The Stolen Cameroon Presidential Elections (2018) and the Pain that Looms in the Nation

Considering the current political dispensation in Cameroon, in which the very old have refused to cede power to the youth, we must bear in mind what President Julius Nyere of Tanzania (1963) said, “it would be both wrong, and certainly

ByJackson Nanje

unnecessary, to feel we must wait until the (old) leaders (of Cameroon) are dead before we begin to criticize them!”

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It was John Keats, the English Romantic poet who died of tuberculosis only at age 25, who, in his poem “Ode to a Nightingale” authored the words, “my heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock (poisonous flower) I had drunk.” This is the same kind of sharp pain I, and many Cameroonians felt when the Constitutional Council, summoned by the President of the Republic of Cameroon to examine the petitions of the October 7, 2018 Cameroon Presidential Elections, tabled by Prof. Maurice Kamto of Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MCR) and Hon. Joshua Nambangi Osih of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), were rejected. I and many others were completely discombobulated even so the following Monday, when they declared the incumbent, President Paul Biya, the winner much to the chagrin of many in the nation. The election has been stolen, again, the people screamed after it was alleged to have been stolen before in 1992. At this point, it is therefore needless to conduct any elections in Cameroon because the outcome is already known. It will be rigged by the old oligarchies whose goal to maintain power supersedes the desire of the people of Cameroon who want to create opportunities for all.  

President Paul Biya has been in power for 36 years now and many who thought he was going to leave the presidency gracefully this time around (the 2018 Election cycle) and fold quietly onto retirement, were wrong. A clear win is usually celebrated; this was not one of them. It was undoubtedly stolen for him by the Constitutional Council Members who do not have a regard for the youth and the nation of Cameroon. Heartless, they are, indeed! They have caused tremendous pain to the nation in the favorable decision they rendered to the President despite the overwhelming evidence that showed the voting intentions of majority of Cameroonians to the contrary.

After the October 7, 2018 elections, exit polls undeniably indicated that Prof. Maurice Kamto was leading all candidates and most Cameroonians, who have known only Paul Biya as president in the last generation (30 years) or more, were already celebrating the impending change of government which had eluded them for many years. And because of the positive in-coming results from majority of the 2500 Polling Stations throughout the country, it was safe for Prof. Kamto to confidently proclaim himself as the victor of the election. He did; however, knowing the heavy-handedness of the Cameroon’s People Democratic Movement (CPDM) party, they were not going to rely on the exit polls if they were to maintain their candidate (President Biya) as president. Also, knowing that the composition of the 11-members of the Constitutional Council that oversaw the elections were members of the president’s ruling CPDM party, the chances of election rigging by the CC therefore became worrisome and apparent to the Kamto camp. Also, to guarantee that no errors were made in ensuring a favorable election results, President Biya immediately went native by appointing Clement Atangana (from his native area) as the president of the Cameroon Constitutional Council. The Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MCR) and the Social Democratic Front (SDF) parties quickly mobilized the best lawyers in their respective camps, to ensure that Clement Atangana did not change the voting will of majority of Cameroonians who had voted for a change in Cameroon’s Presidential leadership. In addition to Clement Atangana, these are the other members of the Cameroon Constitutional Council who abated in swaying the results to the incumbent who will equally go down in the annals of Cameroon history as individuals who dashed the hopes of Cameroonians because of the quest to maintain President Paul Biya in power:

1)      Mr. Emmanuel Bonde

2)      Mr. Joseph Marie Bipoum Woum

3)      Ms. Florence Rita Arrey

4)      Mr. Emile Essombe

5)      Mr. Paul Nchoji Nkwi

6)      Mr. Jean-Baptiste Baskouda

7)      Mr. Oumarou Bah Sanda

8)      Mr. Charles Etienne Lekene Donfack

9)      Mr. Jean Akame Fouman

10)  Mr. Tidjani Ahmadou

The MCR and SDF lawyers were extremely splendid in defending their case in front of the Constitutional Council. They made the more than 15 million viewers who watched the live proceedings on Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), to be proud of a country that the old and sleepy-eyes politicians have deprived them of, in bringing the best for their country for far too long. They mirrored the desires of the youth who have been yearning to take control of their country and run it for the best interest of all Cameroonians. The lawyers demonstrated that, they are the finest in Africa in their lawyering profession. In addition, they provided ample evidence to demonstrate the multiple election irregularities by exposing the judges as “bought overs” of the regime for whom they worked for, and rather than for the Cameroonian people whose interest they should protect.

At some point in our political lives, as citizens, we must outweigh the option of doing a collective good, which brings happiness for all as opposed to individual good, which satisfies just a handful. It is this individual good which causes pain to the nation that made the African great, President Julius Nyere of Tanzania to muster these words (January 1963; Freedom and Unity:202): “It would be both wrong, and certainly unnecessary, to feel we must wait until the leaders are dead before we begin to criticize them!” Even as a member of a political party (CPDM) when you observe that the norms of democracy are not maintained, staying quiet and not criticizing the fictitious practices of your party like most CPDM militants do always, it is wrong. The CPDM party can still do good for our people if militants decide to eliminate corrupt practices inherent in most militants and to start adopting initiatives that will better the lives of Cameroonians without regard to ethnicity, age, creed or the origins of citizens. Rather, merit and disadvantage people should dominate the decision of the CPDM-led government. This was the cry of the lawyers in the most part, and the reason most people yearning for change voted for Prof. Maurice Kamto by rejecting the failed polices of the CPDM party. The CPDM party might have clandestinely won the 2018 Cameroon Presidential Elections but they are riding on the backs of unwilling horses (the people) if they do not change their corrupt practices. There is pain looming in the nation and it is only a matter of time before it becomes combustible.

We must constantly look in the mirror and ask ourselves, why is it that a few are happy in a country that boasts of plenty of resources and majority of the country’s people are unhappy?! Because of good leadership?!