By Kini Nsom
An official of the party, who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity, said they were considering the amendment of the constitution to suit the whims and caprices of President Biya, a forgone conclusion since the CPDM has an absolute majority in Parliament.
Going by him, the new challenge now is for them to make sure that presidential elections hold earlier than expected in 2009.
He said the party officials would look for the most appropriate moment and let their militants make such a proposal in motions of support to the Head of State. In his words, it suffices for one of them to intone the anticipated elections song for the rest of the country to join the chorus with motions of support.
Well placed CPDM barons are so much afraid of the unknown in the
post-Biya era that they seem to be prepared to do just anything for the
incumbent to hang on in power.
While commenting on such scheming on Equinox Television over the
weekend, political scientist cum university don, Dr. Mathias Owona
Nguini, said the CPDM could be gunning surreptitiously for the election
to be organised in 2009 so that they can take their opponents off
guard.
Owona, who is the son of former Minister, Prof. Joseph Owona, said President Biya's recent interview on French television channel, France 24, revealed his thinly veiled ambition to remain in power.
According to Owona, who lectures at the Yaounde University II in Soa, the interview was a public relations show for Biya in all its ramifications.He said the France 24 is owned by a French business magnate who has invested so much in Cameroon and thinks that his investments would be protected if Biya remains in power.
To him, the interview was void of follow-up questions that could pin
down Biya on current issues ailing the country. The varsity don said
the fact that Biya avoids talking to the local media is a pointer that
he always has something to hide and has no courage to face Cameroonian
journalists. Biya's claim in the interview that he is concentrating in
the fight against HIV-AIDS, he averred,, and not on the 2011
presidential elections, is a ruse to make the opposition to continue to
lie on its laurels.
Assembly Speaker Appointed
The call on Biya to stay on in power seemed to have been the norm with various sections of the CPDM last week as senior government officials and CPDM barons attempted to be proverbially more catholic than the pope in their declarations.
The Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic, Paul Nji Atanga, said the Northwest wants President Biya to remain in power because he has appointed two sons of the province Speaker of the National Assembly.
Atanga's declaration that was broadcast on the Sunday morning news magazine programme, Cameroon Calling, November11, betrayed a thinly shielded reality that those who call the shots in the Cameroon legislative power, including the Speaker of the National Assembly, are actually appointed by the Head of State.
An observer in Yaounde said the Minister spoke the bitter truth without knowing its implications.Despite the outburst of motions of support from certain CPDM sections, the Grand North seems to be indifferent to such a demand. This was interpreted to mean that Northerners did not want to pretend that they are happy with President Biya, especially because he is said to have dismissed the grievances they presented in the Grand North Memorandum recently.
Fru Ndi To Hold Press Conference
As the issue of a constitutional amendment takes centre on national debates, the National Chairman of the SDF, John Fru, will hold a press conference on Wednesday, November 14 to state the position of his party as far as such a matter is concerned.
Party insiders say Fru Ndi will use the occasion to ridicule President Paul Biya for telling a lie that he proposed to meet with him at Mvomeka. According to them, Fru Ndi will lay bare the facts on Biya's controversial declarations in his France 24 interview. The Chairman is expected to break the communication impasse that has left the opposition party silent for many months.
For one thing, there is pent up anger among citizens ever since CPDM officials started sending motions of support to Biya and calling on him to stay on in power.The talk in the streets of Yaounde is the outright condemnation of such manoeuvres as the greatest act of provocation against the Cameroonian people.
When the idea of a constitutional amendment was first mooted by CPDM bigwigs in a rally in Ebolowa, the then US Ambassador to Cameroon, Niels Marquardt, told journalists that such an idea could only be good if it were predicated on the will of the people.
While citing the Nigerian example, he said Nigerians stood up like one like one man and rejected the proposals for the amendment of the constitution for the former Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, to run for another term.
Time is running too fast for another episode of political
Posted by: fearless | Thursday, 15 November 2007 at 02:56 PM
FOR THOSE WHO STILL WANTS TO KNOW WHY WE ARE FIGHTING THIS WAR FOR OUR INDEPENDENCE
PLEASE VISIT WWW.SCNCFORSOUTHERNCAMEROONS.NET
IN EVERY WAR,THERE ARE 2 CAMPS. IE THE ATTACKING CAMPS AND THE DEFENDING CAMP. SIMPLICE, RICARDO, UNITED STATES OF SHIT, NDODE , AND THE 11M CITIZENS OF LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN ARE THE ATTACKERS, WE ALL7M SOUTHERNCAMEROONINANS ARE DEFENDING OUR FATHERS LAND, THE ATTACKERS HAVE GUNS AND WE DONT, THEY ARE KILLING US, DAILY, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO? LISTEN TO OUR ELDERS, WHO ARE FEEDING FROM THE ATTACKERS TABLE? CALLING FOR AMEETING, DIALOGUE, FORCE OF ARGUEMENT? NO WE HAVE TO KILL THEM TOO, I MEAN THE PREFETS, SDO, GOUVERNEURS, POLICE, THE WIFE, THE GERDAMES, ARMY, BURN DOWN THEIR HOMES AT NIGHT. INFACT, WE MUST MAKE LIFE UNBEARABLE FOR THEN AS IN PALESTINE, THEN THEY WILL GO. ITS THE CALL OF OUR TIME, OUR HOLY WAR, THOSETHAT PAID THE PRICE DIDNT DIE FOR NOTHING, WE MUST HONOR THEM BY FINISHING THE JOB THE STARTED, THE PAID WITH THEIR OWN BLOOD, AND TODAY THEY ARE IN HEAVEN WITH GOD, GODS KNOWS THEY DIED DOING THE RIGHT THING, THOSE WHO DONT HONOR THEM WILL BE CAST IN HELL FOR ALLOWING OUR FATHERLAND TO BE COLONIZED, WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING. ITS THE CALL OF OUR TIME, ITS OUR JIHAD, HOURAH TO OUR MARTRYS.
Posted by: red flag | Saturday, 17 November 2007 at 07:33 PM
Mr Reg Flag, spare us of your misty realm of Hypocritical fallacy. Wilson has not contributed to this forum ever since you turned down his JIHAD proposal. What did you contribute?. Keep on firing your JIHAD weapons by clicking on your mouse. Realising your objective maybe the nearest thing to eternal life we ever see on this earth.
Posted by: simplice | Sunday, 18 November 2007 at 04:54 AM
Where is Wilson and his INTIFADA project?. Where are those advocating the JIHAD Syndrome?. I told you on this forum, it was all HOT AIR. HOT AIR. We shall continue to talk the talk while true patriots work the work back home.
Posted by: simplice | Sunday, 18 November 2007 at 12:20 PM