10
August

7 misguided brand strategies

Source:imediaconnection.com
Conventional wisdom advises marketing managers to exercise prudence during tough economic times. That is why so many companies freeze or reduce marketing spending during recessions. Some line items fare better than others. For example, it is easier for many managers to justify spending on demand generation than it is to rationalize brand investment. To quote one senior marketing executive, branding is often considered “a rich man’s game.”…..
http://www.imediaconnection.com/printpage/printpage.aspx?id=23921

Category : News | Blog

9
August

Five Secrets Your Bank Doesn’t Want You to Know

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Laura Rowley Money & Happiness

Five Secrets Your Bank Doesn’t Want You to Know

by Laura Rowley

Banks are squeezing customers with historically high fees and penalties, from overdraft charges to account service fees to new surcharges on foreign debit transactions.

But the pressures that have prompted the fee war with consumers started well before the financial meltdown, according to Jo Preuninger, a former management consultant who spent more than a decade in the consumer banking arena.

I asked Preuninger for a little history, as well as some of the tricks of the trade that banks would prefer to keep secret.

Secret #1: For many banks, the most profitable customers aren’t the mass affluent — they’re “Joe Lunchbox.”

In 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allowed banks, insurers and securities firms to merge, breaking down barriers that had been in place since the 1930s. Following the new law, “if you took all the (deposit) checks written for $10,000 and above, most were written to institutions such as Charles Schwab, Fidelity or Merrill Lynch,” says Preuninger. “They took the best customers. The banks were becoming more like Laundromats, where you put money in for a short period because you still needed to pay with a check or (get cash).”

At the same time, loans provided little profit as interest rates remained relatively low, prompting banks to seek consistent, non-interest income. “The focus was on how banks could not only identify fees they could charge, it was how to do a better job of collecting their fees,” says Preuninger.

Middle-income customers presented the greatest potential to harvest fees. “There’s certainly a customer segment that could be called ‘Joe Lunchbox,’ who expect to be nickeled and dimed,” says Preuninger. “They are managing money from paycheck to paycheck. It’s someone who would prefer to pay an overdraft fee to get their mortgage covered rather than get hit by a mortgage provider with a late fee and a ding on their credit score.”

Last year, overdraft and insufficient-funds charges totaled nearly $35 billion and comprised about 90 percent of banks’ consumer-fee income, according to a study by the consulting firm Bretton Woods Inc. Three-quarters of banks automatically enroll consumers in their “overdraft protection” programs without formal permission, and more than half of banks manipulate the order in which checks are cleared to trigger multiple overdraft fees, according to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation study.

“They are going to try to turn the best profit they can, which is why they post in the most attractive way they can while avoiding and minimizing legal exposure,” says Preuninger.

Someone who overdraws a checking account a few times a year should choose a bank with a program that makes it easy (and free) to shift funds from savings to checking to protect against overdrafts.

Secret #2: Banks hope frequent overdraft customers don’t understand the alternatives.

The banks deemed overdraft protection to be a customer service convenience that provides an alternative to payday lenders, says Preuninger. And yet some of those customers might almost fare better with loan sharks. The Bretton Woods study found 80 percent of overdraft fees are incurred by 20 million households, who paid an average of $1,374 in overdraft fees.

These customers should consider ditching traditional checking account in favor of a prepaid debit card, which typically cost $70 to $80 a year ($10 upfront with a $5 monthly fee). Users direct-deposit their paychecks onto the cards (the money is FDIC-insured) and can do point-of-sale transactions and pay bills online. There are no overdraft fees; the purchase is declined if the card is empty.

Secret #3: Those helpful new customer set-up kits, designed to make it easy to switch banks, also try to make the account “sticky.”

“I did a lot of work in customer attraction and retention,” says Preuninger. “The biggest barrier to new accounts was switching. There’s a higher tolerance; a bank may have a lot of long-term customers — that doesn’t mean they love (the service).”

Most banks have a kit to assist customers in switching services. But do it yourself instead. Enter your regular bills in the bank’s online billpay site, rather than signing up with each biller’s website. If your new banking relationship goes sour, the account is more transportable. You won’t have to log into a dozen different biller sites and change the account and routing numbers.

Secret #4: Long-term relationships matter.

“Know what you want in the way of a bank and stay as long as you can because tenure does matter,” Preuninger says. “If you’ve been with a bank three to five years, they treat you differently than if you are there six months. If you direct-deposit your paycheck and have a (savings) relationship, they think of you differently than if you have free checking with $100 in it. Tenure and relationship does matter.”

So if you incur the rare fee now and then, always call customer service and ask (politely) for it to be removed. Emphasize your long-term relationship with the bank and ask for a supervisor if the initial effort fails.

Most customers aren’t profitable until they’ve been with a bank a few years because of the high cost of customer acquisition — sales compensation to branch managers, IT infrastructure, documentation and account setup. “It’s a long time before they break even, especially if they goose it with $100 to you to open the account,” Preuninger says.

Secret #5: Banks want you to enjoy the “advantages” of paying with credit, debit, check and cash — because it will make you more likely to lose track of your money.

“One of most dangerous things going on with consumers is they are not paying attention to the variety of ways they are paying. They are balancing money back and forth because it’s too hard to account for,” Preuninger says. “If you pay seven different ways, you’ve just added complexity to your life. Consumers shouldn’t say to the bank ‘you’re responsible to tell me what I’m doing with my money.’”

But more banks are moving in that direction. PNC Bank, for instance, launched an account called Virtual Wallet that presents account information in calendar form, focused between today and the account holder’s next payday. A “danger day” appears on the calendar in red if the account is at risk of an overdraft. The user can either move bills later in the month, or shift money immediately from the savings portion of the account at no charge (the account does it automatically if the consumer doesn’t). Statements are only available online and the bank charges 50 cents per check for writing more than three a month.

Best bet? Simplify. Get a free checking account with no fees and a low minimum balance requirement, pay major household bills online, and then stick to cash. You’ll think twice about purchases, and avoid getting caught in the widening web of bank fees.

Category : News | Blog

9
August

Cameroun, diaspora et changement : ce qu’on retient de la (fameuse) lettre de Kala Lobé…

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Suzanne Kala Lobe:Camer.be Le débat autour de la lettre adressée à la diaspora Camerounaise par Suzanne Kala Lobé, en marge de la visite officielle du Président Paul Biya en France, a certainement été l’un des plus populaires et des plus engagés sur le Web Camerounais ces derniers jours. Sociologue(s), scientifique(s) ou simples anonymes, nombreux sont ceux qui n’ont pas hésité à se jeter dans l’arène comme des gladiateurs touchés au vif par un « adversaire » qui, vraisemblablement, a été jugé très mal placé pour faire la leçon.

Le présent article, le énième d’une longue série sur le sujet distillée à tout va sur le net, témoigne tout autant de la fécondité du débat soulevé par la journaliste Camerounaise. Notamment sur la collusion entre la diaspora Camerounaise dans son ensemble et l’opposition dite « radicale » agissant en son sein ; sur le rôle et la légitimité de la dite diaspora à donner de la voix sur les problématiques nationales, au même titre que la société civile et l’opposition locales ; et enfin, sur le rôle et bilan général des actions entreprises par cette même diaspora ces dernières années.

Sur la question du CODE en tant qu’organisation d’opposition de la diaspora, de sa représentativité et de ses actions

Comme certains compatriotes ont eu à le faire remarquer, la diaspora Camerounaise n’est pas un bloc homogène et compact qu’on pourrait indexer de manière globale sans compromettre la réalité. Une réalité somme toute évidente qui veut que ce soit une collectivité d’hommes et de femmes qui ont pour seul dénominateur commun le fait de vivre à l’étranger, mais dont les tendances politiques diffuses et les intérêts parfois divergents font qu’ils ne regardent pas nécessairement dans la même direction.

Il apparaît donc quelque peu farfelu, comme l’a fait Suzanne Kala Lobé, de s’adresser à la diaspora Camerounaise toute entière sur la seule base de manifestations orchestrées par une organisation qui, jusqu’à preuve du contraire, n’a jamais prétendu représenter les Camerounais de l’étranger dans leur ensemble. Il est encore plus surprenant, de voir cette même journaliste, contestataire à ses premières heures, critiquer l’une des seules organisations qui peut encore se prévaloir d’être la conscience coupable d’un régime qui a appauvri le Cameroun et les Camerounais depuis plus d’un quart de siècle.

Le CODE et « leurs amis », puisque c’est d’eux qu’il s’agit, ont peut être des méthodes contestables. Leur manie de critiquer à tout vent est peut être agaçante. Et la virulence de leurs communiqués peut parfois sembler déconnectée d’une réalité vécue différemment par une majorité de Camerounais. Mais il n’empêche que, dans un pays où l’implication citoyenne en politique est désormais complètement inexistante, où les partis de l’opposition ne sont plus que l’ombre d’eux-mêmes et où le journalisme de contestation a totalement disparu, avoir une voix dissidente qui échappe aux pesanteurs et aux pressions politiques et qui remet en question un système défaillant n’est pas un luxe.

Mongo Béti, depuis la ville de Rouen où il enseignait, a passé une grande partie de sa vie à critiquer les régimes politiques qui se sont succédés à la tête du Cameroun et ce, sans jamais proposer d’alternatives programmatiques concrètes. Il n’était ni économiste, ni politicien professionnel, ni scientifique. Est ce pour autant que son action et son rôle ont été dénués d’intérêt ? Une organisation dissidente n’est-elle plus dans son rôle si elle n’est pas systématiquement force de propositions ? L’engagement politique ne peut-il pas se limiter qu’à mettre en lumière les défaillances d’un système ? Cet argument qui consiste à opposer critique à proposition ressemble fort à celui des adeptes de la dictature d’opinion qui veut qu’on ne puisse critiquer un joueur de football qui rate nonchalamment une occasion parce qu’on ne serait pas capable de le remplacer sur le terrain. Tout citoyen n’a pas la capacité de faire des propositions techniques pour rénover la politique Camerounaise et améliorer la gestion de la cité. Mais tout le monde a le bagout pour déceler ce qui est imparfait et le devoir, chaque fois que cela semble nécessaire, de tirer la sonnette d’alarme.

C’est dans cette unique perspective de « gendarme de la mauvaise gouvernance » que l’on doit inscrire les actions perpétrées par le CODE. Il ne faut pas attendre d’eux qu’ils se transforment en présidentiables cintrés en costumes-cravates, mallettes à la main, avec un programme économique prospectif pour le Cameroun sur les 10 prochaines années.

S’il est par ailleurs évident qu’on ne partage pas tous les mêmes vues et les mêmes stratégies que les leaders de l’opposition « radicale », les carences avérées du régime Biya devraient inviter à poser un regard au mieux respectueux sur le dévouement intemporel et sans limite de ceux là mêmes qui continuent d’assumer ce rôle, parfois ingrat, de « mauvaise conscience » de nos dirigeants.

Sur la légitimité de la diaspora à parler des problèmes du Cameroun en dépit de l’énorme fossé géographique

Un autre point soulevé par la première missive de Kala Lobé est la question de la légitimité de la diaspora à parler des problèmes du Cameroun en dehors du prisme déformant dans lequel leur vision est empêtrée du fait de l’éloignement physique et de l’enracinement dans paradigmes éculés (idéologies marxiste, communiste et consorts) tendance guerre froide. Cet aspect de la lettre, manifesté par la phrase «Prenez un billet d’avion tous les trois mois et venez réfléchir avec nous à la meilleure stratégie pour sortir le pays des griffes de tous les imposteurs», participe de cette Kala-Lobéïsation (*) des esprits consistant à faire croire que les Camerounais de l’étranger sont des extraterrestres sortis de nulle part. Car, sinon, comment comprendre cette idée saugrenue qui veut qu’il faille résider au Cameroun pour comprendre ce qu’endurent les Camerounais ; ou encore pour avoir le droit de penser de manière pertinente le Cameroun de demain ?

Il ne faut pas perdre de vue que l’émergence d’une diaspora Camerounaise n’est pas le résultat d’une œuvre mystique faisant spontanément apparaître des hommes et des femmes ça et là aux quatre coins du monde. La diaspora, ça reste avant tout de nombreux Camerounais ayant pour la plupart vécu au Cameroun et qui l’ont quitté pour diverses raisons, souvent d’ordre économique, pour aller tenter l’aventure à l’extérieur. Ils connaissent donc ce pays, au moins dans ses grandes lignes et dans ses grandes tendances, au même titre que l’instituteur de Bertoua, l’éleveur de Kousseri ou l’agriculteur de Mpenja.

Mongo Béti sus évoqué, disqualifié à maintes reprises sur sa capacité à aborder les questions locales avec pertinence, avait résumé son point de vue sur cette question en reprenant le psychanalyste Freud (dans l’ouvrage d’Ambroise Kom Mongo Beti parle) : « la meilleure façon de saisir une société et ses problèmes, ce n’est pas d’être à l’intérieur. C’est d’avoir une certaine distance par rapport à cette société. » Une distance critique qui permet parfois de penser le pays de manière plus rigoureuse et objective, par delà le cloisonnement intellectuel largement entretenu par les difficultés du quotidien : la misère, la faim et l’impératif de survie.

Sur le rôle et le bilan de la diaspora ces dernières années

Le dernier élément soulevé en filigrane dans les missives de Kala Lobé, même s’il ne l’a pas été de manière rigoureuse, est celui du rôle effectif de la diaspora (on parle bien ici de la diaspora apolitique et non des opposants de la diaspora) dans les chantiers relatifs au changement dans notre pays. Par changement, on entend l’ensemble des mutations économiques, sociales ou politiques qui pourraient être orchestrées par le biais des Camerounais de l’étranger pour contribuer positivement à la construction de notre pays.

A bien y regarder, il est presque impossible, comme certains tentent de le faire, de décoreller ce qui est communément perçu comme « l’échec de la diaspora » de l’immobilisme de nos pouvoirs publics. La maxime « Ne vous demandez pas ce que votre pays peut faire pour vous, demandez vous ce que vous pouvez faire pour votre pays » est bien belle, mais ne sied en rien à ces républiques bananières où l’Etat semble parfois allergique aux dynamiques individuelles. Le feu Président Kennedy, s’il avait vécu un tant soit peu dans un pays comme le Cameroun, n’aurait certainement jamais eu telle inspiration.

Un autre corollaire à cette phrase du feu Président Américain, que les Kala-Lobéïstes consacrent, on ne sait pour quelle raison, au panthéon des recommandations majeures pour l’avenir des Camerounais, c’est que « chacun doit faire ce qu’il peut à son petit niveau ». Si la banalité de cette assertion fait qu’on en saisit tout de suite le bien fondé, cette phrase ne fait malheureusement que résumer ce que fait l’ensemble des Camerounais depuis 27 ans. Entre le jeune vendant ses médicaments dans les artères crasseuses de Douala pour nourrir toute sa famille et ses petits frères, l’étudiant de la diaspora finançant des groupes d’auto défense dans son quartier à Yaoundé en travaillant comme gardien de nuit dans un trou perdu en Russie et le responsable associatif qui promeut la culture Camerounaise dans sa petite ville du fin fond de l’Alsace, les Camerounais ont de tout temps fait ce qu’ils pouvaient à leur « petit niveau ». Mais pour quels résultats ?

La réalité est que quel que soit l’action individuelle ou collective que l’on veut poser, si l’Etat ne met pas en place le minimum de bonne volonté et de structures adéquates pour penser les questions de développement de manière globalisante, rien de constructif ne pourra en ressortir. Ebenezer Njoh Mouelle, dans son désormais célèbre ouvrage De La Médiocrité à l’Excellence, avait d’ailleurs reconnu cette prééminence absolue de l’Etat pour faire bouger les lignes dans des pays où le corps social (de l’administration au bas peuple) est déstructuré par une pauvreté, non seulement matérielle, mais aussi morale :
« […] Le choc des intérêts égoïstes dans nos sociétés est tel qu’il rend le rôle de l’Etat bien plus important que partout ailleurs. L’Etat, en Afrique, se doit d’être fort, non pas pour assurer la survie des dirigeants et de leur régime, mais pour imposer ses arbitrages […] »

Faire le procès de l’inaction collective de la diaspora, c’est donc un peu comme accuser un enfant de ne pas aller à l’école quand il ne dispose d’aucune infrastructure éducative dans son environnement de proximité. L’Etat n’est certes pas tenu de porter tous les projets à bras le corps (il a d’ailleurs déjà démontré qu’il en était incapable), mais il doit absolument mettre en place des mesures d’accompagnement pour faciliter le déploiement des nombreuses initiatives privées qui fleurissent à l’étranger.

L’exemple du projet de l’Université des Montagnes, qui est certes en train d’aboutir positivement aujourd’hui, a été révélateur de cette capacité de nuisance de l’Etat Camerounais lorsqu’il s’agit de soutenir et de favoriser l’éclosion d’un projet d’envergure nationale. L’absence d’un grand département (pas nécessairement ministériel) en lien avec les ambassades qui assurerait la centralisation et le leadership des projets en direction du Cameroun, en mettant en adéquation l’offre extérieure aux besoins locaux, est aussi préjudiciable aux initiatives individuelles ou associatives. La mauvaise foi, le laxisme et la paresse que certains individus manifestent sur place finissent souvent de démotiver même les patriotes les plus aguerris.

Il faut donc que la loi sur la double nationalité prenne forme, que l’on recense en nombre et en compétences l’ensemble des Camerounais de la diaspora, qu’une organisation des Camerounais de l’étranger soit mise sur pied avec, au départ, deux grandes zones d’activités où convergeraient les projets et initiatives: l’Amérique du Nord dont le centre pourrait être à Washington D.C et l’Europe dont le centre serait Paris. Chaque année, sous la houlette du Ministère des relations extérieures et des ambassades Camerounaises à l’étranger, un grand forum de la diaspora Camerounaise pourrait être initié où quelques membres du gouvernement (industrie, commerce, agriculture, recherche scientifique, santé, etc.) présenteraient, comme on sait si bien le faire en rencontrant les investisseurs français, les diverses opportunités d’affaires et de projets viables au Cameroun.

Pour palier aux habituels conflits de leadership individuel, ce type de structures devra être dirigé par des Camerounais qui ont déjà fait leurs preuves dans la vie associative, à l’instar des organisateurs du Challenge Camerounais et de l’association des Ingénieurs et informaticiens Camerounais (VKII) en Allemagne, des initiateurs du forum DAVOC de la diaspora Camerounaise à travers leur collectif CASANET ou des responsables de l’AED Cameroun à l’origine du projet de l’Université des Montagnes.

Néanmoins, parler du bilan de la diaspora sans aborder nos défaillances individuelles serait légèrement travestir la vérité. Et il faut le reconnaître : au-delà des responsabilités de l’Etat qui sont incontestables, l’ensemble de la diaspora n’a pas toujours fait l’effort patriotique nécessaire pour s’élever au-delà des nombreuses difficultés qu’on rencontre lorsqu’on veut aider son pays et s’organiser collectivement de manière autonome. Pour exemple, de tous les Webmasters qui pullulent à l’étranger et qui disposent de sites Web sur la toile, combien se sont concrètement proposés pour offrir à leurs représentations diplomatiques une vitrine sur Internet ? Ce n’est certes par le rôle du citoyen lambda que de concevoir le site Web de son ambassade, mais ça fait néanmoins partie des actions simples, volontaristes et patriotiques, que certains informaticiens de la diaspora pourraient entreprendre et généraliser pour les représentations qui n’en disposent pas.

Au sein des communautés étudiantes, l’insouciance et une forme de lassitude politique sont devenues symptomatiques de cette crise de patriotisme aigüe qui éloigne les jeunes des vrais enjeux nationaux. Les centres d’intérêt, même s’ils relèvent des « goûts et des couleurs » de tout un chacun, sont largement à remettre en question : les forums organisés pour réfléchir sur l’avenir du pays ne rencontrent presque jamais le dixième de l’audience d’un concert de K-tino ou d’une soirée dansante. La diaspora, si elle peut se féliciter d’être parvenue à démocratiser l’information sur le Cameroun sur le net (avec bien évidemment les dérives qu’on connaît), a quand même échoué à sensibiliser les plus jeunes d’entre eux sur l’impératif de s’investir sans relâche pour leur pays. Les réalités de la vie en occident aidant, on se retrouve aujourd’hui avec des Camerounais embourgeoisés qui montrent un dédain certain pour le Cameroun, ses institutions, et pour leurs compatriotes restés au pays. Ce n’est d’ailleurs qu’une banalité évidente que de le dire.

Sur les perspectives d’avenir après avoir tant épilogué

Au final, si on peut reprocher à Suzanne Kala Lobé un propos imprécis et quelque peu condescendant vis-à-vis de la diaspora, elle aura au moins eu le mérite de remettre au goût du jour la question fondamentale de la place des Camerounais de l’étranger dans le processus de mutations socio-économiques qui doivent avoir cours au Cameroun dans les prochaines années.

Mais en lieu et place des sempiternelles remises en question naïves et philosophiques sur ce que la diaspora pourrait faire si elle savait elle-même s’organiser collectivement (elle fait déjà ce qu’elle peut), on retiendra de ces interminables cyber-échanges qu’il faut augmenter la pression sur nos dirigeants pour qu’ils mettent enfin en place des structures idoines permettant aux initiatives en tout genre de s’exprimer. Car rêver d’un affranchissement collectif et d’une transmutation spontanée de plusieurs milliers de personnes, à cause du coup de gueule d’une journaliste, fut-elle brillante, ne serait que pure utopie.

(*) Kala-Lobéïsation : concept qui consiste à amalgamer la diaspora Camerounaise avec un peu de tout et de n’importe quoi : opposants qui n’ont rien compris au Cameroun et qui braillent de l’extérieur en attendant de pouvoir jeter des tomates et des œufs pourris à Paul Biya lors de ses déplacements officiels ; concitoyens nourris aux idéologies vétustes ou éculées, qui ne savent pas que le Cameroun change et pensent qu’ils vont faire la révolution Ché-Guévariste depuis Internet ; ou encore Camerounais en faillite propositionnelle qui passent leur temps à se plaindre et qui attendent que l’Etat les prenne par la main.

Category : News | Blog

9
August

Blick Bassy: Keeping Cameroon Tradition Alive

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Blick Bassy: Keeping Cameroon Tradition Alive

In a tiny village in central Cameroon, musician Blick Bassy discovered his sound. Bassy now lives in Paris, but he continues to sing in his native language, Bassa. Bassa is one of the 250 or so languages spoken in Cameroon, and Bassy fears it is dying out.In an interview with Guy Raz, Bassy worries that Africa is losing not only its own languages and traditions but also its own history. He lays it all out on the first track of his debut album, Leman, called “Africa.” “I am calling [the young people] to go back to the land of history and to learn oral traditions we have there,” Bassy says. “We write our history by ourself.” Click here to listen to two audio samples

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Category : News | Blog

9
August

Sweden: Foreign students provide fake grades

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09 Aug, 2009

Sweden: Foreign students provide fake grades

Posted by: admin In: English| General

Forged diplomas, changed grades and fictitious test in English are flooding into the University of Lund ahead of this year’s start of term. Most are from foreign students.The university has already received 1000 false applications from Pakistan alone. And a large number of forgeries are never found out, Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan wrote on Sunday.In Pakistan there is a central administration to help them find out what is true and what is faked, but in many countries it is much more complicated and every single school or university must be contacted.Sometimes it is impossible to find out or it takes so long that the student has already lost their place when the answer arrives and the application turns out to be bona fide. This year a couple of students from Cameroon have lost their places on their course of choice because the verification process took too long, according to Swedish news agency TT

Category : Events | News | Blog

6
August

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF BUEA

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Bishop’s House, Soppo
P.O. Box 64, Buea
South West Province, Cameroon
E-Mail: dioceseofbuea@ yahoo.com
Tel: (00237) 332 22 41 / Fax (00237) 332 26 71

PASTORAL LETTER TO ALL CHRIST’S FAITHFUL AND
PEOPLE OF GOODWILL IN THE DIOCESE OF BUEA
ABOUT THE CREATION OF THE CATHOLIC
UNIVERSITY OF THE DIOCESE OF BUEA
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The Peace of the Lord be with you.
I. INTRODUCTION.
Among the many requests that the People of the Diocese of Buea have presented to me since I became the Bishop of Buea on 30l January, 2007, the creation of a Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea, has been one of the top priorities. I formed an Ad hoc committee soon after my installation, to study the possibility, feasibility and necessity of founding and running a university of the Diocese of Buea, and a lot of ground work has been done. Practically all the people who were consulted around the Diocese on this issue, were not only in favour of the idea, but also expressed willingness to support the idea in any way possible to come to fruition.
In accordance with “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (The Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities by Pope John Paul II) and the Code of Canon Law, every diocese has the inherent right to found and own a Diocesan University and running a university is in line with the teaching of Christ who commanded the Apostles to go and teach all nations (Mtt.28:l8-20) . In fact, the Code of Canon Law states that “The Church has the right to establish and to govern universities, -which serve to promote the deeper culture and fuller development of the human person, and to complement the Church’s own teaching office” (Can.807).

According to the laws governing higher education in Cameroon, the creation and running of every university that has to issue secular and recognized degrees must be authorized by the Government of Cameroon. Seeing the need and being convinced that the Diocese of Buea needs its own university, I asked the Ad hoc committee to go ahead and compile documents for the creation of the Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea, for submission to the Ministry of Higher Education in Yaounde. On

the 9th of October, 2008, the Diocese of Buea, deposited a complete file addressed to the Honourable Minister of Higher Education in Yaounde, requesting authorization to create a Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea.
II. WHY THE DIOCESE OF BUEA NEEDS ITS OWN UNIVERSITY
We considered that in a country like ours where development is still at the primary stage; a country in which the population is growing very rapidly; a country which turns out thousands of youngsters as successful candidates in the General Certificate of Education Examinations and the Baccalaureate; a country from which thousands of students travel abroad and even to neighbouring countries in search for higher education, the creation of more universities is an urgent necessity. This should be so because of the glaring inadequacies of existing universities and study facilities, inadequate curricula content, and the slow pace of executing new projects and plans, both by the private and public sectors.
We also considered that the present Catholic Institute for Central Africa situated in Yaounde, welcomes students from the whole of the Central African region, and thus narrows the possibility of our children who wish to study there. More so, there is the great cry of the people of the Diocese of Buea, to get a Catholic university which will be grounded in solid Anglo-Saxon traditions, and contribute to the formation of conscientious Cameroonians.
As at the academic year 2007/2008, when this cry was launched for the creation of the Catholic University of Buea, out of the more than 20.000 students who applied for admission into the Buea University, the university could admit only one quarter of these students. This means that close to 16.000 students had to look elsewhere to continue their education. There are many other students who would love to attend Buea University, but do not apply because their career objectives are not offered by the said University. The Buea Diocesan University, as a witness to this reality, would meet the needs of these stray students.
The Diocese of Buea alone runs 15 Secondary and High Schools with a population of 5.954 students and 73 primary schools with a total of 24.407 pupils. These are young Cameroonians who are potential candidates for

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admission in the Catholic University, and who have a right to choose a confessional institution for their tertiary stage of education.
As the Bishop of Buea, having considered the spiritual, demographic, socio-economic situation of the Diocese of Buea, and in consultation with both the College of Consultors and the Diocesan Council for Education, I have decided to create a Catholic University to provide opportunities for students to benefit from the fruits of Tertiary Catholic Education. 1 went ahead, taking cognizance of the autonomy enjoyed by every diocese as guaranteed by canon 369 of the Code of Canon Law.
III. ORIENTATION AND MISSION OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF THE DIOCESE OF BUEA.
The Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea will be more professionally orientated. Its main mission will be to make available a higher institute of learning that will provide vocational and professionally marketable skills to college leavers. The university will target the cultivation of a culture of self-employment and auto-job creation for the masses of unemployed young people that graduate from our higher institutions every year.
The Catholic University of Buea will focus towards the integral development of the human person, who is both body and spirit, basing its sciences on the real source of Wisdom who is God. The university will drift away from the academic distortions of the period of the Enlightenment where universities produced intellectual giants who were emotional and spiritual dwarfs. Our university will not only provide intellectual formation but also human, moral and spiritual formation that will make the graduate sensitive to the needs of man around his environment, the evils of bribery and corruption, the need for building and developing our Cameroonian society, and the desire to compete with top brains from other universities in research and discovery.
IV. GOOD NEWS TO THE DIOCESE OF BUEA.
On the 18th of June, 2009, I received a letter from the Ministry of Higher Education, Protocol number 09/0194, dated 11th June, 2009, in reply to our request to create the Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea. It is good news indeed for the whole Diocese. This letter informed me that the

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National Commission for Private Higher Education had met and given a favourable consideration to our application to create the Catholic University Institute of the Diocese of Buea, and this is the good news I am communicating to you all today in this letter.
It is our intention to begin this University Institute with four professional Schools; i.e., the School of Management and Social Sciences, the School of Engineering, the School of Information Technology and the School of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry. More schools will be added in the course of time, and as the university grows.
Although we are still compiling the file requesting authorization to run this newly created Catholic University of the Diocese of Buea, it is hoped, that everything being equal, the university will open its doors to the pioneer batch of students in October, 2010. We hope to get 2 simultaneous campuses in Bonjongo and in Buea. This means we must start working very hard from now till the opening date of this our new creation.
V. AN APPEAL TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE DIOCESE OF BUEA.
It is only a couple of weeks ago, since I issued a pastoral letter, informing ail the members of Christ’s Faithful and people of goodwill in the Diocese of Buea about the plans for a new Cathedral to be situated in Molyko. This is a very giant project and many people are already sacrificing so much to ensure the smooth take-off of this cathedral project. Here again comes another giant project for the Diocese of Buea, the new university. We shall not fear because it is God’s work we are doing and not our own.
Although this new university will belong to the Diocese of Buea, it will open its doors to all those who are searching for knowledge, irrespective of nationality, religion, race, sex, ethnic group and language. It is against this background that I am appealing to all people who are resident within the territorial boundaries of Buea, people of the Diocese who are resident outside the Diocese, and other people of goodwill to put all hands on deck to make sure that we give our children quality tertiary education. We need to put up the buildings, recruit qualified staff, get enough didactic and technical material to make sure that this university gets a smooth take off. This will be a project that will be ongoing for a very long time in the future.

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23
July

Spanish Inquisition: The Mistreatment Of Samuel Eto’o

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Spanish Inquisition: The Mistreatment Of Samuel Eto’o

Goal.com’s Cyrus C. Malek explains that Joan Laporta’s callous treatment of Samuel Eto’o this summer crossed an unspoken boundary…

23 Jul 2009 09:50:32

Samuel Eto'o celebrates one of four strikes against Valladolid. (Marca)

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Samuel Eto’o celebrates one of four strikes against Valladolid. (Marca)

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From refusing to come on as a substitute to head-butting a reporter, Samuel Eto’o has never had a reputation for docility. Outspoken in the press and frequently lacking in terms of tact, he is a controversial character who certainly has his faults. But to Barcelona fans, Eto’o is an idol, serving as one of the principal reasons Barcelona have been as successful as they have been during the course of this decade.

A Real Madrid youth product, Eto’o was never given the opportunity to break into the Merengue first team. Instead, the Cameroonian was loaned out to second-division outfit CD Leganés and then to Mallorca, being transferred in full to the islanders in the 2000 season.

After four years at the club, Eto’o finally departed Mallorca as the club’s all-time leading scorer in La Liga with an impressive 54 goals. While then-Madrid president Florentino Perez was keen to bring him back to the Bernabeu, and to loan the player out again, Eto’o instead decided upon a more lucrative offer to move to arch-rivals Barcelona; it would be where he would etch his name into the history of one of the most storied clubs in the world.

Eto’o made his Barcelona debut in the season opener at Racing Santander in 2004 and, alongside Ronaldinho, instantly helped lead the Blaugrana to success as the Catalunyan club would win the Liga title. His first season with Barcelona was not without incident though: during a Barcelona match at Zaragoza, Eto’o was subjected to racist monkey chants whenever he touched the ball and some reports even claim that the crowd threw peanuts at the player while shouting racial slurs.

Rightfully incensed by the bigotry, 15 minutes before the end of the match, Eto’o decided to abandon the match and began walking off the pitch towards the tunnel as cameras caught him saying “Ya no juego mas” [I'm not playing any more]. Players from Barcelona and Zaragoza, training staff from both teams, and the referee managed to persuade the player to continue the match, but the incident reigns as one of the darkest moments in Spanish football.

Nonetheless, the outrageous incident seemed to motivate Eto’o further and the next season would spell much more success for the player as Barca would repeat as Liga champions and take the Champions League trophy in Paris. Eto’o was particularly superb over the course of the year and came away with the Pichichi (the award for La Liga’s top goalscorer) in the final matchday of the season and also won an historic third consecutive African Player of the Year award.

The next two seasons were difficult ones for both Eto’o and Barca as the player suffered a number of injuries and had a series of very public exchanges in the media with Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho while Barcelona lost their Liga supremacy to Real Madrid for two consecutive years. After the 2007/2008 season, Barcelona president Joan Laporta began making fundamental changes to the Blaugrana squad and it was widely speculated that Eto’o and his distracting antics would be included in the Rijkaard-Ronaldinho-Deco et al. exodus.

Instead, the Cameroonian international found himself in a Barcelona kit come the season opener and under new coach Pep Guardiola, Eto’o rediscovered his world class form, leading La Liga in scoring for most of the season (missing the Pichichi by two goals) and helping Barcelona win an unprecedented triplete in the Liga championship, Copa del Rey title and Champions League trophy.

In five seasons at Barcelona, Samuel Eto’o scored an astronomical 108 goals in 145 appearances, becoming a fan favourite and one of the most effective players that has played for the Blaugrana in the past decade. Eto’o not only scored goals for Barcelona, but also scored crucial goals. In the 2005/2006 Champions League final, he forced Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann into a crucial mistake as the German keeper was sent off for bringing down the striker just outside the area. The expulsion forced Arsenal to play almost the entirety of the match a man down, but Eto’o did not stop there in helping his team; he scored the equalising goal in the second half and Barca would go on to win the trophy.

This past season, Eto’o delivered a crucial goal in the Camp Nou against Real Madrid, a goal that tipped the pendulum in Barcelona’s favour and re-established a new balance of power in La Liga after Real Madrid’s two years of superiority. And once again in the Champions League final against Manchester United, Eto’o delivered with flying colours, beating Man U goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar to score the first of Barca’s two goals and bring another Champions League crown to the Catalunyan capital.

Despite all these crucial contributions to Barcelona, this summer has once again (and this time somewhat inexplicably) seen Eto’o as the subject of transfer rumours with Joan Laporta publicly shopping the player around in the hope of seeing David Villa in a Barca shirt.

Last summer in the Spanish capital, arch-rivals Real Madrid undertook a similar strategy, very publicly dangling starlet Robinho over the transfer market as a bargaining chip with the hope of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu. The Brazilian took offence with such treatment and by summer’s end, Robinho forced his exit from Los Blancos, leaving the club with no suitable replacement.

While the Eto’o case is somewhat dissimilar in that Barcelona seem to have secured an insurance policy

in Inter’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the principle remains the same: as a player who helped Barca reach the heights of footballing glory on more than one occasion, Samuel Eto’o deserved far more respect from Barcelona’s front offices than he received.

When one contributes as much as Eto’o has to Barcelona, one expects a certain measure of dignity and prudence when it comes to business affairs and this summer, Joan Laporta reduced that sacred relationship to one of an irreverent monetary exchange. Big mouth or not, Eto’o was invaluable to Barcelona and for the organization to turn its back so dishonourably on such a valued player has to send a disparaging message to the rest of the Blaugrana squad.

If the Ibrahimovic deal comes to fruition and Barca are able to improve with the addition of the dynamic Swede, then perhaps all will quickly be forgotten. But if Barcelona do in fact falter, the summer Eto’o saga could well forecast a tumultuous season for Barcelona—a situation that will only be compounded should Barca face Inter in the Champions League next season…and Eto’o be given his opportunity for redemption.

Cyrus C. Malek, Goal.com

Category : Activities | Events | News | Blog

23
July

Spanish Inquisition: The Mistreatment Of Samuel Eto’o

Posted by rodmomo (1) Comment

Spanish Inquisition: The Mistreatment Of Samuel Eto’o

Goal.com’s Cyrus C. Malek explains that Joan Laporta’s callous treatment of Samuel Eto’o this summer crossed an unspoken boundary…

23 Jul 2009 09:50:32

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Samuel Eto’o celebrates one of four strikes against Valladolid. (Marca)

Teams

Barcelona

Players

Eto’o