the newspapers down the
week, we now go for the Top 5 most read stories down the week. Our pick of the
top 5 most read articles are arrived at after the informed opinion of the
panelists, critical readers and vendors who monitor newspaper sales and capture
readership trends down the week.
Take it or leave, our selection addresses itself to stories
that cannot leave any Cameroonian indifferent and this will also guide our
discussions for the next 120 minutes.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our Top 5 most-read stories down the
week to end today, March 28, 2015 address themselves to: 1] the succession of President Paul Biya and
the current constitutional arrangement for Cameroon; 2] celebrations marking
the 30th anniversary of the Cpdm; 3] the fight against Boko Haram as
well as the solidarity marches and financial contributions made by individual
Cameroonians even when they’ve done that through taxation; 4] leading
opposition leader, Ni John Fru Ndi’s visit to the wounded soldiers, and 5]; the
hotly contested Nigerian election taking place today March 28, 2015.
 |
| Afuh, making the point |
High on the league table of our five most read stories
during the week is the thorny issue of Biya’s succession which was brought back
to the marketplace of ideas this week because of President Biya’s prolonged
stay abroad as well as rumours of his ill-health.
The French weekly, Le
Soir of Monday march 23, was
categorical that evidence at their disposal favoured current Defense Minister,
Alain Mebe Ngo as potential successor to President Biya. It pointed out that
Mebe Ngo had so many cards to his favour and that he was following on the
footsteps of Ali Bongo of Garbon who was also Defense minister prior to the
death of his father, Omar Bongo. As it never rains but it pours, another French
weekly, Nouvelle Expression reported
that the same Mebe Ngo had survived a plane crash in Ngoundere as he was
returning from a routine troop inspection trip from the Far North.
Yet, Le Jour newspaper of Monday march 23,
wondered whether the Cpdm would survive after Biya. Even then, Le Messager
of same date carried a report on how the church was already afraid of the ‘Rwandization’
of Cameroon after Biya. At least, that was the worry down the week of authorities
of the Protestant University of Central Africa.
As the succession debate mounted to a degree, Generation Libre newspaper of March 25 alleged the panic was created on
Cameroonians by the French daily, Le Monde as part of their diabolic plans to
oust President Biya from power. L’independent newspaper reechos Generation Libre by concluding that internal and external lobbyists
have reached out to Le Monde so as to make Cameroon ungovernable.
Not all the newspapers took interest in Biya’s succession.
At least, not L’Action which rather concentrated its efforts on celebrations
marking the 30th anniversary of the Cpdm party last March 24, 2015. The
paper published a reassuring message from its party chairman, Paul Biya to the
effect that the party has made Cameroon better than it met it and that it was
ready more than ever to overcame the development challenges facing Cameroon
including providing security by stamping out Boko Haram. And for the National
daily, Cameroon Tribune to confirm in its March 25th edition that
the Cpdm party celebrated its 30th anniversary under the auspices of
solidarity in the fight against Bko Haram. Following on the footsteps of L’Action and Cameroon Tribune, was The Summit
magazine that devoted a chunk of its pages to present the party, its militants
and its influence on Cameroon’s political, economic and social landscape.
On its part, The Post
weekender regretted the fact that the
Cpdm was celebrating 30years of its existence in the absence of two key Fons
and founding fathers, that is Paul Biya and Fon Angwafor, paramount ruler of
the Mankon people and 1st National Vice President of the ruling
Cpdm.
Yet, Oust Littoral reminded The Post newspaper that that
Paul Biya, the European Resident had just written to his party comrades in
Cameroon on the occasion of that anniversary. While confirming that at the time
of publishing President Biya was still in Geneva, the Scoop newspaper wrote that although in his letter Biya celebrated
the fact that the Cpdm has come of age, it was no easy walk to maturity. The Chronicle
on its part, addressed itself to the achievements of the party in the past 30
years. Not so for The Guardian Post which qualified the 30 years of Cpdm existence as years of mix
blessings.
Such mix blessings went beyond the existence of the Cpdm in
39 years to even the war against Boko Haram and the solidarity as well as
contributions made by Cameroonians to support our soldiers. The Post
weekender opened the chapter on mix blessings by capturing the anger of
opposition MPs and mayors in its Friday March 27th edition, who had
been invited to the Bamenda Congress Hall to donate in support of the soldiers
at the battle front but that when they arrived they rather discovered it was a
wholly Cpdm anniversary launch with even Yang Philemon, the one who sent out
invitations inviting North West elite to the event, himself adorned in Cpdm
attire.
Despite thewalk out on Yang by opposition figures, North
West elites still managed to raise over 80 million frs as reported by the
Chronicle, the Scoop, the Guardian Post,
L’Action, and others. In addition
to North West elites, The Star reported in its March 25th
edition that had also donated over 100 million to support the troops and that
there was an outpouring of solidarity from all Cameroonians.
Capturing the mode of Cameroonians on the destination of the
fund being contributed, The Guardian Post committed a whole editorial in its
Wednesday edition demanding that a neutral body be created to manage all the
funds contributed by Cameroonians as many still recall what happened in 1994
when money was contributed to support Lions during the World Cup in the United
States and the money ended up between Paris and New York.
Despite the efforts being brought on board by government and
ordinary Cameroonians to root out Boko Haram, a Kumba-based newspaper, The
Detective of Monday March 23, rubbished all the moves and vehemently declared
that the solution to Boko Haram lies in organizing precipitated free, fair and
transparent elections and by cutting the Presidential term in Cameroon from 7
down to 4 and renewable ones.
As the debate on the form of nation for Cameroon intensified
in mainstream media, Cameroon’s leading opposition figure and SDF Chairman, Ni
John Fru NDI judged that action speaks louder than words. The Post newspaper of March
23 wrote that the Chairman had visited wounded soldiers in hospital with food
and other items. Following on the footsteps of The Post, The Sun
newspaper of same day emphasized that Chairman Fru had visited the soldiers
before Paul Biya, who is commander of th Armed Forces.
And now, the best of the Top 5 articles:
The report that opposition leaders and Biya’s main
challenger had visited the wounded even when Biya had not found time to pay homage
to the fallen soldiers seem to have provoked an online investigative report on
the photo scandal on the President’s website two weeks ago. Expert bloggers dug
through the Presidency site and their Facebook page and pulled up some
spectacular samples of "Photos
Montages". They claimed these guys have mastered the art of
"Cooking Presidential Adoro Dokky" to the point that, the President
can be presiding over a Ministerial Cabinet meeting in Yaoundé at the same time
that he is attending a United Nations Conference in New York while his natural
self may in reality be in his Mvomeka palace playing his Songo with
his buddies.
Cameroonians have
successfully disproved Issa Tchiroma's theory that the "Photo
Scandal" of the Presidential site "was the handiwork of Diaspora
Internet hackers; out to tarnish the name of the President, sap the moral of
our valiant troops and bring disrepute to Cameroon". In a very
systematic analysis with pictures to corroborate their findings, this news
organ demonstrates that the Journalists in charge of the Presidential site are
"Masters de Photos-Montages".
This to us at Press and Associates was a rare piece of
investigative journalism that should be emulated by all practitioners if we
want to remain credible and relevant. Even as it would be difficult for Issa
Tchiroma to challenge these new findings, it would be more difficult for the
President of the North West Fons Union, Senator Fon Teche to manipulate the
constitution so as to perpetrate his stay in power. The Guardian Post of Monday
and Wednesday ran two controversial reports, the first to the effect that the
NOWEFU constitution allowed the President to run for another term and the
second that the constitution that was presented to their reporters have been
found to have been a fake one.
Happy reading and do not fail to join us next Saturday from
5a.m-7a.m on Ndefcam radio, 94.9 FM. I have been Gwain Colbert, your media
personality.
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