By Francis Tim Mbom
Following the disqualification of the SDF municipal list for the Limbe II Constituency earlier in the week by the Supreme Court, Barrister Martin Dikanjo Essingila, the Chairman of the SDF Electoral District in Limbe, has reacted swiftly by filing a complaint to the Head of State via fax discountenancing the disqualification.
The CPDM hierarchy in Limbe, chaired by Andrew Motanga, is alleged to have petitioned the Supreme Court against one of the members of the SDF list for Mukundange, Micky Lyonga, whom they hold, is a member of their party.
Acting on this premise, the Supreme Court trashed the SDF list for that constituency.
But Essingila's complaint to the Head of State held that the said
Lyonga, who is claimed by the CPDM as their militant, had in April 2007
resigned from the CPDM.
The Post met Lyonga on Saturday, June 16, who confirmed the story of his resignation.
"At the moment I am a militant of the SDF. I resigned as a militant of
the CPDM on April 20, 1997 and my resignation was duly received and
acknowledged by the CPDM Branch President for Limbola, Beckely
Nambeke," Lyonga explained.
Essingila's petition to the Presidency was faxed along side a copy of the said Lyonga's resignation letter.Besides, Essingila added that the Supreme Court erred at law for having adjudicated on the CPDM petition without due respect of the laws in place.
He said that according to section 77 of the 2006 law modifying certain provisions of the law organising Parliamentary and Municipal elections, the SDF as a party in the matter had to be notified of the CPDM petition twenty-four hours after it was submitted.
Besides, the law, he wrote, gives them the opportunity to submit a counter brief as per the petition within a time limit of forty-eight hours of their being notified by the Constitutional Council.
But Essingila said the Supreme Court, acting in lieu of the Constitutional Court, flagrantly flouted the provisions of law No 2006/009 of 29 December, 2006; a modification of law N0 91/020 of 16/12/1991.
The Limbe SDF District Chair's complaint, however, insinuated that the Supreme Court's decision was not only a violation of the law, but was also leaden with some complacency in favour of the CPDM. He cited a similar case which the Supreme Court ruled on pitting the SDF and UPC lists in Muyuka.
The UPC had petitioned the Court to discountenance the SDF list on grounds that one of the candidates fielded in the SDF list was a UPC militant whom the party held had not yet resigned from their party.
But the Court flung the petition out on grounds that the Constitution guarantees the civic right of freedom of association."It is our contention that this same strand of reasoning by the Supreme Court should have prevailed, to say the least, in the like case of Limbe II," Essingila wrote.
The Post made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Motanga for his comment by phone on Saturday, June 16.Meanwhile, Barrister Essingila, has disclosed that officials at the Secretariat of the Civil Cabinet in the Presidency in Yaounde called him on Thursday, June 14, requesting clarifications vis-à-vis the complaint he is supposed to have filed.
Funny, SDF, filing a petition to the presidency of the republic, to the leader of that corrupt junta, and they expect a positive result. Funny, that someone resigning from the CPDM to contest under the banner of the SDF, funny indeed. Sooner or later, we shall see the true colours of some of these people.
All these stupid talk about lists, disqualification, Doh, Bla, bla, bla is all very provocative. We all know the truth and want the truth to prevail. Politicians cannot take us for fools. They must know that we are not fools and know the truth. Let them rig their elections and let their opposition help them colour their democracy, rather than coming here to always lie to us with their endless tale of rhetoric.
Posted by: rexon | Tuesday, 19 June 2007 at 05:18 AM
This might be funny as Rexon is saying but I would say there is a logic in what is going on in Cameroon today.
The way I see it ,it is a marked improvement in the level of Cameroon politics .We should know that our political opponents are not our enemies ,we all have the same goal which is a better Cameroon.And we shall always agree to disagree over our thoughts.
I would like to address this especially to Rexon ,from your comments above ,I want to say that it is just the way the system wants to play it.They want it to appear as if they are there for the entire nation.It is but logical for the SDF to go to the presidency afterall, it is the presidency of Cameroonians irrespective of your party ,and Biya is the president of all Cameroonians irrespective of the way he got to the preidency.He is the only official president of Cameroon and so we still have to respect him.We can criticise his policies or whatever he does to any extent but we must not forget that he is our president.
I guess I'm trying to say that any party has the right to asked help from the state in any legal situation provided it is permited by law.We should not forget that whatever we do in the name of politics is for the benfit of the masses .If we engage in a politics of division( hatred and enemity towards political opponents) we are not going to do any good to our nation. I mean that we should be divided in methodes or political ideologies but united for the benefit of the Nation.We should do the right things that are recommended by our law .It it just a respect of the laws of the land not a favour from CPDM.Besides there's no need killing your brother simply because his ideas are different from yours.
Long live Cameroon.
Posted by: Elastick | Tuesday, 19 June 2007 at 07:00 AM
Cameroon as any country has a Destiny that can never been stop by the CPDM(let the CPDM and its junks of corrupt officials know this. Let them note that destiny can only be delay and can never be stop. Let the Head of State react promptly to all the pertitions that have been filed in by the Limbe-SDF ellectoral district, for justice denied is justice delay
Yuh Maurice Martin
Tiko - Cameroon
Posted by: Y. Maurice Martin | Tuesday, 19 June 2007 at 06:12 PM