Biya is sick and unable to attend to governance. At 85 years, Biya is a spent force with nothing more to offer Cameroonians. After 36 years of failed leadership, that he gets another mandate is not an achievement worthy of any celebration. If anything, it is a Pyrrhic victory, devoid of honour and virtue. It certainly would have been preferable if Biya had not run because, the only plausible outcome was that Biya will actually emerge a loser; whether or not the elections were free and fair.

Having personalised the country for so long, Biya’s long stay in office has denied Cameroonians the experience of peaceful change of leadership and put the country at risk of disintegration, amid the escalating Anglophone insurgency.

Unless power changes hands, the outcome of any presidential election will always be like a Shakespearean tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The drama of buffoonery and charlatanism has reached its climax. Cameroon must be brought back from the precipice.

Over the last 20 years, the monarch has become very dictatorial and he has successfully deleted any lines that existed between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the government. It should be recalled that Mr. Biya appoints all magistrates and judges in the country and has a huge influence on members of parliament and senators, 30% of whom are directly appointed by him, while 70% are elected in a counterfeit election whose results are usually known many months ahead of time. And this same influence could be seen during the just-ended presidential elections.

Right from the beginning, it was clear that beating the incumbent through the ballot box will be a Herculean task. The electoral code is beautifully written to ensure that the incumbent is maintained in power. Even the election organizing body, ELECAM, is replete with members of the ruling party and this makes it hard for real impartial elections to be held in a country like Cameroon that lacks basic, transparent and fair election rules.

From every indication, ELECAM is just another wing of the ruling CPDM (Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement), a party considered by many Cameroonians are a crime syndicate due to the type of people who are its members. This party’s membership comprises ex-convicts, hardened criminals, murderers, business-people evading taxes and embezzlers. It has been banned in Southern Cameroons by the Ambazonian Interim Government and designated as a terrorist organization.

ELECAM, by its very nature, cannot organize free and fair elections in Cameroon and this explains why there were many irregularities in this year’s presidential polls, a fact recognized by the American government which clearly indicated in its congratulatory message to the contested winner of the rigged poll.

It should be recalled that Cameroon has just held a presidential election whose results were known by almost everybody, as members of the election-organizing body are appointed by Mr. Biya and most of them are members of his ruling party. Similarly, members of the Constitutional Council were also appointed by Mr. Biya in January and all of them had been compromised. All of them are members of the ruling party, and many of their spouses hold positions in government.

The president of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana, a retired Supreme Court judge, who was struggling with life while on retirement, had clearly indicated that he was there to serve the president’s interest. His appointment was indeed a resuscitation for him as this could be seen in a video in which he was rejoicing after hearing the “good news”. Of course he knew from the beginning that one good turn deserved another and this was obvious during the Constitutional Council’s deliberations. A villa is currently being constructed for him.

Other members of the Constitutional Council who did not inspire hope were Florence Arrey, a long-time girlfriend of the country’s justice minister, Laurent Esso; Foumane Akame, a one-time minster under Mr. Biya whose wife is also a ruling party parliamentarian; Joseph-Marie Bipoum Woum who was also a minster under the current president; Paul Nchoji Nkwi also a former minister and Jean-Baptiste Baskouda who has also served under the same president.

Cameroon Concord News Desk

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Security forces in Cameroon have been cracking down on street rallies protesting the October 7 re-election of President Paul Biya. To avoid beatings and arrest, protesters have taken their message to safer, even holy grounds such as schools and churches.

Opposition protesters sang on Monday in front of the University of Yaounde in the capital of Cameroon.

The lyrics say that opposition leader Maurice Kamto won the October 7 presidential election and that longtime President Paul Biya should hand over power.

A massive deployment of police stopped the protesters from singing on the campus itself.

Twenty-six-year-old teacher Boniface Onana says they will continue demonstrating against Biya’s re-election.

He says Biya should know that the time he was ruling Cameroon with an iron fist, using divide and conquer tactics, is over. Onana says Cameroonians should know that a new nation with a new leader has been born and he will do everything possible to pass on the message.

Police say they detained four of the protesters and are investigating others who ran onto the university grounds disguised as students.

Opposition supporters are seeking safe areas to protest as Cameroon security forces have been cracking down on street rallies since the election.

Tens of protesters on Sunday entered the Our Lady of Victories Cathedral in Yaoundé, interrupting a service to sing that Biya should hand over power.

Sosthene Lipot is the information officer for Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement party. He says they took their protests to the university and the church because of the crackdown.

He says the military should know that Biya has not even won wars he declared on two fronts — against Boko Haram and against separatists fighting for the creation of an English-speaking state — yet he is sending his military to attack innocent people who are simply protesting for their rights.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga condemned the protesters who entered the church, calling it a desecration of a religious body.

He says the Yaoundé archdiocese is scandalized at the disrespect that some politicians have shown towards the church. He says the church is apolitical and should never be used for any political activity, reason why he totally condemns such acts that are instilling doubts in the minds of Christians as to the neutrality of the Catholic church.

The Roman Catholic church in Cameroon has issued conflicting comments on the presidential election. Mbarga on Sunday saluted Biya as the winner, while the head of the national Catholic bishops conference expressed suspicion at the official results.

Officials said Biya won the election with 71 percent of the vote. Kamto, his main challenger, received 14 percent.

Opposition parties accused Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party of massive electoral fraud.

Culled from The VOA

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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I have so far not heard the proponents of the purported conference call for a halt to the war, the genocide and proposed a ceasefire to pave the way for a proposed international intervention. In the result, the purported conference cannot be in the interest of victims who are systematically being exterminated.

In my close to twenty years doing cases relating to armed conflicts in and out of Africa, I am not aware of any solution to a war declared by a state party to the Geneva Conventions which LRC is,  that commenced with a conference prior to mounting pressure for a cessation of hostilities, a truce or a ceasefire.  The rationale for this is to provide an opportunity for victims’ participation.

Although, I cannot second guess the intention of the organisers of the purported conference, it is as obvious as day follows night, that the outcome of the conference will be teleguided by LRC. LRC made frantic attempts to and did misrepresent through CRTV, the deliberations of ACC II which held in Bamenda. They have just manipulated the results of their own elections. The organisers of the conference are very much aware of the possibility of LRC manipulating the outcome of the conference and building on that to inform their propaganda that either the so-called inclusive dialogue has occurred or that the conference has come out in support of a “one and indivisible Cameroun” sacrificing the victims for the political ambition of a gullible elite once again. Any conference without Paul Biya calling off the war which he declared will benefit LRC and not the victims.

The organisers are insensitive to the plight of victims. By failing as a precondition to  condemn the monstrosity of the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in which civilians have been targeted, civilians settlements torched, civilians deported from their ancestral lands, their subsistence economy looted or destroyed, many abducted from their homes or foreign lands to concentration camps and underground dungeons in military and paramilitary encampments in violation of international law, women and girls raped and murdered, and all forms of egregious violations imaginable, the proponents of the conference will through this conference provide an opportunity for LRC to shift international focus from their responsibility for these crimes which so far have attracted as we all know, the attention of the Special Adviser of the UN SG on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide and international momentum towards holding the LRC criminal to account is gathering.

For the above reasons, I am of the considered opinion that the idea of a conference at this point in time is a critical misjudgment and will exacerbate rather than attenuate the disastrous effect of the conflict.

Chief Charles Taku

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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I have been at a loss for words for close to two weeks because of the electoral malpractice in Cameroon. But it appears I am finally getting back my writing flair. While my pen took a little break, I have been reflecting on a few things about life and one thing that keeps popping up in my mind is that Cameroonians blame everybody for their ill-luck except themselves.

However, I have come to a few conclusions. Biya is not to blame for the country’s misfortunes. The people are to blame, especially French-speaking Cameroonians. Nobody is born a dictator. Dictators are made and they are made by their own people.

In which part of the world does a man stay in his palace without campaigning, but wins an election by a landslide? It seems to me that we are still living in the Stalinist epoch. How can a man who has sent soldiers to a particular region of the country for them to slaughter thousands of innocent people still win an election with an overwhelming majority?

I am sure many experts of sophism will be prompt to provide an answer for this unsettling situation, but I will always advise them that there is something immoral and unethical in the entire election process in Cameroon.

In my view, what we have learned so far is that Cameroonians are angry, but lack the courage of their conviction. The election has brought more pain to them than joy. They are suffering, but are too scared to express their minds and constitutional right. They had been made to feel that they could exercise their citizenship and that their votes will count. But we now know that those who vote are not those who count, but those who count the votes are those who count.

I would however like to spare Southern Cameroonians some flak with regard to this election. They had said there would be no election in their part of the country and that came to pass although the regime tried to put up its own show which has become a lightning rod for controversy across the globe today.

Many tongues are wagging as to why a people who had fled their territory due to military violence could come back to vote for a ruling party that has been encouraging the soldiers to kill them.  The government seems to think that Southern Cameroonians are suffering from the Stockholm syndrome. I don’t see many Southern Cameroonians forgiving so soon.

They cannot be loving their killers when the wounds are just so fresh in their minds. These people, my people, have gone through a lot and it will take a generation for them to forgive these unnecessary killings that could have been avoided if the calls for dialogue had been heeded by the Yaounde regime.

Many Francophones have been arguing that from the beginning the process had been rigged. ELECAM, in their minds, had been designed to play in favor of one person. The Constitutional Council, they say, had been set up to “crown the king.” Of course, we all played spectator to this comedy in the Constitutional Council, but I must point out that I was neither impressed nor deceived by that tragi-comedy.

We all saw the make-up of that Constitutional Council. We all had seen the joy the Constitutional Council president, Clement Atangana, had displayed when he was appointed. Mr. Atangana was really struggling financially. Even as a lawyer, his finances were suffering.

That appointment gave him a new lease on life. Nobody in their right mind could have expected Mr. Atangana and the other members of the Constitutional Council who are also members of the ruling party to act otherwise. At least, not Florence Arrey who is related to Laurent Esso or Foumane Akame whose wife is a ruling party parliamentarian.

But Cameroonians, I mean Francophones, still had a trump card. It is their constitutional right to protest when their government takes an unpopular decision. This is right is enshrined in the country’s constitution. Protests are not synonymous with wars, except the government decides to transform such a good citizen approach to problem-solving as it has done in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

But the locations of these protests seem to be favorable to the angry, but emasculated Francophone population. Yaounde and Douala are ideal. Yaounde is the political capital, while Douala is the country’s economic nerve center. With all the embassies, diplomats and international NGOs in Yaounde, the government could not have opened fire on peaceful demonstrators. If the government decides to resort to a Stalinist approach to solving problems in Douala, then it has opted to see the struggling economy go into a coma.

Francophones have wasted their trump card. Their cowardice, which is usually disguised behind sophism, has robbed them of a unique opportunity. The government is already bogged down in the two English-speaking regions of the country and Boko Haram is bombing northerners out of existence in the northern part of the country. It will be preposterous of it to open new war fronts in Yaounde and Douala. This will look more like shooting oneself in the foot.

But all is not lost. Kamto is still your president. There is some hope on the horizon. He has promised to contest those results using all the means available to him, including taking to the streets. Francophones who have the courage must listen to him. Cameroon belongs to all of you. If the country’s institutions cannot help make your dream come true, then you must use that last card that the constitution has given to you. You know what it is. It is enshrined in your constitution. Kamto is a legal mind and you must listen to him if you really think of reversing the catastrophe that has befallen your country.

Biya is not to blame. You are to blame. In his shoes I would act the same way if I were faced with cowards. You, Francophones, have not understood that dictators only understand one language – the people’s rage. Look into the mirror of history and you will find many examples. Poland, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, and others are yours to remember.

The choice is yours. If you want your children to have a better future, you must take the appropriate measures and actions. I will underscore that Mr. Biya is not the issue. Mr. Biya is simply leading a system. If you think if he is taken away your problems will be over, then you are totally mistaken.

Your fight must be to dismantle a system that has been set up by a few to rob you of a good life. It is a system that has been designed to deny your children of the possibility of growing up with hope in the future.

Mr. Biya is not to blame, you and the people around him are to blame. You must fight for your rights. Your rights will never be given to you on a platter of gold. It is human nature to control others, but it is up to the people to put an end to the excessive control that robs the population of its happiness.

The people have many tools. It is up to them to use that which will deliver the desired results. In Cameroon, elections will never work. The institutions are more of talking workshops for ruling party members. If you want to wait for common sense to prevail, then yours will be a kingdom of sorrows.

The issue is, you don’t want to hold your government accountable, but you keep on bothering struggling Cameroonians who are living abroad. It is the responsibility of your government to take care of you and not people who are struggling to eke out a living abroad. Put this in your pipe and smoke, and you will find a reason to join Prof. Kamto on his long walk to the Unity Palace. I am just thinking aloud!

Written for Cameroon Concord News Group by

Dr Joachim Arrey

Cameroonian President Paul Biya won an emphatic election victory with 71 percent of the vote, the Constitutional Council announced on Monday, extending his 36-year rule and cementing his place as one of Africa’s longest-standing rulers.

The widely-expected win gives the 85-year-old a seventh term in office and could see him in power until at least the age of 92. The only current African president to have ruled longer is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Most Cameroonians have known just one president

Victory in the October 7 poll came amid claims from opposition candidates that the election was marred by fraud, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation. The Constitutional Council rejected all 18 petitions claiming fraud last week.

In addition, violence connected to a separatist movement in the Anglophone regions forced tens of thousands to flee in the lead up to the vote, and kept the vast majority there from casting their ballot.

The announcement follows two weeks of political tension in the coffee and oil-producing country, during which Biya’s leading rival Maurice Kamto claimed victory based on his campaign’s figures, and as police tried to silence opposition marches in the port city of Douala.

Monday’s official results showed Kamto won 14 percent of the vote. Biya won with a big margin in nine of the 10 regions. In the South and East regions he won over 90 percent of the vote.

Authorities have defended the process. “The election was free, fair and credible in spite of the security challenges in the English-speaking regions,” said the President of Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana, on Monday.

Reuters

In a genuine democracy or even any context, there is something really absurd in one man ruling a country for 36 years. Biya is 85 years old and has held office for 36 years. He did not even bother to campaign for his re-election and his surrogates showed little interest in the exercise, aware Biya will win come rain or shine.

Despite his advanced age, wrinkled face, husky voice, diminished swagger of his gait, diapers and uncontrollable anal blasts, ELECAM and the Constitutional Council shamelessly validated one of the most shambolic electoral exercises in world history.

This was the wicked act ever perpetrated against the Cameroonian people who must rise up in resistance. For a bilingual country, it was indeed striking that not a single word was uttered in English.

However, the Republic of Cameroon has a brand new Head of State. He is the 85 year old President Paul Biya who has ruled the country for 36 years.

There were scenes of celebration across French Cameroun and many Francophones are happy to have the ailing Chief Executive as their new Head of State.

It should be recalled that the President-Elect did not campaign but has won a landslide. May he continue to guide his country towards the disaster that the people admire.

From the CAMCORDNEWS DESK

According to ELECAM, Biya obtained 89.21% of the votes in a region with some unedifying statistics. Even before the Boko Haram insurgency ravaged the region, the Far North, was and remains the poorest part of the country.

According to the World Bank, 74% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to the national average of 37.5%. At least 170 primary schools remain closed because of insecurity and about 23,000 school-aged children are out of school.

Unemployment, among all age groups, is at least 75%. A 78.8 billion CFA emergency fund to finance 94 projects in road construction, railways, energy and agriculture has remained a luxurious desire. Teachers have all fled the region, and international human rights groups have documented the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Cameroon security forces against civilians, mostly women and children.

The political baron of the region, House Speaker, Cavaye Djibril, aged 78, was first elected MP in 1970 at the age of 30. The husband of four fives and 15 children has been Speaker since 1992. He was quick to defend the regime after videos showing Cameroon soldiers executing women and children in Kolofata went viral on social media.

While the international outcry forced the regime to admit the crimes were committed by Cameroon soldiers, there was no condemnation or outrage from the FN CPDM political elite. Everything about the region is about Cavaye, his family and his Mada tribesmen to the exclusion of all others. When Cavaye launched CPDM campaigns in Maroua, TV images showed less than 200 people in the scantily attended event. Cavaye was so angry that the people were calling for change that he staged a public arson of Kamto’s MRC campaign gadgets.

Biya himself was greeted in Maroua with banners displaying less than complimentary messages. But despite all this, ELECAM wants us to believe that these people cannot figure out why they are poor; Tchiroma even claims the Grand North has a blood pact with Biya and know one thing and one thing only – to vote for Biya and the CPDM.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has won a seventh term in office in polls marred by low turnout and voter intimidation. Mr Biya, at 85 sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest leader, took 71.3% of the vote, according to official results. Opposition calls for a re-run of the presidential election were rejected by the Constitutional Council last week.

Riot police were deployed on Sunday to the major cities of Yaoundé and Douala in case of opposition protests. Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces have been hit by more than a year of violent protests and attacks by separatist rebels which have left hundreds dead. Two days before results were announced, Africa’s longest-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea congratulated Mr Biya on his win.

Mr Biya’s nearest challenger, Maurice Kamto of the MRC/CRM, gained just 14.2%. Mr Biya took the majority of votes in all but one of Cameroon’s 10 regions, losing out to Mr Kamto by a small margin in the Littoral region which is home to the economic capital, Douala.

Across the country, only half of Cameroon’s voting-age population took part in the polls. Tens of thousands of people were unable to cast their votes because of insecurity.

Threats of violence made against would-be voters by rebels in the Anglophone regions reportedly deterred many from casting their ballot. On Election Day, three separatists who were accused of opening fire on passers-by were shot dead by security forces. Some rebels also tried to disrupt the transporting of ballot boxes by calling for a total ban on all travel. Voter turnout in the country’s two Anglophone regions was as low as 5%, according to the International Crisis Group. Official figures give an almost 16% turnout in the English-speaking South-West region .

Witnesses have told AFP news agency they heard gunfire on Monday morning in Buea, the capital of the English-speaking South-West region.

Cameroon’s electoral body Elecam also reduced the overall number of polling stations across the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, and moved some others from turbulent zones to more secure areas.

Seats reserved for opposition representatives at the constitutional council were left empty as the results of the 7 October presidential election were read out, the BBC’s Randy Joe Sa’ah reports from Yaoundé.

In the days before the results were published 18 petitions calling for the election to be re-run were lodged by opposition members, some alleging fraud, at the Constitutional Court, the body responsible for announcing the results, before the results were announced.

Among those calling for a fresh vote were President Biya’s two main challengers – Mr Kamto and Joshua Osih of the main opposition SDF/FSD. Mr Kamto went as far as declaring himself the winner of the polls despite producing no evidence to prove this.

Election observers from the African Union reported that the polls were “generally peaceful” but added that “most parties were not represented” when it came to who was allowed to oversee voting and ballot counts at polling stations.

The only other group to send monitors was the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), whose head urged candidates and stakeholders to do their part in preserving peace and use legal channels in any challenges to the results (in French).

False claims were made on Cameroon’s state-owned television that Transparency International had deployed international observers, forcing the Germany-based campaign group to issue a statement denying them.

Cameroon’s parliamentary and legislative elections were due to take place at the same time as the 7 October presidential elections but have been postponed to 2019.

Source: BBC

Results of Cameroon’s October 7 presidential elections are expected on Monday, according to the Information Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary. The minister was speaking in an interview with French channel, RFI.

His comments come less than 24-hours after the Constitutional Council dismissed 18 petitions brought by individuals and parties seeking partial to total cancellation of the process.

On Thursday evening, after two days of hearing submissions by legal representatives of the two parties, the Council unanimously ruled that the cases lacked merit and subsequently threw the out.

The election body, ELECAM, and ruling CPDM mounted strong challenges during the hearing arguing that the October 7 vote had passed the democratic test.

ELECAM passed nine candidates including incumbent Paul Biya. The 85-year-old is widely expected to be announced winner of the polls. He will secure a seven-year mandate that will extend his time in power to over four decades.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Thursday threw out the remaining two poll petitions that it had admitted from a pool of 18 seeking partial or total cancellation of the October 7 presidential elections.

The two were filed by main opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, led by ex-Biya appointee, Maurice Kamto. Osih had decried what he described as a state of apartheid in English-speaking regions, where most people could not cast votes due to insecurity.

The decision said to be a unanimous one by the judicial body paves the way for the declaration of results in a poll largely expected to hand incumbent Paul Biya a new seven-year term.

The opposition parties had alleged widespread irregularities insecurity and low turnout especially in restive Anglophone regions but the court held that it was not enough bases to warrant their demands.

The ruling CPDM and elections body, ELECAM, strongly defended the conduct of the polls stressing that the process had been free, fair and democratic.

Source: Africa News