The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Cameroon's President Paul Biya Speaks Out on Anglophone Quagmire

President Paul Biya's Speech on December 31, 2016

My dear compatriots,

I would now like to dwell on the events that have unfolded recently in the North-West and South-West Regions. Physically and emotionally, we are deeply concerned about these events. Due to the acts of a group of manipulated and exploited extremist rioters, Cameroonians have lost their lives; public and private buildings have been destroyed; the most sacred symbols of our nation have been desecrated; economic activities have been paralyzed momentarily. You would agree with me that all of this is UNACCEPTABLE. Our country does enjoy political and trade union freedoms which are guaranteed and governed by our laws and regulations. More

© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2017. All Rights Reserved

Volkswagen snubs Nigeria, moves into Kenya, Rwanda in Africa expansion

Volkswagen recently opened a new assembly plant in Kenya and launched plans for a ride-sharing service in Rwanda as it seeks to take advantage of surging car demand in Africa. The German car manufacturer’s move into East Africa comes just weeks after it signed a deal to build an assembly plant in Algeria. “Overall car sales in Africa are bound to rise by 40 percent within the next five years, that is why we are expanding our business,” said Volkswagen Brand CEO Herbert Diess. More

Africa’s rising middle class – and why it matters

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), as far back as 2011 there were already 313 million people – or 34 per cent of the continent’s total population – that could be referred to as middle class. Yet at the same time, other parties see it differently. According to Standard Bank, only 15 million households in the 11 largest Sub-Saharan African economies fall into the bracket. Consultancy firm EIU Canback agrees there has been growth, but not as much as many think, suggesting that the African middle class rose to 6.2 per cent of the continent’s population in 2014, up from 4.4 per cent in 2004. More

Cameroon hosts Central Africa bloc summit

Leaders of the six countries that make up the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) will hold an extraordinary session in the Cameroon capital Yaoundé on Friday, state radio announced. CEMAC brings together Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Though the report did not reveal the agenda of the meeting, which it said was at the invitation of President Paul Biya, the leaders would most likely will discuss a devaluation of the CFA Franc amidst growing debate over the use of the currency by African countries. More

FROM FOUMBAN CONFERENCE TO ANGLOPHONE PROBLEM

HOW A MISTAKE MADE IN 1961 IS TORMENTING THE FATHERLAND IN 2016

By Emmanuel Konde

The political discussions that took place in Foumban in July 1961 have been treated extensively. What has received scant attention until this writing is the real purpose for which the Foumban Conference was convened. The Foumban Conference, in so far as constitution-making was the object of the meeting, woefully failed. Foumban was supposed to be a Constitutional Convention, where a Constituent Assembly of elected representatives of the independent Republic of Cameroun and the UN Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons met to draft and recommend a new constitution for the impending Federal Republic of Cameroon. But Foumban, as it turned out, accomplished less than that. A Constituent Assembly charged with the responsibility of drawing up a constitution was never elected by the people. Consequently, the parliaments of both Southern Cameroons and Cameroun never ratified the federal constitution.

Infrastructure – the foundation of prosperity

The development and growth of any modern economy is inextricably linked to the state of its infrastructure. As a general rule, the more developed and efficient a country’s infrastructure, the higher its national GDP and the better the living standards; the poorer the infrastructure, the lower the national income and the worse the living standards of its population. But, as economists are fond of pointing out, the issue is very much a chicken and egg conundrum; which comes first – high national revenues enabling the roll-out of greater infrastructure or quality infrastructure leading to higher productivity and incomes? More

Johannesburg: A magnet for millions

Just as South Africans in London congregate in Wimbledon, there is an American enclave north of Johannesburg, near the American International School in Bryanston. But they come out in force for certain events, such as last week's exhibition and auction of pictures by João Silva, the New York Times photographer recently injured in Afghanistan. Go back further in time and South Africa has a rich history of immigration – black Africans from the north, Dutch traders in the 17th century, imported slaves from Indonesia, India-Ceylon, Madagascar and Mozambique, then the British, including the 1820 settlers. More

Open Letter to the Cameroon Anglophone Community

By Joachim Arrey, Ph.D

Dear Fellow Anglophones,

I am writing to advise that while the demands of the English-speaking minority in Cameroon are legitimate, it must be borne in mind that seeking to achieve everything in a short period of time could be counter-productive. We must always be mindful of the origin of the strike. After several unsuccessful attempts by Anglophone lawyers to draw the attention of the minister of justice to their plight, the region’s men of law decided to take their case to the streets. The objective was to ensure that their submissions be made in English as that is the language in which they can comfortably express themselves. The transfer of French-speaking magistrates to the North West and South West regions has been a tough challenge to the lawyers and their clients as most of the French-speaking magistrates and judges have little or no knowledge of the common law system. This unfortunate situation has been compounded by the fact that some important documents only exist in French whereas Cameroon is supposed to be a bilingual country and its legal system bi-jural.

Cameroon Government: Addressing the wrong audience

By Joachim Arrey, Ph.D

Prime Minister Yang Philemon’s declaration that Cameroon is united and indivisible is, of course, no music to many Anglophone ears. The situation pitting the government against striking Anglophones has even been made worse by government ministers who have taken to the air waves to misinform Francophones, with many declaring that there is no Anglophone problem. Such rhetoric is not calming down flaring tempers and no reasonable Anglophone will buy into such noise that is only inflaming the marginalized people of Southern Cameroons. Their rhetoric is only causing the two camps to drift apart. If the street demonstrations cannot convince the government that there is something wrong, then nothing will make it go to the negotiating table. Cameroon government officials should take a look at their own statistics to gain a better understanding of what is poisoning the relationship between them and Anglophones. The Internet is awash with this information and turning a blind eye or withdrawing into a cocoon of indifference will not make the problem go away.

The Entrepreneur NewsOnline Book Club: Book of the Month for December, 2016

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not

By Robert Kiyosaki

Paperback: 274 pages; Publisher: Plata Publishing, LLC (2011); Language: English; ISBN-13: 978-1612680019

Rich Dad Poor Dad, the #1 Personal Finance book of all time, tells the story of Robert Kiyosaki and his two dads—his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad—and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.

For the most part, it seems that people either love or hate the book and now having read it, I think I understand why. Most likely it seems that it depends on your personal situation and knowledge prior to reading the book. I think that if you were someone who was just making ends meet, using all of your salary to support your lifestyle (in Kiyosakian parlance, buying "liabilities") and doing little to save and invest (buying "assets"), I can see that this book might serve as a wake up call and can inspire and motivate people to look for ways to possibly change their situation. Furthermore, the book's various claims, (however misleading or unrealistic as I point out below) plays right into such people's desires to learn the "secret of success" of the rich that if only they knew, they could quit (or abandon their plans) to go to school, quit their jobs and just invest and live off of investments the rest of their lives without working.

© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2016. All Rights Reserved