Peterkins Manyong
9 January 2009
opinion
The hackneyed saying that "the impossible is not Cameroonian" was once more substantiated last Tuesday, December 30, 2008, by the long awaited appointment of the 12 members of Elections Cameroon, ELECAM.
The appointment is contained in Decree No.2008/463 of December 30, 2008, signed by President Paul Biya.At a glance, any keen observer would realise that the list is dominated by lackeys of the Biya Regime, the most glaring being politburo member, Dorothy Njeuma and Fonkam Azu'u.
One other significant aspect of the list is that Fonkam Azu'u, its President, is an Anglophone; a Northwesterner, specifically from Santa, like SDF Chairman, John Fru Ndi and Ntumfor Nico Halle. Why Santa and not any other place?
The explanation is not far to seek. Fonkam Azu'u's appointment follows Biya's divide-and-rule policy, the application of which resulted in Ephraim Inoni replacing Peter Mafani Musonge. The idea, as Francis Nyamjoh observes, is to instil in the average Bakweri indigene's mind that his real enemy is his next door neighbour and not Biya.
The fact that the ELECAM President shares the same constituency with the SDF National Chairman is likely a deciding factor in the appointment. By appointing someone from Fru Ndi's constituency, Biya is applying the principle of conveying a lie without telling one. He wants to hoodwink the international community into believing that he took Fru Ndi's interest into consideration before doing so, whereas, no two people are more at variance, or so it seems, than Fru Ndi and Fonkam Azu'u.
Fru Ndi is yet to forgive Fonkam Azu's for bringing him to ridicule when he announced in the Bamenda Congress Hall some years back that Fru Ndi owed his very existence to Biya. Fonkam told cheering militants he was addressing that it was President Biya who evacuated the SDF Chairman to the US when he fell ill in 1999.
The conflict between Fonkam Azu'u and Fru Ndi escalated to a point that the SDF Chairman is said to have contemplated legal action against his adversary.Anglophones who lament their marginalisation in appointments are also expected by Biya to rejoice that at last, one of theirs has been chosen to head the body that determines who rules Cameroon.
It may not be entirely out of place to see in the appointment of Fonkam Azu'u an attempt to placate supporters of Zacheus Forjindam who are still smarting from the pain caused by the arrest and incarceration of their paymaster.
On the "CPDMisation" of ELECAM, Fru Ndi's opponents argue that it serves the SDF right for including the likes of Joseph Owona in the Party's list of proposed ELECAM members; that the choice was inspired not by the conviction that Owona is independent, but by the nostalgia of a superlatively mediatised breakfast the ex-Minister had with the SDF chieftain some years back at Ntarinkon.
Like in the case of the constitutional amendment of April 10, 2008, when Mbah Ndam's proposed bill facilitated the process, Biya's apologists have blamed Fru Ndi for providing the excuse the President needed to do what he did last December 30.
ELECAM and Transparent Elections: How Possible?
At the time of filing this analysis, Fonkam Azu'u had just announced his resignation from the CPDM as if a snake becomes less venomous by casting off its old skin.The announcement was received with a sneer, especially by SDF militants who openly accuse him facilitating the July 22, 2007rigging in Santa.
But whether the 12 ELECAM members are partisan or neutral, the ruling CPDM is sure to sweep the polls, especially in future elections. Reason. In the Regional Council and Senatorial elections, voting will not be by universal suffrage, but indirectly through municipal councillors and Members of Parliament.
The CPDM has 153 MPs in Cameroon's 180-member parliament and controls over 300 of the 360 councils. Of the 100 senators, Biya will be appointing 30. Already, projections show that the CPDM is sure of 95 senators. It would require a rebellion in the CPDM for the opposition to win.
And such a rebellion will not take place in the foreseeable future in a country where the buffaloes of poverty have not only knocked down, but so trampled on the people that they lack even the energy to cry "Thief!" when their till is being looted and pillaged
The high rate of voter apathy in the country is indisputably favourable to the CPDM.
It helped Francois Foning to keep her lucrative mayoral seat in Doula V. It will help Biya to achieve his third term goal at the helm of Cameroon. Fru Ndi is entangled in the web of the Diboule Case. Should he demonstrate any prospects of being a threat to Biya's ambition, the court would ensure that he doesn't wriggle himself out of it.
The matter can be delayed as long as it is politically expedient. ELECAM, therefore, has no uphill task of rigging for Biya. Through fraudulent registration, ambulant voting and conscience buying, the ruling CPDM has already rigged the oncoming elections in advance. The exercise that took place on July 22, 2007, was in effect the rigging of four elections in one or rather five elections in two
Consequences Of Biya's High Handedness
By the above manipulations of the electoral process, Biya has set the stage for what is aspiring in Guinea Conakry. Late Lansana Conte made alternance of power impossible. Those who make peaceful change impossible, make the violent option inevitable. That is why the military, championed by Moussa Dadis Camara, an official of a lower rank, seized power after the death of the Guinean dictator and retired old sit-tight generals.
Biya has also been held hostage by octogenarian generals enjoying undue privileges. He surely knows the calamity that shall follow his death with the present setup. But like Louis IV of France he seems to have also declared, at least to himself "Apres moi le deluge" (after me the flood can follow).
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
