Biya-Fru Ndi Concessions; Suspected
Can CPDM Sacrifice Even ‘All Weather’ Hon. Wallang in Menchum South?
*Renewed Hell Braving for Anglophone Ministers
Cameroon’s Constitutional Council decision to annul results of the February 9, 2020 legislative elections across 11 constituencies in the North West (Bui, Menchum, Momo, Mezam) and South West (Lebialem) Regions has been welcomed and saluted with a mixture of excitement and apprehension from both within and without the ranks of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), being the major petitioner.
Pundits who still believe in the authentication of democracy in Cameroon see beyond the cancellation of the elections, a deep rooted effort by government to rescue the fate of the democratic game. The overwhelming, yet superfluous majority that the gangrene infested polls produced could rightly be deemed uncomfortable to the ‘winner’ and image soiling to the international community.
The foreseeable effort at face saving, if not properly handled, could just go a long way to strip the people of the very few true representatives they have (Hon. Wallang Richard Ebua of the Menchum South electoral constituency being a glaring example).
In a country plagued by many calamities, one would have expected the powers that be to give a semblance of democracy but the elections, once touted as the very foundations of democratic culture, turned out, unfortunately, to provide only a false veneer of legitimacy for autocratic incumbents.
The rerun of elections in eleven constituencies, all located in the nucleus of the conflict zone, brings many preoccupations to the horizon. There is supposed be a reenactment of the drama that unfolded prior to and during the annulled election.
It demands a renewed deployment of the military in these places with the well-known consequences – kidnapping of candidates, lockdowns and counters will have to set in. Government officials from these places will have to brave security concerns to prove their allegiance to the government. And at the end of it …?