CRTV - PRESS HOUR - (TRADITIONAL RULERS in POLITICS - CAMEROON : ECONOMIC STORMS) - 09th August 2020

Summary

Highlights

• The debate on whether traditional rulers in politics serve as assets or liabilities to their communities adds an intriguing layer to governance discussions 🤔.
• Panelists highlight the historical transformation of traditional roles and the complexities it introduces into modern politics 🕰️.
• Cameroon’s steady financial performance amidst dire economic forecasts sparks a discussion on its underlying causes and sustainability 💼.
• Strategies like treasury bonds and engaging internal banks have helped Cameroon weather economic challenges, reflecting a blend of cautious planning and fortuity 📊.

Key Takeaways

• Cameroonian traditional rulers are increasingly joining politics, sparking debates about their roles as either assets or liabilities to their communities 🤔.
• The historical evolution of traditional rulers in politics impacts their effectiveness and community trust 🕰️.
• Despite economic challenges, Cameroon continues to defy predictions of financial collapse through strategic yet controversial fiscal methods 💼.
• Economic resilience is attributed to a mix of strategic management and favorable circumstances, challenging the notion of impending financial doom 🔄.
• The importance of distinguishing between traditional roles and political ambitions to maintain community respect and harmony ✨.

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' opens with a warm welcome to viewers both in Cameroon and globally. It sets the scene with music, creating a positive and engaging atmosphere for the audience.
• 03:00 - 37:00: Traditional Rulers in Politics This chapter discusses the importance of tradition in human society, quoting Marcus Garvey's famous saying that people without knowledge of their history and origin are like a tree without roots. The transcript highlights the trend of traditional rulers participating in partisan politics, which in some cases, undermines the foundation of traditional values
• 37:00 - 56:00: Economic Issues in Cameroon The chapter discusses the role of traditional rulers in Cameroon's communities, questioning whether they are assets or liabilities. It also touches upon the theme of failed prophecies related to Cameroon's political landscape, particularly since the introduction of multi-party politics in the 1990s.
• 56:00 - 61:00: Viewer Reactions The chapter explores various viewpoints and reactions regarding Cameroon's economic situation. Analysts express skepticism about the government's ability to pay salaries, yet the government seems to emerge stronger each time. The discussion aims to delve into whether this resilience is due to hard work or mere luck. The chapter sets the stage for a panel discussion featuring diverse insights on these topics.
• 61:00 - 65:00: Conclusion Dr. Callistus Abang, a political analyst and scientist, with many other qualities yet to be discovered, is featured in the program. Albert Ninja Monday, chief of the political service at CRTV Radio in Germany, is also welcomed.

CRTV - PRESS HOUR - (TRADITIONAL RULERS in POLITICS - CAMEROON : ECONOMIC STORMS) - 09th August 2020 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] [Music] [Music] great to have you all our viewers in cameroon and around
• 00:30 - 01:00 the world talking about the importance of tradition in a human society marcus gay marcus gave said a people without the knowledge of the past the history their origin and their culture is like a tree without roots many traditional rulers are embracing partisan politics and in some cases eroding the foundation of traditional values on which they
• 01:00 - 01:30 stand does this make such traditional rulers assets or liabilities to their communities that will be our focus on press r today we also going to talk about another uh prophetic subject that all prophecies have failed from the advent of multi-party politics in cameroon in the 1990s to this day as we speak repeated scary predictions by some political and
• 01:30 - 02:00 economic analysts have said that cameroon would not even pay the salaries of his workers in each of these cases the government comes out stronger is it hard work or just a stroke of luck you see how interesting we're going to make you feel at home today if you are just tuning in this is a press r and to discuss these topics we're going to bring to you a very rich panel beginning
• 02:00 - 02:30 with the political analyst dr callistus abang political scientist he has so many other qualities that we're going to discover in this program welcome to the program it's a pleasure sir and next to you we have albert ninja monday our own albert in germany crtv he's the chief of the political service crtc radio welcome abbey it's my pleasure yes sir
• 02:30 - 03:00 next to me to my left we have we popularly call you chief muah patrick he is a desk editor the guardian newspaper welcome to the program thank you very much kilian and it's my pleasure to be part of the program once more are you a chief or you just just does a joke because that's why you are popular we'll talk about that often okay we we have uh leia elias and
• 03:00 - 03:30 gallamble he is the publisher of echo outlook newspaper you know welcome to the program you are a household name on president first things first there is week in review in our regular slot press review done for us by youtube
• 03:30 - 04:00 news on the impact of the coronavirus on the country's economy as well as on the continent animated the papers this week an article in the guardian post reveals that close to 22 billion cfr franks has been spent within five months in combating the disease in cameroon as a result the cemack interstate committee has outlined measures to tackle 19 challenges in the zone where economic
• 04:00 - 04:30 indicators show that a gross domestic product will witness a drop of four to six percent by the end of the year another story which cut across the papers this week is the african caucus of imf world bank governors where the participants dwelled on protecting africa's human capital in the face of covet 19 saving lives preserving well-being and safeguarding productivity and jobs this to set a vision and ambition for
• 04:30 - 05:00 africa to build and strengthen resilience to future sharks as the region recovers amidst the crisis there's a hike in cameroon's revenue as the guardian post headlines customs department on toll story of mean fees directive and ever increasing revenue collection based on the article by christian gar christian the annual revenue has cairo cutted from 678 678.1 billion cfr francs in 2015 to more than 840 billion in 2019
• 05:00 - 05:30 despite the boko haram insurgency in the far north and crisis in the northwest and southwest regions finance minister louis paul motasey is thus described as the hidden hand behind cameroon's ever-increasing customs and tax revenue collection a fact strengthened by the congratulations of britain woods officials to cameroon for making remarkable improvement in mobilizing internally generated income in that news on its part put a spotlight on cameron's treasury department as the
• 05:30 - 06:00 director general sylvester moore rolls out user-friendly reforms and addresses the cover 19 impact on the state budget reassuring that cameroon has the capacity to raise money from the financial markets and pay back its debts without the faulting meanwhile a core outlook zooms in on mean fee as it prepares actors for realistic 2021 state budget as traditional rulers prepare to play their role in decision making ahead of
• 06:00 - 06:30 the decentralization process indigenes of goku tunja take on the territorial administration bus in an article the herald tribune captioned how minat was misled to cancel the recognition of mokong babungo chiefdom while the indigenes are solely seating for the third class chiefdom to be reinstated the horizon reports on limber youth who confess to have been hired to sabotage their traditional ruler the youth of mivio village in limbur faco division of the southwest region of
• 06:30 - 07:00 cameroon say they were each given five thousand cfa francs to stage a public protest against their traditional ruler chief henry funderson meanwhile the befores are looking to welcome a new administration with a new blood at home the guardian post has details of the new paramount ruler to mamey administration font muketa the fourth ekoko who takes over from his father from victor mukete who abdicated this throne after upholding the culture and tradition of the before people for
• 07:00 - 07:30 over 50 years these and stories on the smooth start of the gce advanced and ordinary levels examinations as well as that on the bapc candidate in the south region who gave birth to trains in the exam hall kept the print media busy all week [Music] very much yogi kaleli sange with
• 07:30 - 08:00 for that press review there you've reminded us of what the papers fade on the week just ended um ladies ladies and gentlemen watching us gentlemen on the panel we started by talking about the fact that if you take a head count of traditional rulers who are ready in politics in cameroon you may lose your account have we gone and there is the possibility uh with the regional elections that come
• 08:00 - 08:30 up uh anytime anytime we even thought it was going to come up last year anytime from now depending on the head of states who is going to decree for that to happen we will have more traditional rulers taking parties and directions and it's already becoming a problem we want to know how they stand where they stand in politics and how they keep their positions as custodians of the tradition uh dr callistus you
• 08:30 - 09:00 are a political scientist can we from the onset have a situation of the traditional rules in politics in cameroon we have them in the senate we have them in national assembly we have them in other positions and will help them again constitutionally in regional councils that's immensely uh miss sander um it is really a burning issue because when we sprang back to the 1977
• 09:00 - 09:30 law on the traditional institutions this law established a traditional rule as auxiliaries of the administration and by virtue of that they were to take care of local governance take care of insecurity collaborate with this administration administration in martyrs concerning lanterns and many others but to make you know that when we look at the pre-colonial period the colonial period and the postcolonial period
• 09:30 - 10:00 and even at the dawn of independence we had a different category of traditional rulers most of them have never gone to school but they were so sticked to their to their traditional institutions and you know in those days just a grisly disagreement at home with your spouse you will realize the spouse next destination is at the palace because she knew that only the traditional ruler was superior to quench the tension they had absolute authority
• 10:00 - 10:30 of course but now unfortunately after independence we witnessed a different breed of traditional rulers most of which are highly learned and you know it is often said that the more educated one becomes the more ambitious the person also tend to be so we realized that this new breed of traditional rulers had to embrace the political concept that power haunts power meaning that the more
• 10:30 - 11:00 power you have you want to grab another power and then when you look at the camera institutions you will realize that of rate of late the cameron government have included many traditional rulers in the in the the various sectors of the administration and then making them to an extent to erode from their normal duties may acquire the example of napa bahongo the the paramount leader of the musee clan
• 11:00 - 11:30 these are people who exert much power without any political reason why any militant of any party can pay a visit to him for wisdom to give them advices we are going to come to that we just want to have first of all the situation of traditional rules in politics in cameroon uh we have so many of them in the senate we have so many of them in other positions appointed do we have that yeah yeah i was just coming to that because i just wanted to give a global view so
• 11:30 - 12:00 that we understand that according to the views of event preacher the renowned social anthropologist the centralization of traditional institutions in africa gave them a lot of admiration because they saw so the type of organi gram surrounding them you go to the bar moon you will see how this institution are set up now you come to the administration of cameroon from the president of the national assembly which is the aluminum mother you go to the president of economic social council you go to the sydney and
• 12:00 - 12:30 the worst of all is at the synod because apparently every region is represented the northwest has two uh two traditional rulers the west 2 traditional ruler the southwest 3 du center brief we are having more than 20 traditional rulers in the senate we go deeper into the administration we even see university don prophesied even the acting president of the national consultation rule prophet of charla was the adviser of the director of the university of the under one and a year wonder too
• 12:30 - 13:00 these are people who hold administrative functions but continue maintaining their titles as traditional ruler to an extent at this juncture we are going to look at it on both sides because the administrative the traditional setup of the ground north will not be the same like the one we we're going to we're going we're going to discuss that it's very interesting points we are racing we will discuss that as we get deeper into the program albert and jim bondi you are
• 13:00 - 13:30 close to what we can call a political scientist you had the political services and you do some of the analysis that uh are directly linked to this when you look at he raised the point before independence after independence and that it is actually being eroded so what reading do you give of a traditional ruler as they get more into politics well um we live in a world and a society that evolves
• 13:30 - 14:00 um the only common denominator of in my opinion of the different eras has to do with issues that have to do with the perception that the public has of traditional rulers and also what perception the administration or the governing class makes of traditional rulers you want to understand that even before
• 14:00 - 14:30 independence we used to have traditional rulers giving the authority for instance collection of taxes within their jurisdiction you remember in the federal constitution i know section 40 actually talks about the creation of the house of chiefs after independence will also have since 1976 a decree that has to do with
• 14:30 - 15:00 the management of national lands where traditional rulers have a very very vital role to play because at the end of the day you discover that when you are talking about power you are talking about a territorial space you are talk so lands become a crucial um to also um come to some of the aspects doc was raising a while ago you also discovered that um
• 15:00 - 15:30 the the governing class it is to the advantage to have a traditional role as uh but what we call auxiliaries of the administration is just like the church any um power or regime that is in consonance with the church or traditional institutions has slips has a possibility of staying longer in in in power and i think that that is where you begin to see that sometimes
• 15:30 - 16:00 there will obviously be friction between the ruling class and the grassroots the grassroot that wants more local gov governance that they could have had with traditional rulers when traditional rulers start going towards towards out of the grassroots they feel that there is more distance and i think that that is where the spirit of um the the law on regional and local authorities
• 16:00 - 16:30 comes to play to make sure that even if traditional rulers like we say they're in parliament they're in government and so on they don't lose sight of their responsibility in grassroots development i mean i stayed with you you made mention of their relationship with the land and it is a secret to nobody that some of these traditional rulers are giving out this land as they go close to the administration to the detriment of the people because their base is the
• 16:30 - 17:00 people don't you think that it's more of a problem to their communities when they get to politics it is not only a problem to their communities but also a problem to social cohesion as i speak to you i hear from farco division where i wouldn't uh hide or lie to you that it's it's one of the biggest problem that i as a subject uh belonging to a chief dom i have you know because sometimes okay there is
• 17:00 - 17:30 a spirit behind the the law of uh july 15 1977 that doc was raising a while ago that talks about the creation and organization of chief dumps in cameroon during the review you saw the problem in in in babungo people need to understand that's why we're talking about the public perception people need to understand how do you create a village in a village with people who have stayed in those villages for
• 17:30 - 18:00 for 50 60 100 years and you you really must be able to be convincing enough to tell them probably there was a village here that went extinct and now um descendants of those village villages want that village uh recreated and so on and so forth it's never an easy issue and the problem is i i i know cosmos checker i know francis namjoo we have lots of
• 18:00 - 18:30 university dance who've done studies on on issues relating to chiefdoms and the the bottom line of it all is that subjects feel more comfortable with their traditional uh authorities who don't come and go than with uh deals ex deals and governors who will feel that confusion will rape their own lots of them have lands in the
• 18:30 - 19:00 areas where uh they administer which is very much against uh the loss of the land um so so you discover that um it's it's it's a difficult difficulty it's just a problem issue to handle yes i'm more patrick you uh differently when we look at the way you're dressed we can identify you that you are from the grass field and when we talk about traditional rulers the kingdoms the chiefdoms they are
• 19:00 - 19:30 really sacred to use this word in that part of the country yeah don't you see that with these traditional rulers getting closer to politics indian numbers it's going to be a big problem yeah keeping that cohesion that's true yes um in all honesty it's a growing phenomenon i think we're having more and more traditionalism in active politics we're not saying that they shouldn't take part in politics we understand that all of us are political beings but taking part in active politics has
• 19:30 - 20:00 badly affected the image of most of our traditional especially to the traditional rulers who are from the grass area where you know how attached the people are to uh to to the throne you know the respect and the order that most of those traditional rulers they have around there has virtually been disappearing because of little involvement meddling into politics especially active politics actually a simple question you are from the grass field as well
• 20:00 - 20:30 imagine you getting into a political thought for example you're a candidate and your traditional your phone is a candidate yes answer that question will you be able to celebrate the ability that you have defeated the phone for example what's the answer what's the answer obviously there's no person especially from the grass fee will find it comfortable defeating a traditional ruler in politics in politics so it becomes a problem yes to challenge the throne you have virtually desecrated the land by trying to challenge the
• 20:30 - 21:00 traditionalized taboo when we see the fund coming from the opposite side except for some of us who are very close to the throne as well it's it's not even possible walking on the same lane we did with the traditional in other words because of politics people now rub shoulders with them the respect is no longer there i tell you a simple another simple uh story which i i lived in 2013 while covering them between elections then in in dungamantu they there was a traditional who came public to even threaten the villagers that whoever votes the
• 21:00 - 21:30 opposition party will be banished from the village and that same phone came out during the election day and was actually sending the last threats i should say that as you are going to the police station if you vote the opposition party you are going to be banished from this village so imagine that how then how how is it possible that the villagers will be able to vote out of their own political will like because of how interesting it is now let me let me ask you this
• 21:30 - 22:00 question you also come from the glass field and i know it extends to all the other chiefdoms fandoms kingdoms in other parts of our country because it depends on where you come from and then the appellation is different you know before traditional rulers they used to sit there sacred and people they would not go hungry people would bring money they would bring wood they would bring this and they did not need to go out today nobody cares about what's happening to these traditional
• 22:00 - 22:30 rulers if they sit in their policies don't you think that also is a reason for them to go now i want to disagree with you to say that it's an overstatement to say that nobody cares again i think we still have chief dorms in the call and fundaments in other words that are well organized where it everything that concerns the the phone is done by the community even where he lives the palace is never constructed by the chief i only left the northwest to the southwest to discover that the chief will construct half himself would buy a car for himself it the phone in northwest is entitled to
• 22:30 - 23:00 all of that because what belongs to the village belongs to him he incarnates the institutions of the village so we are still well organized for those that for those that have been able to maintain their integrity let me take the command the respect that we we know them to to have that is really especially for those that see have some level of integrity that is really and we know most of them that is relative we are not talking about most of them because if one person is suffering then it's a problem that's right we are saying are you convinced that a chief a root traditional
• 23:00 - 23:30 constitute even in those organized societies and depend on people make him a beggar no it's very much possible killian it's very much possible i don't think that uh traditional the impression we are trying to give is as though they're getting into politics for survival purpose i don't think that is that is the the main intention behind their involvement in politics is more about power like doctors said you know once you are given you deserve you want to have more it is always that is
• 23:30 - 24:00 it's an ingredient it's involved but i think it's just the quest for power that pushes some of them into and what we have observed over the years especially since the the president of republic decided to to put traditional dollars on a monthly stipend we have discovered that majority of them eventually or cpdm anybody who wants to belong to the position is either threatened
• 24:00 - 24:30 that you'll be detron i've all my life i've never known that administration can determinative well it's not just well it's only now that we're getting in the news of the fact that an sdo is tightening is that not another statement a liars because we know that in a place where succession is done from the lineage of the chief and the family this district the in the internal family the fund or the chief cannot be detroit
• 24:30 - 25:00 maybe that is another statement because it doesn't uh apply in all parts of cameroon where some chiefs are pointing it may be an overstatement but those are things that are happening we will leave that in on a daily basis in the field you know and it is the way the administration has been given an override overriding power over over over tradition because i i i used to say that traditional laws they have their rights to
• 25:00 - 25:30 polit to go into politics nobody refuses them that but it depends the way they approach it if they are diplomatic in their approach to to politics i don't think they will have they will come into conflict with their with with their subjects if you look at the way politics operate i mean the traditional dollars in the north uh uh operate there's a clear line between their traditional and cultural responsibility and their political uh ambition and they have been able to keep the legitimacy their legitimacy culturally and socially
• 25:30 - 26:00 with their people unlike their peers in the in the in the in the other regions who have completely given in and they are telegraphed by by by by the administration and this has put put them in in conflict with their with their subjects and this is a big problem is there a way they could maintain their traditional authority and still be in politics because we know it's a right to be in politics of course there is a way what can they do
• 26:00 - 26:30 keep differentiate their political ambition and their their cultural and social responsibilities they should be a very clear line uh doctor uh your political scientist how can we come out of this uh problem which is becoming a serious problem of cohesion in different communities social cohesion yeah i just wish to first corroborate with what uh mr ghana was saying that we need to have a distinction
• 26:30 - 27:00 between the administrative functions and that of their traditional institutions because you know in my village where i come from there are some traditional riders supposed to be performed but they have been suspended because the paramount fund is away for so many years that is you tell you that the traditional ruler is needed at a particular point in time in the village no matter which position he occupies in the yawunde administration okay apart from that
• 27:00 - 27:30 the traditional ruler bearing in mind the responsibility surrounding him was not even supposed to take part in partisan politics because we know some a few weeks ago an sdo in the western region wrote a letter to a traditional paramount respectable ruler of that caliber warning him of organizing meeting in his palace without prior authorization and to corroborate what mr patrick said
• 27:30 - 28:00 earlier that most traditional rulers belong to the ruling party statistics are proven that about 80 percent of our traditional laws belong to the ruling party and only about five percent belong to the position while the other remain neutral and there is a tendency for crushing them or imposing them where they have to belong if they want government attention and this is greatly affecting them because now like he mentioned a case that he
• 28:00 - 28:30 belongs to a different political party and the traditional ruler is also contesting how are we going to measure that we will realize for instance like i said uh in my preliminary remarks that in the village in those days when there was a problem the next destination was to go to the palace when we knew that we would have a solution but now with the fact that our traditional rulers have been engulfed in this uh political agitation and i i don't think i'll be teaching you
• 28:30 - 29:00 that there's a traditional ruler who died because even before he died he had killed a politician and he went to the prison because he wanted a politician to belong to accept his political ideology deviating from the traditional responsibility he has that is very pathetic so we need to have a great demarcation between those two because it is very difficult to manage but mr gary get an example that
• 29:00 - 29:30 in the north it's very different in the grandma's very different from us in the grass fields i have been there and i know how respectable those uh traditional rulers there are yeah and they mostly call them and they function on the principle of baba set in court what does that mean babasa means that they are doing what their traditional rulers said that's why when you go to uh um alameda like that of bubba look at the results for the uh for any elections we have in cameroon when baba said everybody you vote at this time this is
• 29:30 - 30:00 a party you are going to vote everybody just follow because they they believe that their traditional ruler incarnates a godly given privilege or a godly given representation because they consider that their church naruto is god representative on earth that if they disrespect him that is respecting god yes authority comes from god that is even said in the bible but the the authority must be used also come from the bible the right way in the interest of the people that
• 30:00 - 30:30 brings me to to react to what the other families said before which brings to mind the aspect of making a distinction between party politics and politics because to me um striving towards social cohesion striving towards grassroot development is politics and i think that um we have quite some traditional rulers who who have been doing that very very well irrespective of uh affiliation
• 30:30 - 31:00 to political parties or not but i also wanted to say politics or partisan politics is a matter of choice so it is possible to do politics and still get the attention of the elite how do you do that to still remain a rallying force in the village what should you put in your way of doing politics that should
• 31:00 - 31:30 make you stay a traditional ruler do politics one can be respected one of the advantages we have is that just as a lot of subjects go to school like unlike before that's how traditional rulers are also going to school so lots of them have become enlightened and people want to see enlightened leadership and you you have quite a number of them who may not have the resources financially
• 31:30 - 32:00 but have the ideas have the contacts that brings us back to what is the public conception towards their leadership if your leadership is the one that is unifying that is visionary it will in turn have the respect the truth about it is lots of them have gone like patrick was saying it's a are using the chieftains institution as an instrument of repression
• 32:00 - 32:30 once it is not that way it becomes an instrument of development the other issue i wanted to raise is the issue of vis-a-vis traditional roles and education the perception they have of the administration because i continue to say the administration is a problem if you don't know these laws if you don't know some of the legal instruments governing the chieftains institution you begin to see the the administration as your boss
• 32:30 - 33:00 instead of as as collaboration as just an auxiliary it doesn't make you a subject exactly now uh i bet you like a dr callisto said tradition is values that are handed down that's what we know it and they are kept the way they are and it's conflicting with what we call today modernity which is an evolution of ideas that flow like the education you're talking about now we're getting out of
• 33:00 - 33:30 uh this topic how can we that those are suggestions make traditional rulers not to be liabilities but to be assets to their people because their base is their people they should not erode their base for politics no i should i should go this way yes i think um in person we we have already made those suggestions that it's advisable that traditional rules would stay clear of politics to me partisan politics because
• 33:30 - 34:00 we our cultural parties and politics belong to a political party is already partisan that's what i'm saying they can't they can go out there vote but i'm saying that for a police for a traditional ruler to me it's appalling to find a traditional going out there to campaign to beg for votes in quote from these subjects yeah yeah no no no let me just develop i'm sure we came here because of this topic go ahead what i'm trying to say is that it to me i would prefer that traditionally should
• 34:00 - 34:30 keep a distance from from from partisan political world called active politics that's vying for positions that's to be voted but they can vote why not it is their civil right but we have discovered that over the years those that have really been too much involved in active politics go back to their villages and see the detention that is boiling there because like the doctor said one of the the the fundamental rules of a traditional gula is to first of all ensure internal peace and development officer village
• 34:30 - 35:00 thank you so now imagine it's a traditional confronted with the with with this version of settling dispute because normally it will be it is a responsibility to settle internal dispute imagine you have a dispute with somebody who is coming from the opposing party where you don't belong you will certainly be biased well elias please he is still raising the problem we cannot the texts show that traditional rulers the reality shows that the traditional rulers are in politics i will have more of them now our
• 35:00 - 35:30 suggestion here we want to know is how can they do that the politics because they must do the texts have already made it clear how can they do politics and still maintain their authority and be assets to their communities yes they can do this uh the the the the the traditional law of women is doing that very very very well when it comes to development the people rally around him and when it comes to politics he respects the political choice of
• 35:30 - 36:00 of his people so he avoid that political clash and that conflict at all levels some will tell you that there are two full bands we had this we had the situation of uh we had the national because of politics we had the national regional council [Music] that was created in 2010 and that gave hope that at at some point traditional dollars are coming together as a network to fight for to change things to fight for
• 36:00 - 36:30 the development but in 2011 we saw them raising their voices in support of one-on-one the hope and ambition that people we are looking forward to yes i think before we close the topic i just wanted to say that if you go by the spirit of the electoral code and the code on regional and local authorities if traditional rulers understand it well i think that the the the legislator
• 36:30 - 37:00 is giving them a possible way out of partisan politics especially in the northwest and southwest with the uh re-establishment of the house of jesus christ with um um 20 and elected amongst them to to represent them because i know that there are some who have been complaining that on issues that are pertaining to the grassroots like national development they have been
• 37:00 - 37:30 sidelined so these house of chiefs will give them a possibility to also make major recommendations or also be decision makers as far as statehood is concerned thank you thank you very much gentlemen if you are just joining us you're watching press r on cr tv if you are stepping away we want you to stay and you have your handset with you you can connect to citv web facebook and you will watch
• 37:30 - 38:00 this program live you can also send in your contributions on this program and we're going to read the contributions towards the end of the program by uh 1 30. uh we're going to take you into our next topic uh this week so many things happen in year 1 economic you had the summit of heads of state of akers you also had the governors who met here and discussed economic uh way out for
• 38:00 - 38:30 some continental subcon regional issues and we have not forgotten that at one point people say the government this government is corrupt it's already bankrupt can no more raise funds they cannot mopey salaries but cameroon cameroon has always come up with treasury bonds sometimes they come with targets sometimes they come with loans from bank to come out of this is it by luck or it is hard work
• 38:30 - 39:00 that's what we're going to discuss after this but before that watch this joint report by christian chiaratam and charles ebune the 17th summit of heads of state and heads of government of the economic community of central african states marks a major milestone in the modernization of the organ as important decisions have been taken ekka's heads of state have decided that the new revised treaty of the
• 39:00 - 39:30 organization will be implemented as from the 28th of august 2020. eight out of the 11 member states have already ratified the revised treaty the regional body has also set up a new bureau to manage the eka's commission the chairperson gilberto dapiel daddy verisimo is from angola the 2020 african caucus of governors of the world bank and the international monetary fund has held at a time when african economies have been devastated by the effects of the kovite 19 pandemic
• 39:30 - 40:00 rising budget deficits deteriorating external positions and accelerating public debt are all tangible microeconomic manifestations of this pandemic the caucus has been a platform for african economies to seek common strategies which the continent can use to absorb the shock caused by the pandemic and create conditions which can lead to more resilient economies in future at least 250 people were connected online for dcs africa governors group meeting for the
• 40:00 - 40:30 world bank and the international monetary fund organized and held in cameroon to come out with a very strong memorandum that is going to be presented to the two authorities of the world bearing group as well as imf general managing director the human capital development at the time when plus one million people already infected by the coronavirus on the continent was focused supports macro and fiscal
• 40:30 - 41:00 consolidation and management in moment like this one with huge constraints in terms of mobilizing resources where expenditures are going up the outcome of the garden will be used in the next annual meetings of the britainwood institutions [Music]
• 41:00 - 41:30 you're welcome back um patrick let me begin with you have you at one point in cameroon i want to think of um from 1990 when we had the multi-party politics and places were shaken at one point got scared that money is finished cameroon that is all finished not quite it's quite funny anyway but i
• 41:30 - 42:00 think government has always assured cameroonians that we have some reasonable deposits in at the level of the government asking whether you have ever been convinced because we have heard that once and again that this month like this we're going to say we've heard those stories repeatedly i think you are very repetitive you have never been scared no how why why why would i be scared in a country where i think we have the the best when it comes to resources we have everything that can make us really really rich sometimes i feel very uncomfortable
• 42:00 - 42:30 when when the people in high offices tend to limit their level of comparison talking about cameron and other countries and they limit themselves within the south region that's a mark i ask myself when you look at the other countries in sumac should we really be comparing with them elias we are talking about some reports some analysis some predictions that are done by economists renowned economies saying that it is
• 42:30 - 43:00 going to be bad we are not just talking about political um pronouncements have you ever been scared at one point that is finished of course as someone who is sensitive to is environment when you when you read such uh news you have a reason every vision to be scared but i think that the government the government is doing its best the government is also aware of the challenges and the dangers and they are taking precautionary precautionary
• 43:00 - 43:30 measures uh but to say that everything is good about the economy it will be an overstatement in reality because uh papers might have it that we have a 4.1 percent growth rate that is true but that is a macro picture how does that translate to the day-to-day lives of the average camaronian that is where the cameroonians have a word yes they we just watched the pm he himself acknowledged like the governors that met african governors uh
• 43:30 - 44:00 within the framework of the world bank group and the international monetary fund that one is okay they acknowledge it at high levels we we are not more at the level of saying that it is there yes it's a problem we want to know about it sincerely when you hear because i know you have heard once you're concerned about your country when you hear that things are not going to be fine what comes to your mind well there are indicators that don't lie
• 44:00 - 44:30 he talked about the the macro and the micro level uh some indicators don't lie it's true that the debt situation of the country isn't the best i think that the economy minister of today while in finance had already raised that concern we've done a lot of taking a lot of loans that have to do with what we we call structural adjustment projects how well are those projects faring what is the contribution of those projects like
• 44:30 - 45:00 especially the dams that took a lot of financial resources are they doing have they contributed to employment as we thought have they been a a life changer what has been their input as far as generating electricity is concerned we know that we still have pockets those are indicators that will tell you whether we are faring well you also talk about the lifestyle of government which is something that every cameroonian sees
• 45:00 - 45:30 the day i'll get really frightened will be the day i'll see that that has really been dropped because the head of state had talked about it uh we don't have the impression from the look of things that um allowances and other benefits especially to the ruling class has really dwindled especially now that we are talking about covid a pandemic that has once again sent us to the the world market to look for for for
• 45:30 - 46:00 loans so those are all indications um if we are sure to have electricity at the barber shop without any cats that were sure that he is going to go lots of cameroonians live via subsistence so those are all quite some something you're sure that you have your salary in indications you know for those of us for those of us who are of the public administration and uh parastatas it is indispensable uh lots of us leave first of all
• 46:00 - 46:30 from our salaries you know so those are all indicators that will tell you whether the the economy is very well or not uh doctor when the part of the central treasury uh caught fire here in yamundi i must tell you i have colleagues who shouted my salary our salaries so that is the first thing that came to their minds and to be very frankly this is a real story now when because most of the time there
• 46:30 - 47:00 are politicians of the other side of the opposition who give the impression that the government is not doing anything and that is going to collapse why do some politicians give such impression because up to today it has not come out true one thing you must understand that the role of a political party is for checks and balances exactly so if you you want
• 47:00 - 47:30 an operational party to remain in the room on the count during election day for they should cease to exist because even where there is no fire they should put fire to put the government firm if i don't want to trace the historiography of what oppression party i've done in cameroon from the 90s because it has really gone a long way to to help fight against corruption to democratization and others uh when the treasury caught fire i call a friend who worked there but does it mean that many
• 47:30 - 48:00 people go with that salary the person no the the the center server is conserved it has all the information and then i have to now announce you my friend it's true that it is a very um very controversial issue because while some are looking at economy at a boom others are looking at islam but it's good because they all help us but it took some of us back to learn that cameroon those are
• 48:00 - 48:30 many other countries greatly affected by this kovid spree was time to announce that they are economically comfortable uh somebody said it may just be a way to come down to quench us from our anxieties because the u.s is affected it's true that the variables and the indicators are used for comparison are not the same but we were expecting that the fact that the tomato market has been affected the fact that the petroleum sector has
• 48:30 - 49:00 been affected that even the government has launched for as a launch and international tender for the supplier of petroleum products we thought that we will come one day that way experience but we want to thank is it because of hard work or is it because of luck to me i think that's both lock on our side and hard work on the other side because those in charge of finances in the country are not people we know today in the domain of finance we know at least the minister of finances we will stay with you abbot said a while
• 49:00 - 49:30 ago that cameroon has gone out to get more loans yeah i think is it not normal that in a state like in every business you get loans you turn over you pay yes of course but it is the consumption is not sweeter than when you produce the money yourself because imagine that you are you you can't take a loan and come and buy to enter a spa and you are drinking the taste you have will not be the same thing like you work the money yourself
• 49:30 - 50:00 from one yourself no publicity now yeah you've made that point where the next where we're going to move to what you produce yourself let's look at some of the things that the government has done as hard work we know target came up was an idea of somebody we have treasury bonds came up we have some
• 50:00 - 50:30 others what are some of these ideas that have actually made government to work and survive during a very um difficult moment we are it is no more news that cameroon has been planned in the world of two fronts in the in the north and in the nw and sw which has caused a lot to our economy but with the coming of the covet thank god at one moment we say any negative events also comes along with some positivity with it because
• 50:30 - 51:00 with the coming of the covid cameron has also had a lot of donations from friendly countries individuals who have helped the country in one way or another and in domain that the government was not exploiting they tended to exploit this domain in order that they should never be that's where the question is which are these domains well uh just to say that the amount of donations we receive
• 51:00 - 51:30 by far smaller than what we are spending and what we shall spend i'm saying this because um a cross-section of our population still believes that kovite 19 is a hoax and that it was done by government to get international financial support which is not the case not at all but i also think that um
• 51:30 - 52:00 taking especially covet 19 as an example i want to commend the aspect of choices made by government at every level in the evolution of the pandemic um from america to europe to many african countries governments have had to come back to major decisions and declarations they made take the u.s take brazil and so on and so forth where heads of states even discourage
• 52:00 - 52:30 the wearing of mass and so on and so forth i think that we we made quite some giant strikes in both medically and politically um to one when the situation was very critical like nobody expected stopped the schools when we we felt that the situation wasn't good we were in having the mastery in the management of the pandemic set the schools back rolling when we were a little bit sure so but besides that dakilan just to say
• 52:30 - 53:00 that the lock where the law comes in is that cameroon was blessed cameron is blessed and i think cameron will forever be blessed because unlike other countries we can diversify uh our economy so when one aspect is in the for instance in the in the world market is not good enough we are sure that there is something else that will be good for that example is good because
• 53:00 - 53:30 when the prices of petrol petroleum products dropped we thought it was going to be so bad cameroon has diversified we're also talking about uh generating income that is hard work we talked about lock and some of the aspects of hard work i want also to continue with some aspects of hard work generating money through loans from internal banks i think you've written about that too yes we were doing a lot of writings on that but like doctor said it is uh it is sweeter
• 53:30 - 54:00 when you consume what you produce i do not really i feel very uncomfortable each time we go begging we go cappy hunter to acquire loans because those loans that virtually were causing more problems to ourselves future generation not only now because if you imagine our debt situation is really alarming yes for for for a country for for a country that's struggling to emerge and we're emerging through loans and maybe the central government believes that um will emerge
• 54:00 - 54:30 by maybe creating or constructing a referral hospital at the divisional headquarters that is still no no no no no let me just advance my point the issue is i think that if government really wants us to to get to the level the enviable level within the soft region they need to pay more attention to the private sector this is really something that has been coming up over the years but government seems to be giving a blind eye no economy survives in the world without a vibrant private uh private sector i agree and if you look at our report card for doing
• 54:30 - 55:00 business by the imf this is disastrous it is a report card you don't want to take home if you are i i have not looked at it i'm still with i stay with you i i stay with the aspects of borrowing yeah i don't think there's anything wrong with loans this are you investing where those loans is trying to generate because it it's not just enough to take a loan imagine taking a loan of 75 billion to buy mini computers how do you in turn pay back that loan it doesn't generate
• 55:00 - 55:30 anything yes i thought you were going to talk about elaborate on the fact that cameroon has been able as a aspect of hard work to generate loans from the citizens through banks that five years ten years and you go and you get yeah no a country like cameroon cannot contain itself with uh surviving uh via peanuts when they have the potential they have the potential
• 55:30 - 56:00 to emerge you know kilian you wouldn't tell me that you have sleep you will have uh you sleep soundly when you rely on loans to feed your your family we take a micro example it will give you sleep last night now the imf report of 2019 say our loan rate distress has gone above 40 percent of the gdp in 2019 compared to what we had in 2007 omega 12 percent
• 56:00 - 56:30 this is really this is really a disturbing it's not a very healthy uh economic situation as such okay we we get that but we are saying that uh that has happened but that has been said before but cameron survives to be very frankly that's you must have seen uh elvis dickey going around here he just stepped in with uh reactions from some of you who have been writing
• 56:30 - 57:00 to us as you watch the program live uh good day welcome elvis good day to you so what are the reactions we have so far there are quite a good number of those taking a few because of time constraints we go straight away with the show watchers i hear who says traditional last according to the 1997 law auxiliaries of the administration and therefore must be an asset because they contribute to local development and they collaborate with administrators in matters of insecurity local governance and social
• 57:00 - 57:30 amenities for its for their population hence their asset while prince met penne says traditional rulers are becoming more of a liability as far as he is concerned so blessed jas is meditating of traditional roles in politics has turned to liability than an asset they are considered as auxiliaries of the ammunition bet we have seen situations where sgos log over them
• 57:30 - 58:00 and again if these traditional rulers are not elected but chosen according to traditional norms and again the different political views and was of all from different lines of militants the question to put is the ability to pass valid judgment on issues of traditional character and mary killer chinese traditional ruler should be an asset but for her turning to politics it's a sort of disability as corruption
• 58:00 - 58:30 finally will be imposed on them and jacob says in the in the past the position of traditional ruler was incompatible with partisan politics and will conclude with fabian uce who says he thinks there's a need to look at the form of uh the the form and the perspective of traditional was being political being in political politics as okay but what matters the most is the integrity
• 58:30 - 59:00 of the traditional leader thank you very much have you take a ladies and gentlemen thank you for watching i want to thank you um gentlemen the four of you on the panel for coming and for your discussions it's a pleasure yes thank you so much it is with that that we're going to end today's edition of press r but if you caught us halfway into the program you can watch a rebroadcast of the program on monday by 3 pm
• 59:00 - 59:30 you can even immediately after the program watch it um on crtv web facebook at any time you want to watch the program crtv web facebook is that we with that we end today's edition of the program want to thank you immensely for your time have a good day
• 59:30 - 60:00 [Music] you