13th Anniversay Speech by Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman, May 26, 2003
"As a matter of policy, we are against war." Ni John Fru Ndi
Members and sympathisers of the SDF
Fellow Cameroonians
Ladies and Gentlemen.
26th May 1990 to 26th May 2003: this makes thirteen
years since our party, the SDF was launched.
The party was launched to work on clearly defined
objectives that included and still include among
others:
To mobilise, rally and galvanise Cameroonians into a
united force to fight for the establishment of a just,
free and democratic society in which citizens live in
dignity and security, and enjoy fundamental freedoms,
rights and liberties. These are values, enshrined in
the United Nations Charter and other International
Instruments, which Cameroon has ratified.
Win elections through the ballot box;
Promote equal opportunity;
Promote international peace and co-operation;
Protect and promote the bilingual character of
Cameroon…
It is legitimate to ask how far we have gone with each
of these objectives in 13 years.
Like in the past, this anniversary comes on the heels
of the 20th May National Day. We decided to celebrate
the National Day this year under the banner of
mourning the death of democracy and the electoral
process in Cameroon. I want here to congratulate
militants and sympathisers of the SDF who braved the
brutal forces of the police state to send this message
across in all corners of the country, especially in
Yaounde. One may ask if in doing this, we mean that
our objective “to mobilise, rally and galvanise
Cameroonians into a united force to fight for the
establishment of a just, free and democratic society
in which citizens live in dignity and security and
enjoy fundamental freedoms, rights and liberties” has
failed? The answer is a big NO! History teaches us
that all people who fight seriously for freedom always
have it! Whether it be the slaves who were in
shackles, they were eventually freed by the
anti-slavery movement; whether it be the Woman who was
initially deprived of certain social, economic and
political rights, she was eventually freed through the
struggle of the feminist movements; whether it be the
African Americans that were initially deprived of
economic and political rights, they were eventually
freed through the struggle of the civil rights
movement; whether it be the black South Africans
initially crushed by apartheid, they were eventually
freed through the struggle of the ANC and other
forces! Freedom always comes in the end, if the
fighting forces keep fighting! Let us keep on
fighting. We have obviously made gains since 1990. You
can see them all around us!! The repressive regime in
our country has tried to claim some of the gains, but
we all know that the gains were made in spite of the
regime!!
What of the objective of winning elections through the
ballot box?, one may ask.
As we have said before, the elections of 30 June 2002
were the worst that have been organised since 1990.
Does this mean that we shall never win elections
through the ballot box? Other people around the world
that sooner than later, enjoyed the fruits of free and
fair elections have asked this question. From our
experience since 1990, we have reasons to ask these
questions. But we should not lose sight of the fact
that the regime is just hanging on desperately,
playing one deceitful card after another to gain time.
These deceitful cards include, “Good Governance”,
“Decentralisation”, “NEO”. When we put pressure, they
get lost in self-delusion, and play a useless card….We
must continue to put pressure! The country can never
be at ease until we are completely satisfied with the
electoral system. The CPDM regime cannot ignore
forever the fact that all too often, conflicts and
civil wars arise where those in power fail to consider
the views of others, or to communicate with them about
their differences. The evidence is abundant in Africa,
and around us! It is from a position of strength that
we have continued to seek dialogue with the CPDM, not
from a position of weakness!! The transparent ballot
box is still our emblem. We must continue to fight
relentlessly for it, and for all that it represents!!
The SDF has persistently insisted on the creation of
an Independent Electoral Commission to organise
elections in Cameroon from registration to
proclamation of results. But the CPDM regime in its
characteristic manner of always running away from the
truth, argued that “no one could be neutral in
Cameroon”. When they could no longer sustain their
lie, they created a fake called NEO, whose members
were CPDM officials and supporters in the guise of
their own kind of independent and neutral body to
organise elections. The very fact that the CPDM regime
created and described NEO, as an independent body, is
a resounding victory for the SDF because they have, by
so doing, swallowed back their own lie that no one
could be neutral in Cameroon. We maintain and
re-iterate our call for an Independent
Electoral Commission because NEO is just another organ
of the CPDM in disguise.
The latest pretext and intrigue of the CPDM regime is
their refusal to computerise the electoral registers
with the excuse that the exercise is too costly and
time-consuming. We have heard all this before. We also
know that international organisations have offered to
pay for the computerisation of our electoral
registers. The question is for how long will the CPDM
regime continue to deceive Cameroonians by moving from
one lie to another?
Fellow Militants of the SDF,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our slogan “Power to the people with equal opportunity
for all” is chanted in every nook and corner of
Cameroon by the big and small, the young and old.
Seeking and providing equal opportunity for all has
been one of our main missions in the SDF. When we
evaluate our achievements in this domain so far, we
easily conclude that to reach our goal, we should
remember to seek equality not just as a right and a
theory, but also as a fact and a result. Although
nature has subjected the Woman to the special burdens
of motherhood and certain muscular weaknesses, it has
also distributed wisdom and human ability in equal
proportions between both sexes. This is why we should
evaluate our achievements on a permanent basis to
ensure that equality of opportunity is leading to
equality of results.
Another objective of ours was to promote international
peace and co-operation.
In order to promote international peace and
co-operation, we need to promote peace and
co-operation in our country among our people. In order
to promote peace and co-operation in our country, we
should first and foremost recognise the diversity of
the nature and origins of the people: that they belong
to provinces, ethnic groups, are either anglophone or
francophone and belong to various groupings like
political parties and associations. No sound social
order can be established in Cameroon if all these
facets of Man are not taken into consideration by
political and administrative authorities in order to
give the individual, the chance for self-fulfilment.
More importantly, it should always be kept in mind
that no peace effort can be lasting unless people have
some control over their government. The results of all
elections in the country have to be trusted and
accepted by all, since elections give the people their
chief sense of participation and control. Real,
lasting peace can only take root in a democratic
country where there is justice, respect for human
rights, freedom and truth.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As a matter of policy, we are against war. We also
have strong feelings about issues that are at the
origin of wars. This is why we constantly condemn war
and the causes of war. We condemned the recent Iraqi
war. We condemned international terrorism in all its
forms. In our opinion, the future of mankind is better
served by dialogue and understanding amongst people
and countries, than by wars that lead to momentary
victories and regroupings in camps.
Another of our important objectives was to protect and
promote the bilingual character of Cameroon.
To protect and promote the bilingual character of
Cameroon, we must protect and promote the bi-cultural
and bi-jural nature of the country. We believe in
unity in diversity, in recognition of the pluralism
that is manifest in all aspects of the Cameroonian
society. Political and administrative authorities must
respect this diversity in order to give the
individual, the chance for self-fulfilment. Our
national unity will be served more by promoting its
bilingual character than by the efforts of the present
regime to “unite” the judicial systems, “unite” the
education systems, “unite” the administration, “unite”
the messages on 20th May, etc. Such “unity” will only
cause more division and serve the selfish ambitions of
individuals, not that of the country. We call on
militants and sympathisers of the SDF, and indeed all
our compatriots to treat our rich differences with
respect. We pledge that these differences will be
nurtured, to the best interest of our country.
Before rounding off, I will not omit to point out that
the SDF has since its creation been tracing a road map
to peace, justice and unity in Cameroon through
transparent, free and fair elections. This is
symbolised in the logo of our Party, which was
purposely designed to carry this message. After
thirteen years of existence, the SDF is more than
before convinced about this and we must continue the
struggle until final victory is won. It is only then
that we shall together lay the foundation of a new
Cameroon after pushing aside the ashes, the debris and
the devastation of twenty-one years of CPDM
mismanagement and squander mania.
Fellow members of the SDF!
So what is the health of the party in the build-up to
the 2004 elections? What are the plans of the party?
How shall we enjoy our right to vote in future? How
shall we protect the verdict of the ballot box in
future?
These are important questions that preoccupy us today.
Presently, some structures of our party are being
revamped. This will be followed by another national
tour to meet and exchange views with the people. In
the meantime, we are discussing with other OPPOSITION
political parties to establish a common strategy for
the elections, like we did in 1992 and 1997. It should
always be kept in mind that the most important issue
in an election is the Electoral College or what is
commonly called the electoral registers. This is still
controlled completely by the administrative
authorities that do not hide their militancy in the
CPDM. Some of them demonstrated this again a few days
ago during the May 20 National Day march pass by
running away from the grand stands when it was the
turn of the SDF to march pass. The SDF transparent
boxes and their black attires to mourn the death of
democracy in Cameroon was anathema to them. They have
always defrauded elections to give victory to the CPDM
and its candidates. They have done this efficiently in
the past, and they are not likely to change on their
own. They can only change if we force them to change!
So it is up to us to devise means of forcing them to
change from agents of election fraud and repression to
agents of democracy and development. Our electoral
victory depends on our ability to do this. I urge all
of you to get to work to ensure free and fair
registration of voters and transparent establishment
of the electoral registers. The survival of our party
and that of democracy in our country depend on it! The
life span of the present unsteady peace depends on it
too!!
Let me end by once more, wishing you all a happy
anniversary!
May God bless and guide us all in a world full of
insecurity!
Long live the SDF,
Long live Cameroon!
The end
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