National And International News Roundup – 12th October 2020

About 39 suspected delinquents have been arrested today in Douala for causing havoc yesterday night in Deido. The Governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboa revealed that 25 of them were arrested by the gendarmerie and 14 by the police. The armed bandits, popularly known as “Microbes” yesterday attacked the Deido neighbourhood with clubs, machetes and knives, causing a stampede in the neighbourhood.

The Governor of the Littoral Region has reiterated the importance of vaccination against polio for kids, zero to five years. This follows a viral video on social media showing Dr. Etoa Mebara Francois humiliating a woman for refusing demands that her son should be vaccinated in a school. The Governor called on medical doctors to explain the importance of vaccination without intimidating parents and kids

Most Cameroonians are against a phone tax to be implemented from October 15th. To them, government is imposing a tax on users of phones after failing to recover custom duties from business men that import phones. To them, the tax will have been welcome if meant to boast the use of locally made phones.

Nyulsever Killian, an economist has stated that communication airtime remains expensive in Cameroon as compared to other countries. To him, government needs to ensure that communication credit is cheaper with the implementation of the phone tax.

The state of Cameroon is expected to stand trial at the Yaoundé court of first instance. Dragged to court by a team of lawyers defending Prof. Maurice Kamto, they want the state to remove military men positioned around the house of the leader of CRM party. Maurice Kamto has been in what many call house arrest since the 21st of September.

The Prime Minister of Cameroon is in the city of Douala. Joseph Dion Ngute is to inspect new installations at the Douala sea port. The ceremony will take place tomorrow Tuesday.

Some importers continue to decry what they call unnecessary administrative bottlenecks at the Douala sea port. To these disgruntled importers, corrupt practices have dominated the port with no transparency in the process of clearing goods.

The anticipated resumption of flights by Camair-co today did not go as planned. The first flight by the airline in 8 months was cancelled. Sources say the lack of insurance for the Boeing 144 seats was the cause. Another source close to the airline says the inaugural flight has been rescheduled for Friday October 16, 2020 from Douala to Yaounde.

One person has died in a road accident in Makaa in Nyong and Kellé along the Eseka – Mekak axis. According to reports, a truck on transit to deliver brewing products in Mekak rolled over before killing the victim. The accident was reportedly caused by the terrible road conditions. A host of others were seriously injured. The victims are currently at the Eseka District hospital receiving treatment.

A 47 year old man has been arrested in the town of Nkongsamba after he raped a 6 year old girl. Reports say the man lives with his friend The girls father raped the child as she entered his room after he had returned from shopping. The child’s mother heard the child screaming before rushing to see her child had been raped. The man was beaten by a mob before being handed over to the police.

The principal of a boys school in South Africa’s economic heartland of Gauteng has been served with a dismissal notice following the drowning of a 13-year-pupil during a school trip earlier this year. The Gauteng education department said an inquiry had found the principal of Parktown Boys’ High School, Malcolm Williams, guilty of taking the children on the trip without prior approval, and for failing to do a proper roll call. Mr Williams has five days to appeal against the ruling.

Nearly a dozen MPs have died from Covid-19 in southern Africa, the head of the Southern African Development Community’s parliamentary forum, Esperanca Bias, has said. The MPs were from Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius and Zimbabwe, Ms Bias added. She offered her condolences to their families as she ended a session of the parliamentary forum in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has promised “extensive” police reforms as protests against police brutality continue despite his announcement that the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad has been disbanded. In a video posted on Twitter, he also promised justice for victims of police abuse, and expressed regret for the loss of lives in south-western Oyo state during the protests. Mr Buhari added that most police officers were hard-working, and the reputation of the force should not be tarnished by a “few bad eggs”.

A Kenyan food exporter has asked the country’s chief prosecutor to investigate allegations of human rights abuses on its farms a day after the British retailer Tesco suspended supplies. Kakuzi, which is the country’s largest avocado producer, says it is the victim of a smear campaign. It faces allegations that its security guards have over the last decade assaulted and raped local villagers and in one instance killed a man accused of stealing avocados.

Efforts are continuing in Tanzania to extinguish a fire that has broken out on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Members of the Tanzania National Parks Authority (Tanapa) and local people have been struggling to put out the blaze which began on Sunday. Their efforts have been hampered by the altitude as well as strong winds and dry weather which have caused the fire to spread fast. The cause of the fire is not clear.

Uganda’s President, known publicly as Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has officially changed his names, to include his childhood name, Tibuhaburwa. The name, which is in his Runyankore mother tongue, can be translated as “he who cannot take advice or be guided/corrected”. The name change has drawn speculation and jokes from Ugandans online, some wondering what the job of his advisers is.

The authorities in South Sudan have said the suspected cases of Ebola in the north-western region have tested negative. But samples were not collected from those who died from a yet to be established illness that sparked suspicions. They were buried before a medical team from the health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in the area.

Schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo are reopening, a month after the initial date was postponed. Teachers have said that schools are not ready to reopen and want learning to resume on 26 October, but the authorities have refused to postpone. The initial reopening was scheduled for 3 October.

Foreign news: BBC