Kini Nsom
18 April 2008
interview
The Parliamentary Chief Whip of the SDF, Hon. Joseph Banadzem, has called on the Cameroonian army to avoid being an instrument to intimidate the people and rather join the struggle to liberate the masses from the stranglehold of the Biya government. In an interview with The Post in Yaounde, the MP equally stated his party's position as far the adoption of the recent constitutional amendment is concerned. Excerpts:
The Post: What is your reaction to accusations that you deceived Cameroonians by walking out of the hemicycle after participating in the adoption of the amendment bill and helped in writing the report at the committee level?
Hon. Banadzem: We did not participate in writing the report. Our opponents are looking for something awful to say about us. We don't want to associate ourselves with something that is ineffective and not workable. We have tried to show that we are people of good will and good faith.
We brought in amendments they were rejected. Consequently, we do not see why we should partake in something we can call the "strangling of the Cameroonian people"
Is it not controversial that the SDF Parliamentary Group tacitly backed the amendment related to impunity; that the Head of State would not be prosecuted for crimes he would have committed while in office?
No, I don't think that we ever backed President Biya having immunity that he wouldn't be prosecuted after he leaves office.
But the fact that you did not ask for that provision to be lifted means that you are backing it.
No. You have to look at the law the way it is. There are crimes that a leader can commit; just like parliamentarians have immunity, but it can be lifted at any moment when it is purely a criminal matter. We did not say that the President cannot be prosecuted for purely criminal issues after he leaves office.
The authorities seem to be always playing a hide and seek game with your parliamentary group. They do not inform you about what they have on the agenda. They convened the plenary session that elected the bureau and one that adopted the bill on constitutional amendment without informing you in advance...
It is amusing because we are supposed to work in collaboration. I cannot understand why the CPDM MPs with their overwhelming majority are so scared of us when we are only 15. I have never seen anything of the sort and those who do not know what we went through will never understand our difficulties.
We proved to the CPDM that we can be more than foresighted and that we work day and night, without which we would not have raised our preliminary objections. They intended to take us off-guard and make us look ridiculous in order to make us not have something to say in the face of a bill.
The plenary session, which was meant to adopt the bill, was never foreseen. At 11:30 am when I went to the plenary, I went with the House Speaker and he knew me as the leader of the opposition, but he never informed me that the plenary was devoted for the adoption of the bill. He was surprised that I had my preliminary objections, well written.
You fought against the constitutional amendment bill, but because of your numerical weakness you were crushed, what is the way forward?
The way forward is for Cameroonians to intensify the fight for their rights and the right things. We urge Cameroonians to continue to have hope in us, because we have not relented in our efforts to press on this government to do the right things.
Cameroonians are more or less helpless, following the upsurge of military intimidation. Troops are ready to crush down any protest march, so where is the hope you are talking about?
For how long can they continue to crush the people? You remember the history of Yugoslavia where at some moment the army itself said they could not continue fighting the people. The army is made up of Cameroonians who have families and children. Who is the army officer that is not eager to build a house or who is not eager to buy bread?
Soon, they too, will realise that these government officials are more interested in stashing billions in foreign banks than helping Cameroonians. The army, too, should join us to put pressure on this government to do things right and not allow things to get worse because a few people are pilfering the country's wealth while Cameroonians are dying in hunger.
This SDF parliamentary group has the history of boycotts when it comes to certain controversial issues in parliament, what is the impact of this?
It is a very strong weapon because we dissociate ourselves from what is going on. We do not stay in because we do not believe in what the CPDM is doing. We walk out to show that what they are doing is unacceptable, because they disregard the aspirations of the people.
When we did it with ELECAM, they quickly brought in the issue of putting in place ELECAM in 18 months. If we did not, they wouldn't have. History has proven us right. So, we did not want to associate ourselves with this amendment because it is not in the interest of Cameroonians.
You raised the Anglophone problem. In your opinion, nothing was done to address this issue in the recent amendment, what suggestions have you made?
One area that has been of much concern to me is decentralisation. We in the SDF talk of federalism. The regime talks of decentralisation. Twelve years after, not a single thing has been done about decentralisation. If decentralisation was organised and executed by now, various regions would have been organised. That could have solved the SCNC problem. So, I think decentralisation is the key to solving the separatist movement.
It looks like the chronological order of putting the Senate and Regional Council has been reversed. What is the Electoral College for the Senate?
Those are our quarrels with the present bills. For those who have designed the project, I think you will bear with me that it is an abnormal procedure to start from top whereas we are supposed to start from the bottom. This regime is not interested in the plight of Cameroonians because Cameroonians want to handle things at the base, at the local level, but they are interested in the Senate.
Have you tried to find out why the regime pressed for the constitutional amendment at every cost?
I believe that those who supported the amendments are looking for protection of the present regime, and the present regime can only survive with Mr. Biya as the President of the Republic. People who don't merit the position they have; people who have something to hide are the ones interested in maintaining the CPDM regime and pressing Biya to stay on in power so that they can continue to amass and savour their ill-gotten wealth.
You raised a pertinent issue in parliament of the gendarmes who violated the law on parliamentary immunity and arrested an MP, Hon. Michel Nintcheu, and even handcuffed him. How far have you gone with the matter?
Yes, that is the sort of dictatorial brutal regime we find ourselves in. That an MP with his impunity could be handcuffed and grilled for nine hours is unacceptable. In Douala, that MP has a whole squad of 12 policemen and three gendarmes monitoring him wherever he is going to. So, the issue is still on and he has not got his passport back; he cannot travel and he is still intimidated. We see that the regime is even afraid of its shadow.
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