By Kini Nsom
The National Assembly opens its doors tomorrow for a short session that will be devoted for the validation of the mandates of the new Members of Parliament, MPs that the Supreme Court declared elected during the July 22 elections.
Following the court's annulment of the parliamentary elections in five constituencies recently, only 163 MPs will have their mandates validated during this session. Thus, the National will only have its full house of 180 members after the 17 MPs would have emerged from the partial elections yet to be organised by the Ministry of the Territorial Administration and Decentrlisation, MINATD.
When The Post visited the National Assembly on Friday, August 17, there was hustle and bustle as workers intensified preparations to receive the new MPs. Various committees were at work over the weekend to ensure a hitch-free reception of the MPs.
The MPs who saunter into the Glass House tomorrow will certainly be igniting a new twist in the country's parliamentary history aa the 8th legislature. The new parliament will be the third ever since the Biya regime was stampeded into re-instituting multiparty politics in the country in 1990.
Even though President Paul Biya took great exception to it in his address to the nation last week, many observers say one of the main characteristics of the new assembly is that the overwhelming majority of the ruling CPDM party makes it a quasi-monolithic house.
The National Assembly will validate 140 CPDM MPs during this session that holds at most for 15 days, while the opposition parties will altogether validate 23 MPs.Until partial elections are organised and results proclaimed, the ambition of the SDF to form a parliamentary group in the house is still hanging on a balance.
With only 14 seats to its credit, Fru Ndi's party desperately needs one more seat to fully hearken to the legal prerequisite for a parliamentary group. Among those whose mandates will be validated during this session, is the leader of the Progressive Movement, MP, Jean Jacques Ekindi, who emerged victorious in the Wouri constituency.
Another peculiar aspect of the new parliament during the 15-day session is that it will take place without the Augustin Frederic Kodock led UPC party. The party that hitherto had three seats in parliament can only be part of the 8th legislative if it wins some seats during the upcoming partial parliamentary elections. Bello Bouba's National Union for democracy and progress NUDP will begin savouring parliamentary power once more, as its four MPs will be validated.
Glories Of The 6th Legislature
According to the outgoing MP of the Santa constituency, Hon Lucas Tasi Ntang, the 6th, legislature that ran from June 2002 to July 2007, left an important mark in the parliamentary history of Cameroon. Besides, the harmonised criminal procedure code that is presently being applied, he cited the law on decentralisation, the law on the declaration of assets and the law creating Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, as landmark achievements of the 6th legislature.
The out going parliament is also credited for lifting the immunities of three MPs that were charged with criminal offences. The kink began with Hon. Fon Doh of Balikumbat in 2005 after he was accused of murder.
The immunities of Hon Edward Etonde EKoto of Wouri constituency and Hon Botoo a Ngon were lifted in 2006, after they were accused of embezzling public funds.The new parliament saunters into history with a new dispensation that harbours its own challenges. It comes at a time when many private member bills that border on topical issues of public interest, are still lying fallow in the drawers of the National Assembly.
Foremost among these bills is the one on female genital mutilation that was tabled by female MPs recently. Experts also state that many more bills need to be tabled for decentralisation to be a reality.
Observers say despite overwhelming majority of the CPDM, the 8th legislature could carve a niche for itself in the parliamentary history of Cameroon if MPs work for national interest and not partisan interest.
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