It is very common in Cameroon to see thousands of youngsters show up for a job opportunity that needs just one person or tens of them. This is enough prove of the high rate of unemployment in the country. What is more baffling is the fact that the youth choose to become employees instead of employers because of the very unhealthy business environment that makes creation and sustainability of businesses difficult. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Index Report 2018, out of 137 countries, Cameroon is ranked 121st in the World and 18th in Africa in terms of the health of the Entrepreneurship ecosystem with Botswana, Gabon, Namibia, and other African countries showing much healthier Entrepreneurship Ecosystems. Within all the 14 components used to determine the health of the ecosystem, institutional and policy dispensations feature everywhere. It should be noted that Entrepreneurs are the backbone of every economy and vital to their growth. So, for any economy to flourish, policymakers and institutional stakeholders need to make sure policies are developed, implemented and respected. According to the International Labor Organization’s 2013 report, Cameroon’s unemployment rate stands at 30% with a whopping 75% underemployment rate and the figures keep rising. A good Entrepreneurship ecosystem guaranteed by policymakers and institutional stakeholders could just be the magic bullet that can turn the game of unemployment and underemployment in favor of the state and its citizens as a whole.

1. As has been widely reported by the United Nations, NGOs in-country, and veteran reporters on the Africa beat, the nation of Cameroon is sinking deeper into crisis; the English-speaking border lands, officially the "Northwest Region" and the "Southwest Region," are caught in a multifaceted downward spiral. Repression from the central government has increased and local non-violent resistance is turning into an armed struggle. Fears are mounting that civil war will soon break out.

2. This is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis. Yet, it is also a strategic concern: the two Regions border Nigeria and thus serve as frontline staging areas for the common effort against Boko Haram. Civil war in Cameroon will gravely impair that effort; worse, it may even serve as a temptation to Boko Haram to intervene in Cameroon, thus spreading its terrorism.

3. Perhaps even more worrisome, civil war in Cameroon will seriously cripple the larger international effort in Central and Western Africa, particularly in the Sahel, against the increasing dangers posed by both ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates. Failing states are powerful magnets for terrorists.

4. While American troops are already present in Central and Western Africa, no military intervention is requested. This issue is not one for the United States Africa Command, but rather for the United States Department of State. The intervention that we request is purely civilian and advisory. Three steps are requested:

a. A diplomatic démarche in the capital of Yaoundé would apprise President Paul Biya that the United States is deeply concerned about the worsening situation in the two Anglophone Regions and the increasing risk that the violence there will burst into a full-scale civil war;

b. The United States stands prepared to send teams of teachers to re-staff the schools which have been closed in much of the two Regions, and likewise to send development experts to help the two Regions regain their economic footing; and

c. The United States is further prepared to initiate an international conference on development for the nexus of Central and Western Africa, so that this geographical area, so rich in human and natural resources, can achieve the stability and the progress which alone would suffice to repel the rising tide of terrorism and to guarantee the citizens of all the neighboring nations genuine hope for the future.

5. To this end, we stand prepared, upon request, to submit any affidavits or other forms of information which could supplement the facts gathered by the United States Embassy in Yaoundé, so as to increase the likelihood of a successful American appeal to President Biya and, overall, increase the prospect of ending the downward spiral in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, thereby setting an example for all of Central and Western Africa – an example which both the President of the United States and the President of Cameroon could point to with pride.

La suppression de ces 10% de la RFA destinés aux communautés risque de les maintenir dans un état de pauvreté, car elles n’auront plus par exemple des fonds pour créer des projets de développement, améliorer l’accès aux infrastructures telles que les écoles, les hôpitaux, les points d’eau potable, l’électrification des villages…

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

DEMANDING DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATION AT THE 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN CAMEROON IS NOT JUST A RIGHT BUT AN ABSOLUTE DUTY.

REPEAL HOMOPHOBIC LAWS.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL JUST REPORTED THE CASE OF FRANCKY AND JONAH, 19 AND 20 YEAR OLD YOUNG MEN AWAITING TRIAL FOR HOMOSEXUAL CONDUCT (THEY CROSS DRESS). ANOTHER YOUNG MAN MR. JEAN-CLAUDE ROGER MBEDE WAS JAILED FOR THREE YEARS FOR HOMOSEXUAL ACT AFTER HE WAS ENTRAPPED BY SECURITY FORCES.

FOR HOW LONG WILL THE WORLD BE SILENT ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF HOMOSEXUALS IN AFRICA AS A WHOLE? PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO BE FORWARDED TO BOTH THE HUMAN RIGHT COMMISSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE CAMEROONIAN GOVERNMENT. SILENCE IS COMPLICITY.