An appeal to all chairmen of political parties and MPs to defend the constitution

We cannot allow one man or a small group of people to destroy our country because we fear. We must stand up and defend the truth!

By A.S. Ngwana, Douala

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Our country is at the crossroads of history and the future of Cameroon will depend on your decision now. You can help build Cameroon for the better tomorrow or help destroy it for the worse.

The question is simple: Should we allow President Paul Biya to amend the constitution, to destroy the constitution, to enable him to become life president of Cameroon?

Will history forgive us if for any selfish reason we were to sell our consciences and allow Paul Biya to destroy Cameroon, before God calls him, as God will call each one of us to account for what we have done or failed to do?

Our responsibility as political leaders is to leave behind us a peaceful, prosperous and happy Cameroon, built on the unshakable principles of justice, love and peace. We must build a Cameroon where everyone is equal before the law; a Cameroon where everyone can aspire to the highest position in government, irrespective of his creed, tribe or region. We must build a Cameroon where human dignity is valued and respected. We must build a Cameroon where people are free from ignorance, poverty, disease, corruption, hatred, oppression, discrimination, marginalization and tyranny.

We have not made progress in building a prosperous, virile and democratic country since independence because we suffer from fear, because we are selfish, because we are not prepared to make sacrifices. We cannot build this country based on fear. We cannot allow one man or a small group of people to destroy our country because we fear. We must stand up and defend the truth! The constitution is the supreme law of the State and because the constitution has been ignored, treated with contempt and manipulated by the head of State, there is no «rule of law» or «separation of powers» in Cameroon.

Honorable ladies and gentlemen, we as the political leaders of our country have a serious responsibility to ourselves, our children and our country. We cannot allow Biya to amend the constitution to be life president of Cameroon . Various governments under the president have been most corrupt, inefficient and disastrous.

Our appeal to all parliamentarians is that they should throw out any bill sent by Paul Biya to amend the constitution, so that he can stand for elections after 2011. You can either vote out the bill or walk out of the House. The president of the National Assembly is advised not to manipulate the passage of such a bill because Cameroonians will never forgive him. He will answer for such a terrible crime to the nation.

Our appeal to all chairmen of political parties is that they have to unite and educate their militants on the importance of the Constitution. In this exercise personal differences must be dropped in the interest of the nation. We suggest that one of the chairmen whose party is represented in parliament should take the initiative to call the chairmen of all political parties to an urgent meeting to discuss ways of stopping this threatening catastrophe in our country. Fru Ndi whose SDF party has the largest number of parliamentarians after the CPDM can do this. Or why not Ndam Njoya? In the absence of these two men, any other chairman should do so. We may invite the chairman of the CPDM or his representative to this meeting, if necessary.

If we fail as political leaders to solve this national crisis, then we shall blame ourselves if Cameroonians take the law into their hands to solve this problem in their own way.

I am sure that no Cameroonian will want us to experience the sad situation Kenya is going through now.

May God save Cameroon from chaos, anarchy and doom.