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NATIONAL ELECTIONS OBSERVATORY :
ANOTHER TOOTHLESS BULLDOG TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLE
Since the launching of the SDF in 1990 with the ballot box in its emblem representing the dream of the SDF to change Cameroon through the ballot box, the SDF has continued to work very hard for the advent of free, fair, transparent and credible elections in Cameroon. At several instances, the SDF has vehemently protested and decried the electoral fraud machinery put in place by the BIYA regime and animated mainly by agents of the Ministry of Territorial Administration (Governors, SDOs, DOs, Traditional rulers) but also other public servants. These protests have included:
- the boycott of the March 1992 Legislative elections;
- the boycott of the October 1997 Presidential elections.
The protests have usually gone side by side with several resolutions and declarations of the SDF on elections. To each of these protest actions, the BIYA regime has behaved as if the actions and the SDF and other political parties did not matter and the regime has continued to survive because of its various subterfuges that divert the attention of the people.
These subterfuges have included meetings with opposition political parties, all meant to provide the regime the false image of a rallying force. One of such meetings was with the SDF after the Presidential election of October 1997 that was boycotted by the SDF and other opposition parties. During the meetings, the SDF, cognisant of the role played by agents of MINAT in election fraud in Cameroon, proposed the creation of an independent electoral commission to act in the place of MINAT to ensure the organisation of free, fair, transparent and credible elections. The meeting ended without results because at that time, the CPDM was more interested in convincing the SDF to join the government and so failed to recognise the dangerous role played by agents of MINAT in election fraud.
Of recent, the Parliamentary Group of the SDF has been out in the streets of Yaounde, wanting to march to Unity Palace to hand a Private Member’s Bill on the creation of an Independent Electoral Commission they tabled with other opposition parties in the Assembly since 1997, but which has never been brought up for discussion in the House. They have recently been joined by other opposition Members of Parliament to sign Declarations to the effect that the issue of an independent electoral commission is non negotiable. They have asked for a Bill for its creation to be tabled for discussion during this Parliamentary Session, unfailingly.
The reaction of the BIYA regime to this pressure mounted by the opposition has been that we were trying to force open a wide open door; that a bill to ensure the organisation of free, fair, transparent and credible elections was ready for tabling in Parliament.
On Thursday, 30th November 2000, President BIYA sent a Bill n° 688/PJL/AN relating to the setting up of a National Elections Observatory (NEO). The Bill retains our attention for several reasons:
- It is a clear indication that the BIYA regime has finally accepted that agents of MINAT are usually engaged in massive electoral fraud and need to be set aside or at least contained;
- Since the text is virtually a carbon copy of the Senegalese text on a NEO promulgated since 1997, the noises made so far about a platform signed with the UNDP and the serious work the two parties have been engaged in to produce a Bill on elections were all empty and deceitful;
The BIYA text is similar to the Senegalese text even in the numbering of Sections. Important parts of the Senegalese text, especially in Section L3 where the President of the Republic appoints members of NEO by decree after consultation with Institutions, Associations and Organisms like the Bar Council, University dons, Human Rights Groups, Journalists and others is left out in Section 3 of the BIYA text. This means that he will consult nobody before he decrees, or if he does, it is at his discretion to choose those he
will consult;
- Section L6 of the Senegalese text says that NEO will distribute election material and documents with political parties. Section 6 of the BIYA text omits political parties;
- MINAT (Governors, SDOs, D.Os, Traditional rulers) is still fully in charge of the electoral process. There is no guarantee that they will not ignore the NEO and continue quietly with electoral fraud like Mr. MENDO ZE ignores the National Communications Council and censures the programmes of the SDF;
- The control and proclamation of results and electoral disputes are still in the hands of the Constitutional Council and the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court. The story of “hands being tied” of the October 1992 Presidential election, the Municipal Elections of 1996 whose disputes are still pending in court and the Legislative elections of 1997 whose over 100 disputes were thrown out on flimsy excuses are still fresh in our memory;
- The claim that the supervision and control of the entire electoral process from registration in the electoral registers to the proclamation of results is in the hands of an independent body gives the false impression that the elections will be free, fair, transparent and credible. The structures that run the elections are still in the
hands of the agents of MINAT who have been the main agents of fraud in the past. These agents (Governors, SDOs, D.Os, Traditional rulers) derive their powers from texts that are completely independent of electoral laws; the texts remain in force during elections; therefore it is difficult for somebody be he/she a representative of NEO to have more authority than these agents who represent the President of the Republic in the field;
- Mr. BIYA, in violation of the Constitution of Cameroon, remains the National President of the CPDM. This means that most of what he does as President of the Republic and Head of State is not based on patriotism but on his wish to give advantage to his party.
From the foregoing, the SDF believes that elections in Cameroon will remain flawed because the NEO will be a toothless bulldog like the international observers who usually come and bark without influencing the course of electoral fraud. The SDF will remain focused on the fight for the creation of an Independent Electoral Commission in Cameroon, the only body that can prevent chaos by ensuring free, fair, transparent and credible elections. Only the magnanimity of Mr. DIOUF prevented Senegal from a bloodbath that would have ensued in spite of the NEO and because of the agents of the Administration who also control elections in Senegal. We do not wish this for our Country because Mr. BIYA has shown in the past that such magnanimity is not part of his nature.
Done in Bamenda, 2nd December 2000
NI JOHN FRU NDI
National Chairman
The end
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