The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Why does contemporary Cameroon stagnate?

Resource Endowment, Resource Curse: A Tale of Missed Opportunities

By Ernest Molua

Cameroon is a country not at war, never had it been. A political stability unrivaled in the continent of Africa, it is a triangular landmass midway between Ethiopia and Senegal, its economic capital at the Wouri estuary midway between Tripoli and Cape town, just around the equator, forming a significant part of the Congo basin hugely endowed with renewable and exhaustible resources. With immense riches above and beneath the bosom of its earth, it is a miracle that Cameroon is spared the West’s Congo-style plunder and outright looting. While the land has its riches intact, yet, significant industrialization is still to occur, and for a large part technological innovation and economic growth has stagnated. Why does contemporary Cameroon stagnate?

Gaddafi of Libya: Africa Is Our Good and Safety

By Mathias Victorien Ntep

On August 4, 2008, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi declared in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia: “Africa is our good and safety […] Africa is our home and one shouldn´t abandon his home.” The leader of the Libyan Arab Republic was implicitly upbraiding Egypt, Morroco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania for joining the “Union for the Mediterranean Sea” sponsored by France´s President Nicolas Sarkozy and backed by the European Union.

Politicians And The Media Circus

By Tazoacha Asonganyi

The news media are like a great pumping heart that circulates ideas, opinions and images in society and permits individual citizens to make up their minds about issues. In a sense, the media are the great levellers, permitting every current of opinion to be heard, permitting different faces and characters to be known. Public opinion is like a vane that determines the direction of the wind; the information circulated by the media constituting the wind. The blowing of the media wind influences the direction of public opinion, which keeps changing as it gets fed with information, different points of view, different images, an d different sound bites.

"Les paradoxes du "pays organisateur" , Elites productrices ou prédatrices : le cas de la province du Sud-Cameroun à l’ère Biya (1982-2007)"

"Host Country", Elites and Development

By Professor Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaounde

Politics as famously put by Lenin, is about "who does what do whom". In the same vein, it is usually said that in politics, it does not matter what is said as much as who says it. Charles Ateba Eyene, a son of the South Province has recently published a book titled "Les paradoxes du "pays organisateur" , Elites productrices ou prédatrices : le cas de la province du Sud-Cameroun à l’ère Biya (1982-2007)" [Paradoxes of the "host country": productive or predatory elites: the case of the South Province during Biya’s reign (1982-2007)] . In the book, a son of the South describes what elites of the South do to the poor rural populations of the South during the reign of Paul Biya, a native of the South. Therefore what is said in the book matters... That is why so much ink and saliva are flowing about it.

Britain and America Unveil their Agenda as Zimbabwe rivals Start full talks

By Ben Nakomo and Bright Lokenge

Since the disgraceful defeat of Britain and the United States at the United Nations in a vote that would have been a death knell on Zimbabwe's economic survival, Zimbabwe has been relegated to second tier item in the news menu of western media houses. If you watch CNN, BBC, Fox and Sky News today you would hardly believe that a few weeks ago Zimbabwe was on top of the agenda. Strangely, recent western disappointment would make you believe the violence they reported has evaporated, the suposedly tyrany has transformed into papacy and the fleeing emigrants have become American or British citizens. The cold reporting today partly tells the trained and informed mind that these were all lies at the alter of imperialist mouth pieces who have a score to settle with someone who has tampered with their time-honoured method of stealing land from native Indians, Aborigines and Africans in more than four continents of the world.

President Mugabe is an African Political Hero

By Michael Baingana

It is clear that British, US and EU sanctions against Zimbabwe were designed to disrupt the Zimbabwe economy and render the country ungovernable in order to justify external intervention from the West to reverse the gains of the land reform programme. For so long as President Robert Mugabe did not try to take back the land stolen by the Whites, he was okay. But when he began to respond to his people’s land hunger, he became a pariah and came under sanctions and destabilisation from these White supremacist powers. The crisis in Zimbabwe is one of sovereignty not democracy.

Robert Mugabe Strides Past Where Nelson Mandela Stumbled

By Ernest Molua

The Ex-South African President Nelson Mandela who is in London rather than in Pretoria for his 90th birthday bash, recently commented on events in Zimbabwe and Africa. He is quoted as saying, "we watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home, we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe." This is a timely observation by Africa's most renown freedom fighter, whom by divine wit still lives for his political and economic records to be examined. When Nelson Mandela battled the white Apartheid racist regime in South Africa, he has brandished a terrorist by most western governments. Successive US and UK administrations refused to deal with him, even to acknowledge the cause he was fighting for. The white apartheid regime in South Africa further consolidated its reign of terror with nuclear arsenal acquired to deter a possible invasion from other African states.

Editorial - Schooling and Employability in Cameroon

By Juliana Ndolo Mbua

Ranking amongst the first two priorities of Cameroon’s government, the Educational sector consumes a reasonable fraction of the national budget. The government continuously puts in place strategies to improve on its citizen’s education. This includes the recruitment of more teachers and building more schools. While this has not been far reaching, an overhaul of the educational system, both administrative and curricular, has been recommended to improve professionalism. The dilemma is the unemployables churn out by Cameroon’s educational institutions.

Former Government ministers arrested: Government re-launches operation sparrow hawk?

By Pamela Bidjocka

There have been speculations, false alarm and misinformation even from the mass media, within the last month in relation to the re-launch of Operation Sparrow Hawk.This morning, government sources quickly confirmed the arrest of two former government Ministers and two top government factionaries. The accused are currently detained at the Yaounde Judicial Police Headquarters.  Who are the four men arrested

Airlines support African farmers in food miles war

By Zeddy Sambu

British airlines have raised the stakes in the food miles war by flying Kenyan and Ghanian farmers to London  to defend their source of  livelihood before UK  authorities. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, which make millions of pounds flying agr icultural produce to different parts of the world, flew the farmers to Europe free of charge to defend agriculture as a climate change-neutral activity.