AFRICA: Priest calls for Action against Child Pornography

AFRICA: Priest calls for Action against Child Pornography

Their victory is our disgrace!

True democracy is on the march as the uprising that began in Africa - Tunisia and Egypt soon spread everywhere in the Middle East continue. The unrest ousted President Zine El Abi-dine Ben Ali from Tunia, and Husni Mubarak as Egyptian president. That in Libya and the Persian Gulf countries including Bahrain has prompted concern that supplies of oil from the world’s main region of crude production may be disrupted. In Tunisia, Mohamed Ghannouchi, the interim Prime Minister resigned recently after three people were killed in street protests.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

While much is still to be desired about what will emerge from these unlikely warp-speed revolutions, one thing is for sure: We Cameroonians should feel like lethargic, droopy junk. Yes, we should feel like a flesh-folded fat man watching his ripped younger brother prepare for a triathlon.

Believe it or not, one has to presuppose that the triumph or failure of the revolution in many of these countries depends unreservedly on how ordinary people are ready to die in order to gain their self-determination.

Here in Cameroon, the majority of us can’t be bothered to surrender a bottle of beer and head to the streets at least for once after 28 painful years in bondage by the CPDM regime of President Paul Biya. Yeah, right! Even with the heightened attention of the international community.

The much heralded planed demonstration on February, 23, saw an embarrassing low turnout in Douala – the nation’s economic capital that used to be the pivot of demonstrations in Cameroon. Why? Where are the Mbua Masock, Yondo Mandegue Black, Jean – Jacque Ekinde (Now sleeping with the devil in the so called parliament). Yes, but if some of these people are old, sick and tired as some of us claimed, where are the youths whose future has been hijacked by the Biya regime? Where are they?

This is the paradox of any call for action against the Biya regime in Cameroon: Once the people want to go on the street, once they don’t want to risk anything for it.

Watching people take to the streets in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya etc... should really frustrate us as Cameroonian because our problems are almost the same and in some cases ours are worst.

Fellow Cameroonians let us be aware of the fact that by not standing tall against the repressive regime of president Biya, we are in fact supporting it. If not let us go to the street for the world to hear our cry and come to our aid. Time to act is now!

Will Cameroon be the next Egypt?

Developments in Tunisia, and Egypt over the last few weeks brought Cameroon to my mind. Why does a similar rebellion against closed to three decades repression here still appear to be far-off dream? Though we may guess one or two answers, the rest is explained by the regime’s significantly more repressive model. Like Mubarak, President Biya, is a piker in the art of dictatorship. But no one believed it could ever happen in Tunisia, talk less of Egypt. The people did it - forcing their corrupt dictators out of office in ignominy.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Opposition political parties here have failed in all attempts to kick out the regime, and now they are ‘friends’. Even frontline opposition political party – The Social Democratic Front (SDF) is being accused of ‘sleeping with the devil’ – the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Party (CPDM) Today the country is void of any true opposition political party to fight the corrupt regime thereby leaving power in the hands of the people. Now is the time. Cameroonians must take action as testament to the universal human yearning for liberty. The international community is very much looking forward to the grate people of this nation.

Besides elections, many are also concern about the way the government of president Biya, was approaching the eradication of corruption (systematic corruption was still very much unattended to) which is a major problem of development and governance in this great nation. Though government claims to have established mechanisms or processes in the functioning of the public services like those to eliminate abuses, they are hardly respected.

The government had on many occasions been challenged to make considerable effort in the two areas of electoral truthfulness and the eradication of corruptions in all it forms. And should she succeed in them; no doubt that magic door would have opened for more investment. Unfortunately, president Biya, is no doubt not willing to live up to the high standards of electoral reliability and government transparency that he advocated. Through his sway, parliament amended the country’s constitution paving way for him to remain in power for yet another 7 years.

The regime has a long and well established history of electoral hoax. He created ELECAM, handed it to the people, and then turned around to take it back from his people. Who is fooling who in Cameroon? The organ will still work with the network of government appointed official acting like wolf in sheep skin across the country. Though one may think things would change, at the same time many factors weaken their independence of action.

The CPDM regime has been notoriously unwilling to undertake other good governance reforms such as the separation of the court from the direct control of the minister of justice and effective decentralization for power sharing and administrative effectiveness. There are also severe problems of human rights.

Though Cameroonians are expected to go to the polls this year for a ‘new’ president, the result is clear. The British, US and Dutch embassies had in a joint statement in 2007 condemned the legislative and municipal elections of that year. But like a true detector, Biya, didn’t care. Meaning his government lacks position to make radical changes in a positive direction.

However, I refuse to believe it will take a near miracle to move the Biya regime from its undemocratic practices. The time is now. Take action!

Chris Gardner Crown Traditional Ruler in Ghana – Africa

Chris Gardner, a dedicated African – American, philanthropist and motivational speaker of high repute has added one more feather to his cap – that of ‘Mpontuhen, of Biriwa’. The award according to the people of Biriwa, was in recognition of HRH Chief Gardner’s dedication to improving the well-being of people around the world including those of Biriwa. He is also a devoted and inspirational speaker addressing the keys to overcoming barriers and breaking negative rotations in life.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Chris Gardner - the world acclaimed author of ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, was crowned under the stool named ‘Nana Kofi Akom I, by the chief of Biriwa, HRH Nana Kwa Bonko V, assisted by a college of kingmakers and notables of the clan

Biriwa, is a fast developing village in Ankobea division of Nkusukum Traditional Area in the Mfantsemen Municipality, of the Central Region in the Republic of Ghana – West Africa. And the said honor confirm others awarded by many respected organization including but not limited to the NAACP Image Awards with awards for both the book and movie versions of The Pursuit of Happyness; Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women’s (LACAAW) 2006 Humanitarian Award; The Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce’s 2006 Friends of Africa Award; The Glaucoma Foundation’s Kitty Carlisle Hart Lifetime Achievement Award; The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA); Covenant House, Common Ground and other organizations committed to combating violence against women, homelessness, and financial illiteracy – issues of the utmost importance to Gardner.

Prior to his coronation Chris Gardner, was head-cried by palace guards to the village shrine for more traditional powers. “I feel elated and touch by this great honor given me and my family by the people of Biriwa”, said Chief Gardner, who was accompanied by his daughter - Jacintha.

As the Mpontuhen, of Biriwa, Chief Gardner, identified the village health clinic as one of his major projects and pledged to transform the facility to a modern health center stocked with equipment of International standard. The clinic which serves over 30.000 patients is out of basic necessities and in need of assistance. After a visit to the facility, Chris Gardner, who was visibly disturbed by what he saw re-assured the Biriwa people of his decision and commitment to the dilapidated health clinic.

A successful entrepreneur based in the US, Chief Gardner, was in Ghana, also to share his hard-won wisdom to encourage the youth to pursue new challenges, search for fulfillment at a new stage of life, or craft the legacy they want to leave behind. Thus, he used his real-life experiences to stir the emotions of these young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and lift them to the realm where they believe everything was possible. He was on this mission by Rev. Fr. Caeser, a Ghanaian man of God based in The Vatican.

Though others might judge Chief Gardner’s coronation as the return his roots – Africa, he sees it differently. “The world is one - same people, different villages. You need not to be in Africa or African to solve Africa’s problem”.

Gardner is currently working in partnership with Rev. Fr Caesar, and the Vatican to develop more opportunities for young entrepreneurs. And his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, next month, is expected to boost this initiative.

Exodus of Top White House Aids and The Obama administration

Significant exodus of top aids is no doubt affecting the young Obama presidency. Top on the list to pull the plug in the two year Obama administration is Rham Emmanuel who resigned his post as chief of staff on the eve of his long awaited announcement to run for mayor of his native Chicago. But for the rest, political analyst attest Emanuel’s exit was widely anticipated after serving two years - a typical term for White House chief of staff - a job that brings arduous hours and unforgiving demands.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Rahm Emanuel, now joined a handful of top White House aides who have headed for the door, less than two years into President Barack Obama's term. Mr Emanuel's departure activated a profound shake-up for a White House built around strong personalities. Though critics of the ‘Yes We Can’ administration might be excited in seeing this as a failure or a means to an end in the administration loaded with copious promises to the people of America, at a time when its leader (Obama) is going through a single digit approval ratings, others hold firm that it is not unusual for White House staff to turn over at this point in an administration.

The man fondly called “Rambo” left the White House on the hills of last November mid-term elections, which saw the president’s Democratic Party losing the house and almost the senate to opposition – The Republican Party. Today, Emanuel, is faulted by some members of his Democratic party for leaving ahead of time and paying less interest in some of the president’s tough policies (while they were being crushed by the Republicans) However, Emanuel, can add some of the president’s accomplishments (the healthcare overhaul and financial regulatory reform) to his resume after leaving the White House.

For sure Emanuel, is not the only top aid to have left the young White House administration. One of only few women in senior positions in her time, Communications Director, Ms Moran who lasted less than three months in the administration, announced her sudden departure in April 2009 to become chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Prior to her departure, Ms Moran, was speculated to be having difficult time breaking into Mr Obama's tight-knit circle of close advisers - most of whom had worked with the president for many years - making it hard for her to carry out her role. Disturbingly, she was one of just a handful of senior staff who had not worked on the Obama campaign. Before joining the White House, she was director of Emily's List, an organisation dedicated to supporting liberal women in politics.

A long time environmental activist, Mr Van Jones, who became special adviser for Green Jobs, resigned amid controversy in September 2009, after he became the target of conservative outrage over his previous political activities. Enraged conservatives, led by Fox News host Glenn Beck, charged that Van Jone’s former involvement with a San Francisco area radical group and his signing of a petition asking whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war" made him an unsuitable public official. As the campaign to oust him gathered steam, Mr Jones resigned, saying that he had been the victim of a "vicious smear campaign", but he could not "in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past". He was accused of being a Marxist, and was caught on videotape using a swearword to describe conservatives.

Mark Lippert Deputy National Security Adviser had worked for Mr Obama since 2005, when he was appointed then – senator’s foreign policy adviser. The two men were both colleagues and friends - they used to play basketball together - and Mr Lippert was considered part of Mr Obama's "inner circle" of advisers during his presidential campaign. But his resignation in October 2009 (to rejoin the US Navy, after being a reservist for several years) came as a surprise at a time many thought he was being groomed for an even more senior role.

White House Counsel, Greg Craig, announced his decision to resign in November 2009, while President Obama was travelling in Asia. The man who had worked for President Bill Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, was both a friend and adviser to Mr Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. Critics however believe Mr Craig’s role in overseeing the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was a poisoned chalice. Consequently significant political pressure rendered him unable to deliver on the promise, and he was blamed for the Obama administration's perceived missteps in handling the matter. Some reports indicated Mr Craig was forced out of the administration by disgruntled advisers who believed both Craig and the Guantanamo issue had become serious liabilities. Others portrayed him as the fall guy for the failed policy as well as controversies over torture.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) manages the federal budget - overseeing spending, analyzing the effectiveness of federal agencies and advising the president on budgetary decisions. Its director, Mr Peter Orszag held this critical post during the worst of the economic crisis, but decided to call it quits in June 2010. Orszag was a prominent public figure. His position made him a key advocate for the economic stimulus. But he also generated headlines of his own - fathering a child with his ex-girlfriend just weeks before becoming engaged to an ABC News correspondent who he had dated for seven months. Since leaving the White House he has become a contributing columnist for the New York Times. His first piece reportedly raised the hackles of some of his former colleagues, who viewed it as critical of President Obama.

Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Ms Christina Romer played a pivotal role in crafting and overseeing the stimulus package. Cheerful and articulate, Ms Romer became one of the administration's most useful economic advocates on television news programs. For some reason, she had signaled early in her tenure that her work in DC would be temporary and is now back to her previous post as an economics professor at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, since September. The White House cited family commitments as the reason for her departure.

Director of National Economic Council, Larry Summers, an acclaimed economist and experienced presidential adviser, has attracted controversy throughout his career. He had announced he would resign his post and return to his previous job as a professor at Harvard following November's midterm elections. He was ousted as president of Harvard by his academic peers after he commented that the dearth of women working in science may be the result of a biological gender disparity.

In the White House, he quickly gained a reputation from some for brusqueness and arrogance. He reportedly had tense relationships with other members of Mr Obama's economic team, and his ties to Wall Street aggravated some in the Democratic left. He’s expected to leave at the end of December. Obama, is expected to announce Summer's replacement after his (Obama) vacation in Hawaii.

American Embassies to open doors to civil society activists - Hillary Rodham Clinton

In her statement on this year’s human rights day, US secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, says she witness small and large acts of courage every day in every part of the world like Liu Xiaobo, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, who helped author Charter '08 calling for peaceful political reform in China and lost his freedom for the cause. On this occasion Mrs Clinton, reiterated her country’s call for Liu’s immediate release as well as other civil rights activists.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

The US secretary of state brought up the cases of groups and individuals elsewhere in the world including; the group Damas de Blanco which faced harassment and intimidation while advocating for the release of political prisoners, focusing international attention on Cuba’s poor human rights record, and Magodonga Mahlangu and her organization, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, who suffer arrests and abuse as they continue working to empower women to mobilize and take non-violent action against injustice.

To her, Citizen Heroes from all walks of life draw strength and hope from the promise that every country in the world has made in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The work of these activists to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person,” and their courage to persist is a testament to all that is good in the human spirit.”

Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state (regardless of that state's political system) and commercial institutions of the market. The theory of the legal state considers the equality of state and civil society as its most important characteristic. Being a civil society activist entails courage, love and dedication to a particular fight. But for some reasons activists face human rights abuse by ruthless governments in most part of the world.

Though a vibrant civil society is an essential component of free nations, the US secretary of state noted with regret that many governments around the world continue to employ intimidation, questionable legal practices, restrictions, detention, and willful ignorance to silence the voices of those who defend human rights.

While maintaining her country’s commitment to promoting and defending civil society around the world the number one US diplomat made it clear that her country will continue to remind leaders of their responsibilities to their citizens under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To support this “I have asked our embassies to open their doors to civil society activists today to listen to their concerns and demonstrate our support.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was presented to the UN General Assembly by Eleanor Roosevelt (Chairperson of the commission), and on December 10, 1948, the world moved to recognize and protect the equal and inalienable rights of all people, inspiring individuals around the globe to claim the rights that are our common heritage. Human rights are "rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled". The Declaration has long served as a beacon to those seeking the protection of fundamental, internationally recognized rights and liberties.

Proponents of the concept usually assert that everyone is endowed with certain entitlements merely by reason of being human. Human rights are thus conceived in a universalist and egalitarian fashion. Such entitlements can exist as shared norms of actual human moralities, as justified moral norms or natural rights supported by strong reasons, or as legal rights either at a national level or within international law.

“Sixty-two years after Eleanor Roosevelt laid out those clear, inviolate principles, we again stand upon a threshold as the need to support and defend civil society has taken on renewed urgency. Today, and every day, the United States stands with those committed to making the vision enshrined in the Declaration a reality for all people. We call on every nation to join us in working to fulfill the Declaration’s promise, at home and abroad”, Ms Clinton, appealed.

But Hillary Clinton came short of mentioning Cameroon, where veteran activist – Bernard Njonga, is under fire by the repressive regime of President Paul Biya, for fighting corruption in government and particularly the agricultural sector. Njonga, and some members of his group - Ctizen Association for The Defense of Collective Interest (ACDIC) are serving suspended sentences as technique by government to keep them away from serving the people of Cameroon

Barack Obama: An all-round relative Related to seven former presidents and possible this reporter

In an interview with Esquire Magazine, disgraced former governor of the state of IIIinios, Rod Blagojevich is quoted as saying he is “blacker” than US president Barack Obama. Though many questioned how this could be possible owing to the fact that the former governor is completely a lighskin person, I picked no fault in Blago’s widely criticized statement. His father was a polygamist who gave birth to numerous children scattered around the world. The mother too was no different though with fewer children.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Obama, by no fault of his is today related to almost everybody including this reporter. Genealogists once said the president and Massachusetts senator, Scott Brown, are 10th cousins. Both Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown’s mother, Judith Ann Rugg, descended from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Mass, The New England Historic Genealogical Society
“I think it’s a really interesting thing, where you have the separation between a Democrat and a Republican, but you have one link,” said David Allen Lambert, the society genealogist who co-discovered the connection with colleague Chris Child. Lambert said the work was aided by prior research about Obama, as well as Brown’s cooperation with the society when researchers first contacted him in about a year ago.

Besides the republican senator from Massachusetts, the society discovered in 2008 that Obama is related to seven former presidents of the Unite States, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Johnson, James Madison, and actor Brad Pitt.

Like Obama, the society found also that Brown is related to six prior presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Richard Nixon
However, if these same genealogists were to research on Obama and my family they would probably discover we are related. Yes, Obama’s father came from Kenya – the same continent as my parents. And knowing fully well that he came from a tribe whose roots can be linked to those of my parents I have every reason to believe we are somehow related.

Vincent Thomas Lainjo – ‘The last man standing’

Vincent Thomas Lainjo fondly called Pa Lanjo – was the last living person of the 13 Members of Parliament in the Eastern House of Assembly in Nigeria, who came from the then Southern Cameroons. His journey on earth made a final full stop at the Kumbo Cathedral Cemetery where his mortal remains took permanent residence four months after he died in Buea.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Lainjo, who was elected MP into the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly in December 1951, later served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon and Special Adviser to the Governor of Southwest Province, call it region. He died after living for over a century

Voted together with Pa Lanjo, were; Dr. E. M. L. Endeley, Peter Motomby Wolete, Nerius Namaso Mbile, Richard Ndobede Charley, SA George, Martin Forju, John Ngu Foncha, Solomon Tande ng Muna, JT Ndze, AT Ngala, Rev. Jeremiah Chi Kangsen and Prince Sama Ndi.

"I was the Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Natural Resources which included Agriculture, Minister of Forestry, Minister of Cooperatives and Minister of Human Rights, I was Minister of Social Welfare, serving both in Nigeria and in Cameroon" Pa said in an interview granted L'Effort Camerounais in April 2006, adding that he personally examined the whole Bakassi situation from beginning to end and put up a memo, which was presented to the International Court of Justice.

He was also voted alongside Dr. EML Endeley, Nerius Namaso Mbile, Rev. Jeremiah Kangsen, AT Ngala and John Ngu Foncha to represent the Eastern Region in the Federal House of Assembly. Even though he joined Dr. EML Endeley in advocating that the then Southern Cameroons joined Nigeria, he is said to have endorsed the unification of Southern Cameroons with La République du Cameroun.

Pa Lainjo, was a mentor to many. “I first met the late Pa Lanjo, while I served as Confidential Secretary of the Resident of the Cameroon Province in Enugu. We also worked together when I was Adviser to the Governor. He had a retentive memory and was referred to as 'the dictionary'; he was straightforward and everyone liked him. He was very honest. Considering his great opportunities, many were surprised by his moderation. He served the nation selflessly and did his job without fear or favour. There was hardly gossip that he received any kickbacks” Thomas Mbua Ndoko, described the late elderly statesman.

To the children, Pa was such a loving and caring person to them and all those he came across. “His life and character brought the children together and helped us work harder to be what we are today. We will greatly miss him.”

Above all Pa Lainjo was God-fearing. And that’s where I knew him. Before Pa became my bench mate at St. Anthony’s Parish Buea Town, I first meet him closed to two decades ago, when I stopped by his house in the company of my longtime girl friend to pickup a package from the daughter who was visiting from Chicago - USA. We had walked through the darkest of nights and stones, as we passed along the bush path from Buea town, to Pa’s residence situated behind the old stadium in Buea town. We spent closed to 15mints with him in the absence of the daughter. He would ask about my parents, my life and my sweetheart in a jovial manner.

Thereafter, Pa and I became bench mate at St. Anthony’s parish in Buea town, participating actively in church activities. He was the leader of our “sector” and new everybody by name. Though Pa’s sight was failing him, he would still recognize us, most often from our voices. “Who’s this by me”? He would ask each time he took his seat. And if you sound strange, he would know you didn’t belong there.

He was very active during mass and his voice was conspicuous in responses during mass rite. He was the last also to go for offertory and Holy Communion. He could only wait for a while for either the Rev. sister or Father, to stop by his sit to administer communion.

Pa would spend about 10-15 minutes greeting people around his sector, and others from his village, who came regularly to say hi. Like these people, we would all miss him.

USA: Lone African – American Senator Ends mandate in disappointment. Says his departure “is a solemn reminder of how far we have to go."

Roland Burris, the lone African – American senator at the end of the 111th Congress of the U.S senate, is back home in Chicago, , Illinois, after serving nearly two years in Washington. Though short, the former junior senator from Obama’s political base commended his time spent in the Senate describing it "a remarkable testament to our nation's ability to correct the wrongs of generations past," intimating however that his departure is a "solemn reminder of how far we have to go."

By Yemti Harry Ndienla,

Burris was appointed by Rod Blagojevic, former governor of Illinois, after Senator Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. But his appointment was challenged based on the fact that Blagojevic who had the right to select Obama's replacement was arrested by federal agents and charged amongst others with trying to peddle the said appointment to the highest bidder. After the controversal announcement, Burris marched on the Capitol demanding the Senate accept his appointment from the disgraced governor. And was sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois less than two weeks later

The Senator later became the centre of negative attraction after making implicating and controversial statement to the Press concerning relations with the disgraced governor. Burris who prior to his appointment told the world he'd had no contact with the governor about the Senate seat, later admitted there had been some contact. Consequently Burris was reprimanded by Senate Ethics Committee, amid calls for his resignation from prominent Democrats, including Illinois governor Patrick Quinn (who at the time was acting after the impeachment of Rod Blagojevic ) Yet Burris withstood the calls while maintaining his appointment was legitimate, and that his explanations had been misconstrued by the press.

"When the 112th Congress is sworn in this coming January, there will not be a single black American who takes the oath of office in this chamber," Burris told senators in his farewell speech last month. "This is simply unacceptable. We can, and we will, and we must do better. In this regard, and in any other, our political progress has proven less accessible -- and less representative -- than it ought to be, and although I have never allowed my race to define me, in a sense, it has meant that my constituency as a United States senator has stretched far beyond the boundaries of Illinois," he said further. Yes, his departure leaves the upper chamber of Congress without any African-American lawmakers for at least two years, a fact Burris is hard to consume The former senator took on government, criticizing what many would describe as racial discrimination. Hear him, “our government hardly resembles the diverse country it was elected to represent,”.

In course of his tenure Burris boosts of more than 60 bills he sponsored and 300 others he co-sponsored including his work on President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul and increasing funding for Pell Grant which he mentioned with self-importance. "Together we have achieved passage of the most ambitious legislative agenda since the Great Depression," said Burris who called his time in the Senate "the honor of my lifetime."

A Democrat, and attorney with a background in banking Burris has been replaced by newly-elected Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who trashed Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias – Obama’s political son, during last mid-term elections of 11/2, to fill the remainder of Burris' term and a full six-year term leaving a debt of $630.000 to lawyers who helped him in his battle to get seated and fight ethics charges

The SDF seems to have reduced its struggle to an elite pastime of memoranda, ultimatums, and court actions – without the people! – Tazoacha Asonganyi

In other circumstances, one would let sleeping dogs lie. But the present circumstances are so central to our political life that it is difficult to let them just lie by. There are conflicting signals all around us, like: there will be no elections organised by ELECAM; the SDF is in the Supreme Court to nullify the activities of ELECAM; the SDF is calling on the people not to register to vote; the SDF has forced Paul Biya to legalise ELECAM; the SDF is going to Geneva...the SDF is calling “on Cameroonians to take their responsibilities.... and do what others have done under similar circumstances...”!

All this is cacophony that confuses the people more than it empowers them! The SDF seems to have reduced its struggle to an elite pastime of memoranda, ultimatums, and court actions – without the people! They are going to court with elite lawyers to argue for the legalisation of a structure they tell the people they do not want. They are giving instructions to the people not to put their names in electoral registers, and punishing those who call on the people to do the contrary, instead of descending to the people to convince them about the wisdom of their instructions, and the folly of the counter call. After all, politics has always been a competitive endeavour in an arena where the people are the sole judge.

Since 1990 the National executive committee of the SDF has always been composed of different categories of people, including elected and co-opted members. They enjoyed the same honours and prerogatives, except when it came to voting on issues in NEC. Of course, co-opted members could always lose their status of member of NEC through the same process by which they were co-opted – that is, by decision of NEC. Until that was done, NEC members were never at the mercy of lower structures of the party on issues of discipline!

Since 2006, NEC members are only handpicked by an all powerful Chairman of the party, not elected. It is difficult to understand that co-opted NEC members like Kah Walla suddenly became so unequal to handpicked members that they are left at the mercy of an Electoral District, in spite of precedence, and the existence of other regulations in the party that protected her from such ridicule. Bringing up cases that have been lying silent since 2007 just when she expressed a different opinion in 2010 on the need for the people to enter their names in electoral registers, smells of the type of settlement of political scores we are witnessing with “Epervier”. For the hierarchy of the party to have watched silently while a lower structure ridiculed her within the party and in the press only added salt to injury. The rule of law is the rule of law, whether it is within political parties or in the country as a whole. Those who cannot respect and enforce the rule of law within a political party cannot convincingly promise to enforce and respect it in the society as a whole.

In 20 years, the SDF has failed to come to terms with the complexity of human nature, and so has failed to develop the humility to deal with strong human egos, to be tolerant of divergent views; and the intelligence to understand the varying motives and desires of their members, so as to overcome personal vendetta, humiliation, and bitterness.

Like the rest of the opposition in Cameroon, the SDF has since become an instrument for the validation of oppressive state power, since they have been reduced to the impotence of barking while the caravan of the dictatorial power we sought to overthrow trudges on. They have ended up becoming managers of the image of a repressive regime because the more they are heard and seen trading repartees with the regime while it calls one bluff after the other, the more the regime is thought to be...“democratic”, since everybody seems to be doing and saying what they want to.

Repressive regimes always want to give the impression that they are in power because of the ballot box. However, every school boy knows that such regimes are in power because of tanks, guns, truncheons, water canons, and sometimes the courts, not because of the ballot box. Interestingly, most repressive regimes that are usually overthrown by the people, are overthrown because the opposition engaged them around the ballot box on the terms of the regime. The core strategy of such opposition groupings has always been to turn election fraud – which the regime always engages in – into an advantage; to turn it into a trigger for protests to humble the weapons that keep the regimes in power!

The opposition in Cameroon should mobilise the people to deal with the ballot box as it is, because the regime is not ready to change the substance of its game plan around the ballot box. The people should be taught their own strategy to use the ballot box as it is, to gain their power. It is foolhardy to indulge in the endless distraction of enumerating the obstacles the regime has consciously put around the ballot box. The ballot box is an inanimate thing; it is only as powerful as the people want it to be. Since people’s power has overcome tanks, guns, truncheons, and water canons, it can overcome any obstacle put on the way to the recapture of their power.
The SDF should encourage the people to register massively in electoral registers, in order to be able to exercise their ballot box power when the time comes!