Commercial Delights, Sniffles of Cameroon's Presidential Election

Commercial Ecstasies, Tears Of Presidential Election

Ernest Ndukong

It is interesting to have twenty-three persons vying for the country’s top job- the President of the Republic of Cameroon. Could it mean that as many as fifty-three and now twenty-two have noticed Biya’s shortcomings and want to correct and do better? It is splendid if the response is affirmative.

The twenty-three candidates all have diverse strategies of achieving their set goals and the goals are many and different.

From the build-up characterised by decamping, meetings to determine parties’ candidates, registration of voters, campaigns and campaign funds to Election Day and now waiting to hear the winner, there has been enormous commercial occurrences.

The media has been particularly concerned with the Presidential Elections as they owe a responsibility to serve their readers, viewers and listeners sufficiently and reliably. A good number of these media organs have become very popular resulting from their coverage and the consumers’ judgment of the truism in the information they present.

 It has been, undoubtedly, established that many of these media organs have witnessed a boom in sales and turnover during this period. In as much as this period presents better and higher proceeds, a newspaper manager recounts that turnover depends on the strength of publications and how reliable news is.

Politicians also bought pages in newspapers and air/video time on radio and television to pass their parties’ messages to the Cameroonian populace, to request for confidence and their votes. Despite some politicians’ good fate in conveying their manifestos, others used some unscrupulous media organs to destroy their opponents. The question in most lips is ‘what reputation would these unethical media organs have after the elections?’

The nation and its people have also been exposed to the outside world thanks to foreign media organs and the new media. Africa 24, for instance, has been broadcasting from Yaounde for a while now while other foreign houses pay exacting focus on our election. Online publications, facebook, twitter, Skype and YouTube have had significant hits in Cameroon and by Cameroonians in the Diaspora. This will largely help in setting the minds of our Diaspora friends who will participate in this year’s elections.

It is worthy to specify that most of the Presidential Election debates and analyses were from the private press for the reason that the government suspended all political oriented programmes on State media. Whether or not it is a correct decision, most Cameroonians quip that they needed even more political oriented programmes at this time to be abreast with happenings in and out of the country.

Still in line with communication, local and international telecommunication organs have had increased revenue during this period. Appointments, discussions, suggestions and even resolutions were mostly on the phone as only two weeks were allocated for campaigns.

Transport communication equally experienced a peak with movements be it by land, air or rail. Twenty-three presidential candidates and innumerable campaign teams toured the nation and even beyond in two weeks to deliver messages, policies and promises to execute when given the opportunity to occupy the Etoudi palace.

Cameroonians have moved towns and regions to vote where they registered, some run back home in fear of any political turbulence that may result from the elections. All and sundry in the transport sector experience an upsurge in activities and thus an upsurge in earnings though some did not make absolute profits due to reasons like short-sightedness in business, fear of hierarchy and inadequate planning.

 It was reported in the media last week that a political party commandeered a partially filled CAMAIR-CO plane to the Northern part of the country while there were ordinary passengers and other political parties stranded at the Yaounde Nsimaleng airport.

Some pundits argue that it was a near suicidal mission to meet Cameroonians in all the administrative units of the country and others abroad considering the time campaigns were launched to the voting day.

When many people travel, hawkers along the way benefit from increased turnover, toll gates have higher returns and filling stations experience a boom in litres pumped.

When people migrate to different various places, hotels, snacks, bars, tourist sites and wenches observe an amplified market resulting to profits. People would need places to spend the night or nights, they would need food and drinks, need to relax and have fun and fun. This would be intense if it is a delegation of, say, a political party.

Church services on Election Day were reduced to about just two instead of about four for some churches and attendance was not at its best or as on other normal Sundays. The fewer the number of Christians, the smaller the amount generated from offerings and tithes, everything being equal.

Activities and work in offices and companies were almost completely halted or postponed till after the elections. One could find very few senior government officials in their offices as most had travelled out or were in the field to canvass for votes for the ruling party. Contracts in companies were practically postponed till after the elections for reasons difficult to associate with a presidential determination exercise.

The Promises

Many consider politicians as liars because most if not all have said things which they end up not fulfilling. During this presidential period, the twenty three candidates said many things which fall under sectors like economy, health, education, defence and national sovereignty. Their dreams are good to the ears but the fear of them becoming a nightmare is not absent in the minds of Cameroonians. Cameroon should be a paradise if the eventual winner taps from the ideologies, policies and objections of the twenty-two vanquishes or even inviting them to be part of the ruling team as we saw Barack Obama appointing Hilary Clinton Secretary of State in the United States of America.

Campaign Funds

The State treasury swelled by FCFA 265 million as registration by 53 initial presidential hopefuls and it is expected that FCFA 690 million would be paid to the twenty three remaining candidates even though some have rejected the amount claiming it is not commensurate to the work expected of the presidential aspirants and teams. Contributions and donations in kind, cash and cheque at home and abroad were also made for most parties in preparation of a successful poll for respective parties.

Dangote's Triumphant Entry To Cameroon

Dangote Entry Economic Hiker

By Ernest Ndukong

The coming into the country of the richest man in Africa and his group, whose fortune surpasses US$ 13 billion, can, to some extent, be compared to Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

The Dangote Group plans to invest some US$ 700 million in Cameroon, starting with a FCFA 56 billion (US$ 115 million) worth cement project. The economic, political, social and reputational impact that the project(s) will have on this Central African nation and its people, cannot be gainsaid.

The ground-breaking project took three years to move from paper to the ground. This hitherto ‘invisible’ idea finally became tangible last September 19, with the signing of agreements between the parties concerned and the laying of the foundation stone of the cement factory in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.

The cement manufacturing plant is expected to be completed by mid 2013 after which there would be 1.5 million metric tons increase in cement in the country on a yearly basis. This capacity is only about six percent less than what the lone cement producing outfit CIMENCAM produces in a year.

Dangote Group will import 70 percent of clinker - the raw material for cement and the rest would come from within.

Cement Sufficiency

According to a release from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development, the country’s demand for the bolster product is over 2.5 million tons a year. It is also stated that this consumption grows annually by about eight percent.

By 2014, CIMENCAM’s third plant is expected to be productive, producing over 600.000 tons of cement annually. This would mean about 3.7 million tons of cement would be available and demand should be at about 3.1 million tons, everything being equal.

The market implications when supply surpasses demand are enormous and beneficial, particularly to the consumers. The price must drop for equilibrium to be established. Consumers will then buy absolutely more with their available income. The effect of this on the beauty of our villages, towns and cities are equally going to be massive.

It is important to note that the price of local cement has doubled over the past decade. The fortifying substance averagely sells at FCFA 5.000 with a lot of black marketing involved.

The Government will reduce or stop importation of cement into the country since the need for more cement to satisfy national demand would no longer be. This would mean less money spent on importation, leading to a favourable Balance of Payment (BOP), which currently has a surplus of FCFA 114 billion.

Employment

It was common practice to see many people working on a particular task in industries and factories. With mechanisation and technological advancement, fewer persons are needed for work to be completed. Nonetheless, there would still be some employment of about 200 direct workers and several hundred indirect jobs created by the cement manufacturing plant.

This would be reflected in the lives of many other Cameroonians whose relatives are part of the multi-billion project. The dependency chain would be relaxed, shortened and made more beneficial and lucrative.

The per capita income of Cameroonians would witness an upsurge, thus, leading to a higher standard of living. The effects of an improved living standard will cut across the wealth and health of Cameroonians and would definitely increase the life expectancy ratio.

Reduced unemployment would result to fewer idle minds and fewer devilish thoughts. Our society would be worth emulating and Cameroon should become an emergent economy even before 2035.

The pumping of billions into a third world economy is just one way to transform it to a developed nation. More cash means more financial transactions, more spending, increased circulation of currency, improved economic and business activities, increased income and many more positive implications. Bailouts in the Euro zone are still fresh in our memories.

Exposure

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and Dangote is Africa’s richest man. The coming of this duo to Cameroon would expose the country to other foreign investors. It is an undeniable fact that Dangote is renowned not only in Africa but in the world and the goodwill associated with such popularity cannot be easily valuated numerically.

Society harbour’s many Thomases who would love to see before believe. It is expected that in not too long a time, these Thomases would come knocking to invest in Cameroon.

Many other foreign investors from almost all continents are already in Cameroon. Cameroon has enormous potentials and raw materials of all types and only need harnessers who would transform these natural and man-made resources to semi-finished or finished products for local consumption at affordable rates.

This mouth-watering deal is anticipated to widen the relationship between the two countries that are, independently, power houses of their respective regions; CEMAC and ECOWAS. The average Nigerian is either a politician or a business mogul or both.

Diplomatically, the two nations would have set precedence for peace and reconciliation for others to imitate. Cameroon and Nigeria were in conflict for over a dozen years over the Bakassi peninsular which now belongs to the former, after years of deliberations at The Hague. It is unusual to have such international investment projects between nations formerly considered enemies. Africa, being the mother of civilisation, it is just but normal, because, there be no permanent enemies.

Dangote’s Other Interests

The Dangote Group operates in as many as ten other countries in Africa, including some of Africa’s biggest economies, and is involved in diversified manufacturing and distribution. Their products range from sugar and salt through flour, pasta, tomato and vegetable oil to telecommunications, port management and food processing, amongst others.

Cameroon and Cameroonians are stakeholders in all of these sectors in which the Dangote Group is operating at the moment in different countries. Surely, the remaining US$585 million to complete the projected US$ 700 million will be invested in some of the other products.

The sector it would eventually invest in is not more important than the more than quadruple impact it will have, compared to the US$ 115 million cement manufacturing plant project.

CIMENCAM’s Third Plant

Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM) said, September 23, that it had started work on a third plant to cost about FCFA 50 billion to complete. Cameroon’s Minister for Industry, Badel Ndanga Ndinga, laid the foundation stone for the new plant which is expected to be producing 600.000 to 700.000 tons of cement each, year as from 2014.

With many cement producing plants or companies, competition will prevail and a producer will only make abnormal profits if the right product is sent to the market at the right time, in its right quantity and at the right price. Monopoly will be a thing of the past.

A school of thought argues that, instead of opening a new cement manufacturing plant, the already existing CIMENCAM, whose services leave much to be desired, should have been expanded and made more productive, capable of satisfying local and foreign demand.

It should be noted that Cameroon also supplies countries in the sub-region such as Chad, Central African Republic and Gabon and imports cement for local use.

'Gold' In Poultry Sector

Poultry Sector: A Hushed ‘Gold Mine’

By Ernest Ndukong

Poultry farming in Cameroon is fast deviating from the traditional manual style to a mechanized and industrial approach. Its utilisation too, is not only tilted to a near hand-to-mouth issue, but increasingly becoming a commercial anxiety.

Poultry is a category of domesticated birds raised for the purpose of collecting their eggs and eating as meat. Broilers are mostly kept for meat and are eventually eaten as meat after about six years of egg production.

Examples of poultry birds include; chicken, duck, goose, mute swan, ostrich, guinea fowl and rhea. The purpose for either’s rearing may be for meat, feathers, eggs, ornamentation, leather and oil. Some birds are equally used for landscaping.

Almost all the various poultry techniques which include free-range, yarding, intensive chicken farming, indoor with higher welfare are practised in Cameroon, depending on the topography, climate and the financial potentials of the farmer.

The market for poultry products is an ever-increasing one and it is further delighted because the products become more valuable with the passage of time. A gate crasher at a university graduation ceremony once quipped that the success or failure of any occasion lies on the availability of chicken in all forms on the table. It is very unusual, if not impossible, for an occasion to hold without a poultry product as a main dish.

George Fisiy, a poultry farmer, disclosed that about FCFA 2,000 profit is made on every mature chicken sold. He is certain to double or triple the quantity of chicken as the market approaches its December boom period. An elated Fisiy also divulged that the about 2,500 birds occupy a space estimated at 200 square meters. On where to put the expected increment of the number of chicks, he plans to construct bans in the same hall, provide sufficient light and heat to guarantee their smooth growth. He will also fetch over FCFA 100,000 from sale of eggs a day if just 2,000 chickens lay an egg a day and he sells at FCFA 50 each.

Fisiy could not immediately establish the exact cost to grow a fowl from infantry to maturity but maintains the already stated profit on sale of a mature chick. He shares a similar view with Medoulou Medoulou, Director General of Ferme Modern du Sud in Meyomessala, who attests that a chicken lays an egg every day.

Medoulou’s estate has three production rooms with over 8,000 birds in each.

The Benefits

The financial gain is an enchantment to the farmer but the nutritional value to the consumer is arguably more than the cost borne to put a poultry product on the table. Eggs are rich in nutrients with a high protein quality, vitamins and minerals. They equally contain folate which reduces birth blemishes and cardiovascular diseases, and aids in the absorption of calcium.

Meat contains immense protein, fatty acids, iron, zinc and nutrients that necessitate healthy bodies. The iron in meat strengthens the bones and help to repair body tissues. It also boosts the immune system, thus facilitating the metabolisation of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Poultry products are highly recommended for children and adolescents.

Sector To Be Enhanced

Brazil, September 13, signed a partnership deal with the Practical Farming School of Binquela, in the Mefou and Akono Division, Centre Region to improve the poultry sector. The deal is aimed at exchanging poultry technology and training between the two nations.

The Director of the School, Michel Abega, and the Rector of Brazil’s Institut Federal de l’Education des Technologies, Professor Sebastien Edson Moura, singed the corporation accord.

Experts from Israel are also training agro-industrial engineers of the farming school on modern techniques of poultry farming. With this acquaintance, the products will reach our markets in large scale, meaning lowered prices, more money to the farmer, reduced FCFA spent on its importation resulting to a better balance of payment, more meat and eggs and more proteins in our bodies.

'Gold' In Poultry Sector

Poultry Sector: A Hushed ‘Gold Mine’

By Ernest Ndukong

Poultry farming in Cameroon is fast deviating from the traditional manual style to a mechanized and industrial approach. Its utilisation too, is not only tilted to a near hand-to-mouth issue, but increasingly becoming a commercial anxiety.

Poultry is a category of domesticated birds raised for the purpose of collecting their eggs and eating as meat. Broilers are mostly kept for meat and are eventually eaten as meat after about six years of egg production.

Examples of poultry birds include; chicken, duck, goose, mute swan, ostrich, guinea fowl and rhea. The purpose for either’s rearing may be for meat, feathers, eggs, ornamentation, leather and oil. Some birds are equally used for landscaping.

Almost all the various poultry techniques which include free-range, yarding, intensive chicken farming, indoor with higher welfare are practised in Cameroon, depending on the topography, climate and the financial potentials of the farmer.

The market for poultry products is an ever-increasing one and it is further delighted because the products become more valuable with the passage of time. A gate crasher at a university graduation ceremony once quipped that the success or failure of any occasion lies on the availability of chicken in all forms on the table. It is very unusual, if not impossible, for an occasion to hold without a poultry product as a main dish.

George Fisiy, a poultry farmer, disclosed that about FCFA 2,000 profit is made on every mature chicken sold. He is certain to double or triple the quantity of chicken as the market approaches its December boom period. An elated Fisiy also divulged that the about 2,500 birds occupy a space estimated at 200 square meters. On where to put the expected increment of the number of chicks, he plans to construct bans in the same hall, provide sufficient light and heat to guarantee their smooth growth. He will also fetch over FCFA 100,000 from sale of eggs a day if just 2,000 chickens lay an egg a day and he sells at FCFA 50 each.

Fisiy could not immediately establish the exact cost to grow a fowl from infantry to maturity but maintains the already stated profit on sale of a mature chick. He shares a similar view with Medoulou Medoulou, Director General of Ferme Modern du Sud in Meyomessala, who attests that a chicken lays an egg every day.

Medoulou’s estate has three production rooms with over 8,000 birds in each.

The Benefits

The financial gain is an enchantment to the farmer but the nutritional value to the consumer is arguably more than the cost borne to put a poultry product on the table. Eggs are rich in nutrients with a high protein quality, vitamins and minerals. They equally contain folate which reduces birth blemishes and cardiovascular diseases, and aids in the absorption of calcium.

Meat contains immense protein, fatty acids, iron, zinc and nutrients that necessitate healthy bodies. The iron in meat strengthens the bones and help to repair body tissues. It also boosts the immune system, thus facilitating the metabolisation of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Poultry products are highly recommended for children and adolescents.

Sector To Be Enhanced

Brazil, September 13, signed a partnership deal with the Practical Farming School of Binquela, in the Mefou and Akono Division, Centre Region to improve the poultry sector. The deal is aimed at exchanging poultry technology and training between the two nations.

The Director of the School, Michel Abega, and the Rector of Brazil’s Institut Federal de l’Education des Technologies, Professor Sebastien Edson Moura, singed the corporation accord.

Experts from Israel are also training agro-industrial engineers of the farming school on modern techniques of poultry farming. With this acquaintance, the products will reach our markets in large scale, meaning lowered prices, more money to the farmer, reduced FCFA spent on its importation resulting to a better balance of payment, more meat and eggs and more proteins in our bodies.