Time For Reckoning

Thaddeus Besong Nyenti, Buea

Cameroonians are already gripped by election fever. In fact, it is about four months to the actual D-day.

Leaders of political parties and top civil servants are hardly to be seen in their offices and residences because, seemingly, they are somewhere else plotting and planning for council and parliamentary elections.

Individual politicians and upstarts, and their agents have become extraordinarily busy, quoting angelic attributes that qualify them more than any other Cameroonian to run for one political office or another. Some newspapers have become a bit boring in their advertisements.

These "ambitions men" can be categorised into genuine, fake and mercenary aspirants. The genuine aspirant believes that he has a better trade record than the incumbent and therefore wishes to serve.

The fake aspirant knows that he has no chance among "the great" but simply wants to elevate his name on the list for sharing the booty after elections. The mercenary aspirant is hired and funded by certain interests to destabilise and frustrate all the candidates so that a compromise candidate can emerge.

The situation is terribly confusing and the excuse is given that Cameroonians are again learning to walk on the delicate path of democracy.The cost of campaigning so far, is already estimated in millions of francs CFA for some politicians to "buy votes if necessary.

" Aspirants want to "spray" enough francs CFA.The implication for all this is that Cameroonians have copied the American style of  "big money politics." A commentator may describe the new trend as "democracy of the unopposable rich men contestants".

This situation is more confusing and frustrating. Most people fear the elections will be rigged, as the registration of voters is allegedly following the clandestine method. In fact, there are reports of fake registration cards during this exercise.

At the party level, spin-doctors of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement, CPDM, are busy wooing the electorates. It is really frustrating that the party that has appropriated all the state's fortunes has continued, with impunity, to plunder the wealth of the state.

The ills of this regime are legion: marginalisation of Anglophones, unemployment, salary reduction, nepotism, tribalism etc. Have all those who plundered the wealth of the state been brought to restitution?

How many Anglophone ministers, governors, leaders of state corporations etc, are there in this regime? Is this the "equality of statues" guarantee we advocated? Most people are disillusioned that change will come. We are still languishing in abject poverty.

Should the Foncha-Ahidjo slaughterhouse continue forever? Can this regime repatriate the money Cameroonians have stolen Cameroon to foreign banks? The politicians and financial heavyweights behind the CPDM successes should be ashamed.

It would be wrong, however, to believe that the opposition parties are trouble-free. The leading opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, SDF, seems to be in disarray as individual members have their personal ambition to rise in the party ranks as officials. There is still some room to mend fences with party members before elections.

The UPC party, the UNDP and the MDR parties, sharing the government with the regime in place, pretend not to share the aspirations of the CPDM party but are money hungry. The CDU of Hon. Adamou Ndam Njoya is well organised around Foumban but it is not nationwide. It is high time these parties plan a strategy to contest the forth-coming elections.

The primary means by which the people exercise their sovereignty is the vote. It is therefore expected that we register in order to exercise this right. Voting must be done with our conscience. Let no one buy your vote. Manipulators of the regime are all well to do, have influence and power and come to you in sheep's clothing.

I know that the little money, meat and CPDM clothes given to you to buy your votes will never satisfy you forever. You could still take what you are given by a politician and refuse to vote him. Remember you are alone in the ballot room. The main question is whether the politician has delivered the goods. Don't forget the scars so soon.

Generally, Cameroonians are preparing nervously for the 2007 elections. There is optimism that democracy will survive, but no one rules out the possibility of a total breakdown of law and order as a result of election rigging.

Comments

[mommy]

bros u have said it all.i just hope our brothers there will not forget how much pain we of the south have suffered in the hands of despotic la REPUBLIQUE rule.
please let us vote out everything cpdm, and by so doing ,bring in a new day. don't forget the logo of cameroon today should be "two cameroons, two systems" divided we stand.

[mommy]

kuddos little sister.
this is the true meaning of women emancipation.if we want to claim equality withmen, we must put ourselves in all arenas where men are operating. if not then women plz just forget that story.it is not only officework and top administrative positions u should be vying for.
as for those sisters who are trying to ridicule you,girl forget them.
once more i say do your thing sis and keepdoing it right.