By Kini Nsom
Prime Minister Chief Ephraim Inoni's mind should be bubbling with various ideas and proposals as to how an independent electoral organ should look like in letter and spirit.
His right hand should also be tired after shaking over 150 hands in his four-day consultation of opinion leaders in the country.
Although a spectre of skepticism still looms as to whether Government will truly consider the opinions of Cameroonians while finalising the bill on the creation of an independent electoral commission, observers hold that the consultations at the Star Building signaled a good omen for electoral dialogue.
After meeting with the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya, lauded the consultations as a positive sign for electoral dialogue. The CDU Chairman said that Government should sustain the initiative by giving Cameroonians a veritable independent electoral body.
Many stakeholders say the lack of an independent electoral commission is at the centre of the socio-political and economic problems rocking Cameroon. Many have lost their lives because of alleged fraudulent elections that bred suspicion and sparked violence.
That is why the Vice President of World Junior Chamber International, JCI, Cameroonian-born Roland Kwemain told the Prime Minister on November 28 that the creation of an independent electoral body will usher peace, justice and economic growth in Cameroon.
"We stated that if we have free and fair elections, we are sure that it will create an enabling environment for more foreign investors in Cameroon. That was our main proposal and we strongly give our support to the government," Kwemain told The Post at the Prime Minister's office.
He said it is important to appoint fair-minded and patriotic people into the independent electoral commission. Another stakeholder, SONARA General Manager, Charles Metouck, who represented the trade union of industrialists in Cameroon, urged Government to consider other foreign examples but should make sure that the aspirations of Cameroonians take centre stage, whenever they are creating an independent electoral commission.
Even as the marathon consultations went on, critics dismissed the entire idea as farcical comedy acted to blindfold Cameroonians and create another impotent electoral body that cannot guarantee free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
After meeting with the Prime Minister, one human rights activist, Hilaire Kamga, opined that the consultations were an exercise in futility.
To him, the Government ought to have shared out copies of the draft bill that they had already written on the creation of an independent electoral commission to opinion leaders to study for at least 30 days before contributing their own ideas. "I brought in no proposals because I have not seen the document," he told The Post.
Controversy
The multiplicity of opinions Chief Inoni sampled for four days were laced by one idea; that Government should create an independent electoral body that has administrative and financial autonomy.
But retired Chief Justice SML Endeley, who was consulted as an independent personality of national clout, chose to quarrel with semantics and intoned an entirely new ideological song.
He took great exception to the word independence, warning that the appellation independent electoral commission could be interpreted to mean an organ that could threaten the sovereignty of the state.
But proponents of the independent electoral body make it clear that the word independence qualifies a body that will ensure a level playing field and not be the umpire that would award a penalty to any team that it sympathises with. As one Yaounde commentator puts it, "we want an independent commission whose chairperson will never complain that his or her hands are tied".
"For a truly independent electoral body to be created," the UFDC Chairman, Hameuni Bielieu stated, "next year's twin elections should be postponed."Also, a strong legal opinion that seems to threaten the creation of the independent electoral commission, seems to be gaining grounds in the natural psyche.
Like Hon. Paul Ayah Abine, CPDM MP, the Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of Buea, Dr. Martha Tumnde, has maintained that an independent electoral commission cannot be created without first amending the present constitution.
Government is yet to react to this strong opinion. As time ticks away, many are waiting to see whether Government will truly use the ideas the Prime Minister used four full days to gather.
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