SDF Vows To Resist Constitutional Amendment

By Chris Mbunwe

The Social Democratic Front, SDF, is mobilising its sympathisers and militants to resist a constitutional amendment to scrape off article 6.2 which limits the presidential mandate.

This is the content of a press release dated January 4, signed by the Northwest Provincial Chairman of the SDF, Bernard Tabali. Reacting to President Paul Biya's end of year speech, Tabali says any attempt by the President to revise the constitution to make him life president will "signal an end to peace and stability" in Cameroon.

According to Tabali, the rationale for limiting the number of terms of the presidency is that the governments use the administration to run the political parties in power. Thus, if the term of office for the president is not limited, the people will never be able to choose their leaders. 

"Indeed, without such a limitation clause, there is no possibility of the expression of the will of the people and no possibility for power alternation in Africa in accordance with the fundamental principles of democracy," states the release.

Without stating what form of resistance his party will use to ensure that there is no revision of section 6.2, Tabali says the SDF in the Northwest will rise up against such an act. 
Hear him, "the SDF members, supporters and sympathisers in the Northwest
Province will mount a resistance in all forms against any such attempt. We call on all Cameroonians of good faith to join us in the endeavour when time comes."

Tabali dismissed Biya's promises of a possible increase in civil servants' salaries because, according to him, Biya is fooling Cameroonians since CPDM parliamentarians had outrightly refused that no such thing would happen.

Tabali recounts that the 1996 constitutional revision, which brought into existence section 6.2 was the upshot of the 1991 tripartite talks. He recalled that during the tripartite talks, it was resolved that a constitutional revision was imperative for Cameroon and a commission was set up to prepare the draft which over the years, led to consultations that came to be known as "grand/large debate". 

When the draft proposal finally went through parliament and section 6.2 was adopted, this ushered in peace and brought to an end the ghost towns and ghost country which had virtually paralysed the country.

That section 6.2, when viewed critically, Tabali continues, constitutes a solemn pact between the Cameroonian people and the Biya regime whereby the people of Cameroon accepted that Biya could have another possible 14 years, whether he ruled well or not; "reason why his country regained peace and stability which unfortunately this regime has taken for granted. Any attempt to abrogate this pact at this stage will be a terrible fraud on Cameroonian people and a signal to an end to end and stability in this country," Tabali warned.

Comments

[Squinty]

Constitutional reformism or democratic hijack
On March 21 1947 the 22nd amendment to the use constitution was passed. It stated that "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

Since 1947 citizens of the United States of America have observed and respected this constitutional clause. Presidents after presidents have proposed bills in congress and the senate but none has thought that limiting the mandate of a president is limiting the people's choice. Constitutional amendments in themselves are not a bad thing. Jurist or students of law would say it is not the letter of the law that is bad but the spirit of the law. Changing the constitution of Cameroon has never been considered a bad idea. After all constitutional amendments are considered a progressive adaptation of laws to the realities of a situation

In 1996 Biya and his cronies thought that the LION MAN was not going to last another decade. The idea of that clause was meant to halt the political ambitions of his successors. It was not a bad idea at all. And at that time it was applauded as a real democratic milestone; a barrier to unrestricted longevity at the helm of the state. At the time the same nitwits who today started the call for the revision of article 6 (2) were there in the CPDM. They did not see it then as a limitation of the people's choice. And because they think the ESINGANG CHIEF priest has cheated death they have now realized that they have been beaten at their own game. They now see the revision of the constitution as democratic liberation. Advance democracy -a-la-BIYA.

The progression towards democratic rule in Cameroon does not depend on the whims and caprices of an old generation oligarchy, a kleptocracy, or on the benevolence of an autocrat. Still, the drive towards democratic advance cannot be achieved through a hand picked bunch of hand clapping and favour seeking parliamentarians. How many times have we heard elected officials give motions of support to the chief of state thanking him for making them mayors, municipal councilors and members of parliament? Their loyalty therefore is not for the man who voted them into office. Rather their loyalty is to the man who ensured they were elected into office even if the electorate did not vote for them.
The motor for political advancement in Cameroon lies in the people of Cameroon. It is an inherent force that has been dormant because of a natural love for peace and harmony. But for many years since the pretentious departure of the colonial masters there has been a constant poking and ruffling of the sleeping lion by self seeking politicians. For years, they have considered the calm and docility of the people as signs of fear, weakness and cowardice.
The calls for a constitutional reform in Cameroon are not designed to foster democracy. Rather they are a guise by a bunch of self seeking and self preserving individuals to pervert the course of democracy, to pervert the course of justice and avoid questioning on charges of embezzlement, mismanagement, corruption, fraud, nepotism, murders, and assassinations, Genocides, lies, election rigging etc.

The present calls for constitutional reformism, revision or amendments are nothing short of a democratic hijack in Cameroon.

[Epule Epule Terence]

Its unfortunate Cameroonians have been mistaken for sleeping dogs for so long.Many of us out here in the west are not here because we like it but because in as much as we have had a kaleidoscope of academic and professional experiences scaling from a nadir to a zenith,our father land Cameroon continues to rub us in mud.We are all are hurt by the current trend of events in our Country and continent but i would not advocate violence as a panacea to our plights.The genocides and butcheries of the 1990´s in Burundi and Rwanda were rife because local papers and sites like this preached bloodshed between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority,please people of the land of Efasa Moto,The Grassfields ,The Grand North and Esingan, we should not solve our problems via blood -shed,there is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3 ).Mandela was jailed for 27 years and the blacks in South Africa were assassinated by the oppressive regime,see the South Africa that we have today,see the lesson Nelson Mandela has taught us about patience,we need to treed in his footsteps.I know its not easy for i write in the shoes of a Cameroonian who spent 25 years of his life s in Cameroon,i was born on a bamboo bed and lived the bitterness of oppression,embezzlement,mismanagement,nepotism,redtapism,window dressing reminiscent of grandiose projects which only have wasteful financial implications and the ever present political carpet crossing in the midst of a shaky ballot box system that has chracterised Cameroon for decades.You can name the rest,now its constitutional amendments in guise of a permanent monarchy,God help Cameroon.

[Sirry]

SDF needs to act more and talk less.

[Rocky]

Terence, Black South Africans died because of the resistance movement that led to the release of Mandela and the rest of the world stood behind them. That is why they are benefiting today. Mandela would be dead in jail if they were thinking like you. Please, stand up for your rights and fight against these tyrants (so call presidents) in Africa. This would allow you to come back home and enjoy the rest of your life. Read the history of the people in whatever part of the west you in - they are ripping the benefits of what they fought for. God help those who help themselves.