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Cameroon Battles Vaccine Hesitancy as Only 11% of Jabs Used

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – Authorities in Cameroon are battling vaccine hesitancy with only eleven percent of doses received since April dispensed, most of them due to travel requirements. Cameroon’s government and clergy have been struggling to get the public to accept that the vaccines are safe.

A group of 70 Cameroonian Muslims gathered at the Djoungolo government hospital in Yaoundé Friday to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Coordinator of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon, Moussa Oumarou says vaccine hesitancy meant he had to convince the group.

He says Cameroon’s government asked the clergy to convince their followers that the vaccines could save their lives.

Oumarou says every religion that puts God first seeks to protect human lives. He says it is both a divine and civic obligation to protect lives by accepting to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Oumarou says the council has asked all Imams and Muslim dignitaries in Cameroon to accept to be vaccinated and to encourage all their faithful to be vaccinated.

Cameroon health officials say only 75,000 people have been inoculated since April, when the government received 700,000 doses.

And most of the doses administered, say officials, went to people who were planning to travel outside of Cameroon, including expatriates.

37-year-old college teacher in Yaoundé Rigobert Fonbanla says many Cameroonians don’t trust authorities’ urging the jab after a COVID funds scandal and seizure of fakes.

“The same government that is asking people to accept to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is the same government that is investigating the authenticity and origin of the coronavirus vaccines,” said Fonbanla. “There is a possibility that corrupt government officials may have imported fake COVID-19 vaccines or produced dubious COVID-19 vaccines. I will wait for investigations announced by the government to be complete before I can decide whether I will be vaccinated or not.”

Most of a $335 million International Monetary Fund loan to Cameroon to fight COVID disappeared.

Last week at least 15 ministers were called up at the supreme state audit office to justify their management of the funds.

In December, Cameroon announced that its military seized several tons of fake COVID drugs and vaccines from neighboring Nigeria, raising fears that other fakes might be in circulation.

Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says the COVID vaccines being used are good quality and recommended by the World Health Organization.

He says the vaccines are not obligatory but will be administered freely to all civilians who want to save their lives from the deadly coronavirus. Malachie says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is very keen to have transparency on all COVID-19 vaccination procedures. He says the state of Cameroon cannot joke with the lives of its citizens.

To encourage Cameroonians to get the jab, hospitals in the northwest region in April said they would wave a usual $2 consultation fee.

In May, Cameroon’s government instructed all its ministers and senior officials to be vaccinated in public.

Source: Voice of America

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Millions of Nigerian Twitter Users Blocked as Ban Takes Hold

ABUJA, NIGERIA – Millions of Nigerians struggled Saturday to access Twitter, a day after authorities suspended the service in response to the company’s deletion of a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its terms of service.

The Twitter ban took effect Saturday morning. Millions of users in Lagos and Abuja said they were unable to access their accounts.

Authorities said Friday that they had banned Twitter because it was persistently being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Twitter responded to the ban, saying it was “deeply concerning.”

‘Reverse the unlawful suspension’

Many citizens and rights groups objected to the ban. Amnesty International said it was a threat to free speech and must be reversed without delay.

“Amnesty International condemns the Nigerian government’s suspension of Twitter in Nigeria,” said Seun Bakare, a spokesperson for the organization. Bakare said Amnesty had called on Nigerian authorities “to immediately reverse the unlawful suspension and other plans to gag the media, to repress the civic space and to undermine human rights of the people. The Nigerian government has an obligation to protect and promote International human rights laws and standards.”

The ban mostly affected the country’s largest network providers, MTN and Airtel.

Some users Saturday were able to access Twitter using Wi-Fi connections. Others were avoiding the shutdown by using virtual private networks that make them appear to be using Twitter from another country.

VPN providers have since Friday seen a surge in usage. Abuja resident Basil Akpakavir was among Twitter users getting around the government ban.

“They are relentless in their intolerant attitude toward people that have contrary opinion to theirs,” Akpakavir said. “But the truth is that we’re equal to the task, as well. Whichever way they want it, we’re going to give it to them. We want a Nigeria that is prosperous, that is built on the tenets of true democracy.”

Separatist group singled out

Buhari had threatened earlier in the week to crack down on separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in a manner similar to the civil war waged in 1967 when 3 million Biafrans were estimated to have died in battle against the Nigerian government.

The president’s tweet was criticized as a war threat to separatist groups, and Twitter deleted it.

Amnesty’s Bakare said the government must be held accountable for comments capable of instigating division and violence.

“It is important that government platforms, and in this particular instance the president, do not invite violence or division,” Bakare said. “The government must be alive to the increased tensions in the country, given the spate of insecurity.”

The Nigerian government has often attempted to regulate the use of social media to reduce criticism.

Late last year, the government proposed a social media regulation bill after the End SARS protests against police brutality, when social media were used by young Nigerians to mobilize and challenge what they said was bad governance.

Source: Voice of America

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Malawi Rolls Out Second Jab Amid Vaccine Hesitancy

BLANTRYE, MALAWI – Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera led a rollout Friday of a push for a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with a strong call to Malawians to go for vaccination to prevent a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The call came a day after health authorities in Malawi announced the presence of a more contagious Indian variant in the country, which has infected 14 people. Despite this, authorities bemoan the continued low vaccination rate.

During a televised event at the state residence in Lilongwe, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said he and Vice President Saulos Chilima decided to lead the campaign for a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to prove its importance and safety.

He said this also was to dispel misconceptions and fears some Malawians have about the COVID-19 vaccination.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine we are using is a good vaccine whose aim is to protect us from COVID-19. That’s why my vice president and I were the first to have vaccinated in March, and now we want to become the first to have the second jab in public. Our aim is that you should be protected, there is no need to fear.”

The call came a day after health authorities in Malawi announced the presence of a more contagious Indian variant in the country that infected 14 people.

Despite the announcement of the Indian variant, the administration of the second jab has started in a low-key manner compared to the first dose.

For example, local media reported Friday that some vaccination centers were vaccinating just three people daily.

Health experts say this is largely because of lack of information on the importance of the second dose.

George Jobe is executive director for Health Equity Network.

“Our recommendation is that we need to package special jingles and messages tailored toward the second dosage,” said Jobe. “Those [messages] should fly in our media, encouraging those who got their first jab to get their second jab to complete. And we should also show the benefits of completing the dosage.”

Jobe also said there is a need to use community structures, like religious leaders and village chiefs, to encourage their subjects to get the second jab.

“What we noted recently, just a few weeks ago as we are getting close to a second jab, the negative information also resurfaced, threatening that people who got the vaccine may die,” said Jobe. “So, that probably has had an impact, that’s why we need more awareness raising and responding to such negative information.”

Malawi got a total 512,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines in March. The COVAX facility gave Malawi 360,000 doses, the African Union donated 102,000 doses and about 20,000 of those were destroyed last month after they expired. The Indian government donated 50,000 doses.

As of Thursday, only 355,000 doses had been used.

Another health rights campaigner, Maziko Matemba of the Health and Rights Education Program, says the problem is that Malawi has not created a lot of demand for these vaccines, especially for people in rural areas.

This, he says, has resulted in low uptake of the vaccine.

“We have only managed to vaccinate about one percent of the population because we have to vaccinate about 60 percent,” said Matemba. “So, for us, I think, the government and members of parliament could have made provisional budget to support the demand creation for the vaccine.”

Government authorities say they are now finalizing new awareness messages about the vaccine to help complement its ongoing campaign to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Source: Voice of America

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Suspect arrested for drugs in Cookhouse

COOKHOUSE – SAPS endeavours to remove illicit drugs from our streets yielded positive results when a 21-year-old suspect was arrested in possession of drugs.

On Friday 04 June 2021 Grahamstown K9 member Captain Percy Benn, a dog handler together with Cookhouse Crime Prevention members followed up on information on drug dealing in Cookhouse.

The team confiscated 28 full mandrax tablets and a substantial amount of cash after executing a search warrant at a residence in Jasen Street, Cookhouse.

The estimated street value of the drugs is about R 2260-00.

The suspect is due to appear before the Somerset East Magistrates Court soon.

Cookhouse Station Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Ferreira, commended the members and thanked Captain Percy Benn for his assistance on arresting the suspect and the recovery of the drugs.

Source: South African Police Service

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More Than 20% in Sudan Face Acute Hunger, WFP Says

GENEVA – The World Food Program is warning that 21% of Sudan’s 40 million population faces acute hunger and will need emergency assistance between June and September, when food stocks are lowest.

Several factors have contributed to this situation. For example, over the past year, Sudan has faced hyperinflation, the worst floods in years, a locust infestation, and COVID-19 restrictions, which have caused massive job losses.

A nutritional survey by the Sudanese government, the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program finds 9.8 million people cannot feed themselves, putting many of their lives at risk.

The WFP says it will provide food assistance for 9.3 million of the most vulnerable people during the next six months, but it is $48 million short of what it needs for this operation and is appealing for support.

Marianne Ward is the WFP’s deputy country director operations in Sudan. Speaking by video link from the capital, Khartoum, she says the WFP has been expanding its school feeding programs to provide children with nutritional biscuits.

“I recently was very far north of Khartoum where we were opening and inaugurating a new school to be part of our school feeding program,” Ward said. “The school was literally mobbed by children whose families were sending them there so they could at least get one meal a day covered from somewhere else so the family could feed them.”

Sudan’s global acute malnutrition rate — including young children with both moderate and severe acute malnutrition — is 14%, at the edge of the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold. This is a condition that in some cases can lead to death.

Ward says United Nations agencies are expanding nutrition centers across the country.

“For the first time ever, this last year, WFP began opening nutrition centers, emergency nutrition centers in Khartoum itself,” Ward said. “Traditionally, WFP has not had to intervene in the capital because it is the heartbeat of the country and the richest place. But the situation, particularly with hyperinflation, has been so difficult for so many families that, indeed, it is on a crisis footing right now.”

WFP says the cost of hunger to the Sudanese economy is estimated at $2 billion per year, or about 2.6% of its gross domestic product.

Source: Voice of America

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Cameroon Women Appeal to the UN Security Council to Discuss Escalating Crises

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – Female Cameroonian activists and opposition members have appealed to the United Nations Security Council, meeting Monday, to discuss possible solutions to escalating Boko Haram terrorism and the separatist crisis in the central African state. They are also asking the U.N. to force Cameroon to respect human rights, release political prisoners and negotiate a cease-fire with armed groups. The government has refused to respond to their appeal.

Twenty female leaders say in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that Cameroon, once the bastion of stability in Central Africa, is today conflict-ridden and on the brink of catastrophe.

They say that more than 10,000 Cameroonians have died in the Boko Haram conflict on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria and the separatist crisis in the central African state’s English-speaking western regions. They accuse Cameroon’s government and rebels of gross human rights violations.

Edith Kah Walla is the president of the Cameroon People’s Party and founding member of Stand Up for Cameroon, which advocates for a peaceful transition to rebuild Cameroon.

She says the women want the Security Council to include Cameroon on their agenda.

“We want the U.N. to give us help now,” said Walla. “We do not want them to wait till the situation is so bad, and then to start telling us that they are bringing U.N. soldiers [peace keeping troops] here. We want them to act now. Our population is dying. Over a million children are out of schools. We cannot sit by as our country falls apart. There is no peace without respect for human rights, without justice.”

Walla said the women want the U.N. to require Cameroon to respect human rights and release all nonviolent political prisoners linked to Boko Haram, separatists and the political crisis in the central African state.

The women say that for the sake of peace, U.N. member states should ask Cameroon to allow free public discussions on political transition. Cameroon’s 88-year-old President, Paul Biya, has been in power for close to 40 years and is accused of wanting to hang on to power until he dies.

Ejani Leonard Kulu is a Cameroonian political analyst at the U.N. University for Peace in Addis Ababa. He says it is very unlikely that the United Nations will take up the female leaders’ proposals.

He says the U.N. has already helped Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Benin contribute troops to a joint task force to fight Boko Haram.

“The U.N. is a partner in managing the crises in Cameroon,” said Kulu. “If we should take Boko Haram, remember the Multinational Joint Task Force. It is financed and supported by the U.N. The crisis in the North West and South West, the U.N. has pronounced itself on several occasions that it is an internal problem which Cameroon can solve.”

Kulu said Cameroon female leaders should have carried out advocacy with the five permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to ensure discussion of Cameroon at the Security Council.

In another letter, the female leaders ask International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to stop disbursing funds until the Cameroon government shows proof of transparent management.

Tomaino Ndam Njoya is mayor of the western town of Foumban, an official of the Cameroon Democratic Union and a former lawmaker in Cameroon’s National Assembly.

Njoya says the female leaders are not indifferent to the high wave of corruption and theft of public funds in Cameroon. She says many government ministers have been asked to explain what happened to a $335 million IMF loan intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. She says it would be unfair to continue to give loans to Cameroon when the government has not accounted for amounts already received.

Cameroon government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi did not respond when contacted by VOA about Njoya’s comments. In a release read on state radio, Cameroon promised to investigate corruption and punish those found guilty.

Cameroon, a majority French-speaking country, is facing several problems, including the separatist crisis in its English-speaking western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on its northern border with Nigeria.

Cameroon also suffers the spillover of the crisis in the Central African Republic, with attacks by rebels on its eastern border and political tensions from Biya’s long stay in power.

Source: Voice of America