The Grassroot People Matter More In An Election – Alice Nkom

Interviewed By Mirabel Azangeh

60-year-old Alice Nkom is a barrister-at-law with 35 years of working experience. She runs an NGO, Women’s Voters and Sons, WVS, which advocates for the well being of the civil society. The NGO has been going into the suburbs of Douala to register the underprivileged for the forthcoming election. Nkom talks about her NGO’s objectives, activities, strides and her personal ideology and the forthcoming election. Excerpts:

You run an NGO involved in voters’ registration. How does it operate?

Women Voters and Sons is the name of the NGO, which is operating from personal coffers. We go out to tell voters about their rights, powers and their civic duties, and how they have to organise themselves to exercise them. I work with volunteers from the University of Douala (students) called “Sons.” When registration was opened by MINAT, we presented ourselves to the Ministry and were given a go-ahead. We have been going into those areas that are not easily accessed by cars, to register voters from door to door. When their cards are out, we will go there to give them.

After being there several times, what is your assessment of the registration?

The people have opened their doors to us and we have so far registered over 300,000 people this way.

Do the grassroots people actually believe in you?

Yes, of course! We make them first to understand that we are not in favour of getting people to vote for a particular party. We have promised to bring back their cards when they are out.

Is it that easy to get the people to register?

Not quite. But before getting into a particular quarter, we inform the quarter head in advance, who, in turn, tells his subjects. They ask us so many questions about the system, why so many things are happening the way they are doing and so forth. We have discovered that the people no longer have confidence in elections – there exists a crisis of confidence between election organisers and voters.

What spurred you to take up this type of engagement?

I attended a programme in the US tagged “Grassroots Democracy,” and visited five American states and all actors of American democracy. It was there that I found out that not less than 250,000 people are employed to work towards the amelioration of the lives of the grassroots.In Cameroon today, the masses are relegated to the background. Elections are organised without first of all looking into their plight.

Do you think this could affect, say, the October Presidential election?

Yes. Just look at how bad the roads in Douala are. Do you think someone will still opt to swim across swamps to go to a voting station even if he or she has obtained a voter’s card? The ruling class forgets that this particular group of citizens is capable of ousting them through sanction votes. Worse still, the forthcoming election is just theoretical because all we know about it is that it comes up in October – no specific date as yet. This is regrettable. Cameroonians have to know when they have to vote, long in advance, so that they can start checking the calendar. In which country in this world do you find the President and his friends confiscating the electoral calendar? This particular situation is making Cameroonians very suspicious, despite the popular cry that computerisation and transparent ballot boxes could ensure free and fair elections.

Talking about computerisation and transparent ballot boxes, do you think they could be a panacea to voter apathy?

They can resolve no problem since they came up late. The administration is not opposing the idea completely, but just saying they have not got the means to do so, given the short time left. This issue should have been raised immediately after the 2002 elections. It would have worked out perfectly. This, however, does not mean that the election should be postponed.

Why should the election not be postponed?

Postponing an election is a serious crime, it is violating the constitution; it would be more serious than not computerising the system. In my opinion, the coming seven years should be for reconciliation. Let the next mandate be an exemplary one. If we opt for postponement, and the President takes it to another seven years, what shall we do? Let’s get into it nor matter who wins, peacefully to avoid shedding blood.

What do you think about the prospective candidates?

Voters have lost confidence in our politicians. Politicians have to start by re-instilling this confidence in voters. As for the issue of ID cards, I salute the initiative of all who are ensuring the acquisition of ID cards, but stand against the fact that this is being done from state coffers. Without naming names, it is unacceptable that an individual should dip his hands into the public till that is under his control, to make ID cards for all natives of his village.The politicians have to change their attitudes, if not let them tell Biya to stay on as life President as he wishes.

Do you find anything worthy in the other contestants?

Not so much. You don’t push out an old person. You accompany him out. They should go up to him and say; “we love our country, we do not want war, we will rule alongside with you.” But before this happens, they should examine themselves. Do they have equitable profiles? Are they able to sustain the position (of President) without seeking to enrich themselves first? The opposition must be able to show what they’re capable of doing.

What would you tell both politicians and voters?

My plea is that politicians should look into the plight of those at the grassroots. When doing anything, they should think of the benefit this would bring to the ordinary citizen. My utmost wish now is to see that Cameroonians do not miss out on the transitional period because they are disgruntled with the regime.

Comments

[Anglobami]

It is really sad that a majority of people in Cameroon actually think that fair elections can really take place. biya was in france on the drawing board with chirac to plan how he will win and how french troops will quickly move in to handle any uprising (if any). Some Cameroonians are more interested in 'belly politiks' than in how many roads are tarred (etc) or whether real change occurs--that is why biya will rig the elections and get away with it. And for example, people in Mamfe and Nkambe, who are living in what may be considered large ghettos, will pour in messages of congratulations to the bandit (biya). It makes me sick. A revolution is inevitable.

[furious]

The portrait behind Ms. Alice Kom speaks more about Cameroon and its elite than the interview itself; here is a Cameroonian nationalist -- in her office in Douala, Cameroon- with a huge portrait of NeoColonialist kingpin Jacques Chirac proudly in the background... To borrow from Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem, "Ozymandias": "Look upon my picture, ye Mighty, and despair!"