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Corruption is endemic in Cameroon. Twice, Transparency International have accorded the country the infamous first place in corruption. As one of many concerned Cameroonians, Sammy Oke Akombi was moved and they realized that something was in fact wrong somewhere and something had to be done somehow. This collection of short stories is his contribution to the collective resolve by concerned Cameroonians to wage a war against this most unusual friend of fairness. The stories seek to elicit awareness about a social ill that is ironically championed by the very politicians, functionaries, educator, leaders and power elite whose duty it is to keep society healthy and on the rails. The stories are on corruption in different segments of society and about the people who perpetrate it. Almost everyone is immersed in it and so must make every effort to resurface from it. It takes only the will to stay alive because the wages of corruption like any other sin can only be death.

The history of the subalterns, also known as the history of the voiceless, took currency in the early 1980s in South East Asia and has been dominated by scholars from that region. Despite its popularity, the history of the voiceless has not gained the attention it deserves in Cameroon historiography. In other parts of Africa and beyond this type of history has already taken root and animated scholarly production and debate. Cameroon history has been replete with studies that focus mostly on political history and the actions and intentions of top politicians of the day, with scant regard for the historical importance of the everyday life of ordinary Cameroonians as makers and breakers. This book takes a bold step in the direction of subaltern studies in Cameroon, and makes a clarion call for the institutionalization of voicing the voiceless. Nkwi - innovative and stimulating in his blend of history and ethnography of the everyday - offers fresh insights into the contextual understandings of subaltern Cameroon between 1958 and 2009. This is a welcome contribution to closing gaps in social history, from a leader amongst a budding new generation of historians of Cameroon and Africa.

This intriguing novel chronicles one migrant worker's experiences on a colonial plantation in West Africa. Martin Tebi cannot wait to board a truck to the south where he hopes to become a pioneer at a newly established oil palm plantation. Once he arrives, he realizes that becoming a 'Big man' in a new environment would not be as easy as he had thought. Set in the South West Region of Cameroon near the Bakassi region, this captivating story told in an authentic voice that fuses Pidgin and Standard English would keep readers spellbound as they follow Martin through his many struggles to become the first African manager. The experiences of Martin Tebi would resonate with economically displaced people in any part of the world.

This meticulous and comprehensive documentation of Cameroonian Youth Day Messages and leadership discourse on youth from 1949 - 2009 is a gold mine for researchers, historians and anyone interested in studying youth, politics and society in Africa. The book presents and explores themes and content of Youth Day Messages: how these messages tied in with, or veered away from, key events and issues of the time; how they served as a platform for West Cameroon governments, and the Ahidjo and Biya regimes to articulate their political vision, justify their policies, sell their respective ideologies to the youth; and what lessons could be drawn from them on competing, conflicting and complementary perspectives on youth agency in Cameroon and Africa. Churchill links the Youth Day to ongoing discussions in Africa about the role and place of youths as agents of development in Africa. Most significantly, he finally puts Cameroon's controversial Youth Day in its appropriate historical context - not as a political device created by the Francophone politicians to distort Cameroonian history and erase 'plebiscite day' from the collective memory as Anglophone nationalists claim, but as a British Cameroons colonial legacy, successfully sold to the Ahidjo regime as a day to be commemorated throughout the federation, by leaders of the federated state of West Cameroon.Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, a senior career diplomat, is Minister Counsellor in the Cameroon Embassy in Moscow. A graduate of the International Higher School of Journalism, and the International Relations Institute of Cameroon in the University of Yaounde, he was a 1991-92 Fellow in Public Diplomacy in Boston University, USA. He has served in Cameroon in various professional capacities. Ewumbue-Monono has written extensively on Cameroon's political history, and his books include Men of Courage, published in 2005.

In Cameroon and Africa, lakes are sacred and often secret places. They fascinate curiosity and have often served as repositories of local histories, memories and dreams. In Mystique, Bime offers the reader a rich and seductive menu of reflection on the significance of legends and myths on and around lakes in Cameroon, Ghana, Benin and Tanzania. She tells her stories with the talent and elegance of a writer who does not only have an ear for what others tell her but who also has the ability to transform what she hears into something uniquely hers and truly universal. Mystique is a must-read and an opportunity for progeny to keep alive a tested and cherished heritage of story-telling. This is truly innovative and culturally relevant entertainment that invites the reader to unchain her spirit to explore.Beatrice Fri Bime, an international management consultant, who enjoys humanitarian affairs, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA. A Cameroonian, she has worked in Banking, government, national and international organizations and is author of Some Place, Some Where. She lives with her family in Yaounde.

Someplace, Somewhere is an exemplary piece of socio-political satire. It is a collection of short reflective stories that highlight the predicament of a people and exposes the ills of a society where neglect and decay are the nauseating lure and allure of everyday life. Carefully knit, this collection vividly provokes the nostalgia of the round-the-hearth rural evening story-telling atmosphere of yesteryears. Indeed, Bime has this knack for the fine details of story-telling, which blends so magically with her flare of crude humour, a combination that makes her social satire simply irresistible.

This book deals with the important subject of governance and development. Even more significantly, the book has the merits of critically evaluating the concept of good governance in an African context, identifying the internal factors that impinge on good governance and development, and proposing solutions. It provides empirical evidence on the extent to which inappropriate governing strategies are the main internal obstacle to development in Cameroon. The authors discuss factors contributing to precarious and problematic governance from multidisciplinary perspectives, and demonstrate the extent to which such inadequacies impede positive social change. To promote effective development, the authors argue for the implementation of a good governance strategy that comprises, inter alia: adopting appropriate development strategies; decentralizing administration to make for popular participation and ensure accountability; taking the necessary steps to fight corruption; and ensuring the enforcement of property and cultural rights.

The celebrations that heralded democratic change in the 1990s in Africa have gradually faded into muffled cries of anger and attendant violence of despair. Almost everywhere on the continent so-called democratic leaders are openly subverting the people's will and disregarding national constitutions. Ordinary people find themselves removed from the centres of power, marginalized and reduced to helpless and hopeless onlookers as political leaders, their friends and families noisily enjoy the spoils of impunity. From Nigeria to Zimbabwe, Kenya to the Ivory Coast and Uganda to Cameroon, the writing is on the wall. The experiment with democracy has blatantly taken a dangerous nosedive. There is a crisis of honest, committed and democratic leadership, in spite of the advancements in education and intellectualism of the populace, and despite the influences of globalization and new understandings of governance. In this brief volume, Tatah Mentan makes an incisive diagnosis of how the "security forces" brutally crush protests against bids to stay in power through corrupt electoral practices as well as how opposition voices have been hunted down and crushed or intimidated into graveyard silence. This is a clarion call for Africans to embrace the values of People Power in synch with the dictates of the current global imperatives. There is no place for visionless leadership. Africans need to raise their voices to recapture their freedom.

Son of the Native Soil is a work whose quiet maturity glows in both subject and style. Here, love heals but the force of hate is very real. The hero, Lucas Achamba, by charisma and love undertakes to unite Dudum clan which politicking and egotism have split. His quick success stirs bitter rivalry and heartless cruelty that decide his fate. Nature is jumpy and even hysterical at this, and Ambanasom exposes it with fine evocative mastery. The style is refined and honeyed by sonal devices and visual tropes that half conceal subtle slashes at human foibles.

The recent pirate activities on the horn of Africa have sparked interest in a phenomenon which in the years of yore characterised the high seas i.e. hostage taking. Combating this ill is the primary objective of the present treatise. Through his autobiographical narrative, The Fighting Sailor Turn'd Peaceable Christian, Thomas Lurting (1632-1713) distinguishes himself as one of the emblematic defendants of the early Quaker ideals for International Peace. In this treatise Lurting takes the fight for these ideals to the maritime scene. Most of the narrative takes place on board the Bristol Frigot, ship on board of which he was convinced. Despite staunch opposition facing the rise of Quakerism in the maritime milieu, which at the time was characterised by the spirit of belligerence, the determination of Quakers to die for their convictions, their pacific resistance ended up appealing to many a seaman who became convinced also. Numerous warring and fighting scenes constitute the ingredients for Lurting's plot development. And most especially the "...True Account of George Pattison's Being Taken by the Turks; and How Redeemed by [...], Without Bloodshed, Putting the Turks on Shoar in their Own Country...." Lurting makes of this episode the turning point around which he articulates his spiritual journey to illustrate the very Quaker ideal for an everlasting universal brotherhood and pacifism. Thomas Lurting was born in 1632, probably in Ireland. But he spent his childhood in London where at the age of fourteen he was impressed and forcefully taken to war in Ireland where he spent roughly two years. Upon his return to London, he was turned over into the Bristol Frigot, one of the war vessels belonging to Admiral Blake's fleet. On board this same ship he became convinced of the evils of war and decided to quit warring for the merchant service. He was however impressed many a times into the navy. He published his spiritual autobiography, The Fighting Sailor Turn'd Peaceable Christian. in 1710. Three years later, he passed away on the 30th March 1713, at the age of 81 in London and was laid to rest at Burmondsey.Translated and edited with introductory notes by William F. NDI, (Ph.D.) in Languages, Literatures, Contemporary and Translation Studies. Author of numerous articles and book chapters on early Quakerism and its influence on contemporary ideas and mentalities, world peace and politics, literature in general and the autobiographical and epistolary genres in particular. He has held teaching positions at the Paris school of languages, the University of Queensland, the University of the Sunshine Coast and currently teaches at Deakin University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The diverse voices in the poems in this collection are unified in the single voice of the omnipresent persona who appears to be searching for a collective voice, some kind of order or rhythm that would impose meaning to life. Reading the poems constitutes an individual journey. This poetic journey from Awakening that takes the reader to Moonlight Spells & Wreaths and leads her/him through Laments to the Epilogue is a continuous movement in the search for humanity's existence. As a metaphor of self-discovery, the poetic quest is both an expression of, and a search for mankind's elusive self-that single, unbroken umbilical cord that is firmly rooted in the African experience and identity.Ba'bila Mutia teaches oral and written literatures, creative writing, advanced writing and research methodology, at the University of Yaoundé I. His poetry and short stories have been featured in anthologies and reviews worldwide, and his work has been broadcast on the BBC. In June of 1993 Mutia was honoured by the Berlin Academy of Arts as special guest writer in an international writers' reading. He is the author of Whose Land? (Longman), Before This Time, Yesterday (Silex/Nouvelles du Sud) and "The Miracle" in the Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories.

'We cannot imagine life now without a mobile phone' is a frequent comment when Africans are asked about mobile phones. They have become part and parcel of the communication landscape in many urban and rural areas of Africa and the growth of mobile telephony is amazing: from 1 in 50 people being users in 2000 to 1 in 3 in 2008. Such growth is impressive but it does not even begin to tell us about the many ways in which mobile phones are being appropriated by Africans and how they are transforming or are being transformed by society in Africa. This volume ventures into such appropriation and mutual shaping. Rich in theoretical innovation and empirical substantiation, it brings together reflections on developments around the mobile phone by scholars of six African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania) who explore the economic, social and cultural contexts in which the mobile phone is being adopted, adapted and harnessed by mobile Africa.

One day, Mama Ngonsu told her son: "Normally, a child grew up and stayed around to help his parents. The world has changed, and things are no longer as they used to be. Things must not be normal all the time, otherwise life would not be life." When Emmanuel Kwanga gets a University scholarship, he travels from the lake and hills of Abehema to the Great City. Everyone in the village has invested in him their hopes for the good life. When the life they've imagined is cut short by the University guillotine, Emmanuel Kwanga must struggle to make sense of what the good life means - for himself and for Abehema - in a world where things are no longer as they used to be.This novel is about coming of age and coming to terms in Mimboland. It is also about the fragility of life and the strength of the human spirit.The filth and screaming splendor of the city and the perplexed tranquility of the village are juxtaposed, as the tension and conviviality between tradition and modernity are lived and explored. Roads and drivers, dreams and public transport link different geographies. Faltering along or speeding away, these spaces of risk, frustration and solidarity are filled with popular songs as vehicles for understanding events and relationships. With every crossing of the Pont de Maturité the story flows, and its mysteries surge. In this novel, the worlds of the living and the dead intermingle, as do the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible.

Building Capacity promotes the vision that the teaching of African languages can best achieve its aim of boosting the economic and cultural development of the Africans if they are made to work in synergy with a revamping of the course contents of international languages that will be taught within the frame of a development-oriented literacy curriculum. Great emphasis is put on the oral skills in the use of African languages as they are to serve as a link between the community and the school for the ultimate revitalization of the positive aspects of African cultures in a world beset by globalization. The book is supplemented with a sample of texts in the appendix that are meant to be a bridge between formal texts taught in classrooms and literacy texts that can raise the genuine interests of the local populations in that they address their immediate needs. Among the possible topics language teachers are encouraged to explore in their classes are those concerning economic development, but also such issues as health, education, the environment, food security, and conflict resolution. "In the face of the growing interest in the use of African Languages by Africans as symbols of personal and cultural identity and as means of empowering the rural communities in the entreprise of national development,the need for a methodologically appropriate manual to guide the teaching and learning of African languages becomes urgent.This book is a timely response, predicated on a policy of the symbiotic use of African languages along with partner (foreign-official) languages, to attain a balanced level of economic and socio-cultural development.It is based on a compendium of well- thought-out principles geared towards a rapid acquisition of written and oral language skills that are congruent with and reflect the socio-cultural and economic concerns of the linguistic community." Beban Sammy Chumbow, Professor of Linguistics, University of Yaounde I "Among the numerous proposals in this book is the necessity for Africans, and I would add, for the communities of Asia and Latin America, to re-think the contents of their language courses and assign them an objective which aims at the integral development of their communities. It is indeed imperative that these courses reflect clear objectives of seeking social, cultural, and economic developments that harmonize with African, Asian, and Latin American values that are deep rooted in their respective various cultures." Jean-Pierre Angenot Professor of Linguistics, Federal University of Rondônia, Porto Velho, Brazil.