In The Shadows: A Cursory Look At SDF’s Shadow Cabinet

“You have the Watches. We have the time.” 

Sami Yousafzai &  Ron Moreau on Ten years of war in a land where your enemy will fight you forever                                

                                      By Joseph M. Ndifor  (post-election opinion)    

 As despicable as the Afghan Taliban are, Cameroon’s major opposition figure may today reluctantly ascribe to this common mantra of theirs regarding the hardship that he’s endured over the years with this regime. Nineteen years ago, the SDF’s John Fru Ndi mounted a huge campaign to take over power from President Paul Biya. 

The stars in 1992 might not have aligned rightly for him then. However, with the stakes so high over today’s election-and with Cameroonians already hardened during this nineteenth year period-wouldn’t it be right to say that in retrospect this October 9, 2011 is the day that Cameroonians have been anxiously waiting for?

There’s something unique about politicians whose brush with fame appears elusive: the desire at perfection as they forge ahead after failures. In a fleeting 1960 television debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and then-Senator JF Kennedy, Nixon-poised to become president that year-was floored during the debate and temporally left politics, but made a comeback in 1969, only to leave power in disgrace in 1974, over the Watergate Scandal.

However, in the case of Fru Ndi, following that 1992 debacle, and apparently not enthused with two subsequent presidential elections, he gingerly went about preparing the groundwork for today’s election, fighting trench battles with the regime over electoral bodies like ELECAM.

But it’s the creation of his shadow cabinet in 2006 that would raise the stakes over today’s election. Why?

Once voting results begin to trickle in, especially from those provinces that are slam dunk for the SDF-including the Far North, where there’ve been recent defections from the CPDM into SDF-the Chairman, barring other abnormities, would have the wherewithal to again float names of those that would man strategic positions within the cabinet. 

Of all the appointments however, the first that might ring alarm bells and might remain a game changer in the event of a gridlock over today’s election would be that of a new Cameroon ambassador to the United States. When the SDF approached the United Nations in 2010-over what it considered as ELECAM’s partiality-it took alongside some brilliant members of its party that, were it to make a choice over the position of Cameroon’s ambassador to the U.S., settling in on one of those who eruditely argued the SDF case before the world body, would be ideal for the party’s image in today’s international environment.

Accustomed to orders being shoved down their throats from the Presidency, Cameroonians have made huge mistakes over results from past presidential elections, but today’s atmosphere calls for fair judgment on their part over discrepancies that they perceive would retain the current regime in power. No one wants Cameroon to descend into chaos, but a repetition of what took place in 1992 would be a bonanza for the SDF.

In the thick of that post-election chaos and in an effort to give peace a chance, now retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu shuttled to Bamenda to meet with Fru Ndi who was holed up at his Ntarikon residence. Today however, having taken stock of what Biya is, the Archbishop who two days ago turned 80, will peevishly decline such a mission. 

Comments

[Edward Awadeji]

This is the year that with any fairness on the horizon for the SDF or any other opposition, it must go ahead and declare the setup of a government in order to challenge the incumbent.
Other important positions should include the appointment of an ambassador to Abuja and South African for regional recognition within the African context.

[Enow]

Enow,
I just want you people to know that the era of Fru Ndi and the SDF is over.Fru Ndi should step down as the party chairman,He has been there for almost 20 years now.What is the difference between him and Biya?They should both leave Cameroonians alone.The opposition have all failed Cameroonians,why can't they came together and came out with a single candidate?If they think they can beat Biya in this their present situation then they are only dreaming.All they think about is their stomachs and have no time for Cameroonians and this beautiful triangle of ours.

[Eslus]

Cameroonians want and deserve Biya. I say this because the greed and mistrust that looms within Cameroonians is so evident that Biya is the only common denominator, and so he rules. Why could all the other twenty-two opposition parties not come together and have a quasi primary to choose one candidate whom everyone would support to beat Paul Biya? I know there are more opposition to Biya than CPDM members. And within the CPDM, not all of its members love him to stay in power. But the greed and mistrust that I alluded to above would not let that to happen. So I say unto my country folks, you deserve Paul Biya, and so stay under his rule.

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Of all the appointments however, the first that might ring alarm bells and might remain a game changer in the event of a gridlock over today’s election would be that of a new Cameroon ambassador to the United States. When the SDF approached the United Nations in 2010-over what it considered as ELECAM’s partiality-it took alongside some brilliant members of its party that, were it to make a choice over the position of Cameroon’s ambassador to the U.S., settling in on one of those who eruditely argued the SDF case before the world body, would be ideal for the party’s image in today’s international environment.

[Gan Charles]

The Opposition is of the illusion that the UN is on their side. Hogwash! Even if it were, opposition cannot influnce who becomes Cameroon's UN Ambassador let alone choose. No wonder the opposition is a dismal failure. They think in such illogical terms and seem to let emotions cloud their reasoning.