Cameroon’s opposition has again failed to present a single presidential candidate to challenge Paul Biya who has been in office for 36 years. Twenty-eight candidates will be contesting the country’s October 7 presidential election, which Biya is favored to win.

The youngest candidate registered to compete in the October 7 presidential election is journalist Cabral Libi. Just before the filing deadline, the 38-year old said he was still uncertain if he would run because he could not single handedly raise the $60,000 required by the election commission to run. He says he had to ask well wishers to help him.

He says he has demonstrated that he is the only candidate strong enough to challenge the incumbent president because he was able to raise over $ 60,000 from well wishers within three days to pay the caution fee required by Cameroon’s electoral laws for each presidential aspirant.

Libi is one of the 28 candidates to contest the poll. Two women: Ze Genevieve, an independent candidate and Habiba Issa who will run for the opposition UPC party, also registered to challenge the 86-year old Biya, who has been president for 36 years.

Last January, Cameroon’s notoriously fractured opposition attempted to unite behind a single candidate. About a dozen opposition parties were negotiating to back Akere Muna, a prominent lawyer who specializes in fighting corruption. Muna pledged a non-partisan platform, but today is running on the ticket of his Peoples Development Front political party.

Maurice Kamto, who was meeting with Muna and the main opposition political party the SDF to discuss the possibility of a single candidate, is today running for his Cameroon Renaissance Movement Party. Kamto says after discussing with some political parties, he found out that all of them wanted a single candidate, but felt they were the stronger politicians that other weaker parties should join.

He says he then decided that he, like other politicians who want to run for president should present to Cameroonians their programs and projects that they will implement if elected, instead of basing their strengths on the religious, tribal and ethnic groups they represent.

The SDF has chosen a 50-year old lawmaker, Joshua Osih, as their candidate and says it is sure Osih will perform better in the elections if the polls are transparent and fair.

The ruling CPDM party has gathered at least 30 of the divided opposition political parties to rally behind its candidate, Paul Biya. Issa Tchiroma, president of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, says the opposition’s inability to come up with a single candidate indicates how they are divided and so he will support Biya, who according to him is the only one that can bring peace and development to the troubled country.

“By declaring his candidature, this is an indication, clear indication that he sent to the nation and the world that he is the man of his generation. Mr president move forward, we are ready to support you,” said Tchiroma.

Cameroon is dealing with attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north, separatist movements in two English-speaking regions and a spillover of violence from the Central African Republic.

Biya has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and is Africa’s second longest serving president, after his neighbor Theodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.

He is seen by many as favored to win the polls. If he does, he will rule the central African state up to 2025 when the next presidential election will take place.

Source: VOA

The Social Democratic Front (SDF), Cameroon’s main opposition party has officially filed the candidacy of its flagbearer for presidential polls slated for October 7, 2018.

Local media reports that a mammoth crowd accompanied 49-year-old Joshua Osih Nabangi on Wednesday (July 18) as he submitted his papers at the Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) regional offices in Douala.

Osih, the main challenger to long-serving Paul Biya was accompanied by SDF founder and former flagbearer, John Fru Ndi. A number of candidates are also expected to enter the race before submission deadline.

Speaking to the media after his submission, Osih stressed that even though the number of candidates in the October 7 race may be lesser than that of 2011, it was the reason why this election was “significant” in Cameroon’s political history.

“We will mobilise to ensure victory to improve the people’s living standards …our doors are open to those ready to see us through this journey,” Osih declared. Osih, who hails from the Toko Subdivision in Ndian Division of the South West Region is a first-timer in the presidential race.

For his part, SDF leader and veteran opposition leader Fru Ndi told reporters that Osih and the SDF remained the only sure path to salvage the Central African country.

“Cameroonians have suffered enough, many have died. We will wipe their tears and put an end to the people’s sufferings…taking part in this election is a step ahead for victory,” he is quoted to have said.

Culled from Africa News

Cameroon has set October 7 as the date for its presidential election. However, it remains unclear whether the vote can take place in the country’s two English-speaking regions, where separatists are fighting for an independent state.

Abdoul-Karimou, deputy manager of Cameroon’s election management body, ELECAM, said ELECAM has yet to receive documents from any presidential candidates. But he expects that to change.

He said according to Cameroon’s electoral code, people who want to run for president still have up to July 19 to send their documents to the elections management body for examination.

Already, a dozen people including Joshua Osih of the main opposition Social Democratic Front, Akere Muna, a lawyer and former vice president of Transparency International, Maurice Kamto, head of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon, and journalist Cabral Libi have declared their intentions to run.

Incumbent President Paul Biya, who has been in office more than 35 years, has not said whether he would run. But there have been calls from his party, traditional rulers, and even some opposition political parties for him to be their candidate.

Traditional ruler and lawmaker Chaffa Isaac said they are asking Biya to run in the hope that his reelection could bring peace to the embattled northwest region and complete development projects he had initiated for the whole country.

“We are calling on president Paul Biya to take all appropriate measures to create a conducive atmosphere, one for peace to reign in Cameroon, two, for there to be a successful election where he is candidate,” he said.

But the Social Democratic Front’s Joshua Osih said he does not think the elections can be conducted successfully in the northwest and southwest regions, where the military is battling armed groups fighting for the creation of an English-speaking state.

Twenty percent of Cameroon’s 23 million people are English-speakers in a bilingual country where French is the predominant language.

The conflict has killed more than 250 soldiers, armed fighters and civilians. It has also left over 160,000 people internally displaced and and forced tens of thousands across the border in Nigeria.

“Elections are not possible in the present circumstances in the northwest and the southwest,” said Osih.

Last week, lawmakers in the national assembly passed a law extending their mandate for 12 months. They said the country cannot handle having presidential and parliamentary elections in the same year.

Some lawmakers said they voted for the bill because the crisis in the English-speaking regions will make it impossible for the elections to take place.

Last March, senatorial elections did not take place in the English-speaking Manyu and Lebialem administrative units where some municipal councilors were arrested and locked up by armed groups.

Armed separatists have vowed to block any elections in the English-speaking regions. The government says it will ensure the security and safety of voters.

Source: VOA

The 86 year autocratic, dictator and  ruler of la République du Cameroun in his typical Machiavelli way of doing things announced a  couple of weeks ago, despite the escalating war that he declared on the people of the English speaking region in Cameroon that the presidential elections would hold on the 07 of October. Prior to this announcement, two other elections (municipal and parliamentary) that were supposed to take place this year were postponed and members of parliament and mayors had their mandate extended to 2019. Political pundits and observers have been wondering aloud if it makes any sense to organize presidential elections in a country caught up in a senseless war that has produced some 200.000 internally displaced persons with over 50.000 as refugees in Nigeria? A lot of tongues have indeed been wagging on how the Biya regime intends to stage the elections in the Southern Cameroons, where citizens are gunned down indiscriminately by Francophone soldiers and where Southern Cameroonians are not allowed to communion in groups, as the military continues to kill indiscriminately.

The robust resistance of the restoration forces, who have basically taken over authority in Anglophone Cameroon, and who enjoy the support of the communities is definitely an insurmountable challenge to the infamous electoral project. The restoration forces have vowed that no such election is going to take place in Africa’s newest state-The Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The restoration forces are in total control of the communities and have reportedly intensified ghost town operations. Attempts by the Yaoundé government and the mayor of Buea to disrupt the idea of ghost town recently led to deadly clashes with state authority ending up with a bloodied nose, and the restoration forces having the last word.

This week, the minister for defense Joseph Beti Asomo on a special mission ordered by the head of state of la Republic visited the affected regions to meet and congratulate the soldiers for their bravery and courage in killing their fellow citizens. What was thought to be a robust and security tight convoy of 30 armoured vehicles ferrying the minister  and several army generals including colonels came under attack. Beti Assomo and his entourage met what has been described as the most audacious attempt by the restoration forces to make an emphatic statement to the Yaoundé regime.

One of the journalists traveling with the minister got injured in the attack. He narrated the ordeal to the world and in his statement, he compared the restoration forces to Boko Haram, and pointed out that although the Nigerian Islamic sect uses sophisticated weapons; the restoration forces were in possession of locally manufactured weaponry. He further pointed out that Ambazonian forces are more organized and intelligent than Boko Haram fighters. He said if the restoration forces had modern assault weapons, the damage on the convoy would have been unimaginable as the minister would have been captured. In the midst of this insecurity and uncertainty, and the attack on the defense minister’s convoy, it is abundantly clear that elections will not take place in the former British Southern Cameroons. The restoration forces have instructed Ambazonians not to part of the upcoming counterfeit presidential elections, which they described as provocative and illegal. How the 86 year old dictator intends to make such a precarious election to take place remains a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle inside an enigma.

By Ntam Charles Ngeh

Bonn, Germany