REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Paix-Travail-Patrie --- SERVICES DU PREMIER MINISTRE --- SECRETARIAT GENERAL
REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Peace-Work-Fatherland --- PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE --- SECRETARIAT GENERAL
PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWING THE CABINET MEETING OF THURSDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2019
Yaounde, 31 October 2019
The Prime Minister, Head of Government, His Excellency Joseph DION NGUTE, today Thursday 31 October 2019 as from 10:00 a.m. chaired the Cabinet Meeting for the current month in the Prime Minister’s Office, which was attended by Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers-Delegate and Secretaries of State.
The following items featured on the Cabinet Meeting agenda:
- Assessment and prospects of the cocoa-coffee sub-sector, presented by the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development;
- Strategy for building a national consciousness through the media, presented by the Minister for Communication;
- The reports of the Minister for Post and Telecommunications and the Minister for Water Resources and Power on the implementation of instructions given during the Cabinet Meeting of 25 April 2019.
The Prime Minister opened proceedings by asking Members of Government to observe a minute of silence in remembrance of the victims of the landslide that occurred in Bafoussam on the night of 28 October 2019. He then gave the floor to the Minister for Territorial Administration for his report on the inter-ministerial mission he led to the disaster site on 30 October 2019. He revealed that the torrential rainfall of the previous day was the cause of the landslide that led to the destruction of several houses built in the zone where construction is forbidden. Provisional reports mention 43 deaths and 11 survivors who are receiving treatment in local health facilities. The Minister for Territorial Administration pointed out that the Head of State granted CFAF 200,000,000 as financial assistance to affected families and for the resettlement of affected persons. The Head of Government instructed that the urgent technical, safety, health and environmental measures recommended should be immediately implemented by the competent Government departments for an efficient management of this disaster.
Taking the floor on the first agenda item, the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development began by presenting an assessment of the cocoa/coffee sub-sector. In that regard, he indicated that the current growth of cocoa production is moderate, with 365,000 tons marketed as on 15 July 2019 for the 2018/2019 agriculture season; this corresponds to a 3.53% increase compared to the 2017/2018 season. In the same period, the local cocoa-processing capacity rose by 9.5%, thanks to the commissioning of new industrial units in Kribi and Kekem.