The African Continental Free Trade Area: Are we putting the Cart before the Horse?
By Melaine Nsaikila Many in Africa have celebrated the recent signing of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in Kigali on March 21, 2018 creating the African Continental Free Trade Zone. A pan-African initiative bringing into play the largest interstate market in the world. It is the biggest trade [...]
Top 5 Trends in Digital Health in Africa
By Odette Kibu* and Denis Foretia** Technology has affected a wide range of sectors in our society, including agriculture, economic, education and socio-political sectors, positively. Digital technologies have transformed the way people work, shop, and socialize. The advantages of digital technology are used by healthcare providers and they have begun [...]
Inequality Aversion Understanding the Intricate Links between Marginalization and Violent Conflicts
Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, philosopher and author, in his book titled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations(1776) highlighted the fundamental and crucial role human self-interest plays in the economy. “It is not from the benevolence (kindness) of the butcher, the brewer or the [...]
Calling for a Rebasing of Cameroon’s GDP
By Lontum Edwin Nchadze Initiated by Ghana in 2011, large-scale upward revisions of GDP estimates have been announced by several African countries in recent years. These announcements preceded an exercise carried out in each country; the revision of methods and base data used to calculate the Gross Domestic Product(GDP), known [...]
Political Echoes from Uganda; Of President Museveni, Cincinnatus and insatiable appetite for power
By Cosmas Mwikirize A legend is told of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (c. 519–430 BC), an aged Roman farmer who stood up to be counted during his country’s dire time of need. On prompting by his embattled compatriots, Cincinnatus abandoned his plow to assume despotic authority over the state. After sixteen [...]
Education systems in developing countries cannot afford any more laxity
By Cosmas Mwikirize Education is always touted as a magic bullet for economic emancipation. However, the preponderance of evidence has increasingly shown that an educated population does not necessarily lead to improved economic gains or employment opportunities. Nowhere else is this realer than in Africa. Although unemployment figures specific to [...]
Give Peace A Chance in Cameroon
By Mbonde Barnabas Ebule I have followed with interest the most recent call, dated October 18, 2017, by Dr Simon Munzu; the former United Nations Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Côte d'Ivoire. The call included some pertinent question to Mr. Phelomon Yang, Prime Minister and Head of Government of the [...]
Education and Dialogue – The Best Tools for Genuine Nation Building
By Professor Jean-Emmanuel PONDI* Never in the modern history of popular emancipation has “not going to school” been used as a winning strategy to attain the full emancipation of a people. Let us be clear from the onset. As I acknowledged in a reflection published as early as December 22nd, 2016 [...]
Bank Intermediation still insufficient in CEMAC Zone according to Experts: Impact on Cameroon’s Economy
By Melie Nchinda Created in 1994 and operational in 1999, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, popularly known by its French acronym, CEMAC, is an economic community made up of six central African states. Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea. With [...]
Why Cameroon Should as a Matter of Urgency, pull out of the CFA Franc Zone
By Melaine Nsaikila, Senior Economic Policy Analyst In his book titled “The Road to Serfdom” published in 1994, Frederick Hayek posits that ‘…money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom ever invented by man’. For it is ‘money which in modern society opens up an outstanding range of choice [...]
Economic Intelligence: A springboard for the development and promotion of tourism in Cameroon
By Bakori Marbian Nkawa, Contributor It’s proven that tourism is an emergent market. Nonetheless, for some countries, conquering and maintaining important market shares is problematic. Innovation is a determining factor in ensuring competitiveness and productivity and, to the end, client satisfaction or loyalty. This brief, aims to contribute to understanding the [...]
The Role of Agricultural Innovation in creating Food Security for Africa
By Caroline Nyamnjoh, MA Poverty and hunger are on the rise in Africa despite its abundant land mass and quite a large farming population. Africa still has a high population of poor and hungry citizens, who suffer from food insecurity, malnutrition and chronic hunger. Agriculture being the backbone of most [...]