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DECLARATION OF THE SDF ON THE PRESENT
CHAOTIC SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY
When the people vote their president in various
democracies around the world, they seek to vote
someone they trust; someone they feel is abler and
better than themselves. Once elected, the presidents
do their best to ensure that they are seen to be doing
the will of the people. Not so in Cameroon of the
"advanced democracy" fame, where incompetence,
repression, tribalism and corruption are the order of
the day.
Against this background, the SDF has always
repeatedly asked where Cameroon is heading to; why the
CPDM has to plunged Cameroon into chaos and misery;
whether there is anyone in the palace! These questions
have been on the lips of the SDF since its birth.
Recent events in the country have made the questions
even more pressing.
For example, has the president of the republic
unilaterally opted for an absolute monarchy? Why has
he decided of recent to be accompanied by his wife and
children to all his trips outside the country, to the
extent of interrupting the school year of his
children? Why are red carpets being rolled for his
wife and children? Why do they review troops, salute
the national flag, ministers and other constituted
corps? And on top of these, the Head of State takes
pride in disrupting the flight schedules of CAMAIR by
confiscating its planes for weeks!
While the president of the republic prepares his
family for his succession in the full view of the
nation, total chaos is taking hold of our country.
Groping in the dark, total absence of anticipation and
foresight, total decay and confusion have become the
trademarks of the regime.
Up to the end of January 2003, five months after the
start of the school year, authorities of MINEDUC are
still pretending to be making efforts to send the
so-called "minimum package" to some schools in
different regions of the country.. The SDF views the
"minimum package" as another channel opened by the
regime for siphoning taxpayers' money into the private
pockets of cronies of the regime.
Further, after the crisis in the energy sector and
the resultant regular interruption in the supply of
electricity, which the Head of State himself has
attributed to his lack of foresight, the same lack of
foresight has brought serious shortages in the supply
of kerosene, cooking gas, petrol and palm oil, to name
these few. The resultant price hikes have compounded
the precarious revenue situation of most families in
the country. In their panic and confusion, the
authorities concerned announced that some of the
shortages were due to a train accident between Douala
and Yaounde! In other words, due to the lack of
foresight of the CPDM government, nothing has been
done to have stocks in towns like Yaounde that can go
for weeks, why not months, in cases of emergency. This
represents gross irresponsibility and lack of
consideration for the interest of the people.
The road accident of Ebombe on the so-called Douala –
Yaounde highway came to compound the irresponsibility
and lack of foresight of the regime! For a long time,
it has been obvious that the Douala – Yaounde
"highway" is no longer suitable for the density of
traffic that plies the road. This is true of the
Bonaberi bridge and others. The rising traffic density
would have pushed a responsible government to consider
replacing it with a double carriageway or at least,
widening the road considerably and paying more
attention to the maintenance of the road to avoid
pot-holes and the effect of aging. This has not been
the preoccupation of a government in Limbo. To add
insult to injury, the government proceeded to suspend
the two transport companies involved in the accident
and to announce without reflection that any such
company that gets involved in a fatal accident would
equally be suspended! Many questions haunt us because
of such careless action. Why did the government
ignore the timber company whose vehicle was one of the
causes of the accident? What does it take a government
to know that suspending the activities of the two
transport companies would lead to an increase of
travelers in the remaining companies and the
consequent increase of workload on the drivers and the
vehicles, thus increasing their possibility of also
getting involved in accidents? Can this not be the
cause of the recent accident of Guarantee Voyage on
the same "highway"? Does this accident of Guarantee
not further ridicule the government?
Not surprisingly, with the approach of 11th February,
a day set aside in Cameroon as Youth Day, the students
of the University of Buea rioted to vent their anger
at government’s unwillingness to provide them security
in their residential quarters. Government has been
watching unconcerned, the repeated attacks by armed
robbers in their residential quarters to steal their
property and rape students. The activities of these
armed bandits are a reflection of the rising
insecurity in the whole country. Surprised by the
anger of the students, the government has preferred
blind, brute, repression and cosmetic palliatives to
seriously facing the challenges of the situation. What
does it take a government to issue directives to
owners of the "mini-cités", ordering the building of
fences and the provision of intercom services as well
as the protection of security guards around the
students’ quarters? Maybe it is because most of the
owners of the buildings are barons of the regime? In
any case, the armed bandits have been going about
their activities as usual, as if to mock at the
confusion and helplessness of the government! With the
scandal that surrounds the recruitment of thousands of
student police officers with dubious backgrounds into
the police college in Mutengene, there is little that
Cameroonians can expect from the corrupt and
tribalistic CPDM regime as far as curbing insecurity
in the country is c
The SDF hopes that the spontaneous show of anger of
the University of Buea students is a lesson whose
takeaway message for the regime is that there is a
limit to taking the people for granted.
Another domain that has exposed the ineptitude,
untrustworthiness and mercenary nature of the CPDM
regime is the issue of privatization. Rather than
ensure that privatization serves the economic,
political and social interests of the nation, the CPDM
regime has put in place a mafia where their cronies
and their foreign partners rob the nation of its
patrimony and deprive future generations of the
investments that past generations have labored to
make. The criminal activities of this Mafia ensure
that a crony of the regime is always a partner in all
other foreign companies that succeed to buy our public
and para-public corporations that get privatized. The
SDF has no doubt that the activities of this mafia of
the CPDM regime will finally catch-up with the regime,
trap it and crush its dream of hanging on to power in
Cameroon for ever.
Finally, the SDF notes with regret that the culture
of impunity and disrespect of the laws of the land by
cronies of the regime has become entrenched. We recall
that freedom of assembly and association are some of
the universal freedoms highlighted in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and upheld by our
Constitution and other laws in Cameroon. The SDF
affirms that all modernization of our democratic
system has to necessarily involve the protection of
these freedoms. Some time ago, a cultural festival
of North westerners resident in the South West
Province was banned. Further, the banning of the press
conference of the northern elite in the Hilton Hotel
this week and the subsequent invasion of the private
residence of one of them, are the consequence of
primitive reflexes that go against the laws of the
land. It is this culture of impunity that encourages
people like Mr. Moise Njaqmbe to use hoodlums to
attack the radio station of Magic FM, because his name
is mentioned by the radio! These undemocratic acts of
the regime only expose the panic, fear and confusion
that presently grip the tottering regime. The SDF once
more warns the CPDM regime that it is precisely this
type of brute repression of the freedom of association
and assembly of persons who seek to vent the anger of
the different components of their populations that has
led to the revolt and violence that is tearing
different African countries apart. The SDF vehemently
condemns the blind and selfish effort of the CPDM to
prevent democratic alternance in our country. The SDF
calls on all opposition forces and other active forces
in Cameroon to redouble their efforts of preparing our
final push to throw out this callous and unpatriotic
regime.
Bamenda, February 8, 2003.
NI John FRU NDI
National Chairman
The end
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