Government Has Taken A Giant Step With ELECAM - Hon. Lifaka

Interviewed By Azore Opio

Hon. Emilia Lifaka, MP for Buea Rural, has read the bill tabled by government on the organ to organise elections in Cameroon - ELECAM. She thinks Government is on the right path.

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The Post: What is Elections Cameroon?

Hon. Lifaka: Elections Cameroon is the new organ set up by the Head of State to organise, supervise and manage elections in the country. This organ will be independent. Independent means, to my mind, that the Board and the Director General will manage the affairs. But you cannot set up an institution that is independent of the State because it is still within the ambits of the State.

Most people understand 'independent' to mean that the organ should not be subject to any interference or influence from any other party - not even the Head of State.

Then where do you want it to hang, you want it to hang in the air? Let's not say or try to do things as if any of us is independent of the State. We are all part of the State.

But there is widespread fear, mistrust if you like, that NEO, for example, was a toothless bulldog that hardly bit, let alone bark. It had no powers to organise elections; it could not declare results.

No. Elections Cameroon will, as I've said, organise elections, supervise and manage them. It will not declare results because that will be contrary to the Constitution, because the Constitution gives the power of declaring election results to the Constitutional Council.

Why is the State not interested or willing to amend the Constitution to satisfy the wishes and aspirations of Cameroonians?

You see, I don't know what you are talking about. The wishes of Cameroonians? That body is going to organise, it is going to manage, it is going to supervise elections. We should take one step at a time. Government has taken a giant step by producing this law which is very, very good. If we even talk about the Constitution we still have an organ that is independent.

Let me say something. When the opposition have a problem, like they always have, they say oh, MINADT is being quiet, MINADT is not doing anything; that is when they have a problem and they recognise MINADT as the supervisory authority. We should respect the body that is put up by the Head of State. That body should definitely have supervisory authority. It is not only in Cameroon. It is all over the world. Why do we want to make as if it is something that has come from the blue?

Cameroonians have complained a lot that all the elections conducted in this country have not been free and fair, because the Head of State has always rigged to perpetually maintain himself in power.

It depends on who is complaining. And winning is fifty plus one. Forty people might complain; that doesn't make it illegal. Forty-nine people might be complaining but fifty plus one are for that winning. The forty-nine people who are complaining, it doesn't make it the Cameroonian people, it makes it a group of people.

It makes it some Cameroonians. And, then, some Cameroonians don't make a majority. I think in politics you must expect to have different opinions; people who will disagree. If forty-one people disagree and fifty-one agree then you are on the right path. The Government is on the right path because I think fifty plus one people are behind it.

It seems the State is evading an independent electoral body, because it is indicated in this bill that MINADT will still organise elections….

No…you are talking about Section 42 (3), which says "until Elections Cameroon is effectively put in place as duly ascertained by decree of the President of the Republic, ONEL and other relevant electoral State bodies shall continue to carry out their respective electoral duties not yet transferred to Elections Cameroon".

But why…? (interruption)

No. Let me say something. In the case of a force majeur, if the Head of State calls for early elections when this body is not yet in place, who would organise elections?

How long does it take to form an independent electoral body? Why doesn't the Head of State get up one morning and say; here is an independent electoral body, you Cameroonians go ahead and choose its members the way you want… the worry of Cameroonians is that the State has some hidden agenda to rig elections as it has done before at their expense…

Let me make this clear. The Government has come up with a body that is going to organise elections, an institution that is going to manage elections. Why don't you leave it to Government?

Perhaps, the Government has deceived the people too many times…

When you say deceive I think we are the ones deceiving ourselves because we are the ones who go to the polls to vote.

What guarantee are you giving to Cameroonians that the next elections in this country will be transparent, free and fair?

We are Cameroonians. We are the ones who go to vote; we are the ones who count our votes. The people who count our votes are not Chadians, they are not Gabonese; so it is the will, the wish of all of us to make it the way we want it to be.

The opposition have not ceased to air the view that tally sheets should never be transferred to Divisional Officers' offices because they cook up or swap tally sheets in the secrecy and the safety of their offices to make the CPDM party win elections they might have otherwise lost. The opposition think that tally sheets should be taken straight to NEO or ELECAM offices away from the talons of DOs. How is Elections Cameroon going to guarantee this?

You know that all political parties contesting elections are represented in all the polling stations and that the representatives sign the tally sheets before they are taken away.

But cases have been recorded where figures on tally sheets signed at polling stations don't rhyme with what the DOs have cooked…there was a case in Limbe and even here in Buea…

No, that is not true. In Limbe, Innocent Bonu was representing the SDF and he had his signatures on all the sheets…

This year, some Government officials were dispatched to several countries to find out how free and fair elections are carried out. What did they come back with?

From the explanation of the Minister of State, they went out to get inspiration from other countries. What they have opted for is close to what obtains in Canada. There, they have a Directorate of Elections. They have taken bits and pieces from other countries like Britain, Mauritius, Benin, Ghana; they were all over. And you cannot say that a Government that does this kind of thing doesn't want to do what meets the aspirations of its people. The spirit of this new organ is for the aspirations of the Cameroonian people.

The Head of State will appoint people who will be subservient to him, massaging his ego and fulfilling his self-interest of hanging on to power… Why doesn't he allow Cameroonians, the opposition parties and peer groups to elect, not appoint, members of the elections managing body, even if it is Elections Cameroon. The people do not seem to trust the Head of State; they say he is not very straight with them…

The opposition will put people who might not be straight. I must tell you this; that a majority of the Cameroonian people give their trust and their confidence to the Head of State.

Would you, as MP, suggest to the Head of State to allow other Cameroonians rather than himself to elect the members of ELECAM just to assuage the agonised minds of the people?

Which people? He is the one who has the mandate of the people.

Apparently, the Head of State seems to have too much power concentrated in his hands…he appoints everybody…

The Head of State has the mandate of the people. He delegates the powers to the Head of Government and members of Government.

The appellation Elections Cameroon sounds a bit insipid. It doesn't sound as if it belongs to a serious organ that can manage elections in Cameroon.

Elections Cameroon is a Christian name that we have decided to give to the body.

You earlier said that there is nothing in a name…

There is nothing, nothing, in a name!   

How do you think Cameroonians will receive this bill?

We are still debating the bill. It will be there in the January session. As far as I know, 70 percent of Cameroonians will see the raison d'etre of ELECAM. They will learn to appreciate it as time goes on.

So, with ELECAM, we can hope that there will be no more rigging, only transparent, free and fair elections?

It depends on who loses. You know, in Kumba Central, when the SDF won, the CPDM petitioned that the SDF rigged. It depends on who is on the other side. It depends on which side you are on.

Comments

[Reader]

Lies are always lies, irrespective of who's telling them or how many times they're being told.

[GEORGE]

Lifaka, i wonder how u got elected as a parlamentarian cos the way u speak doesnt bring out any logic at all. CPDM barons are very smart liers but u are a veery dump one. You will surely loose ur post this time. Empty vessel

[rexon]

It is rather funny to see these corrupt group of bandits describing CPDM junta and its leaders as a government. Where is the government. A network of criminals and liars described as a gov't? That's a shame...

[rexon]

When we told SDF stalwarts like Fru Ndi not to look horns with Biya or the Likes of Inoni when they were luring him to believe in this their soo called independent electoral commision, some thought we are second guessing. Today, after all the consultations, they have been presented with the result (ELECAM). How can Fru Ndi and all the soo called opposition who did met the prime minister argue that they are not part of the creation of ELECAM. They were consulted and they did honoured the invitation of Inoni and had what they did described to us as a productive discussion.

These soo called opposition really need to go to school as explained by Biya to be able to challenge him. In parliament, councils, etc, they are making a mockery of themselves. Why should they always respect the soo called governments invitation only for thesame government to turn around and mock them by doing what they least expected. If they want to gain any credibility, they should boycott whatever belongs to the CPDM.

[vito]

Hey azore stop it!I mean hold it right there man!You just cant be ridiculing our people's representatives like that.I mean that's an honourable lady on same pedestal with U.S Congressmen and women.You just get up ,go and confuse her so mischieviously.I say stop it!
Dont mind him Honourable;a small journalist having the temerity to want to tell you what "independent" means.In fact,as you rightly asked, where would we hang it?
Honourable'please what's force majeur?

[vito]

And then azore,what kind of provocative picture is that?how do you want any sane person to take the Honourable Lifaka seriously after seeing a photograph with her mouth like that.
look stop being mischievious!

[M Nje]

Can someone explain to me the meaning of the above quotation from this interview?

"Then where do you want it to hang, you want it to hang in the air? Let's not say or try to do things as if any of us is independent of the State. We are all part of the State."

I taught there are three INDEPENDENT branches of government- Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive. So when our honorable says we are all part of the state,no one is independent, is she saying we are all part of the Executive? This is unbelievable. I taught each branch of government is independent. Now I hear from a lawmaker that no one is independent. How do you call such a system? “Dependentcracy.” Please, the commission’s members can be elected by the people, given full budgetary powers, and placed under the supervisor of the Supreme Court or what ever you have in La Republic Du Cameroun. What a shame.

[Danny Boy]

This woman looks, sounds and pouts like a mbimbo.I would not mind discussing serious politics with her on a wet sunday. Look at the hot lips. These are not meant for politicking, so please folks do not call her dumb or stupid. I think she has used them quite well.

[Danny Boy]

This woman looks, sounds and pouts like a mbimbo. How I long to discuss serious political issues with her on a damp Sunday evening.Please do not caal her stupid.
Her constitutuents are not complaining. They know what she is good at.
As for her input into this interview, she could have done better. Where are her advicers?

[Akoson]

Look M Njie, who told u everybody went to skul? And who told u that to be a parliamentarian you must've gone to skul? Most of these ladies who manage to be there are those who've sold their privacy to some of these HE-GOATS!...and then their names surfaced...and then elections are stolen...and then they go to parliament and CLAP...and then after each parliamentary session they go to dinner...and then they receive monies for their constituencies and "CHOP".

Or what do you think this lady can do in that parliament full of profs and Drs? Or even if she thru skul, skul didn't go thru her. Reread the interview and feel me!

It's high time we reshape our laws for parliamentarians to be learned before they go to that house!

THE SON!

[Ma Mary]

What this woman has said is a whole lot of Orwellian hooey, but that is the orientation of these lying CNU beleticians. IMHO, she is doing what she has been trained and asked to do very well. Did you want her to be a prof and tell the same lies with bigger words?

Whatever your stance, Danny Boy, please refrain from sexist, sexualizing comments. Stick to what she is saying. There is enough crapola there to indicate that CNU is alive and well.

I respect the fact that she has gone over to the dark side and is quite upfront about it. The people I no respect for are those professors with no spine, no consistency.

[M Nje]

Akoson,
You are very right. Her output just shows how she got there. Not only are the primaries non-competitive, the final election is everything but an election. I think I made a mistake to have such high expectations. That has been corrected.

Even a grandmother can debate with this woman. Oh my God. She is supposed to check the powers of the executive and make new laws when possible. She seems to have no idea what her functions are. Not even an understanding of the structures and branches of government. Which planet do these people come from?

Look Akoson we do even have to change our laws. Just make the process open and competitive. Let the candidates have public debates. I assure you people like this will not show up even to be councilors.

It is a disgrace. A shameful disgrace. Do we need the second coming of Christ before we take care of this?

[Danny Boy]

Ma Mary I am sorry if my light-hearted banter caused offence. I only wanted to inject some fun into the forum, however non-PC. Of course I believe in the emancipation of the woman,sexual equality and the rights of "man" in general.
Having said these, she still sounds like a mbimbo. Her CPDM brother, (Atanga whose manifesto this online service carried), is her male equivalent.
I have always enjoyed your contributions to this forum. Thanks and have a wonderful Xmas.

[mungwi]

Madame MP, for your sake and for the sake of other women who hold ambitions to seek public office, please shut up and desist from giving any more interviews. You have no shame? Eish! If this is your idea of representing yourself and your constituency, I weep for your lot and the electorate who put you there. The way you gaffed and goofed your way through each question shows you cannot even lie very well. So why not pull the mask and say what any average Cameroonian can decipher as fundamentally flawed electoral mechanism? The interview is bad enough. Then the snafu that ELECAM is a Christian name??? Gee! Did you really say that? Any sensible adviser should have shut you up there and pleaded for a premature end to the interview. History will judge you and your lot. One day, the children and grandchildren of Buea Rural will ask you "what did you do to change things?".