Bamenda Convention Amendments Rid SDF NEC Of Political Dead Wood - Prof. Nkwi

Interviewed by Kini Nsom

University don and out gone member of the National Executive Committee, NEC, has strongly defended the recent amendments of the party's Constitution that were adopted at the party's convention in Bamenda last week.

In an exclusive interview with The Post in Yaoundé, June 2, 2006, Professor Nkwi refuted claims that the constitutional amendments were meant to make SDF Chairman, a dictator. He equally gave his opinion on the controversies that characterised his party's convention, the SDF shadow cabinet that Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi, is expected to appoint in the coming days. Excerpts:

The Post: You just came back from the SDF Convention which was christened "the Convention of Rebirth".  Do you think the party has been reborn after the Bamenda Convention?

Prof Nkwi: I believe so. Rebirth simply means that the party has reinvented itself with a new vision, a new mission and a new focus. While it remains a grassroots party, it will attempt to capture and use the high potential that exists in the upper levels of its membership. Rebirth also means finding a new "modus operandi" that transcends political rhetoric to concrete action.

Do the amendments that were made on the party's constitution give room for this kind of political mutation?

The amendments made were, first and foremost, a proactive practice in governance that looks to the future where the SDF will be able to move into government without any hassles.

The amendments were meant also to get rid of political deadwood and make the main party organ, NEC, more functional. The Chairman was given the powers to pull in people into NEC who can produce results.

Experience has shown that many elected NEC members ended up not performing and could only be removed by an elective convention. The amendments created a shadow cabinet of 19 policy areas showing Cameroonians how the SDF will trim the present expensive, amorphous cabinet that runs our country today.

However, the amendments seem to ignore the fact that Cameroon has a presidential system which does not provide for shadow cabinets. The USA and Nigeria have presidential systems and no shadow cabinets while Britain and Kenya, for example, have parliamentary systems. It will be interesting to see what the SDF experiment will produce or what the final outcome will be.
 

The amendments gave the Chairman powers to hire and fire NEC members. Is that not an undemocratic move?

Yes, the Convention gave the Chairman more powers. Those powers were not given to Ni John Fru Ndi. The Chair must use them judiciously otherwise he may drive further divisions within the party. As a Northwesterner, he knows very well that Fons have absolute powers which are controlled by the kwifoyn.
 

The National Advisory Council (NAC) is an advisory and consultative body. Now that the Chairman of NEC is also Chairman of NAC, doesn't that mean he will be consulting and advising himself in the face of difficult situations?

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Chair cumulating these two positions. But, it might be better if the two were separated. In the present crisis, the leader must be seen to control things and only the internal logic will determine the future.

Furthermore, a leader must demonstrate that he is a leader and that he knows where he is going. We hope that the Chair, with his new crop of officials, will have a better idea as to where the party and country should be by 2020.

Is the SDF still a party of the masses?

It is still the party of the masses. Its leaders are chosen by the masses in the belief that they know their problems, their aspirations and their concerns. They should translate such concerns into policy that satisfy the masses. I seize this opportunity to thank all the militants of Boyo for giving me their trust and confidence.  I will never betray them

Because of the amendments, are you now waiting for the Chairman to appoint you?

I am not particularly anxious to be appointed in the first place because my track record as the Chair of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee speaks for itself. My Committee produced policy guidelines captured in a document entitled "The Social Deconstruction of Cameroon: The Making of a New Society Now and Beyond 2020".

The document was adopted by NEC, tabled at the Convention and widely distributed to various structures of the party. I believe I have contributed and proven that we can produce the goods. Appointed or not, I will continue to work for the party and for a better Cameroon.

You claim that the SDF was reborn when, in fact, the Yaoundé Convention was preceded by acts of violence during  which a militant was killed.

We regret the loss of life in Yaoundé. The Muna and Ngwasiri gang should take the blame.

  If they had had just a modicum of modesty, we should not have come to this. What happened in Yaoundé was a repetition in history. Remember: in 1962 ST Muna, the father, was fired along with ten other acolytes by the KNDP for anti-party activities. 

The Senior Muna went on to establish CUC (Cameroon Union Congress) and betrayed the aspirations of West Cameroonians at the time. Augustine Jua was humiliated and Muna went on to become Prime Minister of West Cameroon and Vice-President of the Republic.

Many Anglophones have not forgotten this and hold the Munas responsible for their plight, a plight created by their inordinate search for power. It is interesting to note that, during the All Anglophone Conference in Buea, the Senior Muna was humble enough to utter his ultimate "mea culpa" and begged for forgiveness.

His son, Barrister Ben Muna, should have tried to right the wrongs of his father but, lo and behold, he seems to act otherwise.

Forty-four years later, the Junior Muna thinks we have forgotten that. After attempting to dismember the SDF without success, he was fired along with 20 others by NEC. Instead of establishing his own party as he father did, he is pretending to be leading "SDF authentic", whatever that means.

His Francophone followers may not know these facts.  He should, and ought to, maintain the good name of the family which has contributed to the history of this country.

How can you blame Muna when the thugs that killed Mr. Gregoire Diboule are alleged to have come from your camp?

Throughout this crisis, the SDF has been proactive by informing the administration way ahead of time of potential dangers and conflicts. The Muna and Ngwasiri camp is entirely to be blamed. They could have avoided the crisis and saved lives if they accepted the olive branch from NEC.

The Osih Commission, which was empowered by NEC to meet the dissident faction and find a peaceful solution to the crisis, was turned down by them (Muna and Ngwasiri). They were unwilling to concede and persisted in acting unconstitutionally, organizing a rival Convention.
 

The provincial leadership was authorized to restore peace in the province. By the authority conferred on them by elections, they were responsible for maintaining order and not to cause any damage to people or property.

It is regrettable that life was lost, and we hope that investigations will prove that Muna and Ngwasiri were entirely responsible, especially for holding an illegal meeting and disobeying the prefectorial order. To my knowledge, the SDF party hierarchy never gave instructions that the place should be invaded. The local party officials had the responsibility to maintain peace and avoid conflict.

When conflict persists in a political party, militants look up to the highest organ, the Convention, for guidance. But, your party instead dismissed 21 militants on the eve of the Convention. Where did you keep the spirit of reconciliation?

When the Osih Commission briefed NEC, it became evident that the Ngwasiri camp was unwilling to reconcile. They, instead, proposed unacceptable solutions. Against the background of important Convention preparations, NEC had to move fast and exclude them from the party.

Their anti-party activities were well known and the party had no alternative but to take drastic action.

After riding through these controversies and standing face-to-face with a faction of dissidents, what is the way forward?

The future is always unknown. But you can prepare for it more strategically. The new SDF must develop a strategic plan with set goals and objectives as well as activities that will project the party into a new era by 2020 that will benefit all Cameroonians, rid ourselves of corruption and establish a humane society for all.
Thank you

Comments

[tzuuujj]

ujkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[LeBAMS]

That's all rubbish "DR" Nkwi.When the Fon of Balikumbat murdered a fellow militant of the SDF, you cried foul and he was persecuted.Cameroon is a country of law and he who is guilty of murder should face justice.You cann't eat your cake and have it.
Nobody should allow the SDF to rule 'cause from day one, it will be a dictatorship.Over our dead bodies.

[Eyengue]

It's unfortunate that some elitist class members of Fru Ndi's clan can be so blinded not to see that the SDF (whether Fru Ndi or Ngwasiri/Muna) has always been a party which defy the authorities.From the launching of the SDF in 1990, to the numerous meetings and rallies in which Fru NDI was use to shout out, that "the CPDM money is blood money, and anybody part taking in it's consumption is feeding on the blood of Cameroonians" ( 1991 rally Bamenda). I wonder when the blood in the money of CPDM disappeared for him to part take in it's consumption.
In anycase, Dr. Nkwi should not further their short sightedness, to make assumptions that the SDF (Fru Ndi) has the moral authority to judge those who defied the D.O's order to carry on with their convention in Yaounde. If the learned Dr, can be so dishonest to levy the blame on the Yaounde conventionist then i cry for the intellectuals we look up to in Cameroon. This is moral dishonesty.

[Morfaw Rene]

JUST HEAR THIS NKWI MAN
"The Senior Muna went on to establish CUC (Cameroon Union Congress) and betrayed the aspirations of West Cameroonians at the time. Augustine Jua was humiliated and Muna went on to become Prime Minister of West Cameroon and Vice-President of the Republic.
Many Anglophones have not forgotten this and hold the Munas responsible for their plight, a plight created by their inordinate search for power. It is interesting to note that, during the All Anglophone Conference in Buea, the Senior Muna was humble enough to utter his ultimate "mea culpa" and begged for forgiveness.
His son, Barrister Ben Muna, should have tried to right the wrongs of his father but, lo and behold, he seems to act otherwise.
Forty-four years later, the Junior Muna thinks we have forgotten that. After attempting to dismember the SDF without success, he was fired along with 20 others by NEC. Instead of establishing his own party as he father did, he is pretending to be leading "SDF authentic", whatever that means.
His Francophone followers may not know these facts. He should, and ought to, maintain the good name of the family which has contributed to the history of this country."
IF YOU KNOW THIS IS THIS NOT ENOUGH REASON FOR YOU TOFORGET ABOUT THIS USELESS SDF AND COME TO THE SCNC? THE SDF IS FOOLING THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS MORE.

[Prince]

Arrest Warrant for Fru Ndi? From Chronicle newspaper

What was only a remote possibility nows seems a likelihood as it is now clear that the government of Cameroon is seriously considering interrogating and even arresting, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, John Fru Ndi for his role in the murder of Gregoire Diboulé, permanent secretary of the Yaounde office of the SDF on May 26, 2006.

Top officials of the Ministry of Justice, the Secretariat of State for Defence (National gendarmerie) on directives from the secretariat general in the presidency of the republic June 2, put on hold an from the State Counsel of the Mfoundi stating clearly that all those involved in the death of Gregoire Diboulé as well as their sponsors be arrested immediately.

Depositions made by many of the thirty vanguards and Fru Ndi militants arrested by the gendarmes last May 26th at the Yaounde office of the SDF have clearly stated that they were sent to Yaounde from Bamenda to Yaounde by John Fru Ndi to “make sure that no convention holds in the Yaounde secretariat of the SDF,” as the leader of the expedition, retired Colonel Chi Ngafor (66) deposed. Colonel Ngafor, however, insisted during his interrogation and deposition that he never ordered anybody to kill neither did he arm the assault party.”

“I told the gendarmes that I received instructions from the hierarchy of the party to make sure that no convention holds in Yaounde,” Colonel Ngafor told Le Messager newspaper last June 1, shortly before he reported to the Olezoa gendarmerie headquarters for interrogation. The colonel would not answer directly what exactly he meant by hierarchy. Neither did he produce any document to prove that he was indeed sent by the “hierarchy” of the Fru Ndi.

Colonel Ngafor said that he called Mr. Fru Ndi after the initial interrogations and Fru Ndi told him to be calm and to attend all summons (convocations). Many of the other detainees have also made depositions indicting Chi Ngafor, Fru Ndi, Mbah Ndam or Yoyo Emmanuel as the “sponsors” of the Yaounde expedition. Seven out of the nine vanguards who came from Mbengwi were arrested. Some of the seven have implicated Mbah Ndam in the affair. The parents of the 07 have since made pilgrimages to Ntarikon to demand their children from Mr. Fru Ndi.

Several journalists who have called Mr Fru Ndi to inquire if the Chairman indeed sent the vanguards to Yaounde have met with a stiff rebuff. “Go and write what you like,” a grumpy and irate Fru Ndi reportedly told Mr Nkemayang Paul, publisher of Headlines newspaper
Four key figures in the assault party, Chi Ngafor, Che Philip, a certain Simo and a guard, Thomas, have now been transferred to the Kondengui Maximum Security prison to waiting trial
“We are not at the level of interrogating or arresting Fru Ndi or even bringing him before the witness stand,” said a source at the Olezoa headquarters of the National gendarmerie. Nobody is above the law. We are still investigating. You will understand that this investigation has political implications and only the government can take such decisions,” …whatever the case the SDF and Fru Ndi are now at the mercy of the government.”

For gendarmerie investigation is very interested in the nature of all preparation meetings that took place in Bamenda on May 24th and 25th in readiness for the Yaounde expedition. The gendarmes would also like to know which other top officials of the SDF were also involved in the matter but most especially they are interested in the owner of the vehicle (said to be Mbah Ndam) which transported some of the vanguards to Yaounde.

House Speaker Cavaye Yeguie Djibril waded into the issue full force last June 02 as he roundly denounced the violence in the SDF. “We denounce such practices that take our democracy back many years,” Mr Cavaye said.

In reply SDF member and House Questor, Yoyo Emmanuel, blamed government for not protecting the SDF Yaounde headquarters. Mr. Yoyo said the SDF had warned government that some dissidents were about to carry on some activities in the SDF Yaounde Office but the government did nothing. Mr. Yoyo also wondered why the House Speaker was suddenly very interested in the Diboulé murder intimating that many other Cameroonians have been killed in the past without government being interested.

Before the House Speaker, the Minister of State, and Minister of territorial administration and decentralization, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, had issued a press release saying that the government of the Republic deplored and condemned such "reprehensible acts which tarnish the image of our democracy".

Pressure on the government to act in the issue is not only coming from Diboulé family members as well as friends. The Muna faction of the SDF and even the CPDM is an interested party in the matter. Human rights groups and some local newspapers (The herald and Le Messager) have also taken up a crusade to have Fru Ndi arrested and convicted like Doh Gah Gwanyin. Many past victims of similar assaults from vanguard and other SDF thugs, some actually deployed by Fru Ndi, have also joined the crusade.

The assault on dissidents in Yaounde last May 26 is not the first time that thugs, mayors and parliamentarians from the SDF have assaulted dissidents. In 1998 Mr Fru Ndi sent over 40 vanguards to the Yaounde Congress Hall and to the home of former SDF militant, Christopher Takoudjou, to disrupt a convention planned by his former deputy, Mahamat Souleymane,. The expedition was lead by Maidadi Saidou. SDF sources say that ahead of the 1998 trip Mr Fru Ndi actually held up Maidadi’s hand and declared that he trusted him to lead the Yaoundé expedition and bring back good results. “Go and bring Souleymane to me, dead or alive,” Mr Fru Ndi said.
Christopher Takoudjou’s home was ransacked and property worth over 10 million FCFA destroyed. It was during that expedition that the publisher of The Messenger newspaper, Hilary Fokum Kebila, had his jaw broken. A Radio France International reporter was also tortured. Court cases resulting from the 1998 assault are pending in the Mfoundi courts.

On September 10, 2000, vanguards acting on instructions from the then SDF provincial chairman, martin Yembe and, with the full knowledge of Mr Fru Ndi disrupted an SDF rally in Sop, Jakiri. Mbinkar Michael and Banseka Michael, SDF parliamentarians for Bui were severely. Mbinkar Boniface, SDF Mayor for Jakiri was also beaten. The SDF Mayor for Kumbo, Njong Donatus only saved his skin by showing a clean pair of heels.
Several journalists have also been beaten up by SDF vanguards allegedly on the instruction of Mr Fru Ndi. During the 2001 SDF convention in Bamenda, Ezieh Christopher, publisher of The Heron newspaper was trashed by SDF vanguards. Michael Mombio of Le Messager and Tumajong Emmanuel of The Associated Press were also harassed and intimidated.

Ahead of the May 26 murder of Gregoire Diboulé, SDF vanguards and a Fru Ndi guard beat up Chronicle publisher, Motomu Eric to unconsciousness 10 metres away from Fru Ndi. Some CPDM militants have also brought up the issue of the torching of their homes and property in 1992, reportedly, by SDF vanguards.

[Prince]

Arrest Warrant for Fru Ndi? From Chronicle newspaper

What was only a remote possibility nows seems a likelihood as it is now clear that the government of Cameroon is seriously considering interrogating and even arresting, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, John Fru Ndi for his role in the murder of Gregoire Diboulé, permanent secretary of the Yaounde office of the SDF on May 26, 2006.

Top officials of the Ministry of Justice, the Secretariat of State for Defence (National gendarmerie) on directives from the secretariat general in the presidency of the republic June 2, put on hold an from the State Counsel of the Mfoundi stating clearly that all those involved in the death of Gregoire Diboulé as well as their sponsors be arrested immediately.

Depositions made by many of the thirty vanguards and Fru Ndi militants arrested by the gendarmes last May 26th at the Yaounde office of the SDF have clearly stated that they were sent to Yaounde from Bamenda to Yaounde by John Fru Ndi to “make sure that no convention holds in the Yaounde secretariat of the SDF,” as the leader of the expedition, retired Colonel Chi Ngafor (66) deposed. Colonel Ngafor, however, insisted during his interrogation and deposition that he never ordered anybody to kill neither did he arm the assault party.”

“I told the gendarmes that I received instructions from the hierarchy of the party to make sure that no convention holds in Yaounde,” Colonel Ngafor told Le Messager newspaper last June 1, shortly before he reported to the Olezoa gendarmerie headquarters for interrogation. The colonel would not answer directly what exactly he meant by hierarchy. Neither did he produce any document to prove that he was indeed sent by the “hierarchy” of the Fru Ndi.

Colonel Ngafor said that he called Mr. Fru Ndi after the initial interrogations and Fru Ndi told him to be calm and to attend all summons (convocations). Many of the other detainees have also made depositions indicting Chi Ngafor, Fru Ndi, Mbah Ndam or Yoyo Emmanuel as the “sponsors” of the Yaounde expedition. Seven out of the nine vanguards who came from Mbengwi were arrested. Some of the seven have implicated Mbah Ndam in the affair. The parents of the 07 have since made pilgrimages to Ntarikon to demand their children from Mr. Fru Ndi.

Several journalists who have called Mr Fru Ndi to inquire if the Chairman indeed sent the vanguards to Yaounde have met with a stiff rebuff. “Go and write what you like,” a grumpy and irate Fru Ndi reportedly told Mr Nkemayang Paul, publisher of Headlines newspaper
Four key figures in the assault party, Chi Ngafor, Che Philip, a certain Simo and a guard, Thomas, have now been transferred to the Kondengui Maximum Security prison to waiting trial
“We are not at the level of interrogating or arresting Fru Ndi or even bringing him before the witness stand,” said a source at the Olezoa headquarters of the National gendarmerie. Nobody is above the law. We are still investigating. You will understand that this investigation has political implications and only the government can take such decisions,” …whatever the case the SDF and Fru Ndi are now at the mercy of the government.”

For gendarmerie investigation is very interested in the nature of all preparation meetings that took place in Bamenda on May 24th and 25th in readiness for the Yaounde expedition. The gendarmes would also like to know which other top officials of the SDF were also involved in the matter but most especially they are interested in the owner of the vehicle (said to be Mbah Ndam) which transported some of the vanguards to Yaounde.

House Speaker Cavaye Yeguie Djibril waded into the issue full force last June 02 as he roundly denounced the violence in the SDF. “We denounce such practices that take our democracy back many years,” Mr Cavaye said.

In reply SDF member and House Questor, Yoyo Emmanuel, blamed government for not protecting the SDF Yaounde headquarters. Mr. Yoyo said the SDF had warned government that some dissidents were about to carry on some activities in the SDF Yaounde Office but the government did nothing. Mr. Yoyo also wondered why the House Speaker was suddenly very interested in the Diboulé murder intimating that many other Cameroonians have been killed in the past without government being interested.

Before the House Speaker, the Minister of State, and Minister of territorial administration and decentralization, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, had issued a press release saying that the government of the Republic deplored and condemned such "reprehensible acts which tarnish the image of our democracy".

Pressure on the government to act in the issue is not only coming from Diboulé family members as well as friends. The Muna faction of the SDF and even the CPDM is an interested party in the matter. Human rights groups and some local newspapers (The herald and Le Messager) have also taken up a crusade to have Fru Ndi arrested and convicted like Doh Gah Gwanyin. Many past victims of similar assaults from vanguard and other SDF thugs, some actually deployed by Fru Ndi, have also joined the crusade.

The assault on dissidents in Yaounde last May 26 is not the first time that thugs, mayors and parliamentarians from the SDF have assaulted dissidents. In 1998 Mr Fru Ndi sent over 40 vanguards to the Yaounde Congress Hall and to the home of former SDF militant, Christopher Takoudjou, to disrupt a convention planned by his former deputy, Mahamat Souleymane,. The expedition was lead by Maidadi Saidou. SDF sources say that ahead of the 1998 trip Mr Fru Ndi actually held up Maidadi’s hand and declared that he trusted him to lead the Yaoundé expedition and bring back good results. “Go and bring Souleymane to me, dead or alive,” Mr Fru Ndi said.
Christopher Takoudjou’s home was ransacked and property worth over 10 million FCFA destroyed. It was during that expedition that the publisher of The Messenger newspaper, Hilary Fokum Kebila, had his jaw broken. A Radio France International reporter was also tortured. Court cases resulting from the 1998 assault are pending in the Mfoundi courts.

On September 10, 2000, vanguards acting on instructions from the then SDF provincial chairman, martin Yembe and, with the full knowledge of Mr Fru Ndi disrupted an SDF rally in Sop, Jakiri. Mbinkar Michael and Banseka Michael, SDF parliamentarians for Bui were severely. Mbinkar Boniface, SDF Mayor for Jakiri was also beaten. The SDF Mayor for Kumbo, Njong Donatus only saved his skin by showing a clean pair of heels.
Several journalists have also been beaten up by SDF vanguards allegedly on the instruction of Mr Fru Ndi. During the 2001 SDF convention in Bamenda, Ezieh Christopher, publisher of The Heron newspaper was trashed by SDF vanguards. Michael Mombio of Le Messager and Tumajong Emmanuel of The Associated Press were also harassed and intimidated.

Ahead of the May 26 murder of Gregoire Diboulé, SDF vanguards and a Fru Ndi guard beat up Chronicle publisher, Motomu Eric to unconsciousness 10 metres away from Fru Ndi. Some CPDM militants have also brought up the issue of the torching of their homes and property in 1992, reportedly, by SDF vanguards.

[Fritzane Kiki Hong Kong]

Most of you are distancing yourself from the murder case who is therefore to take the blame for the lost of an innocent life?? Colonel Ngafor already testified that orders came from the hirarchy to disrupt and carry out acts of vandalism to all those who dare to attend the Yaounde Convention.This is an achaic way to bring peace and solution to this misunderstanding.

Secondly Nkwi is talking of a new SDF to be ready by 2010 to take over the government but who is to take over in 2007.The party is relenquishing its powers to the ruling party.

Again what strikes me is that Prof Nkwi said confering powers to the Chairman is not discouraging but encouraging the militants to be aware of the laws governing the party.But I think too much powers is too absolute for a political party than expected.Being chair of NEC and NAC is too much responsibility for Fru alone.

Lastly talking of the legitimacy of the Bamenda based SDF to that of Yaounde is doubtful as to whether who is legal and who is illegal when all claim to be acting on a legal base.It's still a long way to go for us....

'Power to the people'

Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong

[Teribobs]

Wusai Fon and yi pipol dei? dem nova see dis one?

[mukete]

Dear Readers,

Readers would be sad to read what the Almighty God is thinking about our Leaders -whether in the opposition or in government -and about Cameroon. There is anger and vexation in the throne!

You wouldn't believe that even with his twelve (12) disciples, the only son of God, Jesus Christ, still thinks he is not prepared and well armed to invade Cameroon and chase out those leaders - of the opposition and the government - who have transformed his father's house (Cameroon) into a hideout for thieves and killers.

The vision I saw - call it a dream - is terrifying. It gives sleepless nights and keeps the mind tossing in suspense. From it, it is clear the Good Lord can tolerate it no more! When I first saw this vision - and I have been seeing it in a row for weeks now-, I actually felt my heart struggling to jump out of my body. It was as if Cameroon was experiencing an earth quake of alarming proportion. All the seas, rivers, oceans and streams had gone red in colour and were boiling with hot smoke.

... and I still do not know how to present what I saw during this revelation. But in the vision, I actually heard the crying voices of all those who have been betrayed - Late president Amadou Ahidjo, Irene Biya, Rose Ndi, Makoge F, John Kohtem, Gregoire, S.T. Muna, J. Foncha, etc. They are taking a serious exercise to join the divine team - visible or invisible- that will descend from above to clean our country. When they finally come, it will be as if the Good Lord has descended from Heaven and has relieved all Cameroonians of their sins. They will, surely, eradicate these leaders - in the opposition and government - who are using innocent Cameroonians as laboratory rats for their selfish political experiments. May their coming be very soon.

... but please pray that I have the wisdom to narrate the vision exactly the way it was revealed to me. Please pray.

Stay tuned.

Mukete

[Courtesy]

“SDF: Sixteen Wasted Years under Fru Ndi”
By Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege

This Interview was published by Chronicle newspaper No 101 of May 24-31, 2006. We re-publish it on cyberspace because of the very topical and now prophetic issues it raised.

Intro: Sixteen years ago. Six Bamenda children gave their lives and their blood so that a political party called the Social Democratic Front, SDF, should be born. The six were: Juliette Sikod, Fidelis Chosi, Nfon Edwin, Asonji Christopher, Evaristus Toje and Tifuh Mathias. Juliette Sikod was buried in Bali, Chosi in Bobong-Kom, Nfor Edwin in Noni and Asonji in Batibo.
One would have thought that the memory of these six, as well as the memory of many others wounded in various parts of their body; as well as the memory of hundreds if not thousands of Cameroonians who gave their lives for liberty and democracy would be humbling to those who today live and grow fat because these children and others died.
One would have thought the leaders and the purveyors of the enterprise that led to the deaths of these children would remember them and then understand the exact magnitude of trust and hope vested in them because these children died.
One would have thought that those who today have become National Chairman, mayor, councillor and parliamentarian because these children died would spare a thought for them.
One would have thought that these upstarts, parvenus and others who fish in troubled waters would moderate their greed and understand what exactly the SDF is all about.
One would have thought that 16 years later, after collecting over 1 billion FCFA from the CPDM government in hard cash, the SDF leadership would have, at least, built decent graves over these six children and painted those graves in green and white.
And one would have thought that the money collected and other dubious sources would have been used to but land, build a decent national secretariat and, why not, dedicate that secretariat to the Bamenda Six.
The litany is long but the fact remains that none of the above has been done or even considered. Instead what we have today is a greed stuck SDF leadership asking for more and more so that that leadership can grow fatter and more pompous. Listen, there is a God in heaven who sees all and knows that the six children gave their lives so that the SDF should be born and that its so-called leaders should eventually buy big cars, build huge houses along Commercial Avenue and then get rid of those who actually founded the SDF.
Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
In Memoriam.
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege tells the truth to Chronicle in an exclusive interview:

Question: Mr Ntemfac Aloyius Nkong Nchwete Ofege, you are a journalist, a political science and political communications student and consequently a keen observer of Cameroon’s political scene. The opposition Social Democratic Front turns 16 today. How do you appraise the SDF this day?

Ntemfac A Nchwete Ofege: Allow me first of all to correct a few distortions and half-truths being paraded about today by Mr Fru Ndi especially those concerning the genesis of the SDF. I have heard somewhere that Fru Ndi created the SDF. Rubbish! Albert Mukong did. Pa Wakai, Ngwasiri and Anyangwe wrote the Manifesto and the Constitution. And the name, Social Democratic Front, was given by Prof. Carlson Anyangwe. You see my good friend and brother, Boh Herbert, and yours truly did a lot of research into this process. You may not know that our book “Prison Graduate” was produced out of a few chapters of the book we were working on in 1990. That main book was to be called “Holding back the Tide.” It was to be a journalistic chronology of the processes leading to multipartism in Cameroon and especially what the regime did to, well, hold back the tide. Unfortunately some gendarmes confiscated the bulk of our research material from the abode of Boh Herbert’s sister during the State of Emergency. We’ve not had the inner strength to start that process all over again but Boh did publish part of our research (especially the SDF story) in one edition of his magazine, Newslink.
That said let me state the following as we gathered from our research:
1. Mr. Fru Ndi was not part of the initial meetings that led to the creation of the SDF. He only joined later. Siga Asanga did not attend these meeting either. He was in Dakar with his wife at the time. That meeting was started by Albert Mukong in November 1989. The very first meeting that led to the SDF was between Albert Mukong, Gemuh Akuchu and Justice Nyo Wakai. Mr Fru Ndi did attend the subsequent Bamenda meetings alongside Carlson Anyangwe, Vincent Feko, etc.
2. Albert Mukong can be said to be the founder of the SDF and even then his original idea was not to create a political party. Mukong was contacting these people to write a petition to the United Nations on the constant violations of his rights and the rights of other Cameroonians especially the Anglophones. It was only later and on the advice of several foreign embassies in Cameroon who were monitoring this process that the idea came to turn the Mukong protest into a full political party. Even then the original idea was not to take over power in Yaounde; the idea was to resolve the Anglophone problem, one way or another.
3. Siga Asanga, Fru Ndi’s relative, was introduced into the group later by Fru Ndi. The introduction of Siga turned out to be a strategic move by Mr John as subsequent events would prove. I believe the working group that led to the SDF was called Group 89, or Study 89 or Study Group 89, or something like that.
4. Mr. Fru Ndi never wrote one sentence in the SDF Manifesto. Neither could he. Neither did he add an iota in the SDF constitution. The SDF Manifesto developed from a document called “The New Social Order for Cameroon: presented by Justice Nyo Wakai at a meeting at Fru Ndi’s house on February 17th 1990.
5. Clement Ngwasiri joined the group later. He did host some of the meetings in his house at Nsam Efoulan.
6. Aloysius Tebo who today claims to be the Secretary of the Founding Fathers was no secretary at all. In fact Tebo is not competent to be anything at all but an errand boy. Listen we are talking law, constitutional law and political science here. Tebo is a dilettante who does not fit in any of those capacities.
7. Naturally Mbah Ndam and Yoyo were never even remotely close to this process.
8. The name, Social Democratic Front, was given by Carlson Anyangwe. It developed from a series of names among them the Federal Democratic Party, the Social Democratic party, the National Democratic Party, etc.
9. You would also remember that whatever documents Fru Ndi and his uncle dropped at the SDO’s office became null and void because the 1990 Law on Associations created new conditions for the existence of political parties in Cameroon. The SDF then dropped new documents at the Bamenda Governor’s Office to respect the law. There were 19 signatories on this document including Fru Ndi.
Listen I can’t tell the full and complete story now but that story will be told. It is most amazing that Fru Ndi today says the SDF has no Founding fathers and the man makes some of his relatives Founding fathers of the SDF. You would know that this attitude is typical of some Bamenda people. Look at it this way. It is as if a group of shareholders get together to form a company. One (Mukong) brings the idea, others (Wakai, Ngwasiri, Anyangwe, Akuchu) write the documents; one (Nangah) brings in money, another one (Tebo) runs errands and another one (Fru Ndi) brings nothing but the courage to drop the documents at the SDO’s office. The courageous agitator is also as shrewd as a snake. He brings in his uncle (Asanga). On the day of the registration of the company the individual and his uncle sign the document and today that individual is claiming that he owns the company. After all the company has grown. The law has words for such behaviour and I believe it is for such behaviour that words like heist, hijack and thievery; criminology, taking into custody, detention and penology were created. Today, the man who never created, never designed and never named the company is using that company for his own personal aggrandisement and the aggrandisement of his immediate family and relatives. He even demands idolatrous adoration from the real founders of the company! And when the real founders like Ngwasiri and Wakai make noise he sacks them: 8:2! To get back to your question the SDF story is a painful tale of missed and lost opportunities all of which have culminated to the drama of today. William Shakespeare, another keen observer of human nature, did say: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows, and in miseries.” The fact about the matter is that the SDF is today in shallows and miseries because of the plenitude of lost and missed opportunities of yesteryears. Mr Fru Ndi owes his militants an explanation about so many things. Why did he boycott the 1992 legislative elections? Why did he fail to form a Madagascar style government in 1992 after the rigged elections? Why did he reject joining the Biya government in 1992 only to turn around and join the executive and legislative arm of that government in 1997? What motivated the SDF joining that government in 1997? Etc. etc. In short the SDF story is purely and simply the failure of a leader and leadership. You see Mr. Motomu, divine providence only allows a man one chance to make a spectacular action and take advantage of it. Fru Ndi failed in 1992. He failed in 1997. He continues failing. Everything the man is engaged in today is like carrying water in a basket, a most scurrilous and ruinous enterprise, if you see what I mean. Mr. Fru Ndi is a typical raider of the lost ark. Were one to pass a cruel verdict on this topic one would say that maybe it was never destined to be. Fortunately. I say fortunately because by the sum of Mr Fru Ndi’s merchandise we know who exactly he is. Maybe it is just the hand of God working. You see, Eric, Fru Ndi never had a vision to create a political party or become president of one let alone president of Cameroon. I know it for a fact that nobody has even stolen another man’s vision and gotten it to work. The SDF was never Fru Ndi’s vision so why do people expect him to run it properly? This explains why the SDF is on freefall today. You can even pinpoint the exact moment when that movement from riches to rags started. That movement started on that momentous day in 1997 when Mr Fru Ndi succumbed to all sorts of pressure and opted to join the CPDM in both the executive arm (the councils) and the legislative arm of government. The degringolade has shifted into high gear today. The good material and good men have since left the SDF. Small wonder the level of illiteracy and profligacy in the SDF today is that high. What you see as the SDF is just a bunch of tatterdemalion hellcats, natives, family members, tribesmen and other hobos agitating. I have nothing against villagers but it is as if a bunch of villagers were running Unity Palace. The battle has been lost and won. Praise and honour to the observers and non-participants in what can only be the devil’s enterprise. Mr. Motomu, let me tell you that a vital mission of diplomatic missions in Cameroon and elsewhere is to observe movements like the SDF very close and report back to their home governments. The plenitude of the iniquities of the villagers running the SDF today make it obvious that foreign missions have no good report about the SDF and its Chairman. These natives and their actions make it look like the Bamendaman is a clown parading or an ass braying very loudly. This is not true for Bamenda has always produced some very good people. Mr Motomu, I hope you realise that the SDF is today not fighting to take over the Far North province, the East or even the West and the South West. The SDF is fighting not to be swept away from the North West, a sort of Custer’s last stand or is it Fru Ndi’s last stand! I tell you this is euphoric because you know what it means when a wounded and beaten man runs back into his own house to defend it. How indeed are the mighty fallen!
Question: What do you mean by the devil’s enterprise?
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege: Blood my friend. There is always blood in the path of Fru Ndi and the SDF. Fru Ndi’s thugs have just killed a provincial administrator in Yaounde. A man, whose wife Fru Ndi is reportedly seeing, was “accidentally?” shot in Fru Ndi’s during the funeral of the late Rose Fru Ndi. Six children died at the launching of the SDF. I guess you know that certain occultic practices and sects demand blood sacrifices all the time. The only blood that our God allowed to be spilled was the blood of Jesus. Anything else is occultic. I guess you know how exactly Mr. Fru Ndi and the SDF today treat the memory of the six children who gave their lives and blood that the SDF may live and triumph. You have even written reports about the treatment meted out to those who gave their limbs to the SDF. Are they even mentioned? Do you see the fat, pompous, ignorant and arrogant SDF mayors and parliamentarians helping their families? No sir! Instead these people visit occultic shrines in Nigeria and the abodes of other witch doctors to garner power from the devil to fight Mr Biya and his Rosicrucians, Free Mason homosexuals and other necromancers. That is when they are not negotiating direct money or contracts from Biya. This is not the vision some of us lost jobs and slaved for. Let me tell you that there are Cameroonians even in the CPDM who believed in the SDF Manifest and its vision for change in Cameroon. Unfortunately the SDF has failed to apply its Manifest even upon itself. You newspaper has also written about Free-masonry and other witch-doctor activities in the SDF, no?

Question; You once described the SDF as a CPDM sub-section. What did you mean?
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege: It is obvious isn’t it Mr. Motomu? The SDF today is a state-CPDM government sponsored party, period. The CPDM government is today, overtly and covertly, financing the SDF. Openly, the CPDM-government funds the SDF through the so-called election money and through the new political party funds and covertly the CPDM gives vast sums to Fru Ndi, Mbah Ndam and others. You think Biya was joking when he announced years ago that he has been propping up Mr Fru Ndi? You think Fonkam Azu was joking when he announced at a CPDM rally that he brought money for the SDF? You think that Mr Biya sends taxpayers money to finance Mr Fru Ndi’s health and various tragic events in the man’s family from his private pocket? This is state, CPDM government and taxpayers money! It is gombo! It is bribery and corruption, pure and simple! The CPDM parliament has just legalised that bribery and corruption by giving the SDF 110 million FCFA a year under the pretext that it is funding opposition parties. Consequently, the SDF today is a CPDM sub-section. And Mr Fru Ndi is a CPDM sub-section president; the CPDM sub-section president of Ntarikon. Mr. Motomu, you think you were nearly killed in Fundong simply because you write articles against Fru Ndi. You are disturbing some people from chopping, sir! Be careful, my friend! Whereas a truly independent opposition party and one that is organised can do without such bribe money. Let me ask you a question. How many militants has the SDF today? 500.000? 1.000.000? 2.000.000? Okay let’s work it out. Let’s say that SDF has one million militants. If every member were to contribute only 100 FRS a year that will be 100.000.000FCFA, right? If they were to contribute only 1000 FRS a year that will be 1.000.000.000frs, ONE BILLION, right? You see that the SDF can raise enough money to take care of its Chairman’s health, bury the Chairman’s wife without taking bribes from the CPDM, no? The reality is, however, that today militants of the SDF will not contribute to the party for a continuum of reasons (1) they don’t believe in the current SDF (2) the party is no longer accountable and the militants think their money will be stolen (3) little positive use has been made of their contributions so far (4) the members don’t believe it is right to finance a Chairman and a party which takes money from the CPDM.
Mr. Biya stays in power for 24 years, Mr Fru Ndi for 16. Hardly any difference is there? Mr Biya is even trying to respect his own laws and constitution. Mr Fru Ndi is violating the article on term limits and almost every article of the SDF constitution. He is even violating court orders. Mr Biya is even pretending to fight corruption; the SDF is fighting newspapers and journalists that report about its corrupt, murderous, dictatorial and other lawless practices. Mr Biya is hardly accountable, so too is Mr. Fru Ndi? How much money has the CPDM given the SDF and Fru Ndi since 1992? How much money has the likes of Gbagbo, Bedie, Abacha, etc. given the SDF? Where did this money disappear to? How exactly was the so-called election money from the government spent? Who chopped and who didn’t chop? I hope that the Public Service Inspectorate opens a vast investigation into the billions in taxpayers’ money being channelled to the SDF and I hope that that report gets published. Then surely we would hear and read about some more occultic practices. It is all very well for the SDF to shout about corruption in the CPDM. What about corruption in the SDF? The SDF cannot continue blaming the CPDM for the underachievement of its councils because the SDF went into parliament and the councils with the full knowledge that there are clear rules governing the functioning of councils and the parliament in Cameroon as branches of the executive and legislative arms of government. And, the constitution of Cameroon states clearly that the head of state incarnates public policies in Cameroon.

Question: Do you mean there is absolutely nothing good in the SDF and its leadership? For example the SDF says it brought democracy to Cameroon no?
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege: There is always something inherently good in all human beings and institutions if you look closely enough. The difficulty may be that the SDF light may be shining from beneath the bed. That said the paternity of democracy in Cameroon is a matter of debate and conjecture. As you know, Mr Biya will say of himself that he brought democracy to Cameroon. I hope you remember an interview to Radio Monte Carlo wherein Mr. Biya said he wanted to be remembered as the man who brought democracy and economic prosperity to his country. The fact, however, is that people talk about bringing democracy without being democrats let alone knowing what exactly democracy is all about. Listen, Mr. Motomu, there are 09 items that distinguish Lincolnian polyarchy or democracy from other forms of government. Freedom of the press, freedom of association and religion, freedom of trade unions, freedom and fairness of elections, grassroots governance or power to the people, a state of law and the respect of the law, etc. all blend together to give freedom of economic enterprise and governance that cater for the general wellbeing of the people. What the SDF did it 1990 was to force the injection of association or multipartism into the Cameroonian dispensation. Forcing multipartism into a political structure and functions is not bringing democracy. What about the other items that make up a democracy or polyarchy? Can you associate a free press with the SDF? You were beaten up for writing about Fru Ndi, no? Hilary Kebila had his jaw broken by Fru Ndi's thugs, no? The Administrative Secretary of the Centre was murdered by some thugs dispatched from Bamenda, no? Who sent them? Fru Ndi should be arrested like Doh Gah Gwanyin. Can you associate free and fair elections with the SDF? Of course you know that elections are also rigged in the SDF. Can you ascribe the respect of the law even its own laws to the SDF? Does the SDF even respects its “Power to the People and Equal Opportunities” sloganeering? If yes, since when did Sama Francis, the Kwendes and other members of Fru Ndi’s family-tribe become NEC/ founding members of the SDF? In 1990-1992, the SDF made a lot of noise about tribalism and Betis everywhere. Today the members of Fru Ndi’s family and tribe are running about everywhere. The tail is now wagging the dog. The multipartism that the SDF claims to have brought even has a critical flaw. While the SDF snored Mr. Biya proceeded to subvert this multipartism by authorising over 100 political parties in Cameroon some of them state-government sponsored or created along tribal-ethnic lines. 100 plus state-sponsored and tribal parties do not enhance democracy. Rather this dilutes and subverts democracy. I have already told you that the SDF today is one of the CPDM sponsored parties existing in Cameroon today because it funds Fru Ndi directly. I defy anyone to prove the contrary. That is why the SDF can only bark, barking with CPDM money in its mouth. Mr. Motomu, let’s be honest and give credit where credit is due. I say it loud and clear that the advent of democracy in Cameroon as well as the creation and sustenance of the SDF and Fru Ndi is the work of journalists. The journalists at Cameroon Report and Cameroon Calling fought for and brought democracy to the country. Cameroon calling even spurred Fru Ndi on when Yondo Black and Co. were arrested and it looked like the SDF enterprise was doomed. A journalist, Hilary Kebila stayed with Fru Ndi after the launching of the SDF and kept up his courage when the man panicked. Boh Herbert stayed with him during the state of emergency. Cameroon Post, Paddy Mbawa and yes Ntemfac Ofege braved all to handle Mr Fru Ndi’s campaign on Tv. We wrote his speeches, built his image and all but wiped the man’s derriere. People ought to be humble and grateful. The likes of Fai Henry Fonye, Sam Nuvalla Fonkem, Tatah Mentan, George Ngwa, George Tanni, Ebssiy Ngum, Charly Ndichia, Gideon Taka, Sammy Anguh, etc were fighting for democracy in this country when Fru Ndi was an airport lout in Nigeria. The Francophone newspapers helped and sustained the fellow. We, the journalists, sir, we did it through toil and sweat, blood and jobs! Today this ungrateful man declares war on the press and all journalists! When journalists talk about corruption, mismanagement and dictatorial practices in the SDF Fru Ndi threatens war on them because, as he says, they are “violating my human rights!” Habba! Today native politicians can thrive on our efforts and insult us. I wept like a child when I read somewhere that Fru Ndi insulted Jerome Gwellem for dying like a pauper and a wretched man. At least Gwellem never lived on the sweat of poor people and he never took bribes from the CPDM government. Fru Ndi was a news vendor selling Cameroon Times newspaper for Mr Gwellem! Mr. Motomu, know this from today. Never let any native politician ride you like a horse. Never! He will insult you once he gets to his destination. Never mind if that destination is nowhere.
Question: You have been criticising Mr Fru Ndi and yet he’s just won a landslide victory at the Fundong provincial Conference. Does this not mean the man is no longer popular?
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege: I am not criticising anybody. I am only saying it as it is and calling a spade a spade. Fundong looked more like a moon slide victory to me. Who was Mr Fru Ndi’s opponent in Fundong? The Right Honourable Paulinus Jua? Come on! There are some victories that are not even pyrrhic. There are victories that lead nowhere. After the landslide victory what next? After another landslide victory in the dubious May 26 Fru Ndi Convention, if it holds at all, what next? Mr. Fru Ndi’s high tide will always be the perennial chairman of his wing of the SDF or the perennial presidential candidate? You know Mr. Motomu that I have blood-links to Donga and Mantung Division. I was not surprised to see some CPDM militants registered by some parliamentarians from Donga and Mantung as voting delegates to the Fundong conference. Elections and rigged in the SDF, it is just a matter of style. And, it is in the interest of the CPDM government to keep, Fru Ndi, its sub-section president in place, no? After all the devil recognises his own and the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t. Also, Mr Motomu, municipal and parliamentary elections are due next year. Those SDF mayors and parliamentarians who maybe voted for Fru Ndi are smart. They are looking ahead and playing safe. The result, however, is that the SDF is now pushed to a tiny corner called the North West province. The North West is now the final frontier! And the SDF will lose many more councils and parliamentary seats in the North West that even the SDF believes at the moment. If Mr Biya is as smart as I think he is he will do some gerrymandering. He will, like he did in Balikumbat, carve some special constituencies in Mezam (Santa-Bali-Bafut); Donga and Mantung (Ako-Misaje-Nwa); Boyo, Menchum, etc. I guarantee that the CPDM will grab about 5-10 seats from the SDF in a free and fair contest. I mean free and fair. It is even in the interest of the North West CPDM to ensure that they carve some special constituencies in the North West. Mezam especially and grab some seats from the SDF. This will justify the return of the post of Prime minister, no? This strategy should have happened a long time ago had Musonge not outsmart the North West CPDM by sending his “friend” Ebong Ngole to re-organise (disorganise) the North West and weaken the CPDM in the North West by creating confusion and conflicts. On a more sophisticated level, however, permit me say something about the Paulinus Jua and Bernard Muna challenge to Fru Ndi. Let me tell you something about the state and its schools and colleges. You see, Mr Motomu, the school; be it primary, secondary, high school, etc is about the only institution created by the state to bridge the gap between the farmer’s child and the child of the minister or the speaker of the house. The tendency in our schools is that while the minister’s son is usually dense, very thick upstairs (number 100 out of 101) the farmer’s son is usually 1st in class. Resultantly the farmer’s son is hardworking and has a lot to offer. What I am saying is that some folks should halt this rubbish of running for public office not so much on what they can offer but rather because I am Jua’s son or Muna’s son. This is because it is evident that some of these fellows are dense; very thick, empty, flat and have nothing to offer. Let them give peace a chance and stuff it. I don’t know about Bernard Muna but Paulinus Jua is a Sacred Heart man. He was in Form 5 when I was in Form 1. We know each other and we understand each other. He knows that I’m not impressed. Who told these fellows that were he interested in shining poopoo, Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege will not make a more competent Chairman of the SDF?

Question: If you were to suggest a way forward for the SDF, what would you say?
Ntemfac Aloysius N. Ofege: Let us put this in context. Way back in 1996, Christian Cardinal Tumi in one edition of Jeune Afrique Economie denounced the attitude of some opposition politicians to desperately cling to powers at all cost even when it became clear that they have outlived their usefulness. The cardinal said at that time that these politicians were behaving exactly like Paul Biya who, you will agree, outlived his usefulness two decades ago. The cardinal was talking directly to Mr Fru Ndi. Politicians always make this mistake of never seeing sunset even when the sun is cascading towards the western horizon. More recently we have seen the trend in Nigeria where president Obasanjo engineered his proxies to jump-start this third-term madness. We know that the machinations failed. Obasanjo is a born again Christian, a child of God, and he has the grace to accept the verdict of the people and to announce that he will be returning to Atta Farms next year and giving room for some fresh individual with fresh ideas. I know it for a fact that Cameroon’s diplomatic community has been seriously looking for ways and means of ridding Cameroon of both the Biya plague and the Fru Ndi menace. You will notice that I am speaking of the SDF as if the SDF is Fru Ndi and Fru Ndi is the SDF. If you look at it closely that is exactly what it amounts to today. What has happened to the droves of Francophones (Bamilekes especially) who were willing to give blood and limb for the SDF? They have all been axed by 8.2. And this guillotine clause was used and misused to chase away those who criticise Fru Ndi and the Fru Ndi men. Someone made a not-so-funny joke the other day that the SDF is today reduced to a very rich Chairman and a post box number. Don’t laugh, that’s true. Mr Biya has been living on the Cameroonian taxpayers since 1962 when he returned from France and was made something in the Ministry of National Education. Fru Ndi has been living on the hapless SDF militants and at their expense since 1990 and today the man has become very rich. I have read everywhere that Fru Ndi was an affluent business man before he foisted himself on the people in 1992. This is most hilarious. Those who know the man closely tell this story about a tattered and torn cane chair in Ebibi bookshop which left holes in the trousers of all visitors. Affluent business man, my foot! Also Mr John says he is a farmer with an industrial farm somewhere. Maybe you know where that farm is because I don’t. Listen, Mr. Motomu, Prof. Ephraim Ngwafor made this joke during one election campaign that “We, the CPDM, have reduced the SDF to a tiny little corner of the North West province!” That is the truth. Fru Ndi’s SDF is now a Bamenda party. Chairman, Fru Ndi from Bamenda; Secretary General, Elizabeth Tamajong from Bamenda; president of the SDF Centre province, Colonel Chi Ngafor from Bamenda now in Kondengui facing a murder charge! More than 70% of Fru Ndi’s National Executive is made up of North Westerners! The SDF has been reduced to a tiny little bunch of Baforchu-Baba II-Ngemba-Widekum agitators spreading their perfidy, illiteracy and ignorance around and about. Is it for nothing that those agitating in the name of the SDF today are the likes of Sama Francis, Mbah Ndam, Yoyo Emmanuel, the Kwendes or the even more dilettante and obscure Tebo? On the political front the main activity of the SDF today is to murder dissenters, beat up journalists or harass those who challenge the misappropriation at the helm of the party. This is most unfortunate. I am saying concretely that the Fru Ndi balance sheet is hardly positive. When that happens, it is time for the dim-witted pupil to accept his report card and move out of the way. The SDF needs change. Badly. But to be more responsive to your question I will say this. It is time to halt the bleeding in the SDF and Fru Ndi cannot do it. The man is temperamental, vindictive and totally incapable of bringing people together. Reconciliation (picking up the pieces) is impossible with Fru Ndi at the head of the SDF. Finally, Mr Motomu, the SDF did not emerge from the blues just like that. The SDF was founded on a constitution, a manifest and a vision. Those documents, and the vision in them, drew people to the party. People did not just join the SDF because of Fru Ndi although the man unfortunately believes that people came because he was a great lion, the only son of the soil and king of the birds. When people saw that the SDF did not practise what it preached they started withdrawing from the outfit. Any back to the future agenda must start with a respect of the SDF principles, policies and vision in which many Cameroonians, even those in the CPDM, believed. How different has the SDF been in the councils and in parliament from the CPDM that it criticised? How innovative? Until a new leadership emerges, maybe from the more youthful fringes of the SDF, the bleeding will continue. There is this slogan that CPDM apparatchiks use to justify Mr. Biya’s glaring incompetence. They say “the most beautiful woman can only give what she has.” You cannot pull water out of a rock. The current leadership of the SDF has gone as far as it can. And not even the most intensive capacity building programme will get more out of that leadership. You simply cannot teach an old monkey new tricks. Move over Mr. John, your time is up. When I say this I am not being excessive or vicious. I am simply saying what the diplomatic community in Cameroon told Mr Fru Ndi as far back in 1997. He was told to remain Chairman for life if he wants to but “groom a candidate” for the presidency. He’s just not presidential material.
Also Mr. Motomu, I have told you that the SDF was created to solve the Anglophone problem, one way or another. Mr. Fru Ndi has transformed it into something else completely. He is currently engaged in an exercise in futility – chasing power in Yaounde. Fru Ndi thinks Mr. Mitterrand was joking when he said an Englishman will never become president of a French country? Anglophones who saw the SDF as a pathway to their freedom and determinism have abandoned the SDF in droves and the Francophones are, thanks to the momentum of the SCNC in its various shades, wary of Fru Ndi. Of course, Mr Motomu, a visible outcome of decades of Anglophone marginalisation and economic genocide is the ambient poverty and misery visible among the Anglophones. Fru Ndi, as an Anglophone, has maybe solved his personal poverty and misery and the poverty and misery of his immediate family and friends but the majority are still crusading. Insatiable Fru Ndi wants power to continue misleading the Anglophones by pretending that a solution to their problem is by taking over power in Yaounde. Rubbish! Do you see Fru Ndi today as representative of Anglophone aspiration?
Question. What are you saying concretely? Are you saying that Fru Ndi can never win a presidential election?
Ntemfac A Nchwete Ofege. 1992 will never happen again. Fortunately. The SDF has lost the momentum and the groundswell of grassroots goodwill and support that made the party awesome in 1990-1993. The current apathy about the SDF has nothing to do with battle fatigue or the deliberate resignation to fate from those whose legitimate right to some gratification has not been satisficed by the SDF since 1990. The apathy is due to the stark realisation by the oppressed majority that all that glitter was not gold. It was not even bronze. The majority has now realised that they were being used and misused by a pernicious and permissive gung-ho of modern day pirates; wolves in wolves clothing agitating to get their hands on whatever remained of the milking cow patrimonial state in Cameroon. As soon as these other ekwensus (evil spirits) moved into positions in the councils, in parliament and even within the SDF itself, they threw off their masks and started stuffing their fat mouths and elephantine bowels with the same kind of reckless abandon with which CPDM-CNU hands dry-cleaned the banks between 1982-1983, the early Biya years. Today Biya and the CPDM are repentant and fighting corruption. They have stolen the SDF thunder. While the CPDM is at least trying to fight corruption the SDF is engaged into an entire kyrie of corrupt constitutional tinkering, sit-tightism, dictatorial attitudes, base tribalism, gross incompetence, murder, petty intrigues and grand larceny it once accused the CPDM of. Can you believe that Yoyo, he of the two E-grades at GCE O’levels, is still calling for a revision of the SDF Constitution to make Fru Ndi Chairman and NAC chairman? Can you imagine Fru Ndi advising himself? This is a recipe for mayhem. Unfortunately. The result of all this pagaille in the SDF is that the CPDM does not need to rig elections today to beat the SDF in its one-time key areas like the West, the South West and the Littoral provinces. The CPDM did not need to massively rig elections in 2002 to beat the SDF in the West. The Bamilekes have now become very smart about the Fru Ndi leadership of the party. They are looking for the alternative and hopefully there will be an alternative. I know there are these prisoners of hope in the SDF who believe that Fru Ndi can just do a Gbagbo or a Wade and eventually become president of Cameroon. The problem is that Gbagbo and Wade stuck to principles and their party, they never became a PDCI- bis or a Senegalese Socialist party-bis. The SDF today operates like a CPDM sub-section.
Question: Are you simplifying the SDF failure to its leadership?
Ntemfac A Nchwete Ofege: That and more. Leadership is not only carnal. Leadership needs deep-seated spiritual roots. By spiritual I mean from the one true God. There are two ways of getting the kind of spiritual strength that it takes to lead Cameroon today. You either get it pure and soft from God or you dabble with the occult, Satanism and evil shrines. It is not for nothing that some SDF leaders visit juju houses while others cross to Nigeria to borrow munucks and ngrimba to fight Biya. At worst they are Free Masons, Rosicrucians or members of some cat-eating juju house. Let me repeat this, those running the SDF today are a bunch of unprincipled individuals who simply want to eat. A crucial moment in the life of the SDF came in 1997 when a critical decision had to be made: should the SDF join the CPDM at table or continue the fight. The SDF and Mr Fru Ndi failed to live up to principles. They joined the CPDM. The old SDF died on that day. The SDF was only 07 years old then. Fru Ndi is no Nelson Mandela for Mandela waited for 27 years on principles. Fru Ndi will tell you that on that day I left the SDF. Also running the SDF today never had a vision of starting a political party. And even when they hijacked one, the never found time to educate themselves on what exactly that party was all about. Neither did they educate themselves on the context in which they are operating. Mr Fru Ndi, Yoyo and Mbah Ndam, who, I repeat, are running the SDF like a village provision store, have no idea what social democracy is all about. I proved to the former Secretary General Professor, Tazaocha Asonganyi that he himself had no idea what social democracy is all about. If Asonganyi, an eminent university don hadn’t a clue what social democracy is what more of Fru Ndi? In all fairness to these people, the SDF has social democracy only in name. There are very few democrats let alone social democrats in the thing. Democracy does not mean insulting Biya or shouting “MBREEEEEJEH!” in the streets. Democracy does not only mean talking. It also means having the grace to listen when the other man is talking. Fru Ndi is not a listener. Again the SDF was never founded on social democracy. It was a simple matter of those who are eating versus those who want to eat. Today the SDF has joined those who are eating at table. What do you expect? Bouche qui mange ne parle pas.
Question: The last word?
Ntemfac A. Nchwete Ofege: Well Mr Motomu, permit me to congratulate you for the sheer courage you have shown for the past 12 months in unveiling to the public the true nature of the SDF leadership and most especially the true nature of Mr John Fru Ndi. I am hopeful that many Cameroonians who operated from long range now begin to have an idea regarding the disaster they were spared when Fru Ndi was not declared president of Cameroon in 1992. Keep up the good work. What I find most intriguing about you and your newspaper is that your effort to inform Cameroonians is coming in a context where the trained journalists are at CRTV, Cameroon Tribune singing hymns of praise to the regime in place and its strong man. On the other hand some of the so-called private and independent newspapers are, in a way, singing the songs of praise of the opposition strongman by sweeping the foibles of the SDF under the carpet in the pious hope to make some political capital out of these sins of omission. I guess some publishers are protecting the SDF and Fru Ndi because they would want to run for parliament and the councils on the SDF ticket. It is unfortunate but this is Cameroon where strange things happen. The council and parliamentary elections are, when? Next year? You will see some strange things happening before that. God Bless, you and keep it up. However be careful. There is the love of money involved here.