The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

US artistes take on Sanctions, Against Zimbabwe

Internationally acclaimed hip hop group Dead Prez recently announced plans to make a song that would call for the lifting of the US-EU sanctions against Zimbabwe, as well as the US blockade on Cuba. En route to Washington DC, one of the group’s lyricists, brother Mutulu Olugbala whose stage name is M-1 gave The Herald’s  US correspondent, Obi Egbuna (OE) an exclusive interview and shared the  reasons behind the decision for a song focusing on both Zimbabwe and  Cuba.

OE: Brother Mutulu, thank you for granting The Herald this interview. Could we begin by having you share the reason for doing  a song concerning US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe and the US blockade on  Cuba?

M-1: In the case of Zimbabwe, the US-EU sanctions are  approaching 10 years very rapidly, and the monstrous US blockade on  Cuba, is approaching 50 years old.

This tactic being used by our  former colonial and slave masters to politically isolate countries and  stifle their economic growth and ability to strengthen basic  infrastructure is as destructive as war, military invasions (and)  natural calamities like hurricanes and tornadoes. But (it) hasn’t  received the same attention. We feel the US Government is extremely hypocritical when it labels  both Zimbabwe and Cuba dictatorships, boldly claiming both countries  deprive its people basic democratic freedoms.

10 fascinating flirting facts

By Laura Schaefer

So you’ve mastered the art of eye contact and can beckon a romantic prospect with just a few coy glances… but do you really know all there is to know about the fine art of flirting? Just to make sure you’re up to speed, we culled some very surprising information that you can use to your advantage. Read on for some juicy tidbits that may up your meet-cute quotient in no time.

1. Flirting is good for you. Studies show that people who flirt have higher white blood-cell counts, which boost both immunity and health.

2. Think batting your eyelashes is enough? Wrong! All told, scientists say there are 52 “flirting signals” used by humans. Of these, the hair-flip technique is the most common.

Aporia: Ngugi’s Fatalistic Logic of the Unassailable Position of Indigenous Languages in African Literature

By

Peter Wuteh Vakunta (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)

The question of language choice in African literature has caused significant ripples in the pool of literary criticism. The genesis of this discourse dates back to Obiajunwa Wali, who in 1963, wrote an article titled “The Dead End of African Literature” (Transition 10, 13-15) in which he argued that “the whole uncritical acceptance of English and French as the inevitable medium for educated African writing, is misdirected, and has no chance of advancing African literature and culture” (Quoted in Olaniyan & Quayson, 282). He further pointed out that until African writers accept the fact that any true African literature must be written in African languages, they would be merely pursuing a dead end. Wali even sounded a fatalistic note when he opined that “African languages would face inevitable extinction, if they do not embody some kind of intelligent literature, and the only way to hasten this, is by continuing in our present illusion that we can produce African literature in English and French”(op cit, 284). These postulations have given rise to a groundswell of contentious, even tendentious discourses among writers and critics of African literature. The most vocal voice among them all has been that of prolific Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o. 

Sex Workers to Boycott Labour Day

The decision aims to counter the Wouri Senior Divisional Officer decision to ban prostitution in the city.

A band of sex workers commonly called « liberal sisters » last Monday convened an extraordinary general assembly at the Njogmabi neighbourhood in Douala to agree on a reply to the recent administrative decision which interdicts prostitution at the Bonanjo residential area in Douala. In their final communiqué, the “liberal sisters”, made up of school dropouts, widows and outlaws, stated emphatically that their activity has not only helped reduce the rate of unemployment, poverty and crime among women, but has also contributed immensely in tourism development, given that they play an indispensable role to host and guide many visitors.

La fuite de Zamzam

écriture d´invention

(suite – troisième partie)

Par Mathias Victorien Ntep

C´est ainsi que Zamzam se retrouva dans la ville de Tombaton où il fit la connaissance de deux Maghrébins, Bousseta et Rachid, et d´un autre Subsaharien, un Bistre, qu´on appelait Koffi. Tombaton était cependant une ville très dangereuse. C´était un des fiefs, un bastion, un repère et une tanière de crânes-rasés. Les quatre sortaient régulièrement la nuit ou à la brunante, Bousseta et Rachid,  pour se taper une Benguienne ou une Nylobabienne, une des clés permettant d´obtenir les documents, Zamzam et Koffi, pour l´ambiance. ....C´était la période où la Tudesquie occidentale avait racheté la Tudesquie orientale en faillite. Le chômage était devenu la chose la mieux partagée à Tombaton. En réalité, les habitants de la Tudesquie du Levant, où était située la ville de Tombaton, avaient été éblouis par l´efflorescence économique de la Tudesquie occidentale, ils avaient cru que les Tudesques du Ponant cultivaient le pognonier, et ne taffaient jamais....Download

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Legalese as a new literary canon in African Fiction

An interview with Benjamin Kwakye, Author of The Sun by Night
Interviewed By Peter W. Vakunta

Award-winning novelist, Benjamin Kwakye, made his literary debut with the publication of The Sun by Night (2006), which has been adapted for radio by a BBC Play of the week. This was followed by another beautifully crafted novel, The Clothes of Nakedness (2008) which earned him the Afrique Newsmagazine WEB DuBois Award for Literature. In the interview that follows Kwakye sheds light on some of the attributes that make him distinct from other fiction writers.

Vakunta: A reading of The Sun by Night leaves one with the impression that the novelist is talking over the heads of readers on account of the preponderance of legal jargon in the narrative. Why did you choose to infuse your novel with legalese?

Kwakye: I admit that the novel involves a lengthy trial and that there is a fair amount of legalese in those parts. I submit, however, that the portions of the novel that may go over the heads of certain readers are not those containing legalese, but those infused with one particular character’s penchant for bombast. This is not gratuitous, though. The key question that begs asking is why the prosecutor speaks in such bombastic language to the admiration of a number of people. Is there something about things we don’t understand or things that appear “foreign” that make us admire them? Are there cross sections of Ghanaian or even African communities susceptible to manipulation due to this kind of phenomenon. It’s not only language. For example, it’s not hard to find those who will reject locally made products in favor of “foreign” ones, without regard to quality. These are issues in The Sun by Night that may not sit well with readers who are not familiar with the state of things in Ghana or Africa in general.

Black in Taiwan

By Paul LeJoy

Writing in England’s conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper, Peregrine Worsthorne, a blue-blooded Briton, called on fellow Caucasians to treat Blacks with respect.“...It should be incumbent on every decent person to take special care to protect black sensitivities — an obligation not one ...less mandatory than taking care to protect Jewish sensibilities. For the Blacks, too, have been deeply wronged, in some ways even more damagingly than the Jews. Not even Hitler dismissed the Jews as savages and sub-normally stupid...The Jews were hated for superhuman [albeit diabolical] superiority rather than for any subhuman inferiority. Not so the Blacks, who were regarded as, at best, retarded or delinquent children [even when old] and at worst, as wild and savage."

La fuite de Zamzam

écriture d´invention

(Suite –Deuxième Partie)

Par Mathias Victorien Ntep

Quand un nouveau pasteur fut affecté dans cette église, il entendait se débarrasser de tous les maquisards et ouailles de mauvais aloi qui s´étaient infiltrés dans la communauté des croyants. Alors il excommunia le PDG, le traitant de disciple du Malin. Il lui demanda en fait de choisir entre ses pratiques préternaturelles et le Dieu tout-puissant  qui n´habite ni dans les écorces, ni dans les chaînes, ni dans les sortilèges, talismans et autres amulettes, mais qui peut opérer des miracles, d´une manière surnaturelle. « Le Plus-Haut ne s´accommode ni de l´iniquité ni d´injustice sociale. », martela le nouveau pasteur.

« Vous payerez les pots cassés. L´ancien pasteur était aussi membre secret et discret du  'Cercle Cosmique', non ?  Cela ne l´empêchait pas de diriger convenablement ce lieu de culte et de prêcher ici le dimanche. Le  'Cercle'  nous donne le pouvoir de trucider par des moyens invisibles ou visibles, de jour comme de nuit, ceux qui désapprouvent les opinions et les pratiques de nos membres et du cercle; vous supporterez la peine de tout ce que vous avez causé. Nous pouvons par exemple sortir de nos corps et entrer dans ceux de nos ennemis, à l´instar des sorciers, faire des voyages, c´est exactement la même expérience. Nous pouvons aussi lancer des missiles occultes...Download: LaFuiteDeZamzam2

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La fuite de Zamzam

ÉCRITURE D´INVENTION

(Premiere Partie)

Par Mathias Victorien Ntep

Le jour où il pendait la crémaillère, des connaissances lui avaient fait savoir qu’il gagnerait à se faire titulariser définitivement dans ce logement, tellement il était coquet. Zamzam obtint, enfin, son appartement social de la municipalité de Tissonwip, cette métropole au cœur de la Nylobabie, poumon financier et des roublards du nouvel empire de Kayamagnan. Une chambre spacieuse, type subsaharien, le genre qui aurait tenu en échec l´hécatombe de l’été 2003 dans l’ Hexagone, une petite cuisine, un vivoir, la salle de bains abritant le lieu secret, là où l’on pouvait peinardement couler du bronze, voilà ce que Zamzam venait d´acquérir....Download: LaFuiteDeZamzam1

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Cameroonian Women in Sex, Fetish and Fake Degrees

A University registrar in UK handed out forged degree certificates to black African women in exchange for spanking sessions to satisfy his kinky sexual desires, a court heard today. Karl Woodgett, 37, sent an email asking for participants in a "pain management study" before taking the Cameroonian women to a hotel where he filmed himself spanking and caning them...In return for their sexual favours willing participants Elsie Neh and Mbone Kemba were offered forged university degree certificates...Woodgett, former registrar at the University of Surrey and the University of Bath, had already perfected the system with his ex-wife and her relatives. He was today handed a nine month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work....Woodgett first began to forge bachelor and masters degrees for his Cameroonian ex-wife Delphine Kah and members of her family while he worked at the University of Surrey...More