By Eratus Ndueh

In his end-of-year message broadcast on December 31, 2023, President Paul Biya announced that the government would reduce the FCFA 640 billion fuel subsidy, meaning that the upcoming months will be hard for Cameroonians, especially businesses.

By February 2024 the price for a litre of fuel at the pump shall be 860 FCFA instead of 730 – this means an increment of 130FCFA. This situation will lead to more economic hardship.

Recently, Azur S.A. announced that they will place part of its employees on technical unemployment starting Monday, January 8, 2024.

Azur S.A. is a palm oil-based agri-food production company that produces soap, margarine, and vegetable oils. Its products are on sale in Cameroon and other countries in Central Africa.

According to an official statement from the company, the economic situation rocking Cameroon at the moment has pushed the company to drastically reduce its activities. The technical unemployment shall last for six months, but there was no clarification on h
ow many employees would be affected and if they would resume work after the said six months.

For the staff concerned, the company reinitiated that they will be paid as specified according to Cameroonian law setting the compensation rates during the period of suspension of technical unemployment, the salary will take into account the basic salary increased by the seniority bonus.

Azur has set the ball rolling, pundits expect more hardship and similar scenarios in other institutions. With the gradual reduction of fuel subsidies, experts say by 2025, Cameroon will completely remove fuel subsidies due to pressure from the IMF, thereby plunging the country into more economic hardship.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The order for the closure of the Semanhyia Learning and Management Farms, a goat rearing and research centre by the Berekum Traditional Council has been referred to the Berekum Municipal Security Committee (MuSeC).to address it.

Consequently, the Committee would sit and take a decision on it by the close of this week, Mr Kofi Adjei, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) through a telephone interview on Sunday at Berekum-Senase in the Bono Region.

Sometime in 2023, the GNA gathered that the Traditional Council ordered livestock keepers rearing goats to either sell their animals or move them out of the Municipality.

Further checks revealed the order was given due to the expected ‘Doteyie’ (pre-burial funeral and interment) of the late Daasebre Dr Amankona Diawuo II, the Paramount Chief of the Berekum Traditional Area who died on Friday, June 9, 2023.

The Council had since remained silent, as some of the chiefs contacted by the GNA declined to comment on the matter.

But a sou
rce at the Berekum palace told the GNA the traditional deity (local god) of the Berekum people ‘forbids goats,’ and it was therefore forbidden for anybody to rear goat on the Berekum soil, not only to preserve customs and traditions, but also in order not to attract the wrath of the deity.

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the traditional council met somewhere last year and gave all livestock keepers rearing goats to either sell their animals or move them from their soil.

Nonetheless, during a visit to the Semanhyia Learning and Management Farms at Senase in the Municipality, Mr Frederick Benneh Frimpong, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer confirmed the Council had officially informed them of the ultimatum which would expire next week.

So, ‘we are currently undertaking a vigorous social media campaign drive #savesemamhyiafarms# and we need the government’s intervention too,’ he stated.

Throwing more light on the operations of the farms, Mr Frimpong said the Centre contained mor
e than 250 breeds of goats, including imported ones, and employed about seven people, saying ‘because of the ultimatum we have started selling the animals’.

Mr Frederick Benneh Frimpong, Founder and CEO, Semanhyia Learning and Management Farms

He explained the Center started operations in 2019 and had since invested over GHC500,000.00.00 into the farm which covered about 10 acres of land.

‘We were even doing some expansion works when we received the ultimatum and as we speak now, we have invested additional GHC40,000 on the project and we can’t afford to lose it,’ Mr Frimpong stated.

‘In fact, it is a goat learning and research Centre for educational and learning purposes and we have the vision to build it to make it the largest research Centre in the West African sub-region.’

Asked whether he had sat down with the Traditional Council, Mr Frimpong said the Council was not in any position to reverse the ultimatum.

‘Our idea is to establish a learning and development farm where researchers and agricultura
l institutions can visit and use our facilities for learning and research as well as produce enough goats for domestic consumption.’

Mr Emmanuel Kwame Osei, an employee, told the GNA the closure of the Center would bring an economic burden on him and other colleagues, saying they depended on that for the upkeep of themselves and their families.

Another employee, Francis Dwomoh described the decision by the Traditional Council as ‘unacceptable’ and appealed for government’s immediate intervention.

Meanwhile, butchers in the Municipality said they were also worried about the decision of the Traditional Council, which had also slowed down their economic activities.

A butcher at the Berekum main abattoir popularly known as ‘Agya Koo’ said he and other colleagues had to travel to either Techiman or Dormaa-Ahenkro and other places to buy slaughtered goats before they could sell at the Berekum market.

That, he added, was not only affecting their profit margins, but also making goat meat scarce in the Municipali
ty.

Some livestock keepers in the Berekum town confirmed to the GNA their animals were forcibly arrested and slaughtered by a taskforce allegedly set up by the Traditional Council.

Source: Ghana News Agency