The ruling CPDM, considered as having no legal status in Cameroon because it is an extension of the former CNU, is becoming an existential threat to Cameroon by dint of its fusion with institutions of state. This vexing concubinage has constrained English Cameroon for a united Cameroon to lead a campaign for the “demise” of the party which abhors intraparty elections in favour of motions of support.
The movement which is for the emergence of a strong two-party system in Cameroon calls on Cameroonians to throw their weight behind the MRC and PCRN if the CPDM doesnot replace Biya at the helm of the CPDM by May 2025. “If by May, the CPDM has not replaced Mr. Biya through an intraparty democratic process, let us all recognize that the two leading political formations at the next presidential election are the political front led by Mr. Maurice Kamto and that led by Mr. Cabral Libii”, it notes.
Following is an op-ed questioning the legal status of the CPDM in Cameroon:
Question to the minister of territorial administration: What is the legal status of the CPDM in Cameroon?
Dear brothers and sisters,
Happy New Year to you all. We thank the Almighty God by whose abundant love and mercy we have entered this new year. This is the year of our jubilee, a jubilee long over delayed by the forces that have taken our beautiful country captive. In the Scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, the jubilee comes after seven times seven years. That is, after every 49 years, the 50th year was to be a year of jubilee. The year was to be characterized by the liberation of the enslaved and forgiveness of debts so that people could start anew.
In the New Testament of the Christians, this tradition takes on a new declaration of freedom when Jesus the Messiah, son of Mary, declares that the spirit of the Lord is upon him for God had anointed him to preach the goodness to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, make the blind see, set free the oppressed, and to announce the year of the Lord. We, Cameroonians, are overcome with all these troubles: we are poor, brokenhearted, captives in our own beloved homeland, blind to see injustice and corruption everywhere, and we are oppressed by all measures. This vivid declaration of the principles of the true and lasting jubilee by Jesus the Messiah captures the spirit of the jubilee. This is our year of jubilee and the Almighty God is asking us, Cameroonians: do you want to prosper? Do you want to be healed of your broken heart? Do you want liberty? Do you want to see clearly what is going on in your society? Do you want to end your oppression?
Let us answer, yes, to the offer that God is extending to us and receive freedom, prosperity, and justice through a transparent and competitive presidential election. We need to register massively, defend the right of all politicians to compete on a level playing field, vote massively, and defend the outcome of that election by all means necessary. This is how we actively answer God’s invitation to embrace the jubilee.
But our captors do not fear God. They make a mockery of God and God’s jubilee offer to Cameroonians. We must therefore fight these captors using all means – legal and political. This is the right thing to do. The country we love demands that we stand up for its liberation from the cankerworms that have for so long destroyed our blossom. Today, we want to ask the minister of territorial administration about the legal status of the CPDM, which, in many ways, has been fused with the state of Cameroon. Firstly, we want to ask about the legal status of the CPDM. We will then comment on the role of religious leaders, especially those of the Catholic Church, in this presidential election in the year of our jubilee.
1. Mr. Paul AtangaNji: What is the legal status of the CPDM in Cameroon? In its current state, the CPDM is an existential danger to Cameroon and those who love this beautiful country must labor to rid Cameroon of this entity.
1.1. The CPDM is the continuation of Mr. Ahidjo’s party. It was remodeled after Mr. Biya was made president without a competitive election within the party or nationally. The remodeling paid homage to Mr. Biya’s mentor, Dr. Louis Paul Aujoulat, whose political party was hypocritically called Bloc démocratiquecamerounais. When the battle for multiparty politics was won in the 1990s, the CPDM continued to exist but didn’t have to fulfill the conditions required of new political parties.
1.2. The CPDM thus comes out of a tradition of a one-party system fused with the institutions of the state, making it difficult to distinguish between state and party business. That fusion has never been destroyed. It will not be destroyed until we, the people of Cameroon, demand that militants of this infamous party stop abusing our institutions. If we look at the activities of this party today, we will see that it continues to abuse our institutions and makes a mockery of the principle of intraparty democracy. How a party is run internally gives us a glimpse of how that party can govern in the executive or legislative branch if given a chance to do so.
1.3. We must agree with late NdehNtumazah that Mr. Biya’s training in France equipped him to be a good colonial clerk. Mr. Biya is allergic to human interactions and could not have won an intraparty election, if he had not been hand-picked through French intrigues, starting with his recommendation to Mr. Ahidjo by Dr. Louis Paul Aujoulat. Intraparty democracy is thus something feared by Mr. Biya, who has made it his desire to be president of Cameroon until his last day on earth. That wish is his business but we, the people of Cameroon, would be the laughingstock of the world if we let it come true.
1.4. Two alarming instances of CPDM working together with ELECAM to pave the way for electoral fraud:
1.4.1. In April 2024, kits for voter registration and national identity card issuance were discovered in the private residence of a CPDM militant in Massangam, West region. The vigilant opposition militants in that community discovered that ordinary citizens who attempted to issue an ID card and register to vote, were sent away. It was understood that the arrangement was purely designed to either create fictitious residents of the community who are pro-CPDM or only issue these ID cards and voter’s cards to people sympathetic to CPDM. This is criminal but nobody has been charged with a crime for this blatant abuse of state institutions.
1.4.2. Many of us have probably come across the picture a certain CPDM militant from Northern Cameroon, in party regalia, sitting amidst piles of national identity cards. It is alleged that some of these identity cards are issued for free by the ruling party, using embezzled state funds. In exchange, the recipients are compelled to vote for the CPDM. In other cases, these people do not exist but their fictitious identities are created to back up the issuance of voters’ cards which are to be used on the election day to inflate the electoral outcome in favor of the CPDM.
1.5. Apart from the police charged with ID card issuance, there is no provision in Cameroonian law that allows anybody to have tens and hundreds of ID cards. Where we see evidence of this, a crime is being committed or planned. The person responsible must face the law. But under this regime, militants of the CPDM like the northern gentleman smiling in the sea of ID cards, act with impunity and arrogance.
1.6. Nothing justifies the declared re-election ambitions of Mr. Paul Biya than these electoral fraud ground games. But if we look at the CPDM and its constitution, we must question whether this entity should not have been suspended by the fanatical minister of territorial administration. Mr. Fame Ndongo, the supposed secretary of the CPDM, has defended the candidacy of Mr. Biya. His defense is a mockery of constitutional democracy for the following reasons:
1.6.1. He is quick to quote the constitution of Cameroon as allowing the sitting president to run again for election. He fails to note that Mr. Biya forcefully removed term limits in 2008 after his second and last constitutional term. His re-election in 2004 was constitutionally determined to be the last. So, we are talking about a thief who changed the constitution in order to take the presidency captive. While we defend the constitution, we note its imperfections. One such imperfection is this trick. Constitutions are not instruments at the disposal of dictators.
1.6.2. Mr. Fame Ndongo claims that Mr. Biya is the leader of the CPDM, according to the party’s constitution. The same party constitution demands that a congress be organized every five years, during which the leader of the party is elected. The last party congress was in 2011. So, for almost 14 years now, there has been no CPDM congress. Mr. Marafa is in prison because he expressed presidential ambition. A party that uses state institutions to imprison potential candidates for leadership of the party or that suppresses democracy in favor of motions de soutien, should not enjoy the label of a political party. It is a secret society or a mafia group.
1.6.3. Mr. Fame Ndongo believes that the simulated motions de soutien are sufficient judgment of Mr. Biya’s appeal. As we have seen in opinion polls, Mr. Biya is widely unpopular and even CPDM militants are voting against him. It can only be the confidence that CPDM has in electoral fraud that justifies the arrogant and ungrateful candidacy of Mr. Biya.
1.7. Given these circumstances, we call on the minister of territorial administration to ensure that his party operates at least in accordance with its own constitution. The party leader must come from an intraparty democratic process. The same minister should be held responsible for the many cases of CPDM militants overseeing the issuance of ID cards and voters’ cards to a large number of people in secret schemes.
1.8. We are not hopeful that the pre-electoral fraud games being orchestrated by the CPDM will stop easily. We must be prepared to reveal these schemes. We all have cameras and phones today. Let us expose these evil schemes with pictures, audios, and videos, wherever we find them. These pieces of evidence will be necessary to prove that foreign lenders who continue to lend to Cameroon under this regime, are effectively making donations to the CPDM party; they are not lending to the state of Cameroon. We shall not repay such odious debts.
1.9. On this platform, we advocate for the emergence of a strong two-party system in Cameroon, at least in the context of presidential elections. Such a system with two competitive parties will guarantee the political stability and sustainable economic development of the country. For more than seven years, we have been respectful to the CPDM as a political party. The candidacy of Mr. Biya, determined without intraparty democratic competition, if maintained, will be a clear sign that the CPDM constitutes an existential danger to our beloved and beautiful country, Cameroon. The love of country must compel all of us to labor for the demise of this entity called CPDM from the political scene. This is the direction of our activism in the months ahead. Objective opinion polls over the last couple of years have shown that a CPDM led by Mr. Biya is the third party in presidential election ranking. If by May, the CPDM has not replaced Mr. Biya through an intraparty democratic process, let us all recognize that the two leading political formations at the next presidential election are the political front led by Mr. Maurice Kamto and that led by Mr. Cabral Libii. If this CPDM tragedy and mockery continue beyond May 2025, the simple recommendation to voters would be to vote for any of the top two, avoiding the party that is an existential danger to Cameroon.
2. Religious have an important role to play in this year of presidential election. That role is bearing witness to the truth and denouncing injustice. The Catholic church has played a very negative role in Cameroon history; it can start redeeming itself this year by being on the side of truth and justice.
2.1. We know that this CPDM regime has cultivated close ties to religious leaders. During elections, the CPDM carries out electoral fraud and depends on religious leaders to preach vacuous peace and unity so as to dissuade the aggrieved people of Cameroon from taking all measures necessary to stop usurpation of political power. But among these religious leaders, there are courageous ones who stand for truth and justice.
2.2. The Catholic religion in history and around the world has favored one-party fascistic systems, monarchism, and authoritarian regimes hiding behind the veil of democracy. They have done the same in Cameroon. Mr. Biya is a former Catholic seminarian; he strategically appoints fellow Catholics to positions of power. We can confirm this by looking at the strategic ministries in this country. The decay this country has known is partly the fault of the Catholic Church that has provided cover for these unscrupulous Catholics who steal votes and our resources. Ruben Um Nyobe was defrauded of his victory in 1952 by a Catholic abbey in the same scheme.
2.3. Some religious leaders, especially in the Catholic church, now see that we cannot continue along this path of destruction. We applaud them for speaking out. Among these courageous Catholic leaders is the Archbishop of Douala, Archbishop Samuel Kleda. He has the duty as a pastor to counsel Mr. Biya not to run for re-election. He can do that privately or publicly. He also has a duty to recognize that there is no intraparty democracy in the CPDM. Every citizen should denounce this and even call for this entity to disappear from the Cameroon political scene if it cannot reform itself. But above all, this religious leader has the right to advocate for transparent and fair rules of the game and for free, fair, and transparent elections. Religious leaders should therefore specifically denounce the partnership between ELECAM, ID card police agency, and the CPDM. They cannot go wrong by standing up for fair competition and transparent elections. Or by standing with those who may undertake all means necessary to stop any attempt to repeat the fraud of yesteryears.
2.4. We have seen the reaction of some regime apologists such as Mr. GregoireOwona and Mr. Jean De DieuMomo. If religious leaders say CPDM is great, these apologists would applaud. But since they bear witness to the truth and justice, and since neither truth nor justice can be found in CPDM, the shameless apologists come out with sophistry in defense of the separation of church and state. The Catholic Church stands condemned for producing such corrupt and incurable election thieves. Anything they can do to redeem themselves is welcome. We also note that based on our polls, the top two presidential candidates, Mr. Kamto and Mr. Libii, are also Catholics. They would agree with all Catholic priests who stand up for the truth and justice of the ballot box. But the Catholics who remain unrepentant and unashamed of the enormous damage they have done to this country, are likely going to silently or openly campaign for Mr. Biya, with hypocritical chants of peace and unity. This election year is also a battle for the soul of the Catholic Church in Cameroon. We will be watching the regime apologists and those who bear witness to truth, justice, and fairness of the political process.
We commend all political leaders who shared their visions with the people of Cameroon in the form of New Year speeches. But we are particularly appalled by the speech of Mr. Biya who has reduced this country to a shadow of the greatness God has blessed us with. Mr. Biya’s candidacy, if pursued further, will remain a clear indication that the CPDM is an existential danger to this beautiful country.
May God bless you in this 2025. And may God bless this beautiful nation, Cameroon, as we embrace this year of our jubilee. We shall be free.
January 4, 2025
Dr. Benjamin Akih, on behalf of
English Cameroon for a united Cameroon
Serving the nation since 2017
