Health Sector in Cameroon should be restructured and experts paid decently

- Professor Philip Egbengu-Catholic University Medical School in Kumbo

Professor Philip Egbengu is Head of Department of Medicine and Biomedical Science at the Catholic University Medical School in Kumbo. He is the Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Ringland Medical Centre Foncha Street opposite Saint John Catholic Church in Bamenda. He attributes the irregularities in the Health Sector in Cameroon to the poor treatment of medical experts in terms of remuneration and to the domineering public sector that drains the economy. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante Lenjo in his Bamenda office. He begins with how he took those first steps in his lengthy educational itinerary. 

Professor Philip Egbengu in a tete a tete with Jaques Famme Ndongo; Cameroon's Minister of Higher Education.

“I am from Manyu Division in the South West Region of Cameroon. I was born in Ewelle Village where I went to Primary School from where I moved to Ndian Division and continued my studies with an Uncle where I completed my primary education at the Council School Bekora. Afterwards I was admitted into Saint Joseph’s College Sasse in Buea. From Secondary School, I directed my footsteps to the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology CCAST Bambili which was the most prestigious at the time in English Speaking Cameroon. I later proceeded to the University of Lagos where I did my Bachelors, Master and Doctorate Degrees. I did my MBBSS a degree in Medicines at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria.”

How did you get integrated into your profession after studies? 

I taught in about seven Universities in Nigeria and I was external examiner in 13 universities in Nigeria. I rose within the ranks of the academia to the rank of Professor back in Nigeria before I came to Cameroon in 1998 at the University of Buea where we were invited to start a new Medical School but the environment was not very conducive at the time. I went back to Nigeria and only came back in 2000 when I again started at the University of Buea. I then joined the Oil and Gas Industry where I was a Medical Supervisor. I have been to quite a lot of places in the world in the practice of my profession. 

What really inspired you to return home?

Two main things inspired me. The first thing was my children. From experience, when a child gets to secondary school in another country, he ends up as a citizen of that country. I therefore made sure that all of them finished secondary school in Cameroon before going out. Today they are out of the country as Cameroonians. The second reason is that I had reached an academic ladder where my peers in their various countries were being appointed one thing or the other. I then knew the time to go home had arrived. Furthermore,  Cameroon is where I come from and after acquiring all my potentials, I had to came back to contribute my little bit towards satisfying the health needs of my country. 

Apart from teaching we understand you run an outfit which embodies your desire to impact on the health of Cameroonians.

Yes when I came back home I went first into teaching then I opted out for very personal reasons. Then I went into the Oil and Gas Sector. I have never loved the Civil Service due to its lack of independence. I started the Royal Victoria Clinic which I ran from 2005 to 2010. From there I returned to the Oil and Gas Industry until 2013 when I joined the Catholic Mission. With the closure of the Medical school in Kumbo I found myself almost stranded. So while struggling to get our school reopened I decided to open the Ringland Medical Centre at Foncha Street in Bamenda with two friends of mine Dr Ngwashi Armstrong and Dr Thaddeus Kwankam who is in Italy. I am here as the Chief Executive Officer. It was created for the benefit of people who wanted sane medical services because there is so much corruption in the practice out there. Now I do the two things that I enjoy doing. 

What little extra thing do you think you have brought onto the landscape of medical practice in Cameroon?

The first thing is the congenial environment; clean and polite environment which constitutes the social aspect. There is the professional aspect which is making the patient be part of the healing process. The patient in this way understands what it is all about and follows up the progress of the treatment. We went ahead to put in some healthy sums of money in terms of material. We have state-of-the-art equipment here and apart from the Regional hospital in Bamenda, we are the only hospital with a CD Scan. We have a very sophisticated Digital X-Ray Unit among other things. We also went ahead to seek for the expertise because nobody has monopoly over knowledge. We invited Pediatricians, gynaecologists, surgeons among others. These professionals make money from it and we make money from it and the patient comes out satisfied. 

Does the Socio-Political Landscape in Cameroon affect the sector?

The Socio Political landscape in Cameroon greatly affects the sector. Doctors are poorly paid. Medical Doctors emerge from the best who make it at the GCE A Levels in Cameroon. They spend seven grueling years to become Doctors. They pay them 150.000 FCFA a month. Can you expect anything from that kind of a person? At the end of the day, he can’t get a car or live in a comfortable house and even has to jump on a commercial motorbike to go to work. Such a person is bound to cut corners in the practice of his profession. Everybody around the corner believes that in medicine you can make money so everybody is a Doctor around the quarter. Since medical utilities are expensive, people fall back to what’s in the quarters since it’s affordable. Some people only come to the hospital when they’ve reached the point of no return. There is no political will to change the situation in Cameroon. When you try to say the truth that Doctors are poorly paid, the next thing will be that an expert is removed from where he can really work and sent to one remote village where there is nothing with which he can practice. When you take a gynaecologist from a hospital with the facilities where he can practice and send to a small health center somewhere in a faraway farmstead how do you expect to tap from the resources that are in him?

What solution do you prescribe for this problem?

Get the professionals satisfied and they will sit in the hospitals from Morning to Evening. Restructure the curriculum in such a way that when a student leaves medical school he should do what is called in the English Speaking countries housemanship. You cannot remove a child from class and send him to go and practice medicine. In all the countries where health services are of top quality, the experts are well treated. In Nigeria at first medical experts were not well paid and this pushed them to leave and get fat jobs with huge salaries in the Middle East and elsewhere. It is only then that the Nigerian government realised that they were well trained and decided to restructure the sector and give the experts what they truly deserved. I wouldn’t leave Cameroon for anything if I had a good car a good house and a chunky salary. The private sector can provide the solutions to the problems of the health sector in Cameroon. The public sector mentality in Cameroon drains the economy. We need to realise that the future lies in the private sector. The Public Sector should be contracted for the private sector to grow. When it comes to expertise on the African Continent, Cameroon stands tall. We simply need to use what we have appropriately. We should change the way the resources are harnessed for this country to move forward.  

Les Gens Du Cameroun: Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/ +237678401408 /667169106       

“The Government has not lived up to expectations in handling the Anglophone crises”

Honourable Fusi Namukong Wilfred

Honourable Fusi Namukong Wilfred

Honourable Fusi is a Member of Parliament for the Bafut-Tuba Constituency. He is also a business person and a Development Agent in Bafut. This Parliamentarian of the Social Democratic Front is also a cultural personality and a leader at many levels. In this interview by Francis Ekongang Nzante, the MP among other things laments that the Biya Regime has not lived up to expectations in the way they have been handling the Anglophone crises and goes ahead to prescribe national dialogue as the immediate way forward.

What pushed or inspired you to accept this role of taking care of the needs of a whole community?

I have always been a development agent and before being a parliamentarian I was the National President of Bafut Development Manjong. I have also been the National Chairman of my own Quarter in Bafut so having this zeal for development and seeing that I could contribute to the development of this country I decided to get into politics. I decided to go into Parliament under the colours of the SDF. I was elected into Parliament and since then I have been contributing to the development of my community as a parliamentarian.

We are building up towards an elective exercise and what is that extra thing that Honourable Fusi has that he thinks will make the electorate renew its confidence in him again?

Like a politician I have been touching all the nooks and crannies of Bafut. I have touched all the villages. I have contributed my own quota in the aspects of development in the domain of roads, schools, health among other things. I have just done what I am supposed to do. If I have to go in again for elections, it will be the Bafut people who will decide whether I measured up or not. It will be them to decide who to vote for. Own my own part I have done my share of work. I have always been available and even in parliament I have always been available and have always lived up to my expectations. I have been one of those active ones in parliament and I have been struggling to make sure that things go well for this nation.

What major decisions were arrived at during the last NEC Meeting of the SDF which assembled all SDF Parliamentarians?

It was geared towards the preparation of the upcoming elective convention. We were putting things in place to make sure that all things are put in place for the elective convention in October. We were setting up the various committees. I am at the head of one of the committees. We were equally working on the budget to make sure that participants from all over the country take part in the upcoming event. We equally used the occasion to examine the Anglophone crises. We believe that Dialogue will be the key to solving the crises. If we had a federated state then we would not be having all these problems and we also believe that the government has not lived up to expectation with regards to the Anglophone problem which accounts for the present agitation among Cameroonians.

The Entrepreneur and his Initiative

Premier Security, Bamenda, Cameroon

Premier Security Company with Head Quarters in Bamenda was created some 25 years ago and was the first of its kind to be created by a Cameroonian. Prior to its creation Security Companies in Cameroon were dominated by Foreign Companies like Wackenhut and other International Security outfits that dominated the sector in Cameroon for a long time even after the creation of Premier Security in Cameroon with Head Quarters in Bamenda, capital of the Northwest Region of Cameroon.

Premier Security Cameroon has its Head Quarters in Bamenda specifically at Metta Quarters on the first floor of Gracious Building. The company’s motto: “A Radiant Ultimate Solution to your Insecurity” is a true reflection of the spirit with which this company carries out its activities.

The company spans across the triangle called Cameroon with branch offices in Bafoussam, capital of the West Region and Buea, Capital of the Southwest Region opposite Full Gospel Church at Molyko. Other Branch Offices include the Douala office in the Littoral Region and Yaounde office in the Centre Region.

A couple of years ago, security was of an issue than it is today. The Socio-Political landscape has constantly changed with passing time in Cameroon and this has completely changed the narrative of how security issues are handled in Cameroon. Cases of homicide, burglary and security threats to the social fabric are on the rise and almost everybody needs security. 

  

The importance of fighting against insecurity cannot be overemphasized if present realities in Cameroon in particular and the Sub Region in general are taken into consideration.

Other services provided by Premier Security include: Environmental Cleaning and Sanitation, Contracts and Supplies and the Installation of Alarm Systems and Video Security Recording.

Les Gens Du Cameroun: Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ Tel: +237678401408/ +237696896001/ +237667169106

Move for Political Transition in Cameroon

“Non Violent Demonstrations should move from the Regions to the Center” -KAH WALLAH 

Kah Wallah is a leading opposition Political figure in Cameroon and National President of the Cameroon People’s Party. She holds an MBA and is an entrepreneur based in Douala though she shuttles the five Continents on the globe. She presently runs her own International Consultation firm and has been doing so for 22 years. After running her business for close to 15 years, she decided that it was very restricting and started working with Civil Society. She was frustrated by the slow pace of development in our society and started working with local communities. She concentrated her efforts on youth and women entrepreneurship. In her ten years in politics she has grown in prominence and has become one of those few political voices listened to by Cameroonians especially in these times of crises. In this interview she proposes a political transition for Cameroon and gives a vivid description on how this can be realised. As a first step towards creating a platform for dialogue she calls for calls for all non-violent demonstrations to leave the regions and converge on the centre. She equally refers to Cameroon as a house with a rotten foundation that needs to be rebuilt. She was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante. She begins by narrating how she took those first steps in politics.

I discovered that the obstacles in Civil Society were the same like those found in the Business world. The main obstacle I noted was basically that of governance so I decided that instead of dancing around the issue I had to jump straight into it. I have always been politically active though I was not a member of any political party and after my studies in the US I came back home in 1989 and you can imagine how hot Cameroon was at the time. I joined the Union for Change and was very close to Chairman Fru Ndi. I was one of the two people who wrote the speech he made in 1992. I had been very close to the SDF and it was but normal that when I decided to join partisan politics in 2007 it was the SDF. But when in 2010 I noticed that the SDF was not actually putting in place the strategies necessary to bring about change I decided to quit the SDF and join the Cameroon Peoples Party CPP on April 30, 2011. 

 Cameroon is in a political cul-de-sac and elites have been putting forth all sorts of proposals. What is the Kah Wallah prescription?

I can’t really call it the Kah Wallah prescription as such since I don’t consider myself a genius. Luckily, I come from a political party where we carry out a lot of analyses and political thinking. We even go out to accommodate other parties and organisations. For the last two years we have been talking about a programme for Political Transition in Cameroon. We are in a house that has a rotten foundation. Cameroon is a house with a rotten foundation. This is what has created the Anglophone problem which has reared its head several times over the last 57 years. Yesterday was also the day that Robert Um Nyobe was assassinated. These are the people that actually fought for the independence of this country but there is not a single monument to remember them for it. This rotten foundation is also at the origin of Boko Haram in our country. Even though Boko Haram came from Nigeria and even though it is extremist, we created fertile ground for it to get installed in Cameroon. It stems from our history which is that of neglecting the Northern part of the country. Every time I visit the North I am always a shamed to believe that’s part of Cameroon. To see people digging sand to be able to have access to drinking water is disgraceful for Cameroon.

What does CPP propose as the best line of action of Cameroon?

 We believe that political transition which will rebuild everything from the foundation is the only way. We cannot just say we are going for elections. We need to stop, bring down this house and then rebuild it from the foundation. Political transition is the answer to everything. It is the answer to the Anglophone Crises, it is the answer to the unresolved political history of Cameroon and the answer for regional development for the East, Far North, North West and South West Regions.  The Biya Regime cannot lead this Political Transition in Cameroon. You cannot be asked to fix a pot of soup that you spoiled. The regime simply has to step aside as we have seen it done in Tunisia, Burkina Fasso and other countries. Then people who are technically apt, morally up right and have shown so through their actions can be brought in around the table. People like Cardinal Tumi , among others like Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem who were part of the protest not because they are Anglophones but simply because they believe in justice. These and others from across the country can be brought together for something meaningful to be realised. We must therefore sit across the table and ask ourselves what our identity is and what it means to be a Cameroonian. What are the historical mistakes we made and how do we solve them?

Such deliberations are normally supposed to begin from somewhere considering the deep nature of crises in Cameroon.

 We have to first of all define the nature of the state. What is the nature of the relationship between the citizen and the State? The nature of the American State is very different from that of the German State. The German State believes it has to provide certain services like Health Care, Security at the cost of the state but Americans believe that everybody should pay for their Health Care. It is only when you decide on the nature that you decide on the form. What is clear today is that the Unitary State has failed us. When something has failed it should be changed. We as a political party will bring forth our own proposals to that table which is that Health Care is a right, Employment is a right etc. We will bring to that table our idea of the form of the State.

What form of the state do you propose?

 Ours is a state in which the Region has two things; power and money. Each Region will have the power to take decisions on key developmental issues and the money to execute them.  We should have elected Governors and elected Regional Assemblies. We don’t want to talk about all of that now but it is when we have succeeded to obtain a dialogue platform that we can then put forth these proposals. People keep talking from diverse ranks. Some are for a two state federation, others for secession and all of that but what we should gun for now is a dialogue forum and a level playing ground. If we have two ideas and we don’t agree with each other then we could talk for ever with no outcome. What all Cameroonians have to fight for today is political change. The present regime has to step aside let neutral people step in and create a level field for dialogue. This will help us to rewrite our constitution on the bases of what we have arrived at in the process of the dialogue.

The powers in place are persistently walking away from National Dialogue.

We have to push since it is because the government has not been willing to move towards national dialogue that we find ourselves where we are. We must bring our voices together and demand one thing. We must bring our voices together and present our requests. We can bring our voices together by communicating and acting non-violently together. This can be done by protesting non-violently together. Our non-violent protest is a right that we must exploit. In Stand Up For Cameroon, we are in black every Friday and we have been doing this for a year. We want to see the whole Cameroon in black on Fridays demanding political transition. We want to go for a sit-in in front of the National Assembly, the Presidency and where ever we deem it necessary. We must move our non-violent demonstrations from the Regions to the centre where decisions are taken. If what is happening in the North West and South West was happening in Yaounde I don’t think authorities would have shown such complacency. We must re-think our strategy.

What concise message do you have for Cameroonians?

As Cameroonians, we must stand up for our country. We are going through deep crises in which there are two extremes. On the one hand there is an extremist government arresting people illegally and creating a situation of tension and on the other hand a set of people who believe they can use violence to make others think and see things their way. We strongly believe a majority of Cameroonians find themselves in the middle. We want a   Cameroon in which every person is a first class citizen and not a Cameroon in which some are second class and third class. If that’s the country we want, then we must fight for it. Join Stand Up For Cameroon or the other groups working on the middle ground.

Les Gens Du Cameroun/ Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237696896001/+237678401408