The 7:30pm of August 1, 2024 on CRTV
Le JT de 19h30 du 1er Aout 2024 sur la CRTV
Transcript
00:00Cameroon's Ministry of Finance strikes the deal of the month, securing a three-hundred
00:29and thirty-five billion CFA France financial package for the country through a bond issue
00:36on international markets, with the Citibank Group as adjudicator.
00:42The bad boys are back in town, striking this time on both taxes and on commercial bonds.
00:47Yaoundé city dwellers, be on the watch out.
00:50Bags, wallets, telephones and other valuables are their prime targets.
00:56And Suzanne Kalanlobe silences her pain forever.
01:00The veteran journalist breathed her last today in Douala.
01:03She was seventeen.
01:04Those and more, right here on The 7th Edge.
01:09Hello, I am Ben Menopufong and Yaoundé, welcome to the program.
01:15It's been a scare in the past and was contained.
01:18Now it is resurfacing and rather dangerously too.
01:23the name.
01:24Armed robbers and itinerant kidnappers, often posing as taxi operators and commercial motorbikers,
01:33are now taking a toll on Yaoundé city dwellers as they use taxis and motorbikes to abduct
01:40passengers, rob them and sometimes kill them.
01:44The miscreants reportedly hide their victims for hours before abandoning them after ruthless
01:52hours of torture and agony.
01:55The resurgence of attacks on taxis and motorbikes in Yaoundé is captured in this report with
02:02Alphonse Abonguachi.
02:06An urban transport sector inundated by predators in search of prey.
02:12Their hooks are everywhere and every time trapping victims.
02:17When I entered the taxi, the driver kept saying that there was no space, the door isn't
02:22locking, I should go ahead, come behind, you know, do some kind of manoeuvres to make
02:27sure that we are able to lock the door, not knowing that the other passenger in front
02:31was actually searching my back.
02:33Each tactful step taken by these hoodlums is well calculated and when the goal is met,
02:40they get rid of the victim.
02:43I thought they were normal passengers.
02:46When we arrived at the destination, they tied me up, went further with me, assorted me
02:51and made away with my vehicle.
02:54We later contacted a CEE and with their help, we finally found the car at Colby Cock.
03:01Those on the two-wheel engine have their own strategy.
03:04A bike man seized my back and he ran into one entrance towards the lake, going towards
03:13Bonas.
03:14So I was surprised, I was even confused.
03:18Victims of urban transport assaults in Yaoundé now devise new strategies to outsmart their
03:23potential pursuers.
03:26It's first and foremost important to make sure that our belongings are well kept safe
03:30in a bag.
03:31Take note of the matriculation number.
03:34At night, I avoid taxis where passengers step out for me to get in before they enter.
03:39I also avoid doubling on bikes.
03:42Forces of law and order are also on the offensive to bar the way for these perpetrators of urban
03:49criminality.
03:52We have our men in assorted attires who patrol during rush hours.
03:56We also have them on bikes and those who stroll by foot in crowded areas.
04:02Police reports indicate that each day they record multiple complaints of such crimes.
04:09Watch out, else you tread on this slippery ground.
04:14The resurging wave of urban criminality is thus taking the form of crimes organized in
04:20taxis and on commercial motorbikes with the carnivores of drivers and bikers.
04:25Bandits and broad day marauders are now tacitly conniving with some township taxis and motorbikers
04:33to render life unsafe for citizens with eyewitness accounts of assaults and other forms of aggression
04:40flooding newsrooms and police stations by day and by night.
04:44Beatrice Ngum reports on the urgency of reinstituting identification badges and the recertification
04:51of taxis as well as the riot hailing services like Yango and others as part of the panoply
04:58of quick measures to stem the tide of taxi robberies in town.
05:05In Cameroon it is an imperative for taxis to have a car door number without which it
05:10is a violation of the stipulated law.
05:13Not much has changed on the streets of Yaounde since the decision urging cops to carry door
05:19numbers and identification badges.
05:21I don't take taxis often because most taxis don't have the badge with their name and their
05:27picture so you can't really identify the person in case you have an accident.
05:31Trade unionists say the oppression needs a rethink.
05:35With the SDO we decided to identify taxi drivers by door numbers.
05:43And this operation has started but it is not centralised.
05:48We have seven councils in Yaounde, each council is free to give a door number.
05:55So you have seven taxis who have the same door number.
05:59Arguments advanced are that out of every ten users, six won't even pay attention to the
06:05door number, pushing trade unionists to believe that badges are a better option to tackle
06:11crime in taxis.
06:12They however decry the slow implementation of the measure.
06:16It is very important to insist on the badges.
06:21We are waiting for the Minister of Transport to apply this decision.
06:27We should try to centralise the production of door numbers and the way of identification
06:35badges if you want to be a taxi driver to have these badges.
06:38Close to a year after the decision obliging car owners and drivers plus leaders of urban
06:44transport unions to ensure car door numbering is effective was arrived at, many are yet
06:49to heed.
06:50We urge the corporation to check our door numbering, like the identification badges
06:54is slow and no authority wants to take full responsibility.
07:01In our first day of the region's dossier this evening, we are going to Ibilova.
07:06There we will be on board a motorbike, unfortunately, for our trip within the city because it is
07:14the main means of urban transport in the south regional capital, which incidentally
07:20is experiencing considerable demographic growth with the advent of the university.
07:27Urban transport in motorbike mode between misery and citizen satisfaction is a report
07:34by Silas Nkwai of CRTV South.
07:38Cutting a city taxi in Ibilova is nearly impossible.
07:41City taxi is not available in Ibilova.
07:45Without the possibility to find a city cab in the town, commercial motorcycle is the
07:49only option for residents to move around.
07:51We prefer motorbikes because we can take the motorbikes every time and everywhere.
07:58It can easily take you to your destination, even right into the quarters.
08:03They are not expensive, you know, with 100, with 150, 200, not more than three, you may
08:11have a bike and this could go you anywhere.
08:14On a daily basis, the roar of engines and incessant honks of the two-wheeled vehicles
08:19make up the urban symphony of the south regional administrative headquarters.
08:23Commercial motorcyclists certainly provide essential mobility solution for residents,
08:27but this is not without drawbacks, however.
08:30You cannot go on bike, a personal ruler with all your artifice, you cannot go on bike with
08:35your hood.
08:37It is challenging also because even the bikes here, they don't have an umbrella and even
08:41when the sun is so hot, it likely affects even me or the baby or even during the rainy
08:47season.
08:48While waiting for the diversification of office in the urban transport sector, motorcycle
08:52taxis continue to rain on the roofs of Ibilova.
08:58And in a bid to resolve the problem of urban transportation in Ibilova, the city council
09:03and other private entities have embarked on providing township cabs.
09:09Though not in a significant number, the new means of transportation is greatly welcomed
09:14in a town which has witnessed a boom in our population of late.
09:19Clarence Haze has been keen on the apparition of taxis in a town which until now had only
09:25bikes as the means of transportation.
09:29For a couple of weeks now, commuters in the town of Ibilova have been using cabs for transportation,
09:35a new mode widely appreciated.
09:37It's a very welcome initiative for the town of Ibilova because for some years now, there
09:41are no more township taxis.
09:43Five of such taxis have been circulating around the town.
09:48He says they started two weeks ago and all is moving well.
09:54Inter-quarter routes are not accessible for these township taxis to enter.
09:57The city may have to provide inter-quarter routes for these taxis.
10:02The absence of township taxis is a major preoccupation to the Ibilova City Council, which is constantly
10:08sourcing for partners to solve the urban transportation problem.
10:12There is one investor who has put in the place of Ibilova a few taxis to start giving the
10:17opportunity of the population to be transported in a safe manner.
10:21We actually continue to discuss with the people in the private sector to make sure
10:25that we can upgrade the numbers of taxis within the city.
10:30In addition to that, the city council is working with our friends from Italy.
10:35We believe that sometime next year, we'll be having some buses transporting people in
10:41our city.
10:41The yellow cabs are few for now, but the acceptance is telling that the people need a decent mode
10:48of transportation.
10:51The news was broken since last night, and it came that Cameroon has succeeded to secure
10:57345 billion CFE francs through bond issues on international markets, a deal that was
11:05struck in London and facilitated by the Citibank Group.
11:09As Clarice Rae Takang now explains, it is a financial deal that comes at a time when
11:16the state is intensifying measures to streamline its public spending and boost its credibility
11:24with rating agencies.
11:26Clarice?
11:30It was far from being an easy money thing for Cameroon at a time when the phrase money
11:35doesn't grow on trees is gradually being put forward by governments to justify cautious
11:40spending and investments.
11:42Additionally, the global financial market is still dealing with volatile transactions
11:47contributing to uncertainty in the quest for funds.
11:50This therefore explains the feeling of relief after the bond issued to international lenders
11:55raised 335 billion CFE francs for the country on favourable repayment terms.
12:00I can say that what we have done, the transaction today, what we have done is a good path on
12:07the way of solving the problems we are facing.
12:11You gave me the confirmation that I will have the money, but that means that the government
12:17will have what he came to look for here.
12:20The exercise was facilitated by Citibank Group.
12:23The money secured is expected to create impact on growth, the business climate, the activities
12:28of SMEs, but also domestic debt servicing.
12:32This goes a long way, a relatively long way to support the general economy because what
12:37is going to happen is that there will be a significant injection of liquidity in the
12:42market over the next couple of months.
12:44The June 20 budgetary ordinance gives the state a bigger borrowing margin from external
12:48sources, raising concerns about payback time.
12:52Economists, however, say the outcome after the closing of the London operation is proof
12:57that credibility is not an issue.
13:00On to other developments in the news now.
13:03Stakeholders and partners of the Viva Logon agricultural project have been urged to work
13:10diligently and ensure the proper execution of the seven-year-old project, of the seven-year
13:16project rather, that aims at generating income for the local populations while reducing rice
13:21importation in Cameroon.
13:24Far North Chief Executive Mijiawa Bakari was speaking at the second session of the
13:30regional technical follow-up group of the project that was twinned with the assessment
13:37of the first month of activities for 2024.
13:41From Marwa, Enos Enonyaketagbo completes that story.
13:46Became operational in November 2022 in the far north region in the subdivisions of Yagua,
13:54Maga, Vili and Kaikai, the Viva Logon project, financed by the World Bank, seeks to address
14:01several difficulties faced by rice farmers such as insufficient irrigated farming space
14:08and financial subventions, enclavement of certain localities, climatic variants just
14:14to name but these.
14:16During the second regional technical monitoring group session taking place in Marwa, under
14:22the auspices of the Governor of the Far North Region, Mijiawa Bakari, actions were evaluated
14:29such as the installation of the Sinohydro company for the rehabilitation of the project
14:35sites in Yagua and Maga, ensure permanent security, sign partnership agreements with
14:42banks and other service providers, and sponsor the acquisition of national identity cards
14:48of local rice farmers that will help them create bank accounts and facilitate subventions.
14:55This project is very important to the population of the Maidanae division and the population
15:02in the far north and Cameroon in general.
15:09At the end, it is obvious that it will increase the standard of living of the population.
15:15The seven-year project Viva Logan, sponsored by the World Bank, aims to improve food security
15:22in the three northern regions as well as contribute to reduce the importation of rice.
15:30Against the backdrop of reversing fortunes in the poultry sector, some poultry merchants
15:36are now capitalizing on the demand for supplementary poultry products to keep the business alive.
15:43The sale of substitutes like ducks, turkey and pigeons, which is becoming a new trend
15:49on the market, is enabling the actors in the sector to multiply their revenue streams.
15:56Florence Ngomba Nanyongo observed the trend at the Mfundi market and compiles the following report.
16:04This is Manshe Pond De Lagar in Mfundi, Yaounde, where table breads such as ducks,
16:10turkey and pigeons are sold. According to these traders, dealing with a variety of species
16:16permits them to multiply their streams' income.
16:34Relying on nature, vendors feed their birds with local food
16:39such as ground meat, leftover food and other grains. In this market, customers prefer ducks
16:47to other table breads. These birds, which are consumed by humans, also have a spiritual
16:58connotation. Some birds have mystical powers and are used for spiritual purposes. Although
17:05this type of meat is highly sought after, customers lament about the high prices
17:11which vendors justify is due to the taxes paid to the council.
17:36Collections and doing so for the past decades until now. This member of the East Regional Council
17:43and of the National Commission on Bilingualism is currently reading three different books.
17:49She says she has been reading books since the age of nine and is today an inspiration to those
17:57who know nothing beats a well-read individual. Beatrice Losamba now revisits the reading
18:05experience of this lady who has built a beautiful career and life thanks to her bookish nature.
18:16When she was only nine, she broke curfew as a result of a rendezvous with books which
18:21unconsciously dragged late into the night.
18:25My passion for books was revealed really in my early childhood. I was invited to a birthday party
18:32and when I found myself there, it was a mixed family. She took me to a very big hall where
18:40there were shelves of books. Wow, when I reached there, so many toys and books.
18:46Francoise Anguine effortlessly, passionately loves books and her taste is determined by every stage of her life.
18:56I used to read novels like adventure level, police novel where you have to do an investigation
19:05and order books that of course that we have to read for our education at the secondary school
19:13and at university as well. Reading even shaped her career. I'm a literature teacher and linguistic
19:21teacher. It means that I was really interested in reading. And as a politician, reading books is one
19:28of her success secrets. Right now I'm reading a book on how to program social activities in the
19:37field for the interest of the community. And the other one is about the anglophone crisis
19:44since it concerned my activity at the commission. And about political activities,
19:51politics, I'm reading Ségolène Royan who is my favorite politician. She can't fathom a life
19:58without books. A generation that has lost the reading culture is missing out on a lot, she says.
20:04For the new generation, they have android telephone and things like that. They really
20:09lose the capacity to build their own personality. The bibliophile takes tips from books at every
20:16turn of her life and that is the magic wand that works for her, she says. And nothing reads better
20:24than reading. Cameroon's Minister of Arts and Culture has been discussing practical modalities
20:31of promoting and preserving Cameroon's cultural heritage with two key figures of the Bantu
20:37extraction of the country and of international renown. Pierre Ismail Bidungpat and the Executive
20:43Secretary of the Seigneur de la Forêt Project, Blaise Etoile, together with Le Grand Chachouan
20:51of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, were exchanging in a tête-à-tête at the Minister's
20:57Cabinet in Yaoundé yesterday. Joyce Abigail Foshy comes back on the details of their discussions.
21:06Advocating and encouraging forest conservation in Cameroon, which are not only cultural symbols
21:12but also reservoirs of biodiversity, is the mission that Blaise Etoile has set for himself.
21:19The representative of the project has stressed the urgency of strengthening partnerships with
21:24the Ministry of Arts and Culture. Meanwhile, the need to protect Cameroonian works of art
21:39as well as encourage bilateral cultural ties is the purpose of the visit of Le Grand Chachouan
21:46of Bangor, Cameroon's advisor at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin in Germany.
21:52The Cameroonian government will inform them on when to come so we can sit on the table and discuss.
21:58This audience granted by Minister Pierre Ismail Bidungpat demonstrates a renewed commitment
22:05towards the preservation of Cameroon's heritage and a desire to expand international collaborations
22:10in this area. The new Bureau of the Association of Real Estate Developers of Cameroon has been
22:18installed in Nyander with a call for the team to work in synergy and ensure that more low-cost
22:26houses are constructed and put at the disposal of Cameroonians. The mission was assigned to
22:32them by the Director General of the Cameroon Real Estate Company, Sardana Amadu, who was
22:40guest of honour at the elective General Assembly of the Association. Solange Awasom has this report.
22:49The new executives of the Association of Real Estate Developers in Cameroon have set the
22:54ambition to exercise their duty diligently. They were commissioned following the elective
22:59General Assembly of the Association. We are very happy because the session has been
23:08maintained in the rule and regulation according to the Association. We have to
23:15be evaluated every three months. For 14 years now the Association has been supporting government
23:23in designing and implementing real estate related policies. We will work together with all the real
23:31estate developers in Cameroon in order to put in the market a lot of houses. We take the agreement
23:37only to produce houses. The objective of the group is building profitable low-cost houses
23:44to help curb the challenge of acquiring decent housing in the country. And now on to our obituary
23:51page. Funeral proceedings have begun for the late former Secretary of State and the Minister of
23:58Defence Jean-Marie Alléocolle who died on June 30, 2024 in Yaoundé. The coffeting took place
24:06today at the mortuary of the Yaoundé Referral Hospital before a funeral service at the funeral
24:12mosque at the Yaoundé Central Cathedral. The late statesman will be laid to rest in his native Lumière
24:19in the east region of the country this weekend. Elvis Teke reports.
24:26An emotion-packed farewell to former statesman Jean-Marie Alléocolle who passed away
24:32last June in Yaoundé. He leaves behind a legacy of decades of dedicated service to the nation.
24:40Eulogies at the funeral service portrayed him as a dynamic, viable and efficient administrator.
24:46Born in 1947 in Lumière in the east region of Cameroon, he had a distinguished career
24:53in civil administration serving in various capacities including board chair of the
24:59Electricity Regulatory Agency, Deputy Director of Personnel at the General Management of SONEL
25:07in 1983, then the Secretary of State to the Minister of Defence in charge of the National
25:14General Marie from 2004 to 2006. During the funeral service at the Our Lady of Victory
25:22Cathedral in Yaoundé, the clergyman prayed for the repose of the soul of the statesman
25:28and the comfort of his family. An emotion-packed ceremony attended by bigwigs of the CPTM party,
25:36former government ministers including the Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the
25:42CPTM, Vice Prime Minister Jean Queté. The late Jean-Marie Alléocolle left behind a family,
25:50friends and colleagues to mourn him. He will be laid to rest in the land of his ancestors
25:57in Lumière in the east region. And the death has been announced of one of Cameroon's pioneering
26:06female journalists, critic and cultural commentator Suzanne Kalalobé. Madame Kalalobé
26:12breathed her last today in her native Douala after her illness. The 71-year-old veteran journalist
26:19championed several courses for journalism practice and press freedom in Cameroon,
26:24occupying key editorial positions in the several media organs for which she worked. From Douala,
26:31Roselyn Fosa reports on the life of a committed journalist whose great journalistic works
26:38impacted generations. Many of them are still to get to terms with the sad news which turned Douala
26:46black this August 1. The death of Suzanne Kalalobé fell on some former party members like a nightmare.
26:54We met in 1972. She was a unique person, always different from others but very sociable and kind.
27:04She became a revolutionist at a very young age. I can remember in 1992 during elections
27:10she was pointed a gun by a military man but she didn't panic. She was very courageous.
27:17A one-time active member of the UPC party, Suzanne Kalalobé also worked with influential figures
27:24like Henriette Kouy and the souvenir she started right from childhood. She was very young
27:31when she joined UPC. She has been trained as a journalist in UPC and she was very very active.
27:40Aside being involved in political issues, the media personality will also be remembered for
27:46being someone with unique positions and decisions. Suzanne used to be every time contradictory.
27:54We agreed on this subject. He said no no no. I didn't agree with you so I've changed my position.
28:01Suzanne Kalalobé leaves this world at the age of 71 after practicing the journalism profession
28:07on to the last moments of her life. And as the communication family awaits the funeral
28:15arrangements for Suzanne Kalalobé, it is the world of the academia that is now reminiscing
28:22Professor Lucas Sundingham, the veteran who died on June 6, 2024 and is now resting for eternity
28:30in his native calm in the northwest region. Family members, friends and professional colleagues
28:36gave him their last honors on the campus of the University of Yaoundé, celebrating his life
28:43and enduring legacy. Chelsea Kuwan comes back on the last days of Professor Sundingham's mortal
28:50remains in Yaoundé. The amphitheater 350 of the University of Yaoundé put up a less studio's
29:00atmosphere as members of the academic corps, students and family take a break to pay tribute
29:06to the late Professor Emeritus Babam Lucas Sundingham. He has been described as a giant
29:13in the field of organic chemistry. He died on June 6, 2024. It was no longer about a chemical reaction
29:21as his students and colleagues in their tributes painted a picture of a man whose intellectual
29:27savvy was matched only by his dedication to teaching where he spent over 40 years of his
29:33life doing. We have just paid tribute to a great professor who was sincere, honest and has trained
29:42many scientists in and out of Cameroon. He was also a great family man. He was a great man,
29:54a very kind man, very wise and extremely God-fearing and he's left a huge legacy behind.
30:03The mortal remains of the late University Don now rest in his native Kham village of the northwest
30:09region forever to be remembered. And Cameroon's Rachelle Sopimela, and there we are in sports,
30:18she descends on the judo ring tomorrow to confront Japan's Akira Sonne in the plus
30:2578th category of the Paris Olympic Games. Also awaited at the games this weekend are team
30:32Cameroon contenders in swimming and athletics. All the athletes today received a moral booster
30:39from a delegation of the Cameroon Athletics Federation led by its president that came
30:44visiting in the games village with words of encouragement. Let's now join Baldwin Sama
30:50from Paris in details. They came with special encouragement for their two athletes Emmanuel
30:57Isseme Alubwede to compete in the men's 100 meters and Linda Angunu to compete in the women's 400
31:03meters hurdles this weekend. Emmanuel Mutombimbo, president of the Cameroon Athletics Federation
31:09alongside his secretary general Charles Kuo Kote called on the nation's two flag bearers in
31:14athletics not to relent their efforts in their ongoing preparations but rather strive to each
31:20earn a qualification for the next round in their respective heats. We came to encourage them and
31:26to remind them of our support. We told them not to forget they were not invited to the competition
31:32but rather they qualified for it and so each of them has a say in this competition.
31:37Competing against the best in the world in both the men's 100 meters and women's 400 meters hurdles
31:44federation officials understand it won't be an easy task but are confident Emmanuel and Linda
31:49will surprise many. I am confident and my objectives are to better my performance and
31:56why not qualify for the final in my series. It's possible. Both athletes continue with their in-camera
32:03training sessions with Emmanuel Isseme to compete this Saturday while Linda Angunu will do same on
32:09Sunday but before Richelle Sopimbeda will be fighting for Cameroon this Friday in judo at
32:16the 32nd final against Olympic gold medalist in the over 78 kilograms category.
32:21That's for everyone. Let's do it all over again on Monday. Thanks for watching.
32:51you