Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Douala Archbishop, Samuel Kleda, cries out that flood victims have no food, and are starving
The support coming from Gov’t is indisputable too small. Last weekend, only 3,700 persons out the over 200, 0000 victims, received some little support from Gov’t at the much mediatized event.
Religious authorities and concerned elite of the Far North Region have ignored the warning by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, against the ongoing fund raising that that some of them are carrying out in a bid to assist the victims of the disastrous floods that have hit the Far North Region, causing deaths and huge destruction.
The Archbishop of Douala, Samuel Kleda, who himself hails from the Far North Region, cried out at a press briefing in Douala on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, that victims of the gigantic floods in the Far North Region, have no food to eat. He was speaking while launching an appeal to all persons of goodwill, to make generous donations (financial or material) to support the thousands of flood victims in the Far North Region, that are really in a distressful situation.
“There Will Be No Discrimination In Sharing The Aids”
Mgr Kleda launched the appeal for aid to the flood victims, partly in solidarity with the Bishop of Yagoua in the Far North Region, who came crying that flood victims in the Far North risk starving to dead, and that they are really suffering. The Bishop of Yagoua also explained that the Catholic Church has suffered much destruction from the heavy floods, stating for example that quite a number of Catholic schools have been flooded, with infrastructures destroyed. It should be noted that Yagoua is the divisional headquarters of the Mayo Danay Division, which has been the ‘epic center’ of the disastrous floods in the Far North Region.
The Bishop of Yagoua explained that he will transport all what will be donated by Catholic Christians and other persons of goodwill in Douala and beyond, to the Far North Region, and that priests will be charged with the distribution of the donations to flood victims. The Bishop assured that the priests will distribute the aid to the flood victims in their different parishes or localities, without any discrimination. So both Catholic and non – Catholic Christians will benefit from aid available.
It would be recalled that a few days before the disastrous floods hit the Far North Region, with Mayo Danay Division hardest hit, the Bishop of Yagoua granted an interview to the Catholic Radio in Douala, VERITAS, in which he cried out for the Far North Region. He criticized the Cameroon Government for neglecting the Far North Region, pointing out that in 2024 there are still children of some public schools that study under trees in the region, because of the lack of infrastructures or classrooms.
Minister Atanga Nji’s Warning
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, on Monday, September 23, 2024, warned all groups and individuals that he said have illegally indulged in public fund raising operations, to support victims of the gigantic floods that have hit the Far North Region. He said such an operation is controlled by Law. The minister reminded the public that according to the Cameroon Law, the collection of funds from members of the public by groups or individuals, to assist victims of natural disasters or whatever, requires that the organizers first of all obtain an authorization from the Minister of Territorial Administration. He explained that such a fund raising, has to be controlled by the administration to ensure that there is no abuse, or better still that some persons are not out to exploit the public to make money for themselves.
The reason for the collection of funds has to be clearly stated, and the purpose for the collection has to be something considered necessary. The groups or persons out to collect the funds have to be credible, and competent to handle the project they want to carry out with the funds. The administration has to carryout out control to ensure that things are done the right way at different stages, and that the funds fully go for the purpose for which they were collected from the public, and so on. All these are theory.
People know how the Biya regime or government functions, with bottlenecks everywhere. People will have to wait for months to obtain an authorization, and the minister or his collaborator might even refuse to issue an authorization, while thousands of flood victims are dying of misery. When Minister Atanga Nji starts talking of how President Biya has given the huge sum of 1.9 billion FCFA, and that flood victims will be properly taken care of, it is a signal that he will not accept to grand authorization for fund raising to support the flood victims. Meanwhile the flood victims are really suffering. Also, Cameroonians know what happens when administrative authorities are connected in anyway fund raising operations even for humanitarian purposes. They soon start talking of money for fuel and so on.
The Much Mediatized Donations By President Biya
Meanwhile the Minister of Territorial Administration was in the Far North Region last weekend, to supervise the distribution of the gifts from the 350 million FCFA he announced that President Biya (Government) had given to succor the flood victims. The Government has reportedly disbursed a total of 1.9 billion FCFA (One billion, nine hundred million francs CFA) to a number of ministries, to handle emergency cases in the Far North Region following the disastrous flood. But on the ground, very little is seen being done.
Cameroonians know what most Government authorities do, when State funds is allocated to handle even cases of disasters. Cameroonians for example know what the investigation by the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court exposed, as regard the 180 billion FCFA that the State borrowed from the International Monetary Fund, meant to fight the COVID – 19 pandemic in 2020.
The statistics of the Ministry of Territorial Administration says the flood affected 200,000 persons, with many displaced. NGOs give a much higher number. Whatever the case, the statistics given by the administration as reported by many media organs, as regard the number of flood victims that benefitted from the much mediatized donations by President Biya that Minister Atanga Ngi and his collaborators shared last week in the Far North Region, were a total of 3700 (Three thousand, seven hundred). That is, 3,700 from 200,000 victims.
Flood Victims Are In A Terrible Misery – Equinoxe TV Shows It All
Even then, the 3,700 victims who were said to have benefitted from the donations did not mean that as regard mattresses, the 3700 persons each got a mattress. The head of a family of a total of 27 persons displaced by the flood, for example told Equinoxe TV that the authorities got the list of members of the family, and at the end what he was given for the family of 25 flood victims were 2 mattresses, a 50 kg bag of rice, a carton of cooking oil, and a carton of sardine. He presented the items to Equinoxe TV in the small tent where the family is crowded. So these were items that a group of 25 persons on that list of 3,700 beneficiaries received.
Those were even fortunate. Tens of thousands of victims have not received anything. The spokesman of a small village hard hit by the floods told Equinoxe TV that the sent in a list of victims to the authorities as demanded, but that no flood victim from the village was amongst those that received aid that was said to have been sent by President Biya.
In fact Equinoxe TV in its news in the evening of Monday, September 23, 2024, presented a completely different picture of the ground in the Far North Region, especially in the hardest hit Mayo Danay Division. The Equinox Tv report showed the real picture of the situation on the ground, completely different from the Government propaganda. The long and short of it, is that the flood victims in the Far North Region are in real misery, and thus in dire need of concrete support and not propaganda.
Elite Of Far North Mobilized
In the face of the terrible misery that victims of the disastrous floods are facing in the Far North Region, some concerned elite, including some elite, of the region have launch operations to mobilize financial and material donations to assist the victims. The elite have ignored the warning of the Minister of Territorial Administration, and are going on with their humanitarian moves to save their people from starvation and other things.
On Monday, September 23, The Mentor News reported about the fund raising to assist victims of the flood, that was launched last week in Yaounde by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, in his capacity as the Far North Regional Coordinator of the CPDM. The Vice President of MRC, Mamadou Mota, who like Cavaye also hails from the Far North, has reportedly also launched an operation to collect material and financial donations to give support to the flood victims. Some other CPDM elite are doing so. It should be recalled that as soon as the gigantic flood the Far North Region, especially his Mayo Danay Division, Dr Manaounda Malachie, Minister of Public Health, did not wait for government to say what should be done, He immediately bought a large of some basic necessities, which were shared to some of the flood victims.
‘SAHEL Solidarite’ Launches Fund Raising
From the look of things, Minister Atanga Nji’s warning was directed more an organization known as ‘SAHEL Solidairite’, that is SAHEL Solidarity, that has embarked on a humanitarian operation to collect funds from sympathetic members of the public, to support the flood victims in the Far North Region of Cameroon. The organization that is comprised of a number of NGOs as well as some personalities, all of the Far North Region, looks well organized. SAHEL Solidarite has sent out an online appeal to “Cameroonians and friends of the Grand North”, to contribute funds that will go to support or help victims of the floods in the Far North Region.
The organization is comprised of a number of NGOs and personalities, all of the Far North Region, and all well known in the region. The Management Committee of SAHEL Solidarite is comprised of 12 personalities, 7 of whom are representatives of their 7 NGOs.
Statistics Of SAHEL Solidarite
It should be noted that statistics of the effects of the devastating floods in the Far North Region put out by SAHEL Solidarite, are different from those put out by Government (Ministry of Territorial Administration). The Statistics of SAHEL Solidarite, stands as follows:
- 17 deaths. B) 368,000 persons affected. C) 18,000 houses destroyed. D) 13,000 hectares of farm land destroyed. E) 1,600 cows killed. F) 282 water points damaged. G) 197 schools affected.
It should be noted that even the statistics of some Government ministries are different from that of the Ministry of Territorial Administration. The death toll from the flood given by SAHEL Solidarite, is 17, and ties with the statistics of the Ministry of Public Health which also talk of 17 deaths, while that of the Ministry of Territorial Administration is 11 deaths. The Ministry of Territorial Administration talks of 200,000 persons affected by the floods, while SAHEL Solidarite talks of 368,000 persons affected. The Ministry of Territorial Administration talks of 193 schools affected, while SAHEL Soilidarite talks of 197 schools affected. The Ministry of Territorial Administration talks of 8,000 houses destroyed, while SAHEL Solidarite talk of 18,000 houses destroyed.
Guibal Gatama – The Spokesman of SAHEL Solidarite
The Spokesman of the organization, SAHEL Solidarite, is GUIBAL GATAMA (237 699 92 32 70). Worth noting that Guibal Gatama who is a journalist by training, is the Publisher of French language newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel’ in Yaounde, which focuses on the Grand North Region. He is also the proprietor of Sahel Radio in Maroua. Guibal Gatama who is also an activist, is the initiator and leader of the movement known as ’10 Million Nordists’ , that is 10 Million Northerners, that fight for the interest of the people of the Grand North (Adamawa, North and Far North Regions). This has often led him into confrontations with some members of Government, especially the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji.
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