Cameroon Politics:The SDF JOSHUA NAMBANGI OSIH---FROM POWER TO THE PEOPLE TO POWER TO THE YOUTH and WOMEN

To win any elections, it requires having a marketable candidate on the platform of a sellable Political party. Is Sesse Joshua OSIH the Clarion call of a party that desperately needs a new blood? If he is, he needs to do a dispassionate introspection on why the SDF has become so impotent and unattractive to voters outside the North West Region or Grassland.        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogU6az4G1BU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9Vw6UoK7k

By Albert Atabong Motale

The news on Cameroon Journal whether grounded, founded or a possibility of Sesse Joshua Nambangi Osih (JNO) as the successor to the Legend and Political colossus SDF Chairman, Nii John Fru, has elicited some sense of cautious optimism and rekindled hope across the political landscape.  Whatever our political persuasion or divide, it should be seen as a welcome development, a good omen for our democracy, a rare transfer of power from the old to the young and a rare opportunity for our youth to arise and shine.  Cameroon can no longer continue to patronize analogue leaders in this digital age.  JNO provides that window of opportunity and rare hope for the youth in a political terrain firmly under the control and hands of grandfathers and maybe with a few grandmothers.
The role and place of Chairman Nii John Fru in the history of Cameroon cannot be over emphasized as he would be best described as the Father of Multi Party democracy and arguably the best President Cameroon never had. A true patriot and statesman should always quit the stage when the ovation is lowest.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogU6az4G1BU

The story, travails and trajectory of the Social Democratic Front define and encapsulate our democratic struggles as a people, our hopes, missed opportunities, our resignations, pains, sad political miscalculations, our frustrations as social democrats, progressives and critical masses to see CHANGE and POWER TO THE PEOPLE materialize in Cameroon in the last 26 years.

The SDF party which was launched on May 26^, 1990 in Bamenda incidentally shares the same birth place with the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party, had the hope of dislodging the CPDM from power and change Cameroon political landscape forever; but after 26^th years it is still an opposition party, with a Chairman listed as one of the serial losers of Presidential elections in Africa.  The accession of Sesse Joshua Nambangi OSIH to the throne and shoes of Nii John Fru and the humongous tasks ahead of him, could be better appreciated vis-a-vis the current state of health of the party he shall be inheriting. The question remains though……. Is Joshua Nambangi OSIH inheriting an asset or a liability? 

Honorable Joshua Osih

The popularity and political fortunes of the SDF and Nii Fru Ndi as the Presidential candidate has been on a constant and steep decline and has dwindled to an extent of becoming anemic and a silent minority party heading towards political oblivion as it has been the case in its outings and performances in national elections since inception. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogU6az4G1BU

   PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND RESULTS

Recall, Chairman Nii John Fru Ndi as candidate in the October 1992 presidential elections received about 36% of the vote against about 40% for incumbent President, Paul Biya, according to official results. The difference was just 4% in an election described as badly rigged in favour of the ruling party Candidate. In the October 2004 Presidential elections, Nii Fru Ndi scored 17.4% of the votes approximately an 18.6% drop from previous outing. And in the 2011 Presidential elections described by most of the International and Domestic observers as` free, fair, and transparent, Nii Fru Ndi pulled 518,175 votes constituting 10.17%, approximately 7% drop against CPDM and President Biya  who scored 3,772,527 constituting 77.99%. These are not the records to give Nii Fru Ndi any validity anymore as a credible leader or candidate of the SDF party in the forthcoming Presidential Elections of 2018 and, as they say, it is better to quit the political scene when still at the top and when only you can see the signs of drowning ship than for everyone to see the ship drown and write an obituary which may undermine your works and struggles over the years past. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9Vw6UoK7k

        NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS AND RESULTS

In the May 1997 National Assembly (NA) elections the SDF party won 43 seats---winning 19 out of 20 seats in the North West and 15 out 25 seats in the Western Region. It also made major incursions in Littoral and SW regions as well. In the 2002 NA elections, SDF won only 22 seats losing almost half of its seats and was reduced to a regional party confined to the North West region. Its national appeal as a party that was, had been diminished as a result of these serial losses and for a leader who is doing the nation and the party by still clinging to power even as he is unaware that his best days have long gone-by. 
           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogU6az4G1BU

 In the July / September 2007 parliamentary elections, the SDF won 16 out of 180 seats.The official results of the NA elections announced on 17 October 2013 show that, the Social Democratic Front won 18 out of 180 seats, a slight increase of 2 seats. These are not records to give the SDF party any resonance; they are records that speak of change from top to bottom within the party. Change that will transform the SDF party from being looked upon as only a North West Regional party into a National party again.

Can Sesse Joshua OSIH answer the Clarion call of a party that desperately needs new blood?

Sesse Joshua Nambangi OSIH shall be inheriting a party akin to a political train WRECK with a badly knocked down engine in the middle of the forest, with a captain who did not bother to inquire from his passengers why they were disembarking nor accepting the recommendations and expert views from Engineers and mechanics on how to jump start the engine. The SDF slogan Power to the People that swept across the nation like a violent hurricane in the 90s has been decimated and downgraded to a harmless hot air. That is the party Sesse Osih shall be inheriting.

Sesse Osih needs to do a dispassionate introspection on why the SDF has become so impotent and unattractive to voters outside the North West Region or Grassland. To win any elections, it requires having a marketable candidate on the platform of a sellable political party. It is also possible to have a good candidate but on a wrong political party or vice versa.  Osih as a Vice Chairman of the SDF and MP must have heard or read several narratives, diagnostics, prescriptions and remedies to resuscitate the failing health of the SDF party which could, at best, be described as anemic and in an intensive care unit (ICU).

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9Vw6UoK7k

 Hon. Osih must rebrand the party and begin to tell the people how they can transform their lives and put money in their pockets. Incidentally, Cameroon has abundant human and natural resources that could be harnessed to pull the country from the woods. The SDF should start telling the people about restructuring the country and reforming the system. They should be bold in telling the people of the need to establish a Federal system with a 20 state Federation; SW Region =4 states. NW region 4 states, Littoral =2 states,  South=1 state, East-1 state, Adamawa- 2 states, Far North – 2 states, North -2 states.West-2 states. 

They should be telling the people about having elected Governors and scrapping Prefects as executive powers at all levels should be vested in the hands of elected officials. They should be telling the people that Democracy means separation of powers with no more Presidential Decrees which is an aberration and forged Law. 

They should be telling the people about introducing Fiscal Federalism so that each state can grow according to its potentials and resources.  We cannot continue to see power so centralized in the hands of those from Centre and South regions.

The coming of Osih as the successor to the legendary Nii John Fru shall be the first time in our history for a citizen of Ndian and of the South West Region to be a National Chairman or flag bearer of a major political party with members at the National Assembly.  Joshua Osih shall arguably be the youngest National Chairman of a political party with MPs in Parliament in Cameroon.  The accession of Joshua as National Chairman of the SDF or its flag bearer signifies hope to the youth in a country where 75% of the political class is made of great grandfathers and most were already Ministers when Joshua Osih was born. It shall signify a paradigm and generational shift and a very positive development for Cameroon and Central African region, (CEMC) with the highest collection of sit tight and longest serving dictators in the world. 

Hon. Osih should understand that, the main objective, goal and vision of any political party are to win elections and capture power.  The SDF has missed several opportunities because of its political naivety, misjudgment, idealistic posturing, rigidness, hallucinations and unproductive posture of boycotting elections and hoping CPDM shall effect the `Change` to suit the yearnings and aspirations of the SDF. Osih should be mindful of the fact that, good laws do not make good people but good men make good laws. Change might be the only thing which is constant but the most difficult to effect.  The priority of OSIH`s SDF should be winning majority seats at the National Assembly at the next elections.

                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogU6az4G1BU

Fortunately for Sesse Osih, there are so many leaders, models and templates to adopt, modify and adapt to the Cameroonian context.  David Cameron at 40 was the Leader of Conservative Party in UK and at 43 led the party to victory, became Prime Minister and retired at 49. Whether it is the Senegalese, Ivorian, Kenyan, Sierra Leonean, Malawian, Zambian or Nigerian models to understudy, UNITY and MERGERS of opposition parties into a formidable force are critical to winning any elections in Africa.  The CPDM might not be a `dream party ` or a Love Boat but it remains the only national party and most organised with militants in every village in Cameroon and in the diaspora. The CPDM party prints have become Sunday wears, a national attire and costume by our folks, attending weddings, church services and social functions.  Whether it is wore out of poverty, lack of alternative dresses they serve as unconscious adverts for the party. All these can change with Joshua OSIH’s message of Federalism or Federated States making decisions rather than President Paul Biya’s message of power consolidation in the Unity Palace.

The SDF shall need to restructure the party to reflect and align it to a modern democratic political party. One of the reforms badly needed is to separate the office of the National Chairman from the Presidential flag bearer of the party. Let the flagbearership contest be open to all who meet the requirements because the more, the merrier. This will help to deepen internal party democracy, win back skeptics and energise the grassroots. It makes no sense for the SDF to have party structure akin to Westminster Political system whereas Cameroon is practicing a Presidential system even though it has all the trappings of a Constitutional Dictatorship. The SDF needs to abolish the appointments of shadow Ministers which are relevant for parliamentary system and replace them with party communicators headed by a Director of Media and Publicity.  The first contest and test for any political party contesting elections is to win the popularity contest. Once any political wins the popularity contest, it can begin to dictate public debates and drive its agenda or manifestos with relative ease. 

The SDF is not only a train with a broken down engine but has also lost its voice. Most modern political parties invest so much on communication and publicity for obvious reasons as people tend to believe more in what they hear and see. For instance, who speaks for the SDF on the economy, new Penal code or Biya long private stay abroad? Who speak for the SDF on the autonomy of Universities, proposed relocation of CDC Head office, poor educational and health facilities in Cameroon? Who speak for the SDF on the absence and diminishing role of Cameroon in African affairs? Who speaks for the SDF manifestos and to clean the perception of SDF as a graffi party?  The SDF shall need strategists and researchers to drive the party ideology and ideals. 

Fortunately Osih understands the pains and frustrations of an average Cameroonian whether those residing in Madie –Ngolo, Dikome Balue, Meangwe–Ngolo, whose living conditions are same like 70% of Cameroonians living in rural communities. He understands that, the policy of the CPDM is not to allow their President to visit rural areas especially communities which do not have paved roads. He understands that, CPDM finds it difficult to win urban areas but sweeps all the rural areas, which might not have the big numbers but has large numbers of Parliamentary seats and election figures could easily be manipulated. He should equally understand that, elections could only be rigged when the party is popular. That is why lawyers should be position in all polling stations to monitor the election in conjunction with international observers. All these shall be planned ahead of the 2018 Cameroon Presidential Elections.

Joshua is inheriting the SDF at the time its fortunes are at its lowest ebb but with tremendous potentials and opportunities especially at a time when Cameroonians are so tired, frustrated, with no light at the end of the tunnel and their feet are tired. And with the current political dispensation and marginalization in Cameroon by the CPDM party, these events should serve as a clarion call for Joshua Osih to start building alliances. The first to build is that with Cameroon Diaspora. The Cameroonians in the diaspora are not in synch with the policies of the CPDM party and Osih can be that change that Cameroonians have been waiting for. He is the epitome of bilingualism because speaks both language fluently, He is knowledgeable, intelligent, humble and a quintessential leader. He is equally a very handsome man that can attract every eye in a room. With OSIH, SDF already has a marketable candidate and could transform SDF into a sellable party to the Youth and Women who form the critical mass of Cameroon electoral system.

CAMEROON:The Anglophone Problem and a Nation’s Embarrassment

By Ekinneh Agbor Ebai

The odious scenes of police brutality captured on social media, were pathetic, disgraceful and reinforces Cameroon’s image as a country with highly dysfunctional institutions where bizarre things can happen.

     No other event lately, perhaps, dramatizes the growing contradictions of Cameroon better than the brigandage witnessed on the streets of Buea and Bamenda with its trail of violence in which lawyers, teachers, university students and innocent civilians were beaten, arrested, tortured, raped and detained by rampaging soldiers acting on “orders from above.” The brutality deployed against Anglophones for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and peaceful assembly is simply mind-boggling, inexcusable and stand condemned in all ramifications. In the judgment of an average sense of decency, the crude police assault is a moral weakness of asinine proportion that calls into question, the real character of the nation’s leadership. The lawlessness by security forces was an insult to democracy and constitutional rectitude that neither edifies the country, nor the President, on whose desk, the buck stops. Cameroonians deserve full explanation for this unbelievable shame.

     To the utter embarrassment of the nation, the images of police brutality which went viral on social media were pathetic, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. By any streak of the imagination, this cowardly and barbaric fury towards life, liberty and civility, is one of the most odious image-battering events that only reinforces Cameroon’s international image as a country with highly dysfunctional institutions where bizarre things can happen. Cameroonian leaders at all levels must be hiding their heads in shame. Certainly Anglophones must be allowed to examine the basis of their co-existence. To deny them this right for fear that they may disagree to live together is like building on a shaky foundation.

     After many false starts, dashed hopes, and perennially low expectation, Cameroon needs a change of direction and Anglophones want to reset the agenda. Government apologists denouncing the ongoing protests as a rally of miscreants must realize that the use of overwhelming force is a very risky strategy that could backfire and, in the worst case scenario, crystallize into the formation of armed groups in legitimate self-defense of Anglophones. Once that line is crossed, the clamors for secession will only grow louder. History is dotted with too many such examples and Cameroon cannot afford to go down this route. The government claims without any evidence that the protests are the handiwork of unseen “foreign hands” and refuse to acknowledge that the motivations for the protests rest on the skewed nature of Cameroon as a country. For many years, Francophone-led governments from Ahidjo to Paul Biya have maintained a portentous imbalance and inequitable structure that marginalizes Anglophones and disfavors meritocracy. They have glossed over the continuous discrimination of Anglophones in a progressive fashion to a point of assimilation. And by so doing they have foisted a forced unanimity.

     With the groundswell of protests, the unity of Cameroon, for want of a suitable metaphor, seems to be held at gunpoint. Obviously, these protests point to issues that have not been resolved. Unfortunately, the government response has been violence and provocative belligerence, instead of finding a midway for which the nation’s diversity can be respected, and a sense of belonging maintained without making anyone feel any loss of their identity. The government must cease and desist from perpetrating acts of violence against Anglophones as this risk enthroning instability that could dismember the country.

     Notwithstanding, it is simplistic to view the demonstrations as an event orchestrated by disgruntled elements reliving an inglorious reverie from some botched re-unification experiment because the deeper import of the protests transcend the Anglophone agenda. Protest is a living philosophy of justice that appears wherever and whenever oppression, impunity, injustice and structural violence rear their heads. In a democracy, the people alone matter; peaceful protests is an integral part of democracy; people should air their views, however jaundiced. What is going on is symbolic of the discontent experienced by many ethno-political interests for whom the Cameroon question remains unanswered.  

     That Cameroon as a nation is living a lie or its rulers are living in denial is not in doubt. It wants to be a prosperous and politically stable country, yet it is holding down this potential for prosperity and stability by maintaining a supercilious, garrisoned, centralized government, whilst paying lip service to regional decentralization. Nothing is working in the country and the bond that binds the ethnic nationalities appears tenuous, if not snapping, fundamentally threatening the unity of the country. The unity in diversity hitherto advertised as “Africa in miniature” has been supplanted by diversity in unity, such that Cameroonians see themselves first in the mold of their ethnic nationality. This explains why Cameroon is politically weak and structurally fragile, giving rise to negative and frightening prognostications.

     Without equivocation, all is not well with the country. For too long, successive Francophone-led governments have undermined the essential differences in the various interests of the Cameroonian people; and so unresolved matters about the aspirations of Cameroon’s heterogeneous interests have become a ticking time bomb. To assume that these do not exist, or to gloss over them is to play the ostrich like Fame Ndongo stuck in clannish grand-standing; wearing the garb of an ethnic jingoist and pontificating about a united Cameroon. The truth of the matter is that the current structure of Cameroon today, holds down the levers of development in the country, stunts its growth, truncates its progress and actually threatens its unity. The present political structure with its insensitive centripetal exertions provides vents for sundry injustices in the polity that must be corrected to liberate the nation’s full potentials.

     For the avoidance of doubt, Anglophones have a right to determine whether the political configuration of the country as it stands today should remain as it is in form and in character; whether the structures of the existing order, are suitable for the nation’s complexities as a bilingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation. Cameroon is a great country waiting to happen and needs men and women who would make sacrifices for her greatness. It is indeed unfortunate that Francophone political leaders seem to wittingly or unwittingly consider Anglophones as “enemies in the house” rather than as Cameroonians with a different vision of how the country can be run. The Francophone political class needs to learn and understand that leadership is not about ethnic domination or selfish power equation; it is rather a disposition of moral strength and sacrifice to act in the public interest. Rather than exacerbate tension and heat the polity unnecessarily, the government should find answers to the thorny issues that created this monstrosity in the first place.

     The ongoing violence does little credit to the image of Cameroon’s democracy. The depth of suspicion and ill feeling towards Anglophones is unhealthy for a nation in distress. Too much pain has been inflicted and certain pertinent points need to be made. One is that Anglophones have been treated as “beasts of no nation” in a way that is provocative and vexatious. Besides, if the government thinks brute force is the appropriate response to legitimate Anglophone grievances; that is a huge mistake as history beckons with lessons. Anglophones may have borne the provocation with admirable equanimity, but let the government be under no illusions: Anglophones have been mightily insulted and never again should it happen. The discrimination and marginalization of Anglophones has had its day and must now end in the interest of peace and stability. In the meantime, the government should spare Cameroonians the noise and let Anglophone voices be heard as they cry in agony for better governance.

 *Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a Public Intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Freedom House. He is a Consultant and lives in Boston, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com