NEWS ANALYSIS:CPDM, Political Thuggery And The Santa Mafia

By Peterkins Manyong

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and prescribing the wrong solution".

Perhaps, no description of the game of politics is more apt than that quoted above, coined by Ernest Benn, a political analyst.The definition is found in a recent edition of The Sun newspaper.

The very decision by Paul Biya and his ruling CPDM party to hold twin elections on July 22 was inspired by a burning desire to do mischief and they succeeded in their mission.
Three significant moves by the CPDM National Chairman, Biya, told Cameroonians in no mistakable terms that the elections were going to be massively rigged.

First, Biya created new administrative units and constituencies after convening the electorate. In the Northwest alone, seven new constituencies were created to supplement Balikumbat. 

Biya obviously acted on the advice of rigging experts who persuaded him that the ruling party failed in the past because votes from CPDM inclined-subdivisions always drowned those from the predominantly pro-SDF Divisions of the Northwest Province.  Rigging, they certainly told him, would be easier if the target were a smaller electorate that could easily be corrupted and manipulated.

The second move was an announcement by the Head of State while launching campaigns that he needed a comfortable majority.By this, Biya was telling his emissaries on the field "Do everything humanly (or even inhumanly) possible so that I win an absolute majority".

Initially, such instructions were given in secret. This time the Head of state was so desperate for an absolute majority that he could no longer keep his emotions in check. Whoever, therefore, says the Head of State never told anyone to rig elections can only be right in the sense that the instructions were not given directly.

Coded language may not be as effective a means of communication as unequivocal diction, but it is effective all the same.The third move was the open campaign on Election Day by Biya still calling for a comfortable majority.

This act that contravened the electoral law proves that the Head of State who should be a model is not only a lawbreaker, but also one of an eminent degree.He therefore has no moral authority to discipline all the "Ondo Ndongs' that practically "sprayed" cash on the field and bought over the consciences of voters, if at all he had such an intention.

Rebirth Of Censorship

A month before the July polls took place a number of seminars took place in which journalists were trained on election reporting. 

The Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, can pride itself with organising two of such workshops, one with the assistance of the U.S Embassy. In both seminars, the press was told to report facts and avoid libel. 

Lawyer Harmony Bobga- Mbuton, one of the Resource Persons, said the press could interpret facts and even make projections.Francis Wache, CAMASEJ National President, chaired the seminar.

But on the eve of the elections, MINATD reintroduced censorship, by forbidding the announcement of result, trends. Less than 24 hours after the voting, while counting was still going on at the various DO's offices across the nation, CRTV started announcing result trends.

Political Thuggery

Across the nation the story was the same.  The CPDM hired ambulant voters, while security forces arrested opposition hardliners, like Ferdinand Asapngu, and intimidated others.

In the Northwest Province, clashes between CPDM troublemakers and opposition militants were commonplace during campaigns, while in the Littoral Province, Francois Foning is said to have sped away with a stuffed ballot box. Besides such incongruity, there are stories about people beaten and at least one person killed in one of the Northern Provinces. 

The Santa Mafia

But nowhere in Cameroon were the principles of Nicolo Machiavellian applied as they were in Santa where this commentator covered elections.Here, ambulant voters acted with such impunity that troops had to be deployed to maintain order as an incredibly large number of ambulant voters moved from one polling station to another, voting, obviously for the CPDM.

Ntumfor Nico Halle, Northwest NEO Coordinator, estimated that three 70 seater buses transported ambulant voters to Santa and that ten of such buses would have been conveyed to the same place, but for the warning he issued on CRTV and in the print media.

John Fru Ndi, SDF National Chairman, personally caught some of the ambulant voters and confiscated not only cards, but shining banknotes, about FCFA 170.000 obviously money given to pay for multiple voting.

The clash between Fru Ndi, his vanguards and gendarmes on one side and the ambulant voters on the other, was only the beginning of a macabre drama that reached its climax with a show down at the Santa DO's office.

For three days running, it was difficult to distinguish between the Santa DO's offices, as it is to choose between rotten palm nuts and a broken mortar. (Courtesy: Chinua Achebe's "Arrow of God")  The time of filing this report, the results were yet to be made public.

SDF As Legitimate Winner In Santa

Whatever may subsequently be declared, the truth, which this analyst is prepared to swear by, is that the SDF is the winner of both the Parliamentary seat and the Council.  In most of the polling stations, which he visited, the SDF won by a wide margin.

If the CPDM can boast of victory, it can only be in Ndzong, village of former Transport Minister, John B. Ndeh, Merforbe, place of origin of Zacheus Forjindam, Director of the Cameroon Shipyard Company and a few other areas. Pinyin and Awing, the most thickly populated villages in Santa Subdivision, voted overwhelmingly for the CPDM. 

If today the Santa Mafia is claiming victory it is only acting in accordance with all mafia setups, which employs only criminal means to succeed.Churchill Achu, UNDP's failed Parliamentary aspirant, who reportedly helped to falsify results in favour of the mafia, has a profound apology to give Santa people for all the headache and heartaches he has given them.

President Biya should be so ashamed of what had transpired there that those involved in political fraud and gangsterism should be ordered to pack "bag and baggage" out of their lucrative posts.

If possible, they should be sent to keep company with Gerard Emmanuel Ondo Ndong in the dungeon.  This would help as a deterrent to future grandmasters of fraud and political holdups that take the front seats in church, but who have transformed a glorious land to a den of electoral hood looms.

Comments

[Ernest]

hi

[Ernest]

There was no need for Biya to organised lections instead he should have hand picked deputies and mayors since he is above the law. As late Ebssy Ngum onces said"what takes you up is what takes you down. A time will come when Biya and his alites will be baptist with fire and that time is just around the corner. I salute the reporter above for the courage and risks he took in telling Cameroonians the truth b/c not all reporters will risks their lives like him. My advise to the sdf is that, anything less than 62seats, they should stay out of parliament and councils as this will creat a huge vaccum and chaos in the country which will probably raise an alarm to the inernational communities. They should not think of the huge sum of money they spent in the elections but the people they are trying to free from the hands of the devil first. We cameroonians are behind them and God will always bless them. Long live sdf and its leadership.