OPEN LETTER TO BUEA DIOCESAN PRIESTS:THE CHURCH IS HOLY

Our Dear Priests

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“The Church is Holy”

As a Christian, fervent Catholic and one from a Catholic Family, It saddens us to know that our House is on fire. Jesus Christ has always recommended peace as a watchword in times of conflict of any kind.

The Problem in Europe today has culminated in the high levels of disbelief amongst people who were hitherto catholics stems from the internal problems within the church itself especially in Belgium which is a traditionally CatholicCountry. Many people do not believe in the divine works of the church again because of the plethora of atrocities that has consumed the church over the past decades.

The priesthood is a divine institution and the “premarioum monum” ( fundermental responsibility) of priests is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and to live exemplary lives so that they will bring more people closer to God . They are called upon to imitate the mystery they celebrate ; to model their lives on the mystery of the Lord’s cross. The priests willingly and intentionally took a solemn vow during ordination; the vows of chastity, poverty and self-abnegation. Thus , it is absolutely ludicrous and incongruous for such a memorandum to come from the Association of Diocesan Priests(ADP) of Buea. True discipleship should be exercised at any place and at any time; geographical location and time is irrelevant. . They must be ready and at all times to pick up their bags and go out to the world to proclaim the good news.

They mentioned many things in their memo which made their association sound like a political party. This include inter alia: Firstly, they complained about the sporadic and many transfers by the Bishop of the Buea Diocese and even compound the whole issue by describing some transfers as being “rash and inhuman”. Those very words speak for themselves, it’s a glaring proof that most of our shepherds are missing the very core of their mission as priests; that of boundless evangelization. They do not have to see that as ‘punishment’ or ‘suffering’. If they do , then they must think succinctly about their priestly vows.

Complaints of this kind is really a surprise to the laity. They are called to serve the people of God in truth and in spirit and if that is the case , why should the issue of some priests having multiple responsibilities in God’s vineyard be an issue ,worse still a bone of contention among the priests themselves? They mentioned Bishop Pius Awah-Bishop Emeritus of Buea in their memo saying that during the 60th Anniversary of the Diocese when Mgs Bushu was introducing the bishops present, he failed to introduce Bishop Pius Awah and that “ they regret that Bishop Pius does not even have a good car”. These are strange words coming from a college of priests in the
Diocese of Buea. Bishop Pius has a car and if they are now complaining that he lacks a good car , then one begins to raise many questions as to the true identity of a priest.

Administration especially within an academic institution of Higher learning needs competent personnel and therefore,not every ordinary priest can handle such a position unless the Church has specifically train you for such. Besides if a competent individual holds ten different positions in the church and he is responsive to the task, what is wrong with that? The question should rather be; is this person carrying out his duties well? Is the church experiencing sustainable spiritual growth? Those are the types of thought-provoking questions that should spring up and not whether it is Mr A or B who has to occupy a certain position. In recent years, the Diocese of Buea has been experiencing an expedient growth and that has been discernible and conspicuous. That is what is important in the eyes of God. If you look at those at the helm of those Catholic institutions of Higher learning , you discover that most of them have been trained by the mission to perform such tasks and they have been doing that well. It is true that change is important but should those people be changed should commensurate with a specific task or duty.

With all due respect, His Lordship must also be cautioned and reminded the “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Thus rather than accumulating one priest with a particular function, we think the Bishop should train more priest to carry out the specific mission of the Church and also Priest should be given the opportunity to prove their worth.We know the Bishop has the powers to effect transfers but this should be done following the Canon law and with the individual mind of the Bishop, also the Bishop as a father should consult the appropriate authorities before taking certain actions in the Diocese. For instance , the Association of Buea Diocesan Priests (ADP) alleged in their memo that His Lordship signs contracts involving huge sums of money on the behalf of the Diocese without consulting the Curia and Diocesan Lawyers which are all legitimate authorities that should be involved in such a venture . This again raises the question why such a thing should happen in the first place by His Lordship Himself? The likelihood is that there will be serious misunderstanding and misinformation in the event of any future problem. They have also alleged that the diocese has been taken to a court of Law for owing a sum of 2 billion frs. This is not a good image for the Buea Diocese and the catholic church as a whole .

We regret bitterly the channel used by our clergymen to point out certain irregularities in the diocese; the proper medium would have been a meeting with His Lordship to air their grievances and not to come up with a memo of this sort claimed confidential though it has been leaked by same priests and consumed by the press and public as a whole . The repercussion abound and will present a greater problem to the world than what seems to exist and many different stories will spring up difficult to prove . It will go a long way to present a bad image about the Catholic church in Cameroon and not just the Diocese of Buea. More importantly, this may affect the attitude of the sheep as their shepherds have proven to be wayward by not knowing how to contain a problem within their diocese. The Laity might start loosing faith in the preaching of their priests which is not a good omen for our diocese.

Following the Words of Dr.King “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” Priests are called upon to live by the very words they preach,they are called to be true disciples .


We call on Jesus Christ to take control over any distraction of the devil in the Diocese of Buea and the Catholic Church in the world.


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Bara Mark B
Centre For Environmental Sanitation and Technology
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
University of Ghent, Belgium
9000-Ghent
mbarakanamozo@gmail.com
SOBA 1997

Ngouh Ngoka Olivier
Researcher in International Law,
Brussels School of International and European Legal Studies,(IES)
Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium
ngocratic@yahoo.com
SOBA 1997

Njukang Asong
Masters student at UMBC; Mags Program
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
njukangasong@yahoo.co.uk
SOBA 1997

OPEN LETTER FROM CAMEROON YOUTHS FOR CHANGE (CYC) TO MR.BIYA PAUL: OF PARLIAMENTARY EXTENSION AND ELECTORAL CODE

        According to the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, the President of the Republic is the guarantor of State laws and the Constitution. We have therefore thought it wise though belated to write this open letter to President Biya Paul on the said extension of Parliamentary mandate and the Electoral code. We have these strong feelings as youth to voice out these concerns so that things could be corrected. After all Mr. President  once said “Cameroon is Cameroon”. In some months now, your ministers in the persons of Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo and Minister ISSA Tchiroma Bakari have reacted angrily following the letters from Comrade Marafa.This has shown the Cameroonian people that, since you are not in touch with them, the best way we could get to you is through open letters. We hope ours too would be taking seriously as in no distant future, we shall organized a sit down hunger strike to voice our anger over some vexing pertinent issues in Cameroon amongst which are the issues we are raising in this letter: the Unconstitutional extension of MPs mandates which unfortunately all of them have sat quiet.

        Mr. President, whilst I was a student leader in UB some years back, I used to have the conception that Politics is not a game in the real sense of the word but more importantly today, I have come to realized that it is a big game of personal interest in Cameroon rather than being a game for the collective interest of the masses. It is so disturbing that even the opposition MPs in the face of this travesty sat quiet seeing the violation of the Constitution they are called to uphold. We are not surprised at the attitudes of your CPDM Mps because the Cameroon youth have lost respect for them and soon each of them in their respective areas shall begin paying the price of sacrificing justice. We want to assure you that, your Mps all play politics of the stomach, something you have thought them to do over the years. Mr. President you remember that, during the adoption of the Electoral code in Parliament, opposition Mps walked out of parliament to show their disapproval of the sham called Electoral Code which you promulgated into law. Your Handclapped CPDM Mps threw out the proposals of the SDF on the basis that it was unconstitutional. Now we aske, what stopped you or your Mps to cause the revision of the Constitution so that the proposals of the SDF, other opposition parties and civil society could be entertained? Yet , you and your Mps decided to play the politics of personal interest throwing the aspirations of the Cameroonian people to the dustbin. You are already in your last term of office whether you like it or not, why not give the Cameroon people a better electoral code? What are you afraid of? Whether you like it or not, the youths of this great nation shall soon cause a great metamorphosis in the way things are managed.

  Mr. President, we are informing you that, the worst law or decree you have signed in your 30 years of rule is the Electoral Code. CYC is not the only group saying so, the Archbishop of Doula Diocese Mgsr Kleda recently faulted the adoption of the Electoral Code, and he predicted calamities following such code as you neglected the opinions of all sectors your Prime Minister consulted. Comrade Marafa letters  gave an insight of such a code. Mr. President, God is still saying something. The various postulates of Comrade Marafa, the Catholic Priests and even the lame warnings of the Opposition groupings should not be taking lightly. At best, Government should take positive actions.

        Mr. President, the highlights of this letter is/was the extension of the Parliamentary mandate which is Unconstitutional. We were seemingly shocked, the opposition sat quiet. We are aware that, because of their minority in the house, the CPDM led Mps can adopt any bill with or without their approval as you their master (Biya) approve.We expected a symbolic opposition from the opposition parties to draw the attention of the Head of state. The CPDM led Mps refused adopting the proposals SDF gave on the electoral code on the basis that they were unconstitutional.For the sake of conscience clearing, the opposition could have made public the unconstitutional nature of extension of parliamentary mandate, yet our opposition Mps even the most vocal sat quiet. Mr. President, we are convinced you caused billions of tax payers’ money to swell their accounts to keep their mouth quiet.  law No 2008/001 of 14 April 2008 to amend and supplement some provisions of law no 96/6 of 18 January 1996 to amend the Constitution of 2 June 1972, Article 15 (4) reads “In case of serious crisis or where circumstances so warrant, the President of the Republic may, after consultation with the President of the Constitutional Council and Bureau of the National Assembly to decide, by law, to extend or abridge its term of office. In this case, the election of a new Assembly shall take place not less than 40 (forty) days and not more than 120 (one hundred and twenty) days following the expiring of the extension or abridgement period”.  I think the above provision from the Constitution is clear, in our case it so warrants that because of the adoption of the so called new electoral code and introduction of a smokescreen biometric system, the President in consultation with the house decided to extend the mandates of MPs to six months renewable once following their term of office expiring in July this year. It is clear from the above provision that, Mr. Biya extension of six months renewable once is unconstitutional rather it should have read 4 months extension non-renewable for National Assembly elections to take place since not more than 120 days is exactly four months. May be the President thinks that Four months is too small, then Mr. President since you have the majority in Parliament and you can change the constitution as you willed, you should have cause the  amendment of the Constitution to accomodate your six months extension  then the extension would have been  constitutional. You should be reminded, Nigeria took weeks to register over 100 million people, you know why? They had the political will to make things happen. It is because you lack the political will and all what is on your mind and that of your party is how to steal elections….you saw no need making things straight for the good of the nation. It is a shame however that law makers sat quiet on this issue.

               Cameroon Youths for Change wants to assume Mr. President was wrongly advised by the National Assembly because they want to keep their positions so that they keep stuffing their accounts, and because Cameroon is Cameroon, you can still ensure that justice is seen to be done to the Cameroon People.

I rest my case

Much Obliged.

Bara Mark B.

Regional Coordinator

MARAFA'S SYNDROME: WHAT LEGACY HAS HE?

                    

        Since the arrest of  the former Minister of Territorial Administration  Marafa Hamidu Yaya in April this year on the charges of embezzlement of public funds in what has come to be known as the Albatross affair, so many Cameroonians both home and abroad have written extensively on the issue with varied opinions. Local radio, TV stations and news papers have not been indifferent to this affair. In fact it is believed that, since the arrest of the former SG at the Presidency of the Republic and Minister Emeritus of Territorial Administration, the sales of News papers have seen a remarkable increase especially if the story is headline. History has proven that, Marafa’s arrest has been the most spectacular of all Government arrested officials.

        Many Cameroonians have expressed their views, while some praised him, others have been asking varied questions. Why must he (Marafa) write only now when he is out of office? Why did he not speak early enough? After the Presidential Election, did he not go back home and still asked his people to support the CPDM? Would he had spoken or written those letters if not arrested? The questions are endless, but my
article is written to x-ray the Legacy Marafa left for Cameroon after working for 17 uninterrupted years with Biya. After having a sound education in the best democracies in the world, what Legacy can we be proud of him?

        It is true that from time immoral, history teaches us that, warriors often changing camp and become assets in championing change which they are prepared to lay their lives for.Defectors ( Marafa) often provide
all logistic information needed by the opponents to effect change. I am confident that,  it is this light  the SDF has identify this warrior ( Marafa), reasons why the SDF has decided to throw heavily their
support behind Marafa despite the odds they had in the past while he was in office. For one thing, the attitude of the SDF goes a long to show her principles of reconciliation which is a good aspect should they take over power.

        But should the Cameroon People support Marafa? Should they forgive him and stand beside him in this  trying moment? These questions could be answered if the Cameroon People identifies themselves with the
Legacy Marafa left behind for which they could lay their lives for. What can we remember of Marafa while in office? I guest  each citizen  of this great Country shall have separate answers depending on how each and every one was affected by his actions in office. For sure a greater Cameroon would not identify with Marafa. I could think of Mebara Atangana and his Higher Education Policies, till date most lecturers still yearn for him, a more reason Cardinal Tumi could even identify with him. I could still think of Fordinjam who took the Chantal Navier Limbe Project  from grass to grace which saw the big man himself Biya
congratulating him, I could think of Gaga Harman who resigned from Biya’s regime because of corruption, I could think of Prime Minister Emeritus Musonge Mafany and many others. Now what Legacy has Marafa left. I could state a few:

1.      He practically advises Biya on all major political decisions thus a failed Biya regime is as bad as Marafa himself
2.      He joined Biya in reaping our oil money.He knows perfectly how our oil money has been managed and till date he kept his mouth shot.
3.      He rigged with impunity practically so many elections from the Cameroon People that would have help change the course of Cameroon a
long time ago
4.      He created and designed ELECAM against the wishes of the Cameroon People but turned against the same ELECAM after the big man some how cut off  his Ministry of Territorial Administration from ELECAM.
5.      As SNH Boss and some one in the inner circle of Power, he ensured that SCDP distribution deputs were planted only in Garoua, Baffoussam, Douala, Yaounde and none in Anglophone Cameroon still in a bit to marginalized Anglophones. Worthy of note is that, towns with SCDP distribution depots have the privileged of having petrol at cheaper rates.
6.       He has been reaping  the Cameroon Public Treasury to campaign for Biya

        These are the legacies I have Identify with Marafa. Are these the type of legacies the Cameroon People want to Identify with Marafa? As for me it is no, the only good thing Marafa has done is for his
Family, Friends and the Immediate Community he came from. It is a fact that only Biya and Marafa knows the fights and game they are doing and so the Cameroon People should not get involve in their imbroglio.

             It is true that thousands went to the court the first days he appeared and they hailed him.Mr. Marafa should not be deceived because like the Biblical Jesus whom thousands praised and hailed when
he entered Jerusalem shouting “Hossana, Hossana”, just one week after hailing Jesus, that same crowd asked Pontus Pilate to Crucify him, Crucify him.

        Marafa should be aware that the SDF and Cameroon people hailed and praised him just because of the information they need in order to have a strong base to get rid of Biya ( which off course is good) and after the objectives must have been met, that same crowd who shouted “ Mr.President, Release our President” shall soon in the New Cameroon shout “ Thief, Thief, he kept us in bondage, Jail him, Crucify him” and the judges shall have no option than to jail him.

        It is worthy to note that, Marafa is not different from Biya, both of them are different species from the same Family line thus the people of New Cameroon can only levy a lighter sentence on Marafa at least
for repenting. After all no sin goes unpunished even the Catholics believed in purgatory where despite how good you are on earth, you must pay for the little sins you must have committed while on earth as
no one can see God with an iota of sin on you.In the same way, no matter how repentant Marafa will be, the people of New Cameroon must make him pay for the sins he committed which kept us in bondage.

        And for the records, the battery of lawyers defending Marafa are only here to collect from him  where he tapped his money from ( which is ok) and most especially for improving their profile
internationally.Let us judge him ( Marafa ) based on his legacy and not on sentiments.

Bara Mark B
President Cameroon Youths For Change, CYC
SWR

END ROAD FOR BIYA

Mighty Storm Gathering to Sweep Biya reports the Media, they include amongst others: Marafa trial,a time bomb; Marafa-Fru Ndi alliance giving Biya sleepless nights; South West Chiefs demands Inoni's release or no Reunification celebration in Buea; Southern Cameroon Independence nearing reality; Drivers Syndicate threatening repeat of 2008 riots over fuel increase; tension rising over ENS, INJS, ENSET entrance delay; Chantal Biya's long absense from public view not also helping matters and finally 25.000 jobs workers promising a show over non-payment of their salaries.

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