Martin Jumbam

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Bamenda defends the weak and the marginalized.

Interview conducted by Martin Jumbam

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Bamenda has been striving to bring peace, justice and reconciliation to crisis-stricken areas of the Northwest Region of Cameroon where inter-village and inter-tribal conflicts are recurrent.  It has also scored successes at the level of individuals by rescuing victims of human trafficking from their ordeal and successfully bringing charges against a notorious human trafficker and landing her in jail. Women and children, the principal victims of human traffickers, hold center stage in the Commission’s activities. Laura Anyola Tufon, who heads the Bamenda Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission, and is also a member of Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, tells us more about the activities of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Bamenda.

 

Violenter une femme est un acte de lâcheté

Interview de Martin Jumbam à Ebolowa

La Fondation allemande, Friedrich Erbert Stiftung a organisé une rencontre des journalistes et de la  société civile  à  Ebolowa. Il s’agissait  d’analyser la situation de la presse au Cameroun. C’était la deuxième rencontre du genre organisée au Cameroun. La première ayant eu lieu à Bamenda en 2008. En marge des discussions officielles, L’Effort camerounais a rencontré une dame dynamique, venant de l’Extrême Nord, de Maroua  plus précisément. Elle était la  représentante d’une association dénommée “Association pour la lutte contre la violence faite aux femmes”. Mme Aissa Doumara, puisqu’il s’agit d’elle, n’a pas mâché ses mots, qualifiant les  violences contre les femmes comme étant des  actes odieux et lâches. Tout en admettant que la violence contre les femmes n’est pas l’exclusivité d’une seule région de notre triangle national, elle a focalisé son attention sur la région septentrionale de notre pays dont elle est originaire.

 

 

Tourism cannot thrive in a country that is steeped in corruption, says Lonnie Kelley

By Martin Jumbam

In the second part of his interview, the Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy to Cameroon, Mr. Lonnie Kelley, says that Cameroon could reap a fortune from its tourism potential provided efforts are made to curb the rampant corruption that seems to touch every sector of the economy. Excerpts.

Americans urge Cameroonians to register and vote.

By Martin Jumbam

The Counselor for Public Affairs at the American Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Mr. Lonnie Kelley, has urged Cameroonians to register and vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in this country. In the following interview, conducted in Douala, Mr. Kelley, whose office also takes charge of cultural matters and the media, began by assessing the media in Cameroon. Excerpts.

"Merely getting rid of Biya won't solve our problems," says Celestin Monga.

By Martin Jumbam

In this last part of his interview, Celestin Monga , who has always been known for political and economic writing, discusses the other forms of writing he is involved in, notably creative writing, travel diaries, among others. As a parting shot, he warns that merely getting rid of Biya won't cure Cameroon of its ills. It will take much more than just a change of guards at Etoudi. The system itself must be thoroughly over-hauled and changed before the Cameroonian people can start to breathe a sigh of relief after all these years of Biya's misrule. 

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 5): “Our religious leaders have let us down”.

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 5 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga says that our religious leaders of all denominations have let the country down. He openly accuses some of them of complicity with Biya to keep Cameroon in a perpetual state of misery and poverty.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 4): “Biya is no intellectual.”

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 4 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga denies that he is nursing any political ambitions and dismisses the idea that Paul Biya is an intellectual. He also takes delight in flinging punches at other so-called intellectuals, who enjoy the favours of the ruling prince. Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 3): “I drew much inspiration from Albert Mukong’s defiance of the regime.”

By Martin Jumbam

In Part 3 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga talks of his
encounter with some Anglophone and Francophone intellectuals, especially those who played a significant role in the political upheaval period of the 1990s.  Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part 2): The Anglophone problem is the challenge of the decade

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Life Magazine Vol III, No 6, July 1992.

In Part 2 of his interview to Cameroon Life Magazine, Celestin Monga discusses what has come to be known in this country as the “Anglophone problem”. To him, even though this problem is “the challenge of the decade”, it is just one among many such problems Cameroon is facing today. Read on.

Celestin Monga speaks to Cameroon Life Magazine (Part One): Biya is an embezzler.

By Martin Jumbam

Revised and reproduced from Cameroon Life Magazine Vol III No 6 July 1992.

In the 1990s, when Cameroon was almost going up in flames in that popular uprising that has come to be known as “Ghost Towns”, Celestin Monga quickly established himself as “a radical voice of defiance” to the Biya regime. He began by publishing an open letter to President Biya in the tabloid, Le Messager.

The Biya regime’s panicky response was to hurl both Monga and that tabloid’s publisher, Pius Njawe, before a muzzled court and to jail. The political dust raised by the Monga-Njawe case had barely settled when Monga again published an interview with a former SCB bank manager, Messi Messi, in which the latter openly and directly accused President Biya and his wife, Irene, of being responsible for the collapse of the SCB bank.