A Yaounde-based civil society organisation, the Foundation for Human Rights and Development, FHRD, has called on the SDF Chairman, John Fru Ndi, to resign.

In an open letter to the opposition chieftain, dated February 14, the FHRD indicts Fru Ndi for encouraging voter apathy, thereby stalling the democratic process in the country.

"Please, Mr. Chairman, if you love the SDF and if you truly love democracy, kindly consider stepping aside on time.

This will give room for the election of a new leader ahead of time before 2011," partly reads the letter signed by the FHRD's Executive President, Afanyi Ngeh.The letter continues: "We are now urging you to, amongst other things, consider retiring as the National Chairman of the SDF."

The organisation accuses Fru Ndi of shying away from anti-constitutional amendment demonstrations, noting that Hon. Nintcheu, the Wouri MP, was the only one who led demonstrations against what they call a constitutional coup.

The FHRD dismisses Fru Ndi's call on Cameroonians to boycott ELECAM as a meaningless appeal that further fuels the current voter apathy. According to the organisation, the SDF Chair has outlived his usefulness in Cameroon's political arena.

To the organisation, Fru Ndi ate his cake in 1992 when he refused to take SDF to the parliamentary elections. The letter wonders why Fru Ndi claimed that he could not go to the polls because of bad electoral laws but later led his party to the municipal elections in 1996 under the same laws.

If Fru Ndi claims that the laws were so bad during the 1992 parliamentary elections, questions the letter, how did the NUDP win 68 seats, UPC 18 and MDR six? The human rights outfit holds that the debate over an independent electoral commission was supposed to have been settled 17 years ago, had the SDF not boycotted the parliamentary elections.

Hear the writers of the letter: "We believe that ELECAM, in spite of all irregularities, is a significant advance. Urging for a boycott to the best of our knowledge reinforces the speculation that your calls to boycott since 1992 are the outcome of a secret deal with the ruling party.

What you should be telling your militants is to massively register and to ensure that they vote. By driving voter apathy further, we wonder which other alternative you have devised to come to power."

The letter also condemns the fact that the opposition has not been able to unite to face the Biya regime as one. It remarks that opposition does not need natural candidates as it is currently the case. He said the SDF natural candidate is Fru Ndi while that of the NUDP is Bello Bouba and that of CDU is Ndam Njoya.

The letter enjoins Fru Ndi to give the younger generation a chance. However, some SDF militants who read the letter reacted angrily to it saying that the outfit has no lessons to dish out to their Chairman.

They held that all the mistakes committed by the party have been militated for by a shear conspiracy of circumstances. Anybody who is interested in advancing the democratic process in Cameroon, they noted, should make suggestions as to how the Biya regime can be horse-whipped to creating a real independent electoral commission that would guarantee free, fair and transparent elections and not telling people to resign. They claim that the only people who have the moral authority to tell Fru Ndi to resign are the militants who elected him.