Bamenda, Biya is coming with his army!

By Franklin Sone Bayen President Paul Biya will be on a delicate mission to Bamenda in the coming weeks. Announcing it at the EMIA cadets’ graduation a fortnight ago, Biya did not give a date, though it is obvious it could be on January 1, 2010. He said he would be chairing Cameroon Armed Forces Day 50th anniversary ceremonies there. Armed Forces Day being January 1, your guess can only be as good as mine that the president will...

Even Anglophone journalists don't believe in Anglophone press

By Franklin Sone BayenListening to news on one of the Yaounde private FM stations this Tuesday, December 8, I wasboth gladand sad.Gladbecause unlike our greater-than-anything else CRTV, this private station once again (they often do) was aluding to a story first reported by a private newspaper, kind of endorsing them as a credible source. Elsewhere in the world, radio, TV and newspapers source stories from each other conveniently....

Cameroon: World Cup, yes. But Nations Cup first

By Franklin Sone BayenOur qualification and greater ambitions for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should not in anyway blunt our lethal power at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola. This country has often been hard put to manage both tournaments in the same year. It is as though World Cup euphoria downplays Nations Cup importance.Excepting 2002 when we won the Nations Cup even as we were in for the World Cup, the story...

Fotso’s battle with Cameroon & E. Guinea gov’ts

By Franklin Sone BayenIf no one is suspecting anything beyond regular procedure in the recent decision by the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) to place the Commercial Bank of Cameroon (CBC) under watch for possible liquidation, Yves Michel Fotso, proprietor of the bank, is crying foul. While admitting that CBC is not faultless, Fotso is alleging that COBAC is being manipulated by Equatorial Guinea to settle scores after...

Biya ignores Anglophone press (Or has Biya given up on Anglophones?)

By Franklin Sone BayenI have cause to wonder if President Paul Biya has given up on Anglophones, seeing his 27th anniversary letter to Cameroonians and CPDM militants published only in French language...

Didn't Fifa favour Egypt for Algeria playoff?

By Franklin Sone Bayen*Algeria finally had their way over Egypt to obtain Africa's last World Cup ticket after their playoff in Khartoum Sudan on November 18, but that match should not have been necessary...

THIS SONG IS NOT OVER!

Rigobert Song is neither too old, unfit, nor technically incapable to continue playing his central role within the ranks of the Indomitable Lions, captain or none. Every recent national team coach I have spoken to on this subject has been categorical on the view that in player performance, age is just some figures. Action speaks. Most of them have said Song remains the piston at the defence. And it is not like Song is even so...

How and why Musonge sidelined Inoni at Limbe CPDM rally*

Peter Mafany Musonge believes he is the new political leader and patriarch of Fako Division and wanted the fact acknowleged and established, so he crafted a gathering of all five Fako CPDM sections on 26 September in Limbe. Musonge, former prime minister, now grand chancellor of National Orders, invited other political heavyweights of his generation – among them former archrivals John Ebong Ngole and Peter Agbor Tabi – including...

Musonge’s political calculation

Timing is crucial in political calcualtions like in everything strategic. Musonge certainly knows that. He has taken about the most outgoing move in his political career with the rally in Limbe grouping all five CPDM sections in Fako. Besides capitalising on Dorothy Njeuma’s departure from the party political arena, Musonge may have banked on certain incapacities of the people most likely to stand in his way at this present...

We were not spoiled kids - late Dan Muna

Excerpts of what the late Daniel Muna told me in a 2001 interview The late Daniel Muna said they (Muna kids) were not princes born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Their upbringing was devoid of the spoilings that children of well-to-do parents generally enjoy, he said. This, he said, involved trekking to school though there were vehicles at their disposal. He said that could have humbled them and given them the drive to...

I was Wiseman’s last colleague

(For Achuo Che Mathias, 11 Nov. 1952 - 5 April 2009)By Franklin Sone Bayen Radio and TV airwaves have been spared the trouble of his horrible, rumbling, hoarse, stammering voice. Who can deny that? But who can also deny the fact that what Achuo Che Mathias lacked in voice quality, he made up in surplus with the stuff he delivered?The late Luke Ananga, former director of the CRTV News Department had a hot potato on his hands one...

Whose “Frankly Speaking”? (III)

By Franklin Sone BayenNow that I know I’m not the only Frank in the world thinking I speak frankly, I’ve come to a few conclusions: 1.) Most of us called Frank think we are frank people. I do. My friend and GHS Limbe classmate, Okole Winston "Kool", now somewhere in the U.S., always reminds me I was fond of saying: "I'm as frank as my name." Looks like we Franks around the world form a tribe of self-professed frank speakers. 2.)...

Whose “Frankly Speaking”? (II)

Blogosphere navigators might have noticed the blogs of big-timers like Frank Whalen of the Frank Whalen Radio in Prairie Grove, Arizonia, U.S.A., Frank Warren who seems to be a TV news anchor of reference.Besides those journalistic Frankly Speaking bloggers, others comment on specialized fields like Frank Dimant who "blogs on issues of concern to Canada's Jewish community..."Yet others:* Gail Frank is a Harvard graduate and describes...

Whose "Frankly Speaking"? (I)

Google the title of my blog, Frankly Speaking, and I bet you'll be ashamed of me.What plagiarism? You'd hate to know I copycatted a banal blog title, so over-used by different bloggers around the world. Some of the people who know me and thought I was - and I do claim to be - a remarkably creative person, must be wondering what became of me, if not flat out disappointed in me. They should bear with me.However, I promise I'll hold...

Coming up: Frankly Speaking?

I named my blog "Frankly Speaking". Did I create (coin) the name? Was it my original idea? Didn't I plagiarize it from somewhere?That's stuff for our subsequent conversation.Stay posted.Fr...

Watch this space!

Hey! See who's coming here: * a free thinker, analyst, commentator on Cameroon, Africa and world events and politics* a journalist, international news reporter/correspondent* a civil society...