Fame Ndongo, Tribalism and the Electoral Process
Minister of Communication, Fame Ndongo issued a Press statement last week, in reaction to an interview of Cardinal Christian Tumi. The communiqué lays bare the thoughts of the Biya regime on the present electoral process and gives signals that they have no intention to change it before the next Presidential elections. Fame Ndongo’s clumsy arguments to justify the absence of the tribalisation of power and governance in Cameroon seem to be destined to an external audience, not an internal one, since Cameroonians know better. Because of the seriousness of the implications of his communiqué, the SDF wishes to use the occasion to re-state some of the problems facing the nation presently.
1. The fact of the tribalisation of power and governance in Cameroon is no secret to anybody conversant with the composition of the various centres of power in Cameroon. One does not need to do a national inventory like the one done by elite of the “Grand Nord” for their region, in order to convince the Fame Ndongos who are the architects of the set-up.
2. Ever since multiparty democracy returned to Cameroon, all elections have been marred by massive electoral fraud. The main reason for this is that the party in power, the CPDM, which has always been one of the contestants in the elections, has been player and referee, against all rules of common sense and justice. The party in power plays this role through the Ministry of Territorial Administration which has largely remained in its colonial role of safeguarding the interest of the Prince and of the Metropolis.
3. All this is not news. As far back as 1991, a team of elections observers from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) came to Cameroon on the invitation of the government, and after studying the political environment, noted that “the most important factor in promoting a free and fair electoral environment is the establishment of a system for administering the elections that will command the confidence of all the participants in the process", and proposed the creation of “an independent national commission” recognised as being politically neutral. Since then, international observer teams from the NDI (1992), the IFES (1997), the Commonwealth (1997), La Francophonie (1997), and local bodies like the Episcopal Conference (1993, 2002), the Good Governance Programme (2000) and several other civil society groupings, as well as opposition political parties, have decried the serious shortcomings in the electoral system of Cameroon which does not provide a level playing field for all contestants, and gives undue advantage to the party in power, the CPDM.
4. The Fame Ndongo Press Release seeks to justify the unjustifiable, thus lending credence to the fact that this regime discusses people and their origin, rather than the ideas expressed by people!
5. Each time the chaos in Cameroon has been evoked, the Fame Ndongos are quick to shout: here is the law! This is precisely what he has done in his intellectual gymnastics to buttress his claims. He points to the law, proclaiming that the opposition participates in all stages of the electoral process because they sit in commissions; they are at the polling stations and participate in vote counting. People who hear this believe it because they assume that the so-called laws they invoke, are really laws, as are known all over the world! Yet, the real problem is not so much the electoral laws and regulations he cites generously; it is that their obedience is not compulsory: they are obeyed or disobeyed by the administration and ruling party members only as a matter of convenience! The real problem with elections is that we have informal electoral rules, rather than electoral laws in the sense of “laws”! Indeed, the real problem is the enforcement of laws! His evocation of the role of the National Counting Commission, the Supreme Court and NEO in the electoral process to justify his claims, presents him as an academic who fails to reconcile the theories in his books with the realities of society! One need not tell him that there is nothing binding about all the laws and regulations he quotes abundantly, and there is no procedure for getting the platitudes in the texts off the pages on which they are written to the daily lives of the individual citizen. All are little more than good advice, which is ignored most of the time.
6 . The culture of impunity that has been installed in the country makes the administration look at itself as the law itself!! Further, the colonial mentality of the corps leads the Governors, SDOs and DOs to think that they have been put where they are to protect the personal interest of the President and to ensure victory for his party. Which of them does not work in this logic? Which of them does not link appointment and promotion to oppressing the people and the opposition, and winning elections for the President’s party by all means? Which of them does not think that they are the law in their territorial jurisdiction? Which Governor in installing the SDO has not directed that their main duty is to maintain law and order (that is 15 days renewable!)?
7. In the build-up to the Presidential elections, the opposition is aware that, like in the past, the regime is determined to rig and win first, and then manage accusations later. Complaints from the opposition will be treated as the bitterness of losers. The opposition that is slowly gathering together in a coalition understands that the essential thing is to win first and to protect its victory, by all means!
8. Cameroonians are frustrated with the electoral process. And these Cameroonians are in all walks of life. With the determination of the opposition coalition to win and protect its victory by all means, rather than complaining after the act, and the CPDM regime bent on winning by all means using the usual electoral fraud, the stage is set for a serious conflict after the elections, if nothing is done to provide a level playing field for the contestants!
9. As we have said over and over again, a patriot is a person who loves his country and wants only the best from and for his country and his people. In issuing an alert, like Cardinal Tumi did, he was being patriotic. Fame Ndongo’s criticism of the Cardinal is therefore frivolous and uncalled for. After all, in Africa it is well known that when the ballot box becomes irrelevant, there are other avenues for coming to power!
10. In his 2003 New Year speech, Mr. Biya made promises about improving the electoral system. More recently, we have been hearing noises about the computerisation of electoral registers. It is clear from the Fame Ndongo communiqué that the Biya regime has no intention to improve on the electoral system before the next Presidential elections. Their wish is that the administrative authorities should still be the real voters, and impunity should still be the order of the day!! So we can all expect the worst for our country because there will be a historic clash between the opposition coalition and Biya’s unpatriotic forces of Governors, SDOs and DOs !!!
Yaounde, September 6, 2003
Prof. T. Asonganyi
Secretary General
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