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| ByRandolph Nkwelle |
Historically, it was
agreed after the referendum in 1972 that, if the President of the Republic is a
Francophone, the Prime Minister must be an Anglophone. And, the President has
always maintained the agreement by rotating personalities from the only two Anglophone
regions of the North West and South West.
There is every reason to believe
that, the new normal to be appointed as a Prime Minister by the President of
Cameroon one must pass through a ritualistic training at the Presidency of the
Republic. This could be justified at least with the previously two appointments
of Chief Ephraim Inoni and Philemon Yang. These two occupied the positions of
Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency prior to becoming Prime Minister.
Following this belief system and past predictions that became realities, the
late Peter Agbor Tabi was rumored as the potential replacement of Philemon Yang
and like his predecessors, he too had been strategically placed at the Presidency
of the Republic in waiting. Thus, with the Cabinet Reshuffle of March 2, 2018
political pundits are quick to predict and anticipate that there is likely going
to be yet another tussle between the three top South Westerners (Dion, Elung
and Mengot) now at the Presidency of the Republic to become the next Prime
Minister. Or, like it was the case in 1996 when the little unknown quantity, Peter
Mafany Musonge (who was the General Manager of Cameroon Development
Corporation), sieved through the cracks and was appointed Prime Minister to the
consternation of many Cameroonians. President Biya can defy the postulations of political pundits and bring in the Director General of another corporation like
Chief Mekanya Okon of Pamol Plantation Limited. Little known because he was not very
influential in Anglophone politics more less in the politics of the South West
Region.
When it became apparent
that the ageing Prime Minister, Simon Achidi Achu could no longer deliver the
goods especially as he had become very unpopular amongst the political circles
in the North West Region and conversely, with the coming to prominence (in 1992)
of the Social Democratic Party (SDF) of Ni John Fru Ndi, President Paul Biya
thought it was time to appoint a South Westerner to occupy that seat at the
star building. It was seemingly clear that with Chief Ephraim Inoni as the
Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, John Ebong Ngole
as Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency and the lone political bureau
member of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) from the South West,
and Peter Agbor Tabi as Minister of Higher Education, the President’s pick
would have been either of them. In fact, all these presumptions were wrong as
presidential appointments are the sole prerogatives of the President. With
Mafany’s appointment, it was evident that he was going to bring into the
government those with whom he would be very comfortable to work with. Hence, in
the cabinet reshuffle of December 1997, Agbor Tabi and Ebong Ngole were dropped,
replacing them with Jerome Eta and Elvis Ngole Ngole respectively. The lone
survivor in that trio was Chief Ephraim Inoni. Some unconfirmed sources say
with their frustrations, either one of them in a buzzing expedition at the
Mountain Club in Buea, was rumored to have said that, “he didn’t know how suddenly
a farmer became a Prime Minister.” This was being attributed to Mafany because he
left from the position of General Manager of CDC, a corporation predominantly
constituting of farmers.
With Mafany as the Prime
Minister, the internecine fighting over that position was less of a factor in
the South West than it was in the North West. Surprisingly enough, Chief
Ephraim Inoni who was the longest serving member of government from the South
West at that time, had to eventually replace Mafany as Prime Minister in
December 2004. It was his appointment that opened the rite of passage from the
position of Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency to becoming Prime
Minister. Following the arrest of Chief Inoni, the very daring Peter Agbor Tabi
thought it was the right and appropriate time for him to bounce back into the
government. No one doubts the courage of this fellow when he used to be the
rector of The University of Yaoundé 1, and later became the Minister of Higher
Education. In a SWELA meeting in Kumba, he seemingly had wanted a motion of
appreciation to be addressed to the Head of State for his Operation Sparrow
Hawk. This move, it was believed, was intended as a mockery to the arrest and
detention of Chief Inoni. As it’s often said a skillful player never lacks a
team, Agbor Tabi made a spectacular come back in government as Assistant
Secretary General at the Presidency in the June 2009 cabinet reshuffle, after
having spent 12 good years in the cold. This was a position held by Chief Inoni
and Yang that paved the way for them to the star building as Prime Minister. The
question at that time was, with Agbor Tabi’s appointment, was he therefore the
potential Prime Minister after Yang? The answer to that question has never been
answered because he died while in office and no Anglophone has occupied that
office since then until the March 2 Cabinet Reshuffle. Could the answer to that
question now come from the March reshuffle and the filling in of that position?
Or could it be that Paul Biya being a political game changer will want to use
another route for his pick? He is a master at sowing uncertainty in the
Cameroon people’s minds. We are waiting because we know that the President has
set the stage for us. And we here at Nanje
School of Creative Thinking are the first to begin the dialogue.
Appointing two prominent
sons from the South West in the persons of Messrs. Paul Elung and Joseph Dion
Ngute, to meet Minister Victor Ayuk Mengot at the presidency, does it in any
way make things complicated for anyone of them to be the chosen one, or is it a
strategy for the President of the Republic to bring them much closer to him so
he can have a closer look at each of their performance and work ethics? The
answer to this question can only be known in the next presidential decree in
its Article 1: As from the date of
signature, Mr. XYZ has been
appointed the Prime Minister and Head of Government of the Republic of
Cameroon.
Let’s take the next
rendezvous!!!
