Why the Death of President Mwanawasa Troubles Me
By George Esunge Fominyen
Zambia's President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died on 19 August 2008 in Paris. He had been in a critical condition since June 29 when he suffered a stroke while attending the African Union Summit in Egypt. Like all Presidents he was not loved by all, but most accounts by Zambians in blogs, radio shows and comments on internet sites (such as the BBC) show that he was highly regarded by most of his countrymen. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the Zambian nation at this trying moment in their history. However, I must admit that President Mwanawasa's death in office has re-ignited troubling thoughts about what happens when a seemingly stable African country loses its chief executive before his term expires.
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The neighbor’s generator had just stopped rumbling. My lights blipped and the darkness I was engulfed in turned into light. I decided to turn –on the TV to watch news from Cameroon. Guess what? I stumbled on a report on CRTV about the Chief Executive Officer of AES Corporation being received by President Paul Biya. This CEO had announced to President Biya that they were creating an African power company with headquarters in Douala, Cameroon. 
I gather congratulations are in order! On 12 July 2008 you became the president of the Cameroon Union of Journalists (CUJ)! Accept, dear Uncle, my hearty albeit belated wishes of success. I am sure you would remember that we whiffed over this possibility the last time we met face-to-face. Based on the ideas you espoused, my friends from overseas had felt you could be the man for the job. I shall do well to inform them that you finally docked your reservations and took the plunge into this boiling water. 
I was perusing Cameroonian papers on the web when I fell on this story in “Eden newspaper” of 2 June 2008: “Two Chinese fishermen have been seriously injured following clashes with local fishmongers the Chinese are alleged to have been using twin trawlers to fish along the Atlantic coast of Limbe. The incident occurred on Thursday 29 May 2008 in Kange Fishing Port, along the Limbe- Tiko creeks.”
The African qualifiers to the 2010 World Cup have started. In their opening match, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions beat the Cape Verde national team 2-0. This victory was over-shadowed by the row between the Cameroonian players and sports reporters. The height of which saw Samuel Eto’o physically assault Bony Phillipe (a reporter working for RTS radio) at a bungled press conference in Yaounde. There are two ways of analyzing this fracas between the star “Lion” and the press. Route 1: Eto’o was wrong and should be punished. Route 2: Cameroonian journalists merit such disrespect because they brought this upon themselves.
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