Not to worry: elections are being held left and right with varying outcomes. That in Côte d’Ivoire left the people Mugabe’ed or Kibakied, whichever you like. Do not mind the motions of support trickling there from ‘social democratic’ and ‘leftwing’ groupings. The Biyas, Wades and others of the same feathers are chuckling in amusement at the fact that they are usually confronted by noises about commitment to values like social justice, democracy, liberty, mutual obligation, opportunity for all, responsibility… The ‘left-wingers’ may retort that it is precisely because of these values that they refuse to hand-over power on a platter of gold to the other side, whatever the decision of the people. Pity for those who thought that ‘leftwing’ politics could bring progress to Africa; pity for Africa and the prospect for continental peace and tranquillity!
Benefits and Challenges of a Lion & Dragon Cooperation
China is a growing new empire and an economic force to reckon with in contemporary times. Most developing economies trading with China regard it an opportunity to do gainful business, considering its market size and growing industrial base. This paper examines Sino-Cameroon trade relations with the principal objective of assessing how mutually beneficial these relations have been to both countries and more so for Cameroon. Secondary data was used to analyze observations and discussions. The findings reveal trade has not been mutually beneficial and skewed in favour of China; recording soaring trends in deficits and imbalances.
By Peter Mokwe Ikomey
Deregulation, trade liberalization and economic globalization are impacting largely on the supply and demand of goods and services on a global scale. For the most part, economic globalization and the pressures that come with it are gradually changing previous market arrangements between countries and defining new trade patterns as well as the establishment of new economic partnership agreements amongst independent states. It is evident that ‘previous colonial trade blocks’ are now disintegrating and the forging of new trade ties now en-vogue, this write-up therefore attempts at examining and analyzing the issues, perspectives and challenges that have characterized trade relations between China and Cameroon within the economic globalization era.
During the tripartite conference of 1991, one of the agreements upheld by all participants was that there should be a constitutional provision that a presidential mandate would be 5 years, renewable once, giving a maximum of ten consecutive years at the helm of state, if the people wanted. A singlehanded-modified version of this agreement was inscribed in the 1996 constitution in article 6(2) which provided that each elected president of the republic would serve a term of seven years renewable once.. ..In doing this, Cameroonians were aware that by nature, human beings are vain, self-seeking and easily corruptible, making them victims of the allures of power and honours, or of the material benefits bestowed on them by those in power. They were also confident that 10 years were largely enough for any good intentioned individual to serve the people in the capacity of president of the republic.
An Engine for CEMAC-ECOWAS Inter-regional Cooperation
Trade between Cameroon and Nigeria has grown significantly since the 1960s. Whilst a significant proportion of the cross-border trade is informal, the exchange of goods and services between these two nations nutures a real catalyst for broader cooperation between the Central African region and West Africa for which these countries are respectively lion-giants in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) and the Economic Community of West African States. By Joe Eyong Assoua
“The dynamism of trade has transformed international economic relations and particularly the patterns of regional interactions… the rise in trade among these regions in an increasingly globalize economy has been accompanied by rapidly rising cross-border FDI flows” (Loser 2009). ‘African countries have made many attempts to create various cooperative organizations in order to increase trade and promote industrialization through integration” (Vylder 2007). “While it is difficult to get an accurate overview of the extent of informal cross-border trade in sub-Saharan Africa, reviewed surveys suggest that such trade still represents a significant proportion of regional cross- border trade” ( Lesser and Leeman 2009). According to Schiff and Winters (2003), “The growth of regional trade blocs has been one of the major developments in international relations in recent years.
While the political garden of the people lies fallow
By Tazoacha Asonganyi
In other circumstances, one would let sleeping dogs lie. But the present circumstances are so central to our political life that it is difficult to let them just lie by. There are conflicting signals all around us, like: there will be no elections organised by ELECAM; the SDF is in the Supreme Court to nullify the activities of ELECAM; the SDF is calling on the people not to register to vote; the SDF has forced Paul Biya to legalise ELECAM; the SDF is going to Geneva...the SDF is calling “on Cameroonians to take their responsibilities.... and do what others have done under similar circumstances...”!
There is a widespread belief that foreign aid is not philanthropy, with donor countries expecting to reap in return. Official development assistance, in the form of foreign aid or unilateral capital transfers, represents an important channel through which wealth is assumed to be transferred from developed nations to developing economies. While both the magnitude and the scope of these international transfers have increased significantly over the last four decades; the sum effect has been to meet the objectives of donor countries in terms of political support as measured through United Nations votes, improvements in human rights, patterns of economic development and creation of market for donor countries. In a developing country such as Cameroon, caught in the aid-game quagmire versus trade creation, one its important to review and assess the role foreign aid, whether in cash or food, plays in the country's economic progress and development.
Governing a country is very complex business. What every country is worth largely depends on how this complexity is managed. The extent to which the citizens ensure that no single individual is in general charge, and to which everyone involved is partly in charge, determine how well a country fares. The general health of a country depends on the extent to which the people run their own affairs without any citizen feeling the need to be in phase with some political grouping, religious creed, or tribal cabal in order to enjoy their freedom and happiness, or live a fulfilled life. The management of the complex business of governance involves bargains and accommodations among factions and interest groups, to give enough room for individual initiative and discretion, group adaptation, and functional variations between communities.
Challenges and Opportunities for Enhancing Trade in The CEMAC Sub-Region
By Affuembey Enow Affuembey
Trade is primordial for economic development. A successful use of trade can boost a country's development. Countries that develop invariably increase their integration with the global economy, while export-led growth has been a key part of many countries’ successful development strategies, especially in Asia. However, it is challenging and thorny for low income countries to access the markets of older high income countries in the northern hemisphere. Deliberately imposed barriers to trade with exorbitant tariffs, quotas, and tariff escalation; and domestic and external producer support, primarily in the form of subsidies and export credits combine to impose bizantine resistance for countries in Africa to access lucrative markets. Nonetheless, looking inward and exploiting local potentials provide unexploited vista for domestic growth, empowerment and development. No region is richly endowed as the Central African subregion to exploit its inherent potential.
European Torture of Africans: An Application of Theory
By Emmanuel Konde
The revelations by 83-years-old Gen. Paul Aussaresses [of French atrocities in Algeria] cannot be shocking to any Frenchman, let alone the political leadership. Almost everywhere the Europeans conquered and subjugated and colonized non-Europeans, torture of the worst kind was employed to crush the last vestiges of resistance. Thus, the use of torture is not exclusively a French "thing"; it is of European culture. African forebears, some dead and some living, were subjected to European methods of torture. If today Europeans should pretend a higher sense of morality and respect for "human rights," it is only because they have achieved complete supremacy and the tools of torture seem no longer relevant to their cause.
Much has been said about culture - both positively and negatively - but it is a fact that culture plays a key role in all development efforts. Africa's economic backwardness has been largely attributed to a culture whose time has passed; a culture that frowns upon new and innovative ways of doing things. It's quite normal for Africans to justify their weaknesses and failure by pointing to their culture. It's a daily occurrence to see even educated and intellectual Africans justify their inapproprate actions with what their parents and grand-parents did many centuries ago. After all the education we have received across the globe, we usually end up having faith in things that have helped to retard the economic and social progress of our forefathers. It's usually okay for us to think that our seas are full of mermaids just because our parents told us such cuck-and-bull tales when we were young, even when we understand that our seas and oceans could constitute great sources of life. With our soaring temperatures, our seas and oceans could be good places for us to bath and relax after a day's hard work. While many people across the globe have tranformed their limited water ways into great money-making machines, we have continued to mystify our own waters, making it possible for us to clearly avoid these huge resources.
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