By Amindeh Blaise Atabong in Yaounde
 |
| Minister Tchiroma Bakari briefing the press |
In the wake of recent fuel price increase,
communication minister and government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakari took to
the rostrum in his ministerial conference hall, in an attempt to divert the
attention of media houses that are dedicating much space and airtime to cross
examining government’s recent move. The press briefing that took place last
Thursday came barely two days after the minister had squeezed out time to lure
the public into believing that the price increase was reasonable.
Most journalists who had hurriedly rushed to the
ministry of communication for Thursday’s press briefing were taken aback when
the communication boss, accompanied by his justice counterpart, Laurent Esso,
unveiled an agenda that dwelled on government’s fight against corruption. To
some press men, it was a well calculated attempt to set media focus on the
fight against corruption, at a point in time when fuel price hike and its
attendant consequences was looming in the air. “Why should the government
spokesman be going back to a February issue when there are burning issues at
hand?” a journalist wondered in the crowd.
Meanwhile, Minister Tchiroma refuted some press
reports by international and national media organs that claimed Biya’s February
18, presidential clemency was tailored to benefit some particular prisoners. In
this light, Tchiroma revealed that the pardon which is the constitutional
prerogative of the head of state benefited some 24.000 prisoners in 77prisons
across the national territory.
Commenting on recent reports about the sincerity of
the fight against corruption, the government’s mouth piece noted that 119 embezzlement
cases have been transferred from various high courts to the Special Criminal
Court. As of April 2014, 26 accused have been discharged while 52 have been
found guilty, the minister disclosed.
The Guardian
Post observed that the briefing was void of questions,
except for one that came from a journalist of the state-owned CRTV.
No comments:
Post a Comment