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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Pillars and Foundations of President Paul Biya’s Reelection

What the People of Cameroon Knew, that You Didn’t

 By Ernest L. Molua*

About 77.99% of Cameroonians have a profound sense of justice. Voting in Pretoria, Libreville, Paris, Washington DC or Beijing; and trooping to voting centres from Widikum to Idenau, Mundemba to Yokaduma; and from Nkolandoum to Kouseri, Cameroonians have sent a loud and clear message that paves the path of their political and economic destiny. On October 9, 2011 they statistically and significantly voted for a President whom they wish will lead them into the promise land of human actualization. Presidential elections 2011 is somewhat a prophetic destiny on President Paul Biya’s reelection, which hinges on three foundations, ten pillars and the Biya welfarism which the people of Cameroon objectively assessed and gave to him their overt support.

The Biya Foundations
 The first foundation is the appreciation by Cameroon’s electorate that Mr Biya’s leadership style is the way and approach required to take Cameroon into the future of economic progress and consolidate freedoms of political expression and communication that Cameroonians have enjoyed in the last twenty-something years. Not only does the country prides itself as an island of peace, but Mr Biya is one of the few leaders envied even by his contemporaries in the supposedly developed world where due to his humaneness, his detractors perennially throw mud at him either in screaming banner headlines or outright insults, yet such detractors sleep in the comfort of their homesteads not afraid that the secret service will hound them into nothingness.
 
The second foundation is the appreciation and showing of gratitude by the people of Cameroon that his programme of action is the only sure way and a trustworthy approach to put Cameroon on the path to economic development. A programme conceived on the ladder-rungs of consolidating peace, improving the function of institutions, encouraging entrepreneurship and unending attempts to modernize administration for greater efficiency,
 
Mr Biya’s plans and actions of economic development are resilient on any counterfactual assessment, whether it is a Cameroon with or without him, or a Cameroon before and in him. Contemplating a Cameroon without him is the risk to have mortgaged Cameroon’s progress in the bosoms of opposing politicians who cannot managed even a roadside drugstore talk less of the managerial ineptitude of their political groups.
 
Attempting again to assess the counterfactual of a Cameroon before and with Mr Biya is a manifestation of ingratitude on the managerial prowess in his stabilizing, re-structuring and growing of the Cameroon economy – where even peasants can now purchase ‘painlessly’ Swiss air-tickets of their sons-and-daughters to sojourn abroad – even within the context of economic storms and financial deluge that engulfed more than a hundred nation states in six continents in the last twenty-five years. With Mr Biya, Cameroon overcame such tumultuous financial times and with the renewed profitability of its economy ambitious plans and programmes have been conceived for significant achievements.
 
Last, but not the least, is the third foundation which is the sustainability of his vision being acknowledged as the light that illuminates the path to economic emergence; and building a strong Cameroon; mindful that there is no room for the weak in today’s world.
 
These foundations sustain the inherent trustworthiness of the larger masses of Cameroonians acknowledging that leadership, action and vision are embedded within and chained to ten solid pillars unveiled in the context of a magnanimous statesman in Mr Biya whom they have astutely watched and acknowledged his efforts, not only as of one of their founding fathers in whose Cameroon now and hereafter, still remains the envy and attraction to many.
 
The Biya Pillars
On this background, the pillars for Mr Biya’s reelection embodied in his leadership, actions and vision include:
 
1. His supervision and leadership of government (ministries and departments in government) and administration of the country. His fight against corruption through severe punishment of major offenders, the delegation and decentralization of public responsibilities;
 
2. His track record of infrastructural development, e.g. education and health infrastructures across the country, increased access to water and energy; omnipresence of modern telecommunications and pervasive openness of the economy for wealth creation; 
 
3. His promotion of political development through Liberalization of Parties, Freedom of Association and Communication, e.g. hundreds of political parties, newspapers, thousands of non-governmental civil society organisations, etc… for Cameroonians to freely express themselves and contribute to the debate on nation building. However, despite this rare-African and middle-eastern luxury of freedoms, on the contrary, the vicious leaders of Cameroon’s opposition parties who have been challenged on leadership positions have ensured such challengers are thrown out of the party, or afflicted with long-term illnesses or died, and party-chairmen and women and presidential candidates perennially elected in executive meetings in the comfort of their living rooms.
 
4. His promotion of social development e.g. women and gender equality in education, wages, health; youth development programmes, sports and culture;
5. His expressed desire to do more in terms of institution building e.g. the Senate, Constitutional Council and regional decentralization to complete Cameroon’s carefully managed democratization process, etc…;
 
6. His economic plans to put Cameroon on the path of an emerging nation within 10 years, and as a fully emerged economy within 15 years thereafter; as espoused in the Growth and Employment Strategy to create more jobs, expand public infrastructure and improve the living standards of Cameroonians;
 
7. His efforts to improve on security to safeguard the lives and property of Cameroonians, with the setup of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) and equipping of the regular police force, improvement of the working conditions of the military;
 
8. His international recognition as a statesman who respects the rule of law, good neighborliness and appeasing diplomacy, as demonstrated in the case of Bakassi with Nigeria, and Cameroon’s response to far away conflicts in then Apartheid South Africa and today’s Ivory Coast, Libya and Dafur in Western Sudan;
 
9. His prophecy that ‘he was born a Cameroonian, he will live a Cameroonian and he shall die a Cameroonian’, that defines his effort in building a proud Cameroon reliant on its resources, looking-inwards and nurturing a patriotic labour force that puts Cameroon first in politics, economics, sports and culture.
 
10. His outmaneuvering of the inexperience opposing politicians and contenders, notwithstanding their preposterous promises to the people of Cameroon. Most of Cameroon’s politicians have surprisingly shied away from grassroots elected public offices, some without having served even as basic administrators such as Municipal Mayors, a token few who have served as members of parliament and the larger majority have never managed a human-resource of more than 5 persons; and their following have remained largely sectarian and tribal-talking-drums.
 
The Biya Welfarism
These pillars and foundations are the real bedrocks of the Biya code. So, be it his political capital as in espousing Africa’s contemporary New Deal government with public programmes for job creation and an omnipresent and veritable welfare state Mr Biya has demonstrated significant goodwill and largesse for the willing Cameroonian wishing to actualize his/her potentials. Recall that Cameroon has almost free-education with token education fees of not more than US$ 100 from kindergarten to Doctorate levels. In fact, Cameroon is one of the few countries in the world where students pay somewhat less than US$ 600 (US$ 100 x 6 years to obtain a medical degree and gallantly serve in hospitals in North America or Europe or pursue graduate degrees in Universities such regions and be top in their class).
 
In the basket of Biya welfarism is subsidized healthcare across the country in public hospitals and health centres in every subdivision, community medicare and the prevalent dosage of social capital in the kinship largesse which Mr Biya’s people flaunt unknown nowhere else across the globe. Or possibly, the rigour of marshalling Cameroon’s destiny and freeing it from armed conflict with its neighbours or from the provocations within, and his sustained continuing efforts to moralize the Cameroon soul - the archetypical foundation of a viable state – in his doctrine of rigour and moralization.
 
The statesman’s reelection therefore fuels with new momentum and heightened vigour his vision of a developed Cameroon, knowing too well that building a strong Cameroon is possible since this resource rich triangular landmass can count on 77.99% of well-meaning Cameroonians wishing to operate in an efficient-peaceful-strong-dynamic and united Cameroon. That which, therefore, the people of Cameroon who overwhelmingly voted for Mr Biya knew, what others did not, is his vision as the way, the truth and the light to Cameroon’s path of economic progress, and that Mr Biya’s leadership and actions are codes for the strongest pillars and safest platform through which their progeny will come through and inherit a prosperous Cameroon.
 
* Ernest L. Molua is Lecturer and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness in the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Buea; He is Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Independent Development Research (www.cidrcam.org); and Publisher of The Entrepreneur NewsOnline.

 

Cameroon's Biya promises youth jobs after poll win

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon's President Paul Biya promised more jobs for young people and said he would set Cameroon on the path to being an emerging nation in a speech on Tuesday after he was declared winner of this month's presidential election.


Cameroon's supreme court said on Friday 78-year-old Biya was re-elected by a widely expected landslide in a vote that U.S. and French authorities have said was marred by irregularities.

Biya won 77.9 percent of the votes against a field of more than 20 opposition candidates.
"We will make Cameroon an emerging country, that is, a country with strong democratic institutions, enjoying strong and sustainable growth," Biya said in a speech on Cameroon's national television.

"We are going to transform our country into a vast construction site which will provide job opportunities for young people and create wealth that can be redistributed equitably," Biya said.

Biya has promised to build roads, power plants, and a deep sea port and he is seeking to attract more investment to the country's agriculture and mining sectors with the goal of securing emerging market status for Cameroon by 2035 -- putting it in the same bracket as countries such as Mexico or Malaysia.

Cameroon, a modest crude producer in the Gulf of Guinea, is the world's fifth largest cocoa producer and the Central African region's breadbasket, supplying food to Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic and Gabon.
But its economic growth has underperformed some of its neighbours and the local media and opposition have criticised Biya for allowing corruption, red tape and nepotism to fester.

Biya, one of Africa's longest serving presidents, who has ruled the country for nearly 30 years, altered the constitution in 2008 to remove term limits so that he could run again in the October 9 election, sparking off days of street riots that killed over 100.

nternational election observers have said that though the poll was conducted a peaceful manner, several irregularities were observed while Cameroon opposition parties have said the results were not credible due to the irregularities.


France, the country's former colonial power, urged Cameroon authorities in a statement over the weekend, to take steps to ensure that the problems seen during the poll were resolved before the country's legislative election expected in March next year.

The U.S. ambassador to Cameroon said they too had identified irregularities in the voting process but these problems did not affect the outcome of the election.

"We recognise that President Biya won the election ... We identified irregularities and shortcomings in the election, we do not believe that those affected the outcome of the election," Robert Jackson said on Cameroon national television after meeting the country's foreign minister on Tuesday.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

France says Cameroon vote marred by 'irregularities'

PARIS — France, which previously termed Cameroon's October 9 presidential vote "acceptable", on Saturday said the poll which saw President Paul Biya re-elected to a sixth term was marred by "irregularities."
 Paul Biya re-elected for  6th term as president (AFP, Seyllou)
"During the vote, a number of flaws and irregularities were noted," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a statement.
"France hopes that measures will be taken so that these do not occur during the legislative and municipal elections of 2012," he added.
The comments contrast an October 11 assessment from French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who said the vote "took place in acceptable conditions", citing reports from some international observers.
US ambassador to Cameroon Robert Jackson on Thursday condemned the running of the election, saying there had been irregularities at every level.
Biya, in power for 29 years, was reelected with nearly 78 percent of the vote, while his closest challenger John Fru Ndi secured nearly 11 percent support, according to official results released by the supreme court Friday.
Paris "hopes that the authorities will quickly undertake reforms to address the legitimate aspirations of the Cameroonian people" Valero also said Saturday.
France, Cameroon's former colonial power, backed Biya's rise to the presidency in 1982.
Fru Ndi and six other opposition candidates have called on supporters to demonstrate massively against an election they said was rigged in Biya's favour from the start.
Before the final results were announced late Friday, police had stepped up security in towns across the country, according to sources, while the authorities in Douala, the economic capital, had banned demonstrations, local media reported-AFP

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Parents of conjoined twins in Cameroon plead for help

 By Tapang Ivo Taku

Tugi, Cameroon (CNN) -- They are so new to this world that they do not have names yet.
Together, they weigh 9.7 pounds.

They are two baby girls born in a miraculous delivery in this impoverished Cameroon village. They both have arms and legs but they are joined at the chest and abdomen.

Joined at  chest and abdomen, these twins were born in Cameroon.
The parents desperately search for a way to separate their newborns. Even in sophisticated hospitals, the operation is risky. But here, in Cameroon, so many forces act against them.
Money and access to health care are two obvious obstacles.

But then, there is superstition. And plain old indifference.

Evaristus Samba, 29, the girls' father, wipes tears from his eyes as he pleads for aid from the international community.
"We are mere peasants and can't even afford to eat healthily daily."
Doctors are battling with limited resources to keep the girls alive. Though they are artificially fed with tubes, they are healthy and active, nurses say.

An ultrasound indicated that Glory Njweng, 23, was having only one baby. The test was faulty, and neither she nor the doctors were prepared for her to deliver twins, much less conjoined ones.

"It is only the Lord Almighty who keeps me alive" to deliver the children for whom she now is washing clothes. "I feel terrified when thinking about October 10, when I put to bed these babies."

Tugi, in northwestern Cameroon, is home to about 2,000 people, mostly farmers and cattle ranchers who live below $1 a day. Here, traditional practices and beliefs hold sway.

News of the conjoined birth struck immediate fear. This was a bad omen for their village, some feared.
Sometimes, conjoined twins often are killed immediately after birth. Village leaders say they bring bad luck; some blame poor crops on "strange births."

Even some of the attending staff fled the small hospital room when Njweng's babies were born.
Such practices are fading, says Bah Elvis, a village healer from nearby Mbengwi. But long-held beliefs die hard.
Conjoined twins are rare in Cameroon, and rarer still is their separation.
The first known case involved the babies Pheinbom and Shevoboh, born in Babanki Tungo, who were separated in Saudi Arabia in 2007. They were joined at the chest, abdomen and pelvis, and had one leg each.
The Presbyterian hospital where the Tugi twins were born is one of the biggest in Cameroon, but it is ill-equipped for an operation of such complexity.

It has been without a consistent source of electricity since it opened in 1964. Doctors use kerosene lamps in delivery wards, nurse Rose Adeneng says, and kerosene often spills out during deliveries and surgeries.
Hospital officials also believe they have suffered from government neglect.

Hospital Administrator George Fonkem Tankem says travel by road in the region is not easy; many women prefer delivering at home than risk dying on their way to the hospital.

The 235-mile journey to the capital, Yaoundé, would be perilous for the twins, he says.
But Njweng and her husband are clinging to hope. The babies' birth was nothing short of miraculous, she says. God gave her life, she says. Now, she prays, her girls will get the same.

Cameroon court rejects opposition bid to annul vote

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon's top court has rejected an appeal by opposition parties to annul the results of last weekend's presidential election, throwing out their complaints that the vote was rigged by incumbent leader Paul Biya.

Official results will be released on Friday, the court added in a statement late on Wednesday. Preliminary results showed Biya with 77 percent of the votes, with his main rival John Fru Ndi in second place with 10 percent.

"I am not surprised by what happened," said Garga Haman Adji, leader of the opposition ADD party, who took third place in the election, adding he thought the court was influenced by Biya's ruling party. Seven opposition candidates who took part in the poll asked the Supreme Court on Monday to throw out the October 9 poll results and call a new election, citing fraud and warning of protests if their demands were not met.

Biya, 78, who has ruled the country for nearly 30 years, acknowledged there may have been "imperfections" in the staging of the election, but denied fraud.

Cameroon is the world's fifth-largest cocoa producer and the region's breadbasket, supplying food to Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic and Gabon.

The Central African country's economic growth has underperformed some of its neighbours and the local media and opposition have criticised Biya for allowing corruption, red tape and nepotism to fester.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Cameroon presidential election: Let the opposition seize the moment!

By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaoundé..
Tazoacha Asonganyi
The purpose of all elections is the ability of the people to delegate their power to people of their choice, through the ballot box. When this is not possible, all else is an effort in deceit. Another election was held in Cameroon on 9 October 2011. Like in the past, either the people were unable to vote because they were disenfranchised, or they actually voted, but their votes were changed by government ministers and high state functionaries, who, like in the past, were sent to their various areas of origin to defend their appointments with victory for the prince.  They spent huge sums of money to bribe people to engage in multiple voting, to bribe administrative officials to invoke the law on the maintenance of order to cow the opposition, and to bribe election agents to co-operate in changing results of the ballot box... In short, they engaged in various types of corrupt practices to defend their posts.
All this is happening some 20 years since the monumental fraud of the October 1992 presidential elections during which the verdict of the people was that Paul Biya was no longer their choice. Following the announcement of the result of that election by the Supreme Court, there was clamour for the creation of an independent electoral commission because everybody felt that the CPDM - Paul Biya - was playing the role of party, jury, and judge. This clamour went past the January 1996 Municipal elections, the May 1997 Parliamentary elections,  the October 1997 presidential election, the January 2002 twin elections, the October 2004 presidential election, the July 2007 twin elections, and full cycle to the 9 October 2011 presidential election.
 
In response to this clamour, Paul Biya has been on a futile mission to invent the wheel about the organisation of free and fair elections. He has created all types of electoral outfits, each of which he knew would fail even before he created it. And he has been accompanied in this task by foreign actors who most of the time pretended not to see what was going on, like they did in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zaire, Guinea, and other African countries where they spent decades talking about "peace" imposed by dictators, and neglected justice, especially during elections, until Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping point” - the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point - finally arrived.
The latest outfit of Paul Biya was called Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), again, in dogged refusal to adopt the “independent electoral commission” appellation everybody had been clamouring for. After all, it was a Directorate-cum-MINAT-bis, surrounded by a toothless Board that watched helplessly as MINAT-bis did what MINAT has always done. From its inception, most stakeholders, including Paul Biya himself knew that ELECAM was not meant to organise free and fair elections. Yet, the drumbeat from the sidelines was about giving ELECAM a chance! And the opposition seemed to fall for it, barring the hide-and-seek game some of them were playing. Is it not unbelievable that following the letter of  Dorothy Njeuma of February 21, 2011 about the frustrations being caused the Electoral Board by the Directorate of ELECAM, what Paul Biya could do was give the Board special funds from the presidency in September 2011 (one month before the election!) to organise their meeting with other stakeholder? Was this not a message to the Board to leave the Directorate alone to do what it was doing? What more proof do we need to convince even the sceptics that Paul Biya did not want ELECAM to work? But hear what he was saying about ELECAM at his polling station on election day!
Well, following this other electoral debacle of 9 October, Paul Biya is having his rest in Kribi, waiting to be proclaimed winner again, while the opposition is selling after the market, sulking as usual about electoral fraud. Who was not aware that they would do this? Had they not lived each debacle since 1992? Indeed, following the 30 June 2002 electoral debacle, opposition political parties (the SDF, the NUDP, LA DYNAMIQUE, the UFDC, the CDU, and the MLDC) met in Yaoundé on 2nd July 2002 and issued a joint communiqué that stated among other things as follows “… ask the Head of State Mr. Paul BIYA to use his constitutional prerogatives to simply annul the twin vote of 30th June 2002; open dialogue with the political forces of the opposition in order to create conditions for the organisation of free, transparent, just and « sincere » elections... In any case, the Cameroon opposition which we represent, speaking in the name of the majority of Cameroonians who were deprived of their basic right to vote, solemnly declares that it will not accept the results of these elections and will not take up the Councils and the seats they have been attributed in Parliament in the masquerade of 30th June 2002.... Call on our militants and indeed, all Cameroonians, to be ready to defend their civil rights through a variety of actions as shall be so directed...” All this was hot air because nothing concrete followed.
The same opposition is at it again. And the international community is again at their own game of endorsing flawed elections! It is not that the international community does not know what free and fair elections are, since all international observer bodies have adopted the following concept of free and fair elections by the Department for international development (DFID) of the UK government: “To determine whether an election has allowed the wishes of the people to be reflected involves much more than simply watching people vote on polling day and observing the counts. What happens before and after is as crucial to the status of the election as what happens on polling day. Indeed, history shows that blatant election fraud on polling day is an exception, with most manipulation occurring through the preparation and implementation of dubious election laws and regulations and manipulation of voter registration. If one party has been able to take advantage of institutionalised bias, especially in the media, during the run up to the election, the results are likely to reflect this manipulation however impeccable the voting procedures....”
In spite of this, who will blame the international community? Their attitude is always that when there is “peace,” there is no need to indulge in provocative language that can disturb the “peace,” so the litmus test for their attitude is usually the people’s reaction following every election. Like even some resident diplomats usually say, they cannot cry more than the bereaved!
The struggle for change in Cameroon has been an effort not only to change those who have held power continuously since the ‘60s, but also the institutional structures through which they exercised their power. This two-pronged change was understood to ensure that whether a new leader comes from the rang of the ”old” or from that of the “new,” they cannot use the institutional structures to perpetuate themselves in power, like Paul Biya has succeeded in doing following Ahmadou Ahidjo’s handing over of power to him.
The opposition has refused to understand that they are involved in power politics. They have inadvertently allowed the regime to call too many of their bluffs, and so has become immunised against their empty noises. Between the choice of the politics of sacrifice and the sacrifice of politics, the opposition seems to have chosen to sacrifice politics, each for their personal ambitions. Organised electoral fraud is a state of asymmetrical power relations; it is about the power to enforce a particular agenda, the power to deny equal opportunity, the power to maim physically, mentally and emotionally, the power to set the terms of power! Only a shift in this asymmetrical power relation can bring any shift in behaviour. No blowing of hot air will do.
In politics, nothing is pre-ordained, but nothing is a simple accident. There are radical possibilities inherent in the project of defining the challenges of the present, but this needs a reconsideration of past possibilities and failed choices. Paul Biya has just played his last real card. Let the opposition seize the moment and provide an agenda to bring real change to the electoral politics of Cameroon.
 

Cameroon vote count shows Biya landslide - source

* Provisional results give Biya 77 percent
* Opposition has asked for vote to be annulled
* Official results expected by Oct. 24

YAOUNDE, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Preliminary results for Cameroon's presidential election showed a widely expected landslide victory for incumbent Paul Biya, a member of the national vote counting commission told Reuters on Tuesday.

The results gave Biya 77 percent, well ahead of his main rival John Fru Ndi on 10 percent, said the commission member, who declined to be named because under Cameroon law only the Supreme Court can give the results.

Cameroonian media reported the same margin of victory for Biya, who has ruled the central African oil-producer for 29 years. The Supreme Court has until Oct. 24 to publish the validated results.
On Monday the opposition alleged irregularities in the Oct. 9 poll, saying it should be annulled and a fresh election called within six months.

Seven opposition candidates including the main Social Democratic Front of Fru Ndi, signed a joint declaration warning that if their demand was not met, their supporters would take to the streets in protest.
The ruling CPDM party issued a statement on Tuesday saying the opposition's declaration was provocative and unjustified.

Cameroon is the world's fifth largest cocoa producer and the region's breadbasket, supplying food to Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic and Gabon. It also hosts the Chad-Cameroon crude oil pipeline.
Its $ 22 billion economy is the region's biggest, making any unrest in the country, potentially damaging the region. (Reporting by Tansa Musa; Editing by Bate Felix and Mark John)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Cameroon’s Polls: Praised by International Observers; Condemned by Opposition

By Divine Ntaryike
International observers have given authorities in Cameroon a passing mark after monitoring the October 9 presidential election amid widespread opposition allegations of fraud, organizational lapses and elevated voter abstentions. Across the country, many say they expect no surprises. Incumbent President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, is widely expected to win another seven-year mandate.

The national electoral commission is busy compiling results of the ballots filed in from over 24,000 polling stations within the country and overseas, where Cameroonians residing abroad voted for the first time.

A final copy of tallied results will be submitted to the Supreme Court, which will formally announce the winner by October 24.  In the meantime, the court is scrutinizing ten petitions lodged by candidates demanding either the partial or complete annulment of the results.
The petitions include diverse allegations including the failure to properly distribute all voter cards, the late opening of polling stations, multiple voting, ballot-box stuffing, the absence of indelible ink and the intimidation of voters.


  President  Biya's supporter  stands next to giant election campaign ball in Yaounde, October 8, 2011/AP.
Edith Kahbang Walla is leader of the Cameroon Peoples’ Party and one of the plaintiffs.  She says she’s pushing for an urgent overhaul of the country’s electoral machinery.

"We have put in a request for cancellation of the election at the Supreme Court," she said. "We’re working with other political parties to see what other actions we need to take and we’re insisting on the need for immediate reform of the electoral system because we saw an electoral system that is simply not functional."

But even within the opposition, many argue the court lacks independence and is at the beck and call of the outgoing president.  At the last election in 2004, eight such petitions were filed but were dismissed by the Supreme Court judges – all named by the president.

Joshua Osih is deputy vice president of the main opposition Social Democratic Front, the SDF.

"Well, it is not because the Supreme Court has its hands tied that we will not entertain them with the cases that we have on hand," he said.
The court will not consider any complaints until the winner is declared.  However, once it does rule on a complaints, its decision can not be appealed.

And despite the opposition criticism of the election management body – Elections Cameroon, or ELECAM, international observers from the African Union, La Francophonie and the Commonwealth have given the election a passing grade.

Fred Mitchell, a former foreign affairs minister of the Bahamas,  led the Commonwealth observer mission to Cameroon.

Map of Cameroon
"We observed the fact that the election was conducted peacefully," said Mitchell, "that people felt no form of coercion to come out to vote, and although there were some administrative and logistical problems, we believe that there was a valued first effort to establish ELECAM as an independent acting body for elections. I think that is something that your country ought to be proud of."

But critics don’t agree.  Many are holding ELECAM responsible for the shortcomings, including voter apathy levels considered to be the highest since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1992.  Over 7.5 million voters were expected at the polls Sunday for the one-round ballot, but a civil society organization, Un Monde Avenir, has revealed statistics indicating the turnout rate was below 35 percent, or only a little over 2.5 million.

Jean Simo, a resident of the largest city and commercial hub Douala, says he abstained because he was convinced 29-year-serving Biya and his ruling Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement party, or CPDM, will win.

"In my opinion," he said, "nothing will change because our democracy is so advanced that before going to vote, we already know the results.  It is certain that Mr Biya’s CPDM party will win the election.  So I did not care to go out and vote because that will not change anything."

The outgoing 78-year-old Biya has won all three previous elections since 1990 amid opposition charges of widespread rigging.  In 2008, he eliminated term limits from the constitution to seek reelection this year against a record 22 opponents in the single-round ballot.
Meantime, analysts say several factors have given Biya an edge over his challengers, including the fragmented nature of the opposition, the multitude of candidates and their thin public support as well as nationwide hegemony enjoyed by the ruling party.

Franklin Nyamsi, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of Rouen in France,  says until the opposition forms a common block, political change through the ballot box will remain unfeasible. According to Nyamisi, Cameroonians have partly lost faith in elections because the opposition has proven to be irresponsible.  He says the country needs a truly independent electoral commission to ensure change.

Others argue that the absence of a clear-cut plan of succession leaves the future of the country in doubt with the possibility that foreign powers, including former colonial master France, could impose a successor when the Biya era ends.-VOA News

Friday, October 14, 2011

Hon. Ayah Paul Says Cameroon Presidential Poll Marred by "colossal malpractices"

Press Release by People’s Action Party, PAP

The National Strategic Team of the People’s Action Party, PAP met at the premises of PAP National Chairman and 2011 Presidential candidate, HRH Hon. Lord Justice AYAH Paul ABINE on October 14, 2011 to review the 2011 presidential elections:

After a meticulous examination of the electoral process, the team concluded that the election was tarnished by colossal malpractices such as the open offering of bribe by the CPDM, the forging of results, the expulsion of PAP’s representatives at polling stations, transposing PAP and CPDM scores thereby giving undue victory to CPDM, the non availability of PAP ballot papers at many polling stations, and the perpetration of violence on PAP members. With regards to violence, the team vehemently condemns the merciless beating of its representative at Mfuni polling station for refusing to endorse forged victory for Biya and the stabbing of Etah Felix eleven times at Mamfe for rejoicing over PAP victory.

The team equally regretted the inefficiency of ELECAM as exemplified by multiple registration of voters to the point that some people had as many as nine cards each, the failure to delete the names of deceased persons including those who died as many as ten years ago, failure to distribute voters’ cards as by law required, the late opening of polling stations, allowing people with even forged receipts to cast their vote, the recruitment of CPDM party officials as president of polling stations, allowing CPDM Central Committee delegates to vote in as many polling stations as they desired, and the absence of ‘Return Sheets’ and indelible ink at polling stations. It expressed indignation that ELECAM lost its neutrality by accepting bribes from the CPDM and influencing election results in consequence;

The team further noted with consternation that administrative officials lorded it over ELECAM officials to the extent of manhandling PAP representatives at polling stations in the process of expelling those representatives;

The team condemns in very strong terms the connivance of the forces of law and order especially the gendarmes with CPDM to defraud the PAP candidate. In this regard, it was noted in particular that forged result sheets were filled-in in Gendarmerie Brigades and that such forged documents were carried to the Divisional Supervisory Commissions by the forces of law and order;

On the whole, the team expresses disgust at and condemnation of the existence of fictitious polling stations at chief’s palaces, banana plantations, inexistent villages, militarized closets in CDC and PAMOL offices.

The team therefore resolves that all the preceding irregularities have gravely marred the 2011 presidential elections, and that it logically expects the Constitutional Council to annul the entire election in consequence. Failure by the Constitutional Council to do justice in the matter, the PAP reserves the right to resort to other legal options and would instruct its members and the Cameroonian public in general accordingly!

While waiting for all results from the Diaspora , the team acknowledges with great satisfaction its wonderful performance all over Cameroon and particularly its SPECTACULAR victories in Manyu, Lebialem and Kupemanenguba divisions.

Finally, the team recommended PAP’s participation in and support for the coalition of candidates of the opposition to secure the cancellation of the 2011 presidential election.

Done at Buea on the 14th Day of October, 2011.

Sign.

PAP National Chairman


HRH Hon. Lord Justice
  AYAH Paul ABINE

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cameroon opposition to ask court to annul vote

By Tansa Musa
 YAOUNDE (Reuters)- Cameroon's opposition parties said on Wednesday they would ask the Supreme Court to annul Sunday's presidential election because of what they called widespread irregularities.

The Commonwealth observer mission, in its preliminary findings, said the use of state resources in the campaign of incumbent Paul Biya's ruling CPDM party "challenged the notion of a level playing field".
Joshua Osih, vice-president of the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), said evidence of double-voting and a lack of ballot papers in some polling stations meant the results, which are due in coming days, could not be credible.

"It is evident that this election will not give any winner any legitimacy. That is why we are filing a case with the Supreme Court for the election to be simply annulled," Osih told Reuters by telephone.

The election commission has up to two weeks from the vote to issue the validated results of the single-round election, which observers said passed off relatively peacefully.

Biya, in power in the central African state for 29 years, is widely expected to be re-elected in the poll, contested against over 20 rivals from the splintered opposition.

Biya, 78, acknowledged there may have been "imperfections" in the staging of the election, but denied fraud.
He was able to run for re-election only because he scrapped presidential term limits in 2008 -- a move which, added to street anger over food prices, provoked riots at the time in which more than 100 people died.

Albert Dzongang ran as candidate for the smaller opposition party Dynamique pour la Renaissance Nationale but was unable to vote because he could not get his voter card.

He told Reuters: "What happened on Sunday should simply be declared null and void."

Another opposition candidate, Anicet Ekane of the MANIDEM party, said his lawyers were also preparing to file a request with the Supreme Court for the vote to be annulled.

"LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?"
Election observers praised the peaceful conditions of the vote but raised concerns over the electoral process.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged parties to resolve any disputes through legal channels and called on the Cameroon authorities to ensure all claims were handled swiftly and transparently.

France, Cameroon's former colonial power, said the vote took place in "acceptable conditions", while the Commonwealth observer mission said in its preliminary report that the election met some basic democratic benchmarks.

However it noted limited public confidence in election body Elecam's handling of the election, problems with registration of voters, and the benefits Biya's ruling CPDM derived from the use of state resources such as ministry vehicles and the police force to help run its campaign.

"The magnitude of resources that appeared to us to have been deployed by the ruling CPDM party and its overwhelming advantage of incumbency challenged the notion of a level playing field in the entire process," it said in a written statement.

Cameroon's economy has considerable potential but has not grown as fast as expected in recent years.

The media and opposition have criticised Biya for lax governance, allowing corruption, red tape and nepotism to fester. Average income per head stands at an annual $2,000 -- higher than most of the region -- but the IMF has described its forecast 3.8 percent growth this year as below potential.

Oil output has fallen by two-thirds since the 1980s to about 66,000 barrels per day and development of the mining sector, which includes cobalt, nickel and manganese reserves, has been held back by inadequate electricity supplies.

Cameroon is the world's fifth largest cocoa producer and the region's breadbasket, supplying Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic and Gabon. It hosts the Chad-Cameroon pipeline.

Biya has said he will build roads, power plants and a deep sea port with the goal of securing emerging market status for Cameroon by 2035 -- putting it in the same bracket as countries such as Mexico and Malaysia.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Cameroon opposition wants vote nullified

By Xavier Bourgois

YAOUNDE — Cameroon's opposition on Tuesday demanded the presidential election be nullified, but former colonial ruler France gave a thumbs-up to a poll expected to return Paul Biya, 78, for a sixth term.
The veteran leader has led the west African country for 29 years and the outcome of Sunday's vote was never in doubt but 22 candidates had decided to challenge him nonetheless.

But as votes were still being counted, three contenders, including the party of Biya's perennial opponent John Fru Ndi, said they wanted an election they have described as a "complete mess" declared null and void.
"We are favourable to the vote's annulment," said Joshua Osih, vice chairman of Fru Ndi's Social Democratic Front (SDF). "This election cannot give the winner any legitimacy."

Anicet Ekane, who ran for the Manidem party on Sunday, said: "We are asking for this ballot to be nullified. In fact, we intend to file a request with the supreme court tomorrow," he told AFP.

Sunday's election was marred by widespread delays, irregularities and the deaths of one opposition party worker and two policemen, although violent incidents were rare.
But France, which was Cameroon's former colonial power and played a significant part in Biya's rise to the helm in 1982, saw no egregious violation in the poll.

"According to the International Organisation of the Francophonie and the Commonwealth, who followed the development of these elections, we can consider that they took place in acceptable conditions," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

Biya is a faithful Paris ally in a country strained by tensions between linguistic communities, notably in the English-speaking south where secessionist groups are active.
Nicknamed "the Sphinx", Biya has managed to keep a tight grip on power for almost three decades despite spending much of his time abroad.
He also skipped most of the campaign and voters trickled to polling stations in small numbers on Sunday, amid widespread rumours that the ruling party had rigged the entire voting process to ensure the incumbent's reelection.

The opposition accused the electoral commission of being under Biya's control and minimising the scope of abstention.
Madeleine Afite, a well-known and respected figure in Cameroon's civil society, said she saw an electoral commission official in Douala dishing out electoral cards to children to boost turnout figures.
"It wasn't to get votes" for the ruling party, she told AFP. "It was because the ballot boxes were empty. It was all about the turnout. They wanted some ballot papers in those boxes."

Recent elections in Zambia brought about a rare peaceful transition of power on the continent and Tuesday's polls in Liberia could return a newly-crowned Nobel Peace Prize, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

But Biya, often described as one of the continent's most corrupt, looked in no danger of failing to join the shrinking club of African autocrats who have been in power 30 years.
He won 70 percent of the vote in 2004 and later moved to scrap term limits, triggering 2008 protests that were fiercely repressed. Rights groups say 139 people were killed.

Cameroon is regularly listed as one of the world's most corrupt states and its 3.2 percent economic growth was among the poorest in its region, despite the country's considerable mineral wealth-AFP

Monday, October 10, 2011

Cameroon election: SDF accuse Paul Biya's CPDM of fraud

The main opposition party in Cameroon has accused the ruling party of fraud in Sunday's election, as President Paul Biya seeks to remain in power.

Mr Biya, 78, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, faced 22 challengers.
Many people said they were unable to find  voting cards
An official of John Fru Ndi's Social Democratic Front (SDF) said people had been caught voting more than once, while some complained that they were unable to cast their ballots.
Mr Biya and his officials have denied the claims of fraud.

"The world is not a perfect place, but let's be positive, for there has been no intention of fraud. We're for transparency and free elections," he said as he cast his ballot in the capital, Yaounde.
The election was generally peaceful although the authorities say two gendarmes were killed after unknown gunmen opened fire at a polling station in the oil-rich Bakassi peninsular, which Nigeria recently handed to Cameroon after an international court ruling.

Turnout is said to have been low, with many people believing Mr Biya's victory is a foregone conclusion, especially with the opposition failing to agree on a single challenger.

Votes are now being collated and counted, with final results due within two weeks.
"We actually caught some people voting three times," said SDF secretary general Elizabeth Tamanjong. "How could such a thing happen?" she asked.

Mr Fru Ndi said there had been "disorder" and "intimidation" at some polling stations.
"We won't tolerate this rigging this time in Cameroon. I urge Cameroonians to vote and secure their votes, but this doesn't mean that I'm preaching violence," he told AP after casting his ballot in the main north-western town

He also said that supposedly indelible ink designed to stop people voting more than once was easily washed off.
Several people said that when they went to vote, they were told that someone had already cast ballots on their behalf.
The BBC's Randy Joe Sa'ah in Yaounde says it was common to see piles of unclaimed voter cards at polling stations.
The opposition also complained that its campaigns were restricted by a lack of funding and media airtime.
Dozens of people were killed in 2008 during protests after Mr Biya controversially amended the constitution, scrapping the limit to presidential terms.
The candidate of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) has been president since 1982
In the last election in 2004, Mr Biya scored more than 70% and Mr Fru Ndi took just 17%.
President Biya has promised to turn the country into a huge construction site - spending money on improving the roads, electricity supply and rail service.
Cameroon is rich in oil, minerals and timber but most of its people live in poverty.-BBC News

Cameroon Presidential Poll:Voting Was Peacful But Irregularities Observed



  "I had two voter cards but  voted once."

-Chief  David Ikome Molinge , Traditional Ruler of Upper Muea-Buea Subdivision
Chief David Molinge,Upper Muea
Upper Muea is a cosmopolitan locality in Buea Subdivision, Cameroon. The inhabitants are usually very sensitive to injustices and in some instances react to such violently. But its ruler, Chief David  Ikome Molinge is a peace crusader and development agent. The Recorder caught up with him on yesterday, October 9, the day Cameroonians went to the polls to elect a new president, to get his opinion about the election. He said the poll was peaceful but for  some irregularities.Read on:

Your Highness, it is 2:00 PM  and in  a few hours voting would come to an end. I have been made to understand that you have gone round the polling station in your chiefdom, observing how voting is going on? What have you observed this far?

I started going round as early as 7:30 am to ensure that election material and polling officers were there. By 8:30 voting had started here. Voting has been going on in a peaceful atmosphere, in calm. I had advised my subjects that after voting, they should avoid crowding at the polling stations. I have found that my people have obeyed my instructions

Where did you cast your vote? Did you notice cases of multiple-voting?

I voted at the Customary Court polling station.  Yes,I discovered that  there are voters with more than one  voter cards. I had two voter cards but voter I voted once. I saw many people with two or three cards but as their ruler warned them to vote just once. I am happy my people respected my advice. I went round all the ten polling stations here and everything was in order. There was no cause for alarm, no violence of threats of violence
.
What concretely was your contribution on before the election to ensure that there is total peace on Election Day and after the proclamation of results?

As the Chief of the locality, I was informed that, before the Election Day some people came out here intoxicating the population that shortly before and during the election, there would be violence and chaos. This brought about fear among my people.
So, I convened a meeting of family heads, traditional councilors, legalized political parties, security officials and the media, and told them that, no matter who wins the election, they should know that all the candidates are Cameroonians. And that they should know that even before the results are made public, God has already chosen the leader; that the next president is already known by God and that what we are doing-called election is a just  confirmation by Cameroonians  of God’s fulfillment.  I told them that whoever God has chosen Cameroonians should be happy and rally behing him or her so that together we can build and make Cameroon a prosperous nation- for everybody to enjoy
We prayed and have been praying that whoever will be president should build a solid fence around him by bringing on board the other 22 parties to form a coalition government for the interest of peace and greater unity.

Before voting you were handed 23 ballot papers. Were ballots confusing as some voters have claimed? Were the ballots distinctions clear enough?

Honestly, the ballot distinctions were not clear. That is one area where people faced problem. I don’t know where to lay the blame-whether it was the fault of ELCAM or the candidates?
 As I held the ballot papers I realized that nine (9) candidates had one color-white; then three or four candidates had one colour, but there was one outstanding color for a candidate. If there were 23 candidates, ELECAM ought to have known that we can not have 23 colors-for each candidate to have one color. I think they should have advised that five or four colors would be chosen and then the candidates should group under these coulors; this way, I think it would be very easy to choose the candidate you want. But giving 8 or 9 candidates one color and allowing them to dress similarly was confusing. I think semi-literate people villagers had the difficulty of making their choice…I think ELECAM should have consulted the Ministry of Territorial Administration, which has quite a lot of experience in election management
 A new comer cannot work efficiently like the person who has been working for long. Compare ONEL, which managed previous elections, with ELECAM and you see that the difference is clear.

In a nutshell, what is your assessment of ELECAM?

They are not above average .They are just within. This election is their first test or trial, and as first trial it cannot be very efficient. They have met a lot of hurdles along the way.
Their electoral registers have the names of dead people who died years back. That is a big error. If these registers were sent back to the various chiefdoms, with the various parties in those chiefdoms, they would have gone through the registers and removed the names of the dead people. They would have scrutinize and come out with the names of the living, and that would give you a true picture of the electorate. It regrettable that so many people have died but their names still featured on the electoral list. That is why I say ELECAM has scored an average mark. It would appear whatever machines were put in place to detect multiple registrations failed.

With many names of dead people and duplication of voter cards, it increased the cost of printing.
If for example, if they came to Muea and found out that we have four parties, they should have sent ballot papers for four parties. That would cut down cost. But here the entire 23 ballot are there, whereas in Muea I know that only three parties are represented here-CPDM, SDF and APF.
These are the three parties I have seen their representatives at the polling stations. Putting the other 20 ballots is waste-that is money put in by the state that has been wasted…

That money would have been used to increase the workers and safeguard elections in the country and even increase their stipends to encourage them to work.

In some areas, ballot boxes came late. We know that they had problems of transportation.
Here in the palace, I had to give out one of my vehicles to the security to facilitate their work-because as a traditional ruler, that was the role I thought I should play. When you want peace, security must be guaranteed.
I hope after the proclamation of the election results there will be peace.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Marginalization of Anglophones in Cameroon:An Incongruous phenomenon.



By Ewane Mbwoge Charley*
This story addresses itself particularly to the treatment of Southern Cameroonians (Anglophones). It contains general principles which are transcendent, and which in effect can be extrapolated relative to humankind in general.
    In dialectics of Cameroon history it is evident that the wheel of change has never moved as fast as the contemporary Southern Cameroonians would have wanted. The tempo of events has defied all conventional wisdom. In a circumstance such as this, it becomes incumbent on us to make sure the elements of change are for something demonstrably better, so that the Anglophone men and women in Cameroon can be put on an ever enlarging escalator toward a bigger, better, and richer future.
    If southern Cameroonians are human beings, then they have to be treated with respect and be given equal share of the national cake. If Paul Biya and his regime feel Anglophones are not human beings or are inferior to the francophone folks, then they must be relegated to the group of sophists whom Socrates spurned, saying: “you do not know your own nature”.
   It can hardly be over-emphasized that the task of every nation is that of harmonizing, humanizing, and civilizing the deepest impulses of a people. Modern Anglophones in Cameroon have become prisoners of their social, political and economic system of the Cameroonese and are fast losing touch with the deeper meaning of life. This social, political and economic machinery provides a colossal apparatus of domination perpetrated by the Biya regime on Anglophones. The Biya regime has been manifesting inconsistent personality, moral hypocrisy, increasing cruelty, and deafness to the cries of millions of poor Anglophones.
   Perhaps, nowhere is this image of modern Anglophones more dramatically revealed. There, the members of one race, as per the Foumban conference, have used the good services of the other races living in the same Republic to construct an economic, political and social apparatus enviable according to modern standards, but which excludes Anglophones from its benefits vast numbers of people of the same Republic, people still down and hopeless, reduced to beggars. What is more, Anglophones are not granted their full  human rights,they are  subjected to arbitrary arrest, the case of Mola  Njoh Litumbe, Tole tea estate workers, Southern Cameroonians in prisons, occupy inferior positions in the Republic, and are subjected to many repressive laws which have for the culminating point the governmental policy of domination.
   Marginalization is the most sophisticated type of consciously organized tribal discrimination promulgated in Cameroon by the Biya regime. According to this policy, Anglophones are suppressed and oppressed. They are treated as inferior and exposed not only to cruelty and brutality, but to contempt and blatant injustice in a land which is their birthright. Often they have been told to “go back home” by members of the Biya clan, or “Yaounde is not your capital” or “enermie dans la maison”.
On the 4th of February, 2011, I attended a CPDM meeting at the Fako section secretariat in Buea, in preparation for the 9th October presidential elections in 2011. The meeting was chaired by former Minister of special duties at the presidency and current chairman of SONARA, John Ebong Ngole. What I gathered from that meeting was the fact that it is the very Anglophones who are degrading themselves and who are letting the entire race down. The issue on the table was the mafia they would play in order to win the elections. An argument then erupted between the former Mayor of Buea, Mbella Moki Charles and the paramount chief of Bafaw, chief Mukete. The argument was about; where Unification celebrations would take place. Chief Mukete wanted the celebrations to be taken to Kumba while Mbella Moki wanted it Buea. Chief Mukete pointed out that he wanted it in Kumba because he has his businesses to protect and would want to showcase what he has as business, but Mbella said Buea is the capital of South West and the celebrations must take place in Buea. He then pointed out that when the 50th anniversary of the military was celebrated in Bamenda, why was it not taken to Banso? The argument went to a point that chief told Mbella that he is not even up to his grandson. Mr. Ebong Ngole stepped in as the argument was about to go off hand and ordered them to stop or he calls the nkunkuma at etoudi. This therefore tells you how our so called elites have let the Anglophone race down by stooping so low because of politics of the stomach
   After more than 50 years of cohabiting with Francophones, Anglophones ought to be share in the possession of the country not as second class citizens. It would be an understatement to say Anglophones lack the knowledge or wisdom to stand up right. I think we have a bunch of cowards as elites who have stooped so low for many decades and who continue to so.
  The sooner the “business” of “Marginalization” against Southern Cameroonians is finished, the more humane Cameroon would be. This is because whenever a human group fails to measure up to the requirements of living peacefully and fruitfully with its neighbours, humanity is the poorer for the anomaly. This therefore is a wakeup call for all Anglophones both at home and the Diaspora that unless there is peaceful change, Southern Cameroonians will resort to violence and proclaim an independent republic of southern Cameroon. We are a peaceful race that’s why we have always had a peaceful approach to this issue, preferring to negotiate rather than destroy, to talk rather than to kill.

NB:* Ewane Mbwoge Charley is People’s Action Party (PAP) Communicating Secretary and Mmember of its strategic team.

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