It is often said by positive thinkers and self-help advocates that it is good to dream big, think big, believe big and act big! The world has been witness to the realization of a Kenyan, African-American’s dream to hold the highest office in the United States. This time it is a Cameroonian turned American, who is vying to be mayor of the capital of the world’s most powerful democracy.
In an Interview with Entrepreneur News Online, ENO, Mr Djonkam Nestor opens up about his aspirations and achievemnents and how beneficial they can be to Cameroon.
ENO: Who is Nestor Djonkam? Mr Djonkam: I was born in Manjo, located in the Mungo division of the Littoral Province. I attended primary and secondary school in Cameroon, before pursuing my dream to move to the U.S. I am a solar system engineer and a politician.
ENO: What is your motivation to become Mayor of Washington, DC? Mr Djonkam: I tried the first time and failed in 2006, and i think i should not give up on my dream. I equally want to prove to the world that Africans have potentials and we can be whatever we want to be, rather than have a negative portrait.
ENO: What qualifies you to be mayor of Washington, DC? Mr Djonkam:I have been involved in the democratic system in the United States for about 20 years. I have taken part in five presidential campaigns, three senetorial and mayorial campaigns. I believe i have acquired enough experence and exposure and so i asked, ‘Why not me?’
ENO: What was your previous campaign like in 2006? Mr Djonkam: I did have some challenges. I lost in the primaries but was encouraged by the acheivement. I was the first African ever in 250 years, to qualify as a candidate for mayor in Washington,DC. I will run again in 2010.
ENO: Why not seek to be mayor in Cameroon? Mr Djonkam:My priority is Washington,DC. If i succeed all Cameroonians living in DC will benefit from my programs. Cameroonians at home would be proud to have someone of their origin in that position, and i would seek partnerships in the course of visits to Cameroon to see how i can help.
ENO: How else can Cameroonans benefit from your election? Mr Djonkam: The programs i plan to implement would attract Cameroonian investors to Washington, DC. There shall be trade relations that could yield seminars and job training.
ENO: What have you achieved for your Country so far? Mr Djonkam:I have contributed greatly to promote the image of Cameroon in the U.S. I initiated the hosting of the Cameroon flag in Washington DC every 20th of May- Cameroon is the 1st African Country and the third in the world to have that privilege. It is a legacy in U.S politics to have convinced the U.S authorities to do that.
Secondly, i coordinated the Cameroonian-American Outreach Organization for 4 years (1998-2001), as a lobby group to promote relations between both Countries. I had to dissolve it at some point, in order to preserve my electoral identity as an American citizen.
ENO: What does it take to be candidate for mayor in the United States? Mr Djonkam: Basically, a candidate must be at least 18 years old, a resident of Washington, DC for up to a year, have a clean background such as no criminal record, involvement with drugs or served a jail term and should gather 3000 signatures from DC Democratic voters. I meet all those criteria.
GABORONE – Botswana and the Holy See, the universal government of the Catholic Church from the Vatican City State, established diplomatic relations early this month.
Mrs Motlhagodi Molomo, Botswana’s High Commissioner to South Africa and Mr James Patrick Green, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to South Africa, signed a joint communiqué on the establishment of the diplomatic relations.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mrs Molomo noted during the signing ceremony that the establishment of diplomatic relations marked a consolidation of a relationship that started almost 50 years ago.
She noted that the Roman Catholic Church established the Apostolic Prefecture of Bechuanaland in April 1959.
Mrs Molomo further said “over the last 49 years, the Catholic church has grown, not only in its contribution towards the spiritual development of the Botswana nation, but also in terms of active participation in social development programmes.”
The release stated that to date, the Catholic church has established nine primary schools, two health clinics, a pre-school in Kgalagadi District and a home-based care facility due to be opened before the end of the year.
In his response, Mr Green noted that it was most fitting that after so many years of mutual respect and cooperation, Botswana and the Holy See made formal a relationship which had in many ways already been tried and tested.
The release also states that Mr Green observed that the signing ceremony revealed clearly the intention of both parties to maintain and strengthen the bonds which exist between them. BOPA
GABORONE. BOTSWANA – Zimbabwe’s neighbour, Botswana, has vehemently denied accusations by officials in Harare that Botswana was training MDC youths for purposes of effecting regime change in Zimbabwe.
Addressing the Parliament of Botswana on Wednesday afternoon, Phandu Skelemani, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said such accusations were meant to divert attention from the real issues at hand. Zimbabwe’s former Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said that the MDC is training youth militias in Botswana for purposes of fighting the government in Zimbabwe.
Said Skelemani: “The allegations that the Government of Botswana would wish to train foreign nationals on its territory to effect regime change is ridiculous and all who are aware of Botswana’s longstanding commitment to the principles of good neighbourliness, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, and peaceful resolution of disputes in our region and elsewhere would no doubt attest to this.”
He said the government of Botswana totally rejects these unsubstantiated allegations, “which are obviously nothing more than an excuse to engage in acts of intimidation and harassment of innocent Zimbabweans and a desperate attempt to divert attention from the real issues facing Zimbabwe”.
He denied that Botswana was interfering in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe.
“Botswana has no choice but to openly express her concern about the deteriorating political situation, and make calls for authorities in that country to take necessary steps to end the unnecessary suffering of the people of Zimbabwe,” said Skelemani. “We do not accept that by doing so, we are interfering in the internal affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe because the situation in that country adversely affects us.”
Skelemani said, while respecting governments’ consensus in the Southern African Development Community, the government of Botswana wanted to make it clear that it differs with SADC on some of the decisions passed at the SADC Extra Ordinary Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 9, 2008.
He described SADC’s decision to order the co-management of a ministry by two ministers from different parties as “unrealistic, impracticable and unworkable”.
At the Johannesburg summit, SADC decided that Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Home Affairs, which is in charge of the police, should be run by two ministers from Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.
“This does not reflect a genuine and credible commitment to equitable power-sharing,” Skelemani said, adding that the full and effective implementation of the Global Political Agreement signed in Harare on September 15, 2008 is crucial to ending the crisis of legitimacy in Zimbabwe.
“It is regrettable that Zanu-PF continues to act as if they are the senior partner in the negotiations wielding the power of veto on the implementation of the Agreement,” Skelemani said.
He pointed out that Botswana recognizes that decisions in SADC are reached by consensus, after which they reflect the collective position of the organization.
“However, it would be remiss of us if we did not express our strong reservations or disagreements, as we did during the summit, regarding the co-management of the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
In answer to a question from a member, Skelemani defended the MDC’s announcement that they would not be taking part in any SADC recommendations by saying that the MDC came to SADC with hope but were terribly disappointed when SADC turned against them and forced them to accept something else other than what they felt they deserved.
“They responded in shock. They were surprised by SADC’s stand. It is my hope that after they settle down, they will want to take part in what SADC recommended,” the minister said.
Turning to the agreement, Skelemani said that Botswana wished to reiterate its strongly held view that if the Agreement cannot be implemented as soon as possible, the international community should demand a re-run of the Presidential election in Zimbabwe “under international supervision so that the long suffering people of Zimbabwe can resolve the impasse by voting to decide who their true leaders should be”.
On sanctions against Zimbabwe, Skelemani said that Botswana would never consider such a move or support it as “it would only hurt the ordinary Zimbabwean”.
“As an immediate neighbour to Zimbabwe, sharing more than 600 km of common border, with a high level of people to people contact between the two countries, Botswana naturally takes a keen interest in developments in Zimbabwe…Botswana will not impose or support sanctions. Today, Zimbabweans are crossing the border into Botswana and imagine our soldiers feeding them. They are dropping at the feet of our soldiers…”
KHARTOUM, SUDAN (Reuters) – Sudan has been indirectly hit by the global financial crisis and will have to raise taxes to make up for the falling price of its main export, oil, the finance minister said on Thursday.
Sudanese government officials earlier this year said their country was largely immune to the worldwide slowdown, partly because U.S. trade sanctions over Sudan’s alleged support for terrorism and the war in its Darfur region had insulated it from the American economy.
But Sudanese finance minister Awad al-Jaz told reporters Sudan had been hit indirectly through the oil price, and by the fact that some of its trading partners did have sizeable U.S. investments and business dealings.
Al-Jaz said he planned to raise vehicle import duties in his budget for calendar year 2009 as well as taxes on telecoms services. He did not release figures or go into greater detail about which services would be taxed.
His 2009 budget had already been approved by Sudan’s coalition cabinet and would go before parliament next week, he added. The government has a strong majority in parliament, which has not rejected a national budget in years.
“We must search for other resources besides oil and develop other products to protect our country and our economy from the effect of the international financial crisis,” he told a news conference.
Sudan says it currently produces 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, and the mining and energy minister last week said it would raise that figure to 600,000 bpd in 2009.
(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz, writing by Andrew Heavens, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
There was no debate or intervention, the MPs went to the Palais des Nations only to raise their hands in support of the change
L’Expression
Algerian newspapers say Wednesday’s vote in parliament to approve constitutional changes allowing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term was expected. The Berber-dominated opposition denounced it as a “hold-up”, while the government parties hailed it as “historic”.
(BBC) – The private French-language daily newspaper El Watan said that “by adding itself to the handful of states in the world, the Arab world in particular, which have written lifetime presidencies into their constitutions and consolidated personal or hereditary powers, Algeria is jumping backwards”.
‘Presidency for life’
El Watan added that the constitution changes were voted in “even as society has evolved considerably, showing itself to be extremely sensitive to individual and collective freedoms, human rights and justice, democratic attributes that the country discovered in adversity, having, in just one half-century, confronted three huge tests, those of the colonial yoke, the single party and terrorism”.
The vote is synonymous of a “presidency for life” for Mr Bouteflika, said the paper.
‘Red carpet for re-election’
“Bouteflika treats himself to a third mandate”, the private French-language daily newspaper Le Soir d’Algerie said.
The paper added that the current authorities had “killed the principle of alternation of power by organizing its funeral at the Palais des Nations Hall [where the vote took place]”.
Another private French-language newspaper L’Expression pointed out that “there was no debate or intervention, the MPs went to the Palais des Nations only to raise their hands in support of the change”.
“Within two weeks only, the revision of the constitution, which has been widely discussed for so long, has finally taken place. But no-one was excepting it to be wrapped up in such a short time,” the paper said.
For its part, the private French-language daily newspaper Liberte described the vote as a “red carpet for [Bouteflika’s] re-election”.
On the political level, the leader of the secular and Berber-dominated Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), Said Sadi, said after the vote that the revision of the constitution was a “hold-up”, “a way of institutionalising the tribal character of power”.
An ‘insult’ to MPs
Said Sadi, who the press said left the hall a few minutes after the vote, was quoted by El Watan as saying: “Is it credible to announce at the beginning of the session that a message from the president was going to be read, while it was expected to be read at the end of the proceedings?
“A message in which he congratulated the MPs who have approved this procedure. This is an insult to the lawmakers and the people in particular.”
‘Political, spiritual bankruptcy’
The first secretary of the other Berber-dominated Socialist Forces Front party (FFS), Karim Tabbou, told the private Arabic-language daily newspaper El Khabar that “Algeria is being managed like a supermarket, and we have been living under the regime of one term since [independence day in] 1962”.
The constitution changes “reflect a political and spiritual bankruptcy and a general sense of frustration”, said Mr Tabbou, before asking: “Was the revision of the constitution a people’s demand?”
“Genuine democracy should have been established in 1962,” he said.
‘Historic’
Political parties in the coalition government, the National Liberation Front (FLN), the National Democratic Rally (RND) and the moderate Islamist Movement of Society of Peace (MSP) have hailed the vote as “historic”.
The RND leader and prime minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, said through the revision of the constitution, the people had provided a “clear response” to those who have been criticising the government.
“In our beloved Algeria today, there is nothing that can limit the president’s mandates,” he said.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA (AFP) — Zambian police arrested 38 people Thursday after violent protests in the Copperbelt province following the arrest of a priest who allegedly incited violence on a radio programme.
Police used tear-gas to disperse hundreds of Patriotic Front (PF) supporters who torched vehicles and blocked roads in Kitwe, Zambia’s second-largest city, a police commander in the area told AFP.
“They burnt some tyres and vehicles before we intercepted them,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Political tensions have heightened in Zambia since an October 30 election narrowly won by President Rupiah Banda in a poll that PF candidate Michael Sata claimed was rigged.
The riots were sparked by the arrest and detention of Frank Bwalya, a Catholic priest and journalist, who allegedly incited post-election violence on a live radio programme, police said.
Bwalya, a station manager of the Catholic broadcaster Radio Icengelo, was arrested and detained on Wednesday by police for refusing to stop the broadcast dealing with post-election issues.
He was released on bail Thursday after being charged with inciting violence and will appear in court soon.
Private radio stations also reported the riots, which they described as “serious.”
Police had earlier agreed to allow PF members to stage peaceful demonstrations on Saturday against the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), which declared Banda winner of the polls.
There was no debate or intervention, the MPs went to the Palais des Nations only to raise their hands in support of the change 