For the past two weeks, Cameroon has witnessed a series of installation ceremonies of Mayors and their Deputies. The opulence with which some of these ceremonies were organised can only take hungry Cameroonians to a one-day treat of feasting and five years of empty promises and building of castles in the air. One of such installations was that of the SDF Lord Mayor Njong Donatus of the Kumbo Urban Council that took place on September 5, 2007, at the Tobin Public Square. His confidence was renewed as his people happily accept him for a third mandate in a town that can rightly be considered the opposition hotbed in the Northwest Province. Attending this ceremony were the Kumbo inhabitants alongside government officials, VIPs, dignitaries and notables, who converged in Tobin-Kumbo for the public ritual. The attendance far outnumbered those of past two installations. The Paramount Fon of Nso, Sehm Mbinglo I, was there in person and provided his own traditional blessings. The event was a perfect mix of colour, dance and anxiety running through the veins of the organisers and the guests.
The joint IMF and World Bank team of economist last week concluded their mission to Cameroon. The aim was to obtain empirical information on the progress of Cameroon’s economy and the achievements of multilaterally supported projects. A three year economic program developed by the government of Cameroon and supported under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ends in June 2008.
The Integrated Support Project for Informal Stakeholders and Actors (PIASSI) recently offered loans to more than 100 persons of the Southwest province of Cameroon. This is in conformity with a national program to improve on the private sector economy in Cameroon. The offering of business loans is an initiative of Cameroon’s Ministry of Employment and Vocational training. It is a trickle down financing effort emanating from the HIPC completion point for Cameroon.
The Republic of Cameroon with a population of about 17 million persons counts six state-owned Universities and five privately-owned full-fledged universities, accounting for diverse faculties and specialisations. Midway on this spectrum are a plethora of professional schools, colleges and universities. While private sector entrepreneurs grapple with modern management of their universities and professional colleges to bring them to limelight, state-owned universities hold the hope of about 300.000 young Cameroonians who knock on their doors for scholarship for a skimpy tuition fee US$ 100 (one hundred US dollars) per year. Tuition in Cameroon’s state-owned universities costs on average US$ 500 to obtain a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree in any discipline of choice after three-year tutoring. PhD, MBA and other Master level degree programmes cost even less, given the shorter duration of these programmes. However, recently, under the tutelage of Cameroon’s Minister of Higher Education, Rectors and Vice-Chancellor of Cameroon’s state universities, met in an elaborate conference to marshal new strategies for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Q I have read that you still consider yourself a freedom fighter. What do you mean by that?
A: Our national struggle was for freedom, especially political freedom. I’m not a normal business person. Remember, business in three continents, i.e. Latin America, Asia and Africa, played a side-by-side role with colonialism. There are still business people and investors without a conscience – digging holes here and there and all over the continent, my continent, not closing them up, not caring for the environment, not bringing people into the fold, behaving in a world of their own, an island surrounded by an ocean of poverty. So we are different business people, we come with a conscience and we adhere to the strict protocols defined by the World Summit on Sustainable Development. We talk here about our partnerships between business, communities and government which must be formed to create growth. So in a way my political struggle has changed into an economic struggle, one that I wage within the economic arena. So you can call me an economic freedom fighter in that sense.
Maintaining positive friendships and close personal relationships is a high priority for practical Virgo this year. Your family and home life will be a source of great happiness and pleasure as you spend time building good relationships. You share your opinions openly and honestly. Surrounded by inspiring artistic people, you will have a desire to express your own creativity. Variety and versatility give you the urge to take up many different skills.
Representatives of the National Elections Observatory, NEO in the Littoral Province have this week continued to sensitize the stakeholders of the partial legislative election in the Mungo South and Wouri East constituencies to the importance of keeping the elections free, fair, transparent and peaceful.
"...Ending the nightmare will take far less courage than the Bush people exhibited in beginning it. Taking a nation to war on distortion, decepti on, and lies is enormously risky, in many respects: in lives and in treasure, certainly, but also in a nation’s prestige abroad and in the trust and support of its people. The Bush Administration risked all this and more, and they have lost. We risk far less by embracing the truth and acting on it. Our nation cherishes honesty: the fraudulence must end. But Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have shown themselves incapable of honesty, and we also cherish justice. They must be impeached...." (R.W. Berhan, 2007)
""It is no accident that many of the rhetorical strategies employed by George W. Bush originated with Napoleon Bonaparte, a notorious spinmeister and confidence man. At least Bonaparte looked to the future, seeing clearly the coming breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the likelihood that European Powers would be able to colonize its provinces. Bonaparte's failure in Egypt did not forestall decades of French colonial success in Algeria and Indochina, even if that era of imperial triumph could not, in the end, be sustained in the face of the political and social awakening of the colonized. Bush's neocolonialism, on the other hand, swam against the tide of history, and its failure is all the more criminal for having been so predictable.""
How to Pick Up Free Money from the U.S. Government By Steve Sjuggerud (Daily Wealth)
I'm buying an old house on the ocean here in Florida… I wasn't in the market for on e... But the thing just came up on the market here at a good price. You don't find lots this size at this price, so I snapped it up. I then called my friend Jim… "Jim, here's the deal… I have no debt, my current house is paid for, and you know the assets I have. The new place needs some work. So I would like to borrow money for about two years. In two years, I'll sell my existing home, and move into the new one after it's been renovated. We'll use the proceeds of selling our old home to pay off the loan from you. Can your bank lend me the money?"
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