College & Education: RE: Ghanaians Make another strong Statement on Democracyheir leaders throgh

The piece below is well written but I find a historical inaccuracy in the first sentence. The statement that Nkrumah "...must be smiling in his grave following the decisive effort by his fellow countrymen to espouse the fundamental principle of democracy which dictates that the people peacefully chose their leaders through free and transparent elections." is not supported by history. The fact that Nkrumah contributed immensely to the independence of Ghana and had this unrealistic ambition of creating a Leviathan called United States of Africa does not make him a democrat who will be rejoicing in his coffin as his "fellow countrymen espouse the fundamental principles of democracy...". A rational reading of Ghanian history during the Nkrumah years will show the exact opposite even as revisionist try to dress him posthumously with Jeffersonian robes. It is a historical fact that in 1958, just one year after independence, Nkrumah passed the Preventive Detention Act of 1958. This Act effectively removed any political opposition in Ghana and men like Dr Kofi Busia were thrown in jail. In 1964 Nkrumah declared Ghana a one party state and made himself President for Life. Are these the acts of a man who governed as a democrat or would rejoice in his coffin as his countrymen freely choose their own leaders? It beats my imagination how a President for Life would be smiling in his grave at the advent of democracy to his once despotic kingdom.

Eyong Tabong Kima

Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:17:14 -0800
From: b_p_newspaper@yahoo.com
Subject: Ghanaians Make another strong Statement on Democracy
To: ambasbay@googlegroups.com; camnetwork@yahoogroups.com; accdf@yahoogroups.com; cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; shesausa@yahoogroups.com; mankonforum@yahoogroups.com

Ghanaians Make another Strong Statement on Democracy

By Martin Ayaba

Dr. Nkwame Nkrumah, the emblematic leader who led the Ghanaian people to independence from Great Britain, and who first championed the idea of African unity must be smiling in his grave following the decisive effort by his fellow countrymen to espouse the fundamental principle of democracy which dictates that the people peacefully chose their leaders through free and transparent elections.

In as many times since the beginning of what is generally known in Ghana as 'The 4^th Republic' in 1992, the great people of this west African country went to the polls in a general elections and peacefully elected a new president and members of the national assembly.

By peacefully and democratically electing John Dramani Mahama the former vice president and candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) who took over the reign of power in June of this year following the death of former president John Atta Mills, Ghana now stands out as that shinning city on the hill in Africa, a continent where dictatorship is still the preferred form of governing, and where elections have most often been used as the kerosene to ignite all forms of social and political instability, civil strives, chaos and civil wars amongst the people.

The good news is that this revolution in the democratic culture and institutions of Ghana started by another John, Jerry Rawlings in a presidential horse race that has become 'a tale of four Johns – remember John Kufour' is now paying dividends in the form of stability and economic growth.

Despite the drought usually observed in good news from the continent by the mainstream media here in Washington DC, one headline on MSNBC - a major cable TV network caught my attention about the elections. A banner on its news bar read 'Elections hold in Ghana - one of the fastest growing economies in the world'. Other international institutions such as the World Bank are echoing the same sentiments, with economic indicators showing that the country is growing at a double digit rate. The recent discovery of large amount of petroleum has come to add to the countries economic fortunes made from other minerals such as gold, diamond, bauxite, tine and copper. Ghana is also one of the worlds leading producer of cocoa.

So for those countries in Africa whose leaders still negate and undermine the fact that there is a direct correlation between democracy and governance on the one hand and economic growth on the other, Ghana now stands out as the example that the institution of governance and democracy can lead to economic turnarounds in most sub-Saharan African countries.

For a country that suffered from one of the worst economic crises characterized by a high unemployment rate between the mid 1970's and late 1980's, the turnaround in the Ghanaian economy is an achievement that must be heralded, and the example copied by most countries of the sub region.

By dint of its progress, Ghana has now been re-classified as a 'middle income' country and the United Nations now estimates that the country is on target to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of cutting poverty by half by 2015. In 2011, the growth rate of the country was one of the highest in the world standing at 13.4%. This high economic growth rate is being felt by the population in terms of better deliveries of key services. Ninety percent of Ghanaian kids will complete primary school, 60% of households have access to electricity and the immunization rate of infants is close to 80%.

What is now being described as the 'Ghanaian economic miracle' has been attributed remotely to a financial windfall from the discovery of petroleum but most importantly from the new democratic culture and the institution of governance in the country. Since 1992 when multi-party elections were held after a long era of instability because of military regimes, there has been urgency within the political class for the furtherance and consolidation of the democratic culture and governance in the country. The transfer of power from one regime to the other known to create enormous friction and instability in most countries in the continent is now an institutional reality in Ghana as hotly contested elections often end in the peaceful alternation of power. Four different presidents have ruled Ghana in the last 20 years. In the same spirit, a very vibrant press and a dynamic civil society have emerged to act as a veritable vanguard to this new found democratic eldorado. Millions of educated Ghanaians who fled the country during the hard times and were scattered all over the world doing odd jobs to survive are now returning gradually to help make use of the new economic dispensation.

Jean Pierre, a friend of mine who visited Ghana for a business trip a couple of years ago told me upon his return that 'things are much better there, and the people are feeling more joyful to live'. He was definitely comparing what he saw there, with the situation in Cameroon where the both of us lived at the time.

Folks, what Ghanaians and other countries like Benin, Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa are doing to foster democracy and governance in Africa is huge considering the shame and pain that poverty has brought to most countries in the continent.

Countries of the continent like Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and the Central African Republic where their leaders have defied the will of their people and perpetuated themselves in power for very long periods of time leading to dictatorship, poverty and endemic levels of corruption have to make a choice.

As for the Ghanaian people, they have spoken very loud and clear. The have rejected the shameful and muddy road of dictatorship that leads to corruption and poverty. In the spirit of their founding father Dr. Nkwame Nkrumah, they have chosen the high and difficult road towards more democratic freedoms and governance. They know that this part may be difficult and treacherous, but they definitely know that this is the only part that will certainly lead them towards more peace, prosperity and a better life for their people. Kudos and Bravo to all Ghanaians

From: JOHNNY MOR <sirjohnmor@yahoo.com>
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>; "accdf@yahoogroups.com" <accdf@yahoogroups.com>; "cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com" <cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com>; "ambasbay@googlegroups.com" <ambasbay@googlegroups.com>; "shesausa@yahoogroups.com" <shesausa@yahoogroups.com>; "mankonforum@yahoogroups.com" <mankonforum@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Mishe Fon,

Thanks for this great financial presentation about the consular services at the Cameroon Embassy.

Cameroon is "Africa in Miniature" and we just need to keep marketing our very unique country. Our touristic potentials are comparable to those of kenya and Sout Africa and we can generate reasonable revenue through Visa application processing from what I see. Let's just just continue to market this very unique "Eldorado" in West Africa and push more Americans and Europeans to visit it.

Cameroon has been identified as an "Emerging Market Economy" in central Africa and there is a great potential for its sustainability through multiple revenue streams generation. The Sustainability of Emerging Market Economies has become a major challenge and I think our beloved country of Cameroon has the potential to sustain itself.

May God Bless

Thanks

Sir Johnny Mor

"... Ask not what your country has done for you; Ask what you have done for your country"*** President John F. Kennedy, January 20th, 1961

"... The Only Thing that We can fear, is Fear Itself"
*** President Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4th, 1933

"... A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
*** United Negro College Fund

Project/Sustainable Development Consultant Founder/CEO: http://www.tanyimorproject.com Ambassador-UNA-NCA: http://www.unausa.org Email: sirjohnmor@yahoo.com Tel: (610) 453-2409

From: Mishe Fon <mishefon@yahoo.com>
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>; "accdf@yahoogroups.com" <accdf@yahoogroups.com>; "cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com" <cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com>; "ambasbay@googlegroups.com" <ambasbay@googlegroups.com>; "shesausa@yahoogroups.com" <shesausa@yahoogroups.com>; "mankonforum@yahoogroups.com" <mankonforum@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:43 PM
Subject: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Let us set the record straight. The Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC is a "Cash Cow". Herewith, are the Consular Services and the "official rates" as culled from the Cameroon Embassy website. Add an additional $5.00 (application fee) for all services provided:

1) Legalization of documents................................$ 10.00

2) Passport Extension............................................$ 141.00

3) Passport Renewal between *they are not sure of exact amount* $146.00 - $165.00

4) Travel Document or Laisser Passer..................$ 95.11

5) 03 Months Visa.................................................$ 141.00

6) 06 Months Visa.................................................$ 275.00

7) Transit Visa.......................................................$ 141.00

8) Temporal Permit to import Firearms for

hunting and (CRY-DIE) purposes...................$ 642.28

As a reminder, the ACCDF had submitted in writing to the Embassy, the Ministry of External Relations, the Prime Minister,s office and the Presidency, after the Town hall meeting organized to facilitate proper interactions between the Embassy and Cameroonians; all the recommendations that were agreed upon including the expansion of consular services to such areas with strong Cameroonian concentration like New England (Boston), Minnesota, Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles. As usual we were superbly snubbed by the Yaounde Administration. Not even a simple courtesy reply to acknowledge receipt of our GENUINE suggestions. How Man Go Do? On vas faire comment Norh?

Honestly, the monies that can be generated by our Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC annually through creative strategies is humongous and can comfortably sustain the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs...if well managed. The Embassy does not need any subsidy from Yaounde. They can even pay their own staff and dole out scholarships to meritorious Cameroonians and even assist those undergoing some form of hardship; and still have enough CHANGE in the Bank for any eventuality.

OK let us take an example of issuance of Transit visas only (hypothetically speaking) and you bring in a sleek "used car sales man" like Mishe Fon to sell Cameroon image. In one year even with "Bad Market", I can sell to 40,000 "Transit Tourists"; Cameroon exotic Mirage" to our Tourist hungry American friends.

In ACCDF alone, we,ve taken more than 100 African Americans within the past year, who,ve traced their DNA to Cameroon...and we,ve done all of that...N J O H...Gratis...Free Of Charge.

Now, Multiply 40,000 X $141.00 = $5.6 Million dollars (right there...Tax exempt). If they give me "daso 10%" of what I sell, I will smile my way to the Bank with $560.000 (Five hundred and sixty thousand dollars)...sans FEYMANIA...Do you guys see what I am talking about? Money dey dat Embassy well well. Nigerians have understood the game, Senegal, Cote d,Ivoire, South Africa, Togo and other African chancelleries are generating so much revenue for their countries that it has become the envy of most of their Government Ministers who all want to be appointed "Ambassadors to the US".

Are you getting the financial picture? OK, look at the other services and do the Math: It is simple Arithmetic.

Show me that Minister in Cameroon who sits on a Gold mine like this one?

The Consular Financial information can be found @ www.cameroonembassyusa.org/docs/2011FormsPDF/Consular%20Fees.pdf

Mishe Fon

From: MANU Tayong <anomah007@yahoo.com>
To: camnetwork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Admittedly, there is probably a good reason why the visa fees charged by the Cameroon Embassy ($141.00) are highest among some West African states we are familiar with, (Prof Konde)

Scholarships funds, repatriation funds, emergency evacuation and hospitalization, tourist attraction improvements... just what might this good reason be? Let's hear it from insiders of the regime like Pat 10. We are all ears and waiting!!!!

"Self-government won't work without self-discipline," Paul Harvey

"People never plan to fail. They just fail to plan"

--- On Thu, 12/27/12, Emmanuel Konde <ekonde07@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Emmanuel Konde <ekonde07@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 5:27 PM

The administration of Consular Services is not a new field. Hence, there's no need for "inventing" or "reinventing" the wheel in order to improve the quality of service provided by the Cameroon Embassy.  I am certain that the consular staff know exactly their areas of weakness that need improving. Nevertheless, consultation with, studying, and emulating what the consular services of other embassies do well may be of greater value than non-professional advice or criticism.

Admittedly, there is probably a good reason why the visa fees charged by the Cameroon Embassy ($141.00) are highest among some West African states we are familiar with, namely Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Ghana - $100 for a five-year multiple entry visa.

Nigeria - $30 Regular / and $85 Expedited

Senegal - Exemptions for ECOWAS and USA, Canada, Japan, Israel, Taiwan

                  Single $50 for 30 days   /    Multiple $95 for 90 days



"The problem of power is how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public." Robert F. Kennedy

From: SAM ESALE <autoauthority.esale@gmail.com>
To: camnetwork@yahoogroups.com
Cc: cpdmga <cpdmga@yahoogroups.com>; cpdmnortheastern <cpdmnortheastern@yahoogroups.com>; banabaoroko <banabaoroko@yahoogroups.com>; Dikome_elements <Dikome_elements@yahoogroups.com>; Greg E. Fonsah <gregfonsah@yahoo.com>; mukete daniel <modikadan@yahoo.com>; THOM MAMBE <tmambe5188@rogers.com>; Mboe Mediko Fred <mboe727@yahoo.com>; mathew_esona <Mathew_esona@hotmail.com>; Gertrude Ngoe <masakonanje31@yahoo.com>; Grasso Ebako <gebako2@yahoo.com>; gaginifor@yahoo.com; mota_nginya@yahoo.com; WANDA MISORI <misoriwanda@bellsouth.net>; Louis Etongwe <waetongwe@yahoo.com>; Elias Etinge <etingee@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Saint Arrey of Ntenako,

I think both you and Mr. Nanje are on the same page. The Cameroon Embassy in USA under HE Foe Atangana, has come a long way, serving ALL Cameroonians in USA. And yes, there is room for improvement in the area of customer service. However, the Embassy does not only handle matters regarding passports and visas. There is more to the official functions of the Embassy, than meets the eye of the public.

Nevertheless, if the Cameroon Embassy in Washington, DC can generate an annual revenue of $1,268.000.00 (564 million frs. CFA), by processing 8000 visas @ $141.00 each, then it is quite reasonable for the Cameroon Minister of Foreign Affairs, to make a business decision that would decentralize some of the Embassy activities, thus unclogging the bottle-neck. The creation of Consular Services in major Cameroon-diaspora population centers to handle some of the processes involved in these transactions, would ease the pains of inconvenience, emergency and financial costs, suffered by Cameroonians in America. And the Government would not complain about the cost of undertaking such a positive initiative. The Embassy as we can see, is a major revenue centre and it can create several self sufficient satellite centers to cater to the real needs of Cameroonian citizens and foreigners who wish to visit the country for business or pleasure, if and only if such centres were allowed to function like businesses, i.e. effectively and efficiently.

In business, when we make it easy for our "clients" to reach us or have access to our facilities and/or services and then treat them with respect and care, (1) we capture a larger market share, (2) we conduct more business,(3) we generate more revenue and (4) we have a very high customer satisfaction index (CSI). By pursuing excellence through accessibility, quality customer service, innovation and cutting edge technology, we become leaders in our respective industries. Our civil administrators or leaders need to start thinking outside the box and learn to make decisions like businessmen and women do every day, in order to stay competitive. We are not only citizens, we are also "clients" needing the services of our government and civil servants like Embassy personnel or staff, are government agents charged with the responsibility of the efficient delivery of such services.

Here are a few simple questions we ought to be asking the Cameroon Minister of Foreign Affairs;   (a) What happens to the $1,268,000.00 or 564 million frs. CFA, generated annually by the Cameroon Embassy in USA? (b) Who is the beneficiary of such funds? (c) How can such funds be accounted for? (d) Why does the government complain about expenses each time the conversation shifts to Consular services, as a solution to ease the bottle-neck in the delivery of Embassy services? As citizens of an open society like Cameroon, it is our responsibility to demand answers to such inquiry, either through our representatives in parliament or through our free and independent press or media.

Cameroon is smaller in size than the State of Texas, in terms of population density and land mass or geographic area. So, travelling from Mamfe or Bamenda or Garoua to Yaounde is not the same as travelling from Georgia to Washington, DC. The trip is not only very expensive, it is also not very convenient for those who work, attend school or have families and it is risky. In stead of wasting $500.00 or 250.000 frs. CFA and precious time travelling to DC for "fingerprints", I think it would make more business sense to use 10% of that amount, going to the closest Cameroon Consulate in one's neighbourhood for similar services, and then sending the rest of the money (90%), directly to family in Cameroon for the education of a child, pay for the medical needs of a sick relative, contribute to a small community development project in the village or make a down payment on piece of land in Dikome Balue, or putting the balance in an emergency fund or mutual fund account to grow. That is plenty of money which would go to stimulate the local economy in our beloved country, creating cottage industries and jobs, if one considers the number of Cameroonians who make such expensive and pointless trips to and from Washington-DC. It is time to begin thinking outside the box.

Opening up Consulates in the South East, East Coast and South USA, areas where there are huge concentrations of Cameroon-diaspora population to justify the need, will go a long way to ease the problems, at little or no cost to the government, if these satellite locations are managed with efficiency. For instance, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, etc. have Consulates across USA and including Atlanta, catering to the needs of their respective populations or citizenry. And the idea of sub-contracting "biometric" services to a foreign entity as part of the solution, is not far fetched even though I would be reluctant to support it for security reasons or concerns.

At this point, one has to admit that there are several other possible solutions to the Embassy problems. The suggestions in this write up are neither conclusive nor cut in stone. The key factor to bear in mind is that our Embassy must cease operating or functioning in the mind-set of the 1970s and1980s. The population of Cameroonians in USA has increased tremendously and the migration is spread across a larger geographic area. Cameroon has also gained more exposure over the years and is attracting more visitors and businesses. The world has also become "smaller" with globalization and technological advancements. The Embassy has to undergo a major transformation as well, to meet the challenges of today, let alone satisfy the needs of the growing population of Cameroonians and foreigners who wish to visit Cameroon. The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Yaounde needs to pay very close attention to these trends in emigration-immigration or tectonic shifts and respond accordingly. On the other hand, we the people must understand that the Ambassador represents our country. The Embassy is our "country on foreign soil", and so we have a civic duty to respectfully demand accountability, responsibility and transparency in very serious but civilized ways.The real or more sustainable solutions to our problems must begin with the government's ability to conceptualize a plausible paradigm shift in governance, affecting every aspect of our society at home and abroad and the willingness of our leaders to accept change.

Happy New Year to you.

Kind regards,

Sam Esale

Atl/ga-USA.

On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 6:11 AM, Jesusman <saintarrey@yahoo.com> wrote:

Mr Nanje, Thank you so very much for the wishes. Mr SG, I read you very well. I paid my own transport twice to go teach English for free in Mexico. Why would that be a problem for fingerprints to obtain a passport? What I really think we all should be talking is the wait time for visas with the excuse that we have to apply 3 months ahead of time. That to me lacks any logic as it completely ignores unforeseen circumstances.

"This world is phony: if my enemies heard that I have killed a lion even with my bare hands, they will gossip that I killed a mere squirrel, but when they hear that their friend has used 4 days to catch a tilapia, they broadcast to the world that he caught a shark." (Hamilton Ayuk).

"Only a man cursed to die a violent death challenges a male buffalo to a fight." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"Idle people write, idler people read, and idlest people read and whine that idle people are taking their time." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"When a people have suffered for too long, they will drink fairytales on fairylands with insatiable gullibility." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"He who speaks out before the system kicks him out has a clean conscience, but he who speaks out only after the system has kicked him out, has vengeance for conscience." Hamilton Ayuk.

From: jackson nanje <jacksonnanje@yahoo.com>
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 7:00 AM
Subject: Re: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Chistmas greetings to you, Rev. Dr. Ayuk,

Read the write-up again. I did not complain about visas but about Fingerprinting.

Jackson Nanje

     http://www.nanjecreativethinking.blogspot.com/

     www.youtube.com/NanjeMusicProduction

     www.nexsans.blogspot.com

     www.orokousa.org

     www.dideco.org

"We must not continue to run away and allow our public opinions and the free expression of them become the enterprise of intolerance and incivility" Christmas Ebini

"The Oroko intelligentsia is gifted with an eloquence that does not give blessings to development". Dr. Monica Njanjokuma

"If you should know how much money you have in your bank account, then you should consider yourself a poor man" Michael Namaya.

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people" Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn" Benjamin Franklin

" Creditors have better memories than debtors" Benjamin Franklin

"If the only thing you have in your hand is a hammer, you tend to see everything else as a nail" Abraham Maslow.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do" Benjamin Franklin

"Freedom granted by the oppressor is never the same as freedom won by the oppressed" Prof. Emmanuel Konde.

From: Jesusman <saintarrey@yahoo.com>
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:20 AM
Subject: [camnetwork] Re: Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Dear Mr. Nanje,

I send a shout out to H.E Foe Atangana for the good job he is doing. He is not where Cameroonians want him to be, but he is getting there. Like Nanje, I will suggest they improve the wait time for both visas and passports. The courtesy of workers at the embassy is still very deplorable.

However, the issue of people traveling to acquire passports and visas is unfounded as causing extreme hardships. The US Embassy in Cameroon services at least 6 countries in central and west and east Africa, yet, they people still travel to seek for visas. Don't people travel from Mamfe to Yaounde for an American visa. Why is that so bad to travel from Texas to DC for a visa?

Until then, give credit where credit is due.

St Arrey of Ntenako.

"This world is phony: if my enemies heard that I have killed a lion even with my bare hands, they will gossip that I killed a mere squirrel, but when they hear that their friend has used 4 days to catch a tilapia, they broadcast to the world that he caught a shark." (Hamilton Ayuk).

"Only a man cursed to die a violent death challenges a male buffalo to a fight." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"Idle people write, idler people read, and idlest people read and whine that idle people are taking their time." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"When a people have suffered for too long, they will drink fairytales on fairylands with insatiable gullibility." (Hamilton Ayuk)

"He who speaks out before the system kicks him out has a clean conscience, but he who speaks out only after the system has kicked him out, has vengeance for conscience." Hamilton Ayuk.

From: jackson nanje <jacksonnanje@yahoo.com>
To: jackson nanje <jacksonnanje@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 12:34 AM
Subject: [camnetwork] Should the Cameroon Government do more to improve consular services at their US-based embassy?

Dear Camnetters,

The growing frustrations of Cameroonians in the United States of America on the lengthy time to process visas on their passports demand that the Cameroon government make some drastic changes to ease their frustrations. It takes the embassy at least a week to process a visa on each passport; however, it is important that applications for visas are submitted at least, three(3) months before scheduled travel date, in order to avoid any unforseen contigencies. One of the hurdles we face as Africans is that, we wait until a few days before we travel to send our passports for processing. When we act in this type of irresponsible manner, we then subject the personnel at the embassy to all kinds of pressure and negative name-calling. This is wrong. In order to get the Embassy of Cameroon to organize herself and clean up her own act we, the visa applicants, mostly Cameroonians, must learn to act responsibly.

The embassy has done a fantastic job in explaining lots of items on the website; however, it ought to make the site user-friendly. To begin with, the website is beneath expected standards for a country like Cameroon and for the kind of money they receive for processing visas. We may expect such a basic website to be a product of some Cameroonian embassy in some third world countries, not of an embassy in the United States of America. That has to be fixed. Many Cameroonians complain that a lot of the information they are looking for on the website http://www.cameroonembassyusa.org/  are in a PDF-format. The information must be navigable and only printed forms must be protected in the PDF-format.

The Embassy of Cameroon does not process visas and provide other consular needs to only those in the United States of America; they serve countries like Mexico, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Porto Rico and Diplomatic visas from personnel from the United Nations as well (and their visas require special and immediate attention than the others). So, while we must empathize with the resourses presently at the disposal at the embassy we must not take our frustrations at workers who are making use of resources at their disposal. The Ambassodor, His Excellency Joseph Atangana Foe, must provide a must do list to the Cameroon government for immediate attention. Such a list must include additional personnel and consular installations in the United States and the Vurgin Islands. It should also recruit Cameroonian citizens within the United States with expertise to suit the demands at the Embassy and who must have excellent customer skills. Take for example, in the months of November and December of 2012, the embassy processed approximately 8,000 visas at $141.00 each. That is a total of $1,128,000 (564,000FCFA). This is a lot of money for just two months to subject visa applicants to substandard services.

The renewal or issuance of passports is another area that the government must provide better services to its customers. Today, the renewal or issuance of new passports require the individual to travel to Washimgton DC to enable the process.Frustrating process it is for individuals who live as far as the West Coast of United States or in the other countries out of the United States must have to cough up huge sums of money in the excess of $500.00 (250,000FCFA) for airfares and sometimes visa fees for those outside the United States just for issuance of passport. It is a financially irresponsible process initiated by the government of Cameroon, which is absolutely unnecessary. A biometric passport requires one's fingerprints. And it is because of the necessity of fingerprint, which the govenment can easily contract with local police departments to provide some relief to her citizens in order not to subject them to these unnecessary and wasteful expenditures that can surely be avoided. Void of creative measures in the passport issuance process, the applicant, who has just returned from Washington DC, has to wait for approximately three more months to receive his/her passport that was sent to Cameroon for processing.The three months waiting time is a wasteful process for a businessman. Today, we live in a world which has been rendered smaller by technology. The archaic method of parcel delivery has given way to modern ways, where goods can reach individuals in matter of days not months, with use of aircrafts. Here too, the government of Cameroon must contract with delivery services like FEDEX. UPS, and DHL to expedite the safe delivery at a cost or additional fee to the applicant, without wasting as much of the applicant's time like they presently do. Most individuals won't worry paying this additional cost which is done once in five years or exchange of good service.

This write up shall be posted at http://www.nanjecreativethinking.blogspot.com/ in a couple of weeks. Our goal is to suggest innovative ways at the disposal of the ambassodor, who must propose cost-effective changes to the government of Cameroon.

Jackson Nanje

     http://www.nanjecreativethinking.blogspot.com/

     www.youtube.com/NanjeMusicProduction

     www.nexsans.blogspot.com

     www.orokousa.org

     www.dideco.org

"We must not continue to run away and allow our public opinions and the free expression of them become the enterprise of intolerance and incivility" Christmas Ebini

"The Oroko intelligentsia is gifted with an eloquence that does not give blessings to development". Dr. Monica Njanjokuma

"If you should know how much money you have in your bank account, then you should consider yourself a poor man" Michael Namaya.

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people" Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn" Benjamin Franklin

" Creditors have better memories than debtors" Benjamin Franklin

"If the only thing you have in your hand is a hammer, you tend to see everything else as a nail" Abraham Maslow.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do" Benjamin Franklin

"Freedom granted by the oppressor is never the same as freedom won by the oppressed" Prof. Emmanuel Konde.