IS DIDECO IN A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS? YES!

I believe it was on Tuesday, February 13, 2023 that the National Executive Officers of

Dikome Balue Development Corporation (DIDECO) led by Honorable Peter Elangwe Nanje abruptly resigned from their constitutionally-mandated duties and responsibilities to the Dikome Balue people. Some have called it a constitutional crisis but some have hushed others not to call it so. But why not? The current political dispensation that DIDECO finds itself has dislodged the organization and it is the talk-of-the town in all nooks and crevices with all the hallmarks of a constitutional crisis. The issue now is not about what caused the entire Exco to resign abruptly but how to rectify the current crisis and avert similar situations in the future.

      Why is it a constitutional crisis?

·        It is not only about the executive resigning from their duly-elected constitutional duties; the organization should, at no point, stay without the leadership organs intact until a newly-elected executive is mandated by the people. The fact that the organization is currently without its leaders makes it vulnerable and susceptible to infiltrators foreign and domestic especially at this dire period.

·        Whatever the Chief did that led to this disruption or mass resignation of the entire DIDECO EXCO members does not really matter. Our leaders must have the temperament to operate even under fire. The fact that they decided to abandon their positions while in the line of duty is call for concern and the Chief, who runs all things Dikome Balue, must step in and rescue the crisis before it escalates.

                     What’s the way forward?

The Chief of Dikome Balue who’s highly an intelligent, educated man, and has proven leadership skills, is quite capable of resolving this problem but not with an iron glad. He should consult and listen to his advisory team some recently installed in Kumba, Limbe and Douala, to give him good advice d’akana Dikome Balue obosso. I have read elsewhere in the different Dikome Balue fora I belong to, how even newborn babies disrespect our duly selected chief. The DIDECO leadership vacuum is the best scenario for the chief to exert his leadership qualities and grant the Dikome Balue elements the right to elect the best candidate to lead us in this 21st Century.

In the respected and highly privileged DIDECO Advisory WhatsApp group of Council of Makoro, I was privileged to read some fancied opinions from some dignified members of the group. The first was to shift the DIDECO elections from March 11, 2023 to a later date due to the fact that it coincides with Cameroon Senatorial elections. The Chief however was dismissive of the March 11^th date because, he asserted, only he could set the date and day of DIDECO elections. March 11^th did not come from him. I see a Chief who was unanimously selected acting on his authority. We must all get used to it by now. We are however hopeful that, even as we loom deep into this unchartered constitutional crisis, we should not panic into setting the date of the elections and in electing leaders who will be disastrous for the Dikome Balue communities. The Council of Makoro should advise the Chief appropriately and the Chief should take their consent wisely. This is the requirement we initiated in the DIDECO constitution to be adhered to by all parties involved in leadership.

The other idea floated was for DIDECO to have elections in different villages, towns or cities and certainly not only in Cameroon. Dikome Balue is undoubtably the largest and the most populated village in the South West Region and it is about time we started acting our size. Therefore, I support whole-heartedly the proposal put forward by Dr. Sylvester Imbia that there should be different polling stations for example: Dikome, Matoh, Ekombe, Kumba, Limbe, Douala, Buea, Yaounde and North America. Nowadays, technology has replaced the debilitating high costs of conducting elections and I crave into our indulgences that we choose modernity over archaic methods of conducting our businesses. DIDECO North America applied this method in its recent Exco elections and it worked just fine. All we need is for each of the Exco members to act on the Chief’s request and perform the right and proper way of executing elections.

I equally support the idea of pushing the elections ahead (from March 11th to sometimes in May) as expressed by the Chairman (the Chief) of the organization. This will give prospective candidates enough time to prepare their manifestos and again, it will allow voters to take a cursory look at each candidate’s stance on various issues that are important to DIKOME Balue as an organization. Sentiments aside, we can no longer vote for lackluster leaders who do not represent the values of DIDECO, especially as the organization is growing into a conglomerate.

                     How to avoid future constitutional crisis?

Rumors have it that the President did not consult with the rest of the executive members when he tendered the resignation letter on their behalf. If that is true, their deafening silence to speak out against the resigning President is definitely an admission of a total agreement with him. If not, let them speak out in writing. I would!

My suggestion to avert this problem that has plagued the organization and fix them when reviewing the constitution. Also, the role of the Council of Makoro and the constitution of its members to feature as Advisory body should be properly defined in the reviewing constitution. Additionally, the role of the Chairman (Chief), in as much as it should be ceremonial, there should be a tactical role that he must play because this development is happening in his village and he must participate in the development.  

The indigenes of Dikome Balue are extremely grateful to Hon. Peter Elangwe Nanje for the good and selfless work he did for Dikome Balue while as President of DIDECO and based on that, shall be prepared to give him our unflinching support in his next endeavors.