Cameroon 2011 Presidential Election: Post Election Statement by the SDF

"What was supposed to be a democratic election has been marred by massive fraud and irregularities that render the outcome void of all legitimacy... this masquerade of a presidential election... should be annulled... in order for peace to reign there must be justice and for nation to exist, its democracy must be fed by a consensual and all inclusive electoral process which alone can deliver the legitimacy of its leadership."

Click here to read or download the Post Election Statement from the SDF (pdf)

Comments

[PETER VAKUNTA]

It is a tall order to cry foul when you willfully took part in an election that was manifestly a charade from the onset. This was not a surprise to Fru Ndi yet the lure of money was irresistible. Fru Ndi has lost credibility I am afraid.
Dr. Vakunta

[Bamenda Boy]

Dr Vakunta or whatever you call yourself; you are a nuisance here. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO CHANGE CAMEROON. You want Fru Ndi's head. Is it a must that only Fru Ndi can change Cameroon? All your writings are all geared at discrediting Fru Ndi and the SDF. I am asking again WHAT HAVE YOU IN PERSON DONE TO CHANGE CAMEROON?. You sit over there comfortably in the US and write trash. What do you gain by that? There is no doubt you are an agent of Biya/darkness and pretend to be otherwise if not you will bring forth constructive criticism. Your statement that Fru Ndi has lost credibility is out of tune. Be informed that the SDF is the people's party; they have the power and dictate. It is not Fru Ndi who dictate in the SDF. You are an idiot of the highest category. If I had my way I will deal with you personally. Coward!!!

[Wantim Peter]

The issue is not whether a party participated in or boycotted the election. The real question is whether the parties that either participated or boycotted had a credible post-election strategy. The SDF strategy, and that of a number of other parties that took part in the election was to use the election as a possible platform for mass mobilization in the aftermath of another chaotic and fraudulent election. While we may doubt whether these parties have the means to implement this strategy, it is a valid one considering that Cameroonians have been apathetic thus far. You don't just boycott an election for boycotting sake, just as you don't just participate for participating sake!

BTW, Vakunta, how much exactly did political parties receive from the gvt? 30 million FCFA. Do you think that this is even half the budget of parties that actually campaigned and which also(as in the case of Kah Walla) spent about 6 months before the election sending no less than 1000 volunteers every weekend to register voters?
Sometimes the reaction of folks who should know better leaves me quite bewildered.

[J. S. Dinga]

No amount of uncouth language and insults or threats to our fellow citizens will improve our lot in this matter. Errors were made at all levels and it would be mature behavior not to toss all of it on the political party leaders. No sane Cameroonians expected each political leader to suddenly become all powerful and all knowing simply because of this election.

We all failed in team work. In the absence of a second round election, a meticulous monitoring of what was done during the one and only round was necessary. But what did we expect of the results when only one person or a mere handful were tasked with watching out in an atmosphere dominated by members of ELECAM whose loyalties are no secret, the security forces whose leanings have never ever been in doubt? Under the circumstances what could an outnumbered Opposition supporter do?

Even in the days ahead, when the ballots make the Odyssey to the Supreme Court for the next step, isn't it deja vu all over again? The Supreme Court, like the military, know which side of their bread is buttered, don't they? So why point fingers at fellow citizens?

Perhaps there is poetic justice after all, that we all bow to another seven years of what we manifestly don't like or want. Sitting at safe distances and sending off self-righteous pontifications is not the answer. Nor is it the answer calling on others to take to the streets of the nation to get slaughtered by troops whose arsenal of weaponry is trained at fellow citizens rather than external invaders. Bloodletting is equally out of the question because we have no martyrs. Ultimately we must let nature take its course.

[Mallam Shehu]

Bamda Boy,
Fru Ndi is a political leech, an idiot, if you like. All our sufferings in the Cameroon of today is due to his stupidity. If I had the means, I will slice both Ni's and Biya's balls.
The Kahs, Kwemohs and Munas, must all be mad, according to you. Ni John ma lass!

[Watesih]

Dr. Vakunta,
This is the first time I`m reacting to your writings here.I would like to say that as the intellectual you are,you ought to be very cautious when you tackle political issues.It is out of place for you to be making cat-calls like the one above,instead of maintaining a level head and telling those who are looking up to you for direction about issues in cameroon.Election results are still coming in,yet you have already taken a position against one candidate.The kind of wrong call you have made above can colour people's perception of you for ever.This because people don't know whether you are fighting oppression or you are trying to run down the opposition.Even if the later was true you would have done it with the language of an intellectual.I think your bluntness against the biggest political party,at a time when it is lurked in an existentialist fight with a hardened dictatorship is uncalled for at this juncture.What comes out of an intellectuals mouth or pen is always closely scrutinised.I hope you are not waiting to learn this from me.I hope next time when people question your sincerity in fighting oppression in Cameroon,it shouldn't come as a surprise.
If I were you,I would have refreshed readers minds with all the efforts Fru Ndi put in to bring about a democratic Elecam,even if you think those efforts were not enough.You would have also made it clear,that Fru Ndi was abundantly clear are the partiality of this body before going in for elections.He also rejected funding from gov't,because they wanted to use it to blackmail the SDF oncemore.With Governors,D.Os,Ministers,Directors,radio and TV,Biya had all state apparatus at his disposal.How could he then play mind games with opposition campaign funds? It is out of bad faith for you to proclaim that Fru Ndi was not aware of the uneven playing field.Intellectuals like Mongo Beti,Bate Bissong died telling the truth.It is not because the people have been defruaded of elections that intellectuals should turn against them.Intellectuals always stand on the side of the people,because they know the arc of justice always turn in favour of the people.Remember:"Those who don't have wings to fly,should not tread on the wind".

[J. S. Dinga]

Running for office is quite a challenge for both the candidate and supporters. What we are witnessing is a normal feature of this challenge. Even out here in the west, lots of candidates go on the campaign trail promising not to raise taxes, which naive voters enjoy as swett music but no sooner do the elected officials get into office than they are swamped with bridges to be built, roads to be constructed, schools to be provided and a litany of others. Surely these things require tax money and what does the elected official do to meet them - raise taxes!

It should be no different under the skies of Cameroon. No matter which parameter is considered, there are almost always supporter for and those against, putting the candidate in a quandary. Cameroonians are today villifying the candidates for their failure to have gone in as a united front or even going in at all, yet we all remember how in the not too distant past the candidated were blamed for going in. There is no magic formula under our skies and compassion would require us to take these peculiarities into consideration when launching our missiles against those who offend by their stance. We all love the motherland, don't we?

However, I do worry a lot when some persons take our collective travails and make it a personal affair. It is counterproductive and can even hurt. I recall a gentleman who once went on such a messianic crusade, physically fighting anyone that came his way, just because his "darling team PWD Kumba" had lost a match. Guess what!!!!! The man lost a few teeth from his mouth, good old Meme Works lost some points under FECAFOOT sanction and the entire Meme Division suffered the indignity of its darling team descending to an inferior division on the league. We ought to avoid such raw sentiments as threatening with words or deeds those who offend us by their views on this problematic presidential election. We all mean well. We all lost our best chance. We all love to have some silver bullet to put things right.

It also serves no purpose to concoct preposterous claims and impute to one canidate or the other. Only eye witnesses present at the time Fru Nid took money from Paul Biya can find two legs to stand on and tell Cameroonians. No one doubts that tax payer money is hardly spent following the budgetary lines prescribed by our law-making body. Embezzlers can and are often ferreted oout but this task falls on those who have the facts, only the facts and not conjectures.

Some day, God willing, we shall all come back to our senses and admit that to go ahead, Cameroon needs a culture of healthy competitions, a culture that rewards merit whether in academics, business or in politics. By then we shall have revamped the culture of playing by the rules. Did we not rise to World Cup level when we played soccer by the rules, drawing our talent from all four cardinal points of the nation? We can still do so today and use footaball to blow our trumpets again. Let us make haste very slowly in aiming destructive missiles at our fellow citizens at home or abroad.

[Marie]

My greatest wish is that the 2011 elections should not make some of here mad. My fear is that when the results are finally proclaimed, some people in this forum may go mad; they may have heart break. I call on all those living here a particular contributor to please monitor his movements on the days following the proclaimation of results. I am afraid he may be forced to hit his head against the wall and scatter it into pieces. As we await the results, we must also remember that committing suicide does not solve the problem. I am saying all this because some of us have been expecting that this time aaround our man will move into Etoudi. I here our man had already started packing his things to return to country to see if he can be nominated. The man has been keeping ALL his online contributions since 2004 to be presented to his "Mr. President" as proof that he has all his life been fighting for him. Too sad.

[Marie]

Below is part of the interview that Cardinal Christian Tumi granted Jeueafrique Newspaper:

"Alors, qui après Paul Biya ?

Je ne vois pas qui… Ce que souhaite la conférence épiscopale, c’est une bonne loi électorale pour que n’importe quel Camerounais puisse proposer sa philosophie de vie. Kah Walla, qui était au sein du SDF vient d’émerger en très peu de temps, elle a gagné le cœur des Camerounais ! Il existe des leaders dans ce pays mais il faut qu’ils prouvent leur valeur et qu’ils puissent s’exprimer sans avoir peur. Même au sein du RDPC, il y a des personnalités qui ont des compétences politiques mais ils ont peur de perdre leur travail en s’exprimant."

Cardinal Tumi is a neutral and moral authority. I reserve my comments.

Marie

[Gan Charles]

The opposition has been ineffective in Cameroon because they have never been transparent and therefore are not trusted by the majority of the people. Criticism has been met with expulsion from the ranks and a label of infiltrator. What this has done is confirm that the opposition is incapable of fair governance and has precipitated ites irrelevance, something I had predicted several years ago in this forum. The bottom line is that the opposition has never behaved any differently from the party in power. I am sure supporters will beg to differ. There are those that will ask not to criticize but to take up the challenge. I have chosen to criticize and the opposition has chosen to oppose; two different but important roles in the political theater.
It must also be noted that the cultural and ethnic makeup of Cameroon is conducive to the kind of political leadership she has. Depending on who is counting Cameroon is made up of anywhere from 250 to 350 tribes, each of which views the other with some level of suspicion and distrust. For real political change to be manifested, tribal affiliation has to give way to political ideolog. But this is a very long way off. Until then, no amount of suffering or disenfranchisement will convince the Cameroonian population that it is worth risking their lives to go out into the streets in the numbers that is required to overwhelm the Biya political and military machines in order to bring down the establishment and issue in a new era.

[True Religion Store]

I know some of you are planning something similar with real estate as your side gig. Anyone else working on a similar set up?

[Marie]

I do not know who Ni John Fru Ndi and his gang of confunists are trying to deceive. I think following the disaster caused by Ni John Fru Ndi and his blind supporters before, during and after the 2011 presidential elections, we have to let the plain naked truth speak for itself even if prophets of distortion and doom wouldn't listen. The only way for us to move forward is, first of all, identify failures before looking for solutions. This will enable us withstand any future shocks.

1) It is sad to hear people mourning more than Ni John Fru Ndi the bereaved, who is actually celebrating for having maintained the second position (despite the low percentage) and has remain the main opposition leader.

Ni John Fru Ndi never went in for elections because he thought that changes could be obtained through the ballot box. He knew fully well that with ELECAM, Paul Biya will be the winner. Ni John Fru Ndi hurriedly called Cameroonians to register and vote SIMPLY because he found his position of main opposition leader threatened by new comers like Ayah Paul, and especially by Kah Walla. Ni John Fru Ndi realized that if the SDF does not go in for the elections, then these people would take the position he occupies.

Consequently, Ni John Fru Ndi did not go in for the elections because he wanted to become president; he did not contest because he wanted to challenge Paul Biya. He went in for elections to stop and prevent Kah Walla, Paul Aya, Me Momo, and even Ben Muna from taking his position of main opposition leader. Ni John Fru Fru hurriedly went in for the elections with the fear that if another politician becomes main opposition leader, then President Paul Biya main institute a special status for main opposition leade with full benefits, especially financial and monetary benefits.

2) When the other opposition members (Mboa Massock, Jean Nitcheu, etc.) and the civil society were calling on Cameroonians to demonstrate in February to mark the anniversary of the killing of peaceful and innocent Cameroonians, Ni John Fru Ndi rushed to the Northern provinces only to dissociate himself from the GENUINE call for protests. This is how Ni John Fru Ndi earned the Noble PRIZE FROR PEACE from the CPDM during his most recent birthday celebration in Bamenda. It is ironical today for the very Ni John Fru Ndi to be calling on the very Cameroonians to protest and demonstrate because he was not elected president. This is pure hypocrasy. This shows that Ni John Fru Ndi actually has something to hide and that he is not serious. Why should he consider protests and demonstration important only now following presidential elections? Is this election and its results more important than all those who were butchered by Biya's army of destruction? Where was Ni John Fru Ndi when the police was humiliating and tear-gasing Kah Walla and her supporters? Where was Ni John Fru Ndi when Mboa Massock and others were been threatened during peaceful demonstrations for just causes? Why should Ni John Fru Ndi be calling for demonstrations only now?

After the supreme court proclamation, Ni John Fru Ndi promised to protest even if it means doing so alone. What made him to think of doing so alone? This was a clear indication that he understands fully well that he is no more the Ni John Fru Ndi of the 1990s. During the 90s, when Ni John Fru Ndi called for protest demonstrations, EVERY LIVING THING, inluding mad people, dogs, threes honoured his invitation. Today, his selfish interests and shady deals with the CPDM have distanced him from the common man.This time around, Ni John Fru Ndi understood that even the very old Takeuberg women wouldn't expose their nakedness to protect him. He failed to use these old women the way he did before. Before, these old women would graciously open their "sacred things" inbetween their thighs to be tear-gased by Biya's army of destruction only to protect Ni John Fru Ndi. Ni Ji John Fru Ndi also failed to use the Ntarikon Taliban fighters he had used against Ben Muna's SDF faction in Yaounde. John Fru Ndi had no other alternatives than to rush to Yaounde, where he can seek refuge in foreign embassies.

We are anxiously looking forward to see Ni John Fru Ndi demonstrate as he has promised. However, he should not merely walk in the streets; he MUST walk into Etoudi palace and we helped him attempt to do so in the 1990s. We are waiting to see Ni John Fru Ndi march to the presidency and nothing more.

... but will Ni John Fru Ndi learn quick to leave the leadership of the SDF before SDF leaves him?

God should save us from those who have conspired to drag Cameroon and the SDF into a mafia organization.

I will be coming.

Marie

[Kuaté]

One does not need to be President Paul Biya’s agent to notice Fru Ndi has lost credibility. The opposition in general has gone weaker in our country and Fru Ndi is just part of it.