OCEAN CITY RADIO KUMBA BURGLED , MANAGER’S HEAD WANTED

Since Saturday January 9 2016, journalists working with Ocean City Radio in Kumba, South West Region of Cameroon, remain panic-stricken though programmes are on air.

Two armed men attacked the radio station at around 10-11 PM.

Richard Shengang: Where did we go wrong?

“A religious programmed had just ended and the preacher just left when the armed men came in. They got the technician who was on duty; Fang Peter a.k.a ‘Old boy’ undressed and tied him up at gun point. They then said they were looking for the station manager. 

They then went from the secretariat to my office which they ransacked and carried away my laptop, android phone, our printer and a Camera. They also tampered with some cables and stole valuables which we are still trying to identify,” the station manager Richard Shengang said in a squeaky voice, apparently recovering from the trauma.

Shengang also said the transmitting room was not touched given its position in the building and that the attack was  detrimental to the radio. 

OCR Staff: We Work in fear

“We took the necessary measures to secure the equipment and our staff. It’s unfortunate.  We cannot tell with precision why they were looking for me and its quite frightening thought it does not deter us from doing our work as journalists. I cannot say with precision why they were looking for me. If there is any problem I think Cameroon is a state of law. All the stolen equipment is a big handicap to our work and we don’t know how were eventually going to cope,” he lamented.

We were reliably informed that security forces visited the radio station after the incident and have opened up investigations.

“They simply asked some questions and left. I think they have to assist us with regular patrols around radio stations. 

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Ocean City Radio carries all the releases and communiqués from government offices for free and it is but normal that they assist us as well,”Shengang proposed and added that journalists’ trade unions have been informed.

The attack on Ocean City Radio Kumba January 9 is not the first. Some years back two journalists, Innocent Yuh and Philip Njaru were brutalized at the radio premises, forcing one of them to eventually seek refuge out of the country.