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NEW YEAR 2003 MESSAGE OF THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT (SDF)
NI John FRU NDI
TO CAMEROONIANS
Fellow members of the SDF,
Fellow Cameroonians.
We have come to the end of another difficult year!
The year 2002 will be remembered as during which twin
elections were held (Municipal and legislative); a
year in which electoral fraud in our country was
consolidated!
Like many times before, I will like to mention that
the SDF was born on May 26, 1990 with the goal of
liberating Cameroonians from the yoke of the one party
system, and of giving them the opportunity to have a
say in the running of the affairs of the nation. Since
its birth, the SDF has continued to receive
unflinching support from an overwhelming majority of
the Cameroonian people.
As you are aware, we chose to bring change to the
country through the ballot box; that is, through free,
fair and transparent elections. In all democracies,
elections are the cornerstone of the process in which
the people express their sovereign will about the
running of the affairs of their country. We have no
doubt that since elections concern the expression of
the sovereign will of the people, they should be given
the importance that all other issues of sovereignty
enjoy.
You no doubt are also aware of the great difficulties
and challenges we have had to face in our effort to
secure for Cameroon and its people, a free and fair
vote. When we were faced by a government that had
electoral banditry as its creed, we decided that we
were no longer going to participate in elections until
there were good laws. Some Cameroonians and some of
our international friends thought that the SDF was a
party of boycott! Then, unfortunately, the government
proceeded to create a National Elections Observatory
(NEO), which, as the SDF predicted, turned out not
only to be a mere observer, but another partisan
instrument in the process.
Following the twin elections, what the SDF had been
saying all along became even more evident:
• The bad laws that now exist are only respected during
elections only by the Opposition; Governors, SDOs,
DOs, Chiefs and other CPDM agents are allowed to break
the electoral laws with impunity;
• The Administration that conducts elections is partisan
and has overwhelming powers that are not derived from
the electoral laws;
• The electoral laws provide no efficient machinery for
their own enforcement;
• This twin elections observed by NEO were the worst in
the history of elections in Cameroon;
• The CPDM controls the entire state machinery and
resources during elections;
• The CPDM is both party in the competition and the
judge; a player and a referee…
Can there be a future for a country that makes
illegality and impunity a culture? Will the seed of
chaos being sown by this regime not take roots and
bear fruits that we will one day be forced to harvest?
For how long will this regime take the patience of the
Cameroonian people for granted?
The elections of June 30 were truly a catastrophe in
the history of our country! These elections brought to
the fore, more than ever before, government’s show of
impunity, incompetence and mockery of the aspirations
of Cameroonian people. There can be no better evidence
to prove that MINAT is incompetent and incapable of
organising elections in this country than the
cancellation of the twin elections on the morning of
the 23rd of June. The electoral process was a total
failure. But it was considered by the CPDM as a
victory. We have since invited the CPDM to another
round of discussions on the electoral process in
Cameroon. Will they be so full of themselves and
refuse this golden opportunity to improve on the
electoral system and save Cameroon from what is
happening around us? In this area, we know we can
gratefully count on those friends of Cameroon who are
showing genuine concern about the electoral process in
our country.
Fellow Cameroonians.
I am aware that in your great anxiety and
frustration, you are looking up to the SDF to do
something! You are looking up to us to chart a way
forward from the abyss in which our country has been
plunged. You are looking up to us to install real
democracy in Cameroon. You have the right to look up
to us. But while you look up to us, do not resign to
your fate!!. We cannot allow the hideous regime in our
country to once more impose the one party regime on
us! At this trying time in the history of our struggle
for democracy in our country, it will be a tragedy if
our people resigned themselves to the tricks of the
regime. We know the history of the peoples and
democracies we all admire today. We shall surely not
take as long as they took, if all hands are on deck!
We can only count on ourselves; on our individual and
collective efforts. I exhort you to remain firm; to
throw off attitudes of discouragement.
We are living a false peace today. It is built on the
culture of impunity and the crippling of the people’s
ability to stand up for anything dear to them. That
exists just because we have not stood up for what is
right.
Fellow Cameroonians,
I invite the people, the farmers, the intellectuals,
the youths, the hawkers, the downtrodden, indeed, all
Cameroonians of all walks of life, to prove that they
are truly sovereign. I invite the journalists, the
private Radios , the NGOs, the Trade Unions and the
entire Civil Society to turn the floodlights in 2003
on the issue of repeated electoral fraud and how to
curb it. We will change together. There is no way
forward without you. We can do it together, Yes! We
can!! Let us all rise in 2003 and face the challenge,
and we will win, despite all odds!!
Fellow Cameroonians,
During the year that has just come to an end, we
continued to hear about the fight against AIDS, the
fight against Poverty, the fight against Corruption
etc…When we went around the country early enough
intoning “Sida Dey Outside”, most people seemed to
take it all for a joke. Good enough the government and
many others have got up from slumber. We encourage you
all to join the fight against AIDS.
As for the fight against poverty, government remained
incapable of seizing the opportunity given by the HIPC
programme. The money from this programme remains
blocked, while misery continues to weigh on the poor
masses. As for the fight against corruption, the
government continued to pretend to be involved in the
fight by creating all types of Corruption
Observatories in Ministries, but hardly any has
produced positive results, since they are full of
cronies of the regime that promote corruption in the
first place! Unfortunately, the regime let the year go
by without implementing the provisions of the 1996
Constitution, including the one on the declaration of
assets that would have provided a baseline for the
fight against corruption.
Following the change in our financial
year system, the annual state budget was just recently
adopted. It took Parliamentarians just a few days at
the end of the parliamentary session to debate on the
budget, while the rest of the session had been spent
idling away. Why does the CPDM government treat
budgetary issues in our country with such disrespect?
Why does the government refuse Parliamentarians the
right to seriously debate the budget in our country?
Fellow militants of the SDF,
Fellow Cameroonians,
We have all witnessed with dismay, the
happenings in Côte d’Ivoire. We hope that the Ivorian
people will privilege dialogue over violence. We are
also very worried about the ever-increasing insecurity
in the world and the explosion of armed conflicts. We
would like to use this opportunity to once more appeal
for dialogue and the institution of democratic
governance in the exercise of power in different
countries. We appeal to the international community to
find lasting solutions to the problems between the
peoples of Palestine and Israel.
We call on all of you to remain prayerful in the Year
2003 as always, because whenever people fail, God
sends His courage to guide them. I know that you must
be asking at the end of this year what the health of
the SDF is. I can assure you that the strength of the
party has not been daunted by the massive fraud of the
last elections and its aftermath. The SDF was formed
by people who believe in freedom, so there is no doubt
that they will persevere to the end.
Let me take this opportunity to thank all militants,
sympathisers, and indeed, all Cameroonians who have
stood up in their own various ways for what is right.
In the end, only what is right will prevail! They can
be sure that they are the only ones whom history will
remember!
On behalf of the SDF, I wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Prosperous New Year 2003!
May God bless and protect us all.
NI John FRU NDI
National Chairman
The end
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