THE STRENGTH OF CAMEROON’S OPPOSITION

By  AYAH Paul ABINE

 President Paul Biya was sworn in on Wednesday, November 3, 2004. It goes without saying that his present term of office expires on November 3, 2011.

Section 6(3) 0f the constitution provides that election “shall be held not less than 20 (twenty) days and not more than 50 (fifty) days before the expiry of the term of the President of the Republic in office”.

Clearly, the 2011 presidential election must hold any one day between September 14 (fifty days to November 3) and October 14 (twenty days before November 3). Any day outside of these thirty days would be unconstitutional.

 The total amount in the 2011 finance law for elections is 31 billions francs: 11 billions for ELECAM and 20 billions for “elections”. That means that the incumbent is lavished with funds. It is all the truer when one considers that Parliament empowers him to amend the finance law as he deems fit and necessary. The real amount therefore could be substantially higher. The Opposition together cannot raise half of that sum! Doom looms!

But judging from what ordinary Cameroonians say, one can be confident that change is still within reach. The trump card in that endeavour is the presentation of a unique candidate for the Opposition. This is all the more necessary in our system where the constitution rules out any run-off.

 In calling for a unique candidate for the Opposition, one is not oblivious of the scheme by the ruling party to weaken the Opposition by the creation of the contradiction called “majorité présidentiel”. Yet does one have the firm conviction that the unity of the real opposition forces would dismantle the yoke that has strangled our development for three decades. Nor does one doubt that, in their acute suffering, the Cameroonian people will be unable to separate the sheep from wolves in sheep’s clothing.

For the love of nation, Paul Ayah aka Ayah Paul Abine is hereby calling on all candidates of the Opposition to contact him soonest by telephone (+237 75 31 26 41) or by email (honljayah@yahoo.com) for an immediate plan of action to be adopted through an imminent forum in view of selecting a unique candidate for the Opposition.

It is by that medium that we shall winnow the selfish (traitors) from patriots. Let it be known that anyone standing in the way to the unity of patriotic forces shall answer before the People’s Court: the court of the People of Cameroon.

  Expeditious action is of essence given the time factor!

Cameroon: Hon .Ayah Paul resigns from ruling CPDM, to be Presidential candidate

 

Ayah (left)in handshake with  Chris Ambe at press conference



By Christopher Ambe Shu

Outspoken Member of Parliament and career magistrate, Hon. Ayah Paul Abine, has resigned from the ruling CPDM after he had earlier declared his intention to run for this year’s presidential election.
 But the political platform, under which Hon Ayah will contest the presidential election for now, is yet to be made public –probably for strategic reasons.

The presidential candidate told a well-attended press conference in Buea today January 7 that he was still considering which political way to go.

 But The RECORDER understands that many political parties have been wooing Hon .Ayah to identify with them so to boost their credibility.
 

Announcing his resignation from the ruling CPDM whose government and policies he has criticized fearlessly for years, Hon Ayah said he had since January 3rd, 2011 served the CPDM hierarchy in Yaoundé with the letter of his resig
nation.There has been no official reaction from the ruling CPDM upn to the time of posting this report on the net.
Part of Hon. Ayah’s resignation Letter, dated January 3, and addressed to CPDM National Chairman, Paul Biya (who is also President of Cameroon) reads:



Journalists at the Press Conference In Buea

“The very CPDM that prides itself with practicing “advanced democracy” seems to connive at, or perhaps, even encourage the ruthless condemnation of rudimentary practices of democracy such as declaring one’s candidacy for a post within the party.
“Fearing for my life and the safety of my family, I have decided to quit the CPDM with effect from the date of this letter, namely, the 3rd day of January 2011.
“I shall continue to serve the fatherland as a parliamentarian of the nation till the end of the present parliament by virtue of section 15(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon.
 “I sincerely thank my national president for giving me the opportunity to serve under the banner of the CPDM this far”

With the  Cameroon opposition becoming  weaker and weaker, many people see probity, hardwork transparency, commitment, and other democratic values in the man Ayah Paul Abine, who  while in the CPDM was seen more like the opposition voice of Cameroon. Hon. Ayah would call a spade a spade for public interest, damning the consequences.

Hon.Ayah, who is a second-term MP for Akwaya-Manyu, one of the least developed regions of Cameroon, may not lose his seat in Parliament even though he had gained entry into Cameroon’s National Assembly in 2002 under the CPDM ticket.

Cameroon law says once someone is elected into Parliament, he automatically becomes MP for the entire nation. For instance, when one SDF (opposition) MP, Professor Clement Ngwasiri, was sacked from his party, he ceased to be called an SDF MP but he still remained in parliament as an independent MP.
Even as a magistrate of the bench for more than two decades passed landmark judgments on matters of national interest, which prompted many pundits to describe him as a “true and independent-minded judge”.

In August 2007, he was elected as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Cameroon, but he later resigned from the post after realizing that he was not allowed to perform his duties as required.
In 2008, Hon Ayah was the only CPDM MP who was against the amendment of the Constitution of Cameroon, which removed term limits that would have prevented President Paul Biya from standing for re-election in 2011.

According to Ayah, the constitutional changes were "not democratic”. He is quoted to have said that, if the bill were adopted it "will take us back some 200 years”.
But unfortunately, the bill was adopted and enacted into law.

 

Below is Hon Ayah's resignation Letter :

HON AYAH Paul ABINE

MP FOR AKWAYA

Tel: 75 31 26 41

Email: honljayah@yahoo.com

January 3, 2011

The National President,

CPDM,

C/o The Presidency,

Yaounde.

Through:

The Secretary General,

CPDM Central Committee,

Yaounde.

Sir,

LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM CPDM

As you surely are aware, I entered parliament in August 2002 on the CPDM platform. From my several write-ups including open letters, it is now a notorious fact that my zeal to serve and my firm adherence to democratic principles have led not only to marginalization, persecution, collective punishment of my people, death threats…but also to several attempts on my life. In the face of all this, and despite apparent official connivance, I have remained courageously unshakeable. My guiding principle has all along been that differences of opinions should not lead to breakdown of marriages, severance of relations, or breakup of families. Not even when physical fighting has taken place!

 I remained committed to change within the party even in the face of stagnation in development due to waste of our national resources; poverty arising from grabbing by the few of the common wealth; and acute unemployment of the youth on account of eternalized senility.

 As opinions in the party do constantly take a uni-directional top-bottom movement, and availing myself of the legal provisions to rise as per the constitution of the party, I declared my candidacy for the post of the national chairperson of CPDM at the forthcoming ordinary congress of the party.

  From security reports, you surely are already aware that a group of criminals under the leadership of a deputy secretary general at the Presidency forged a malicious publication disparaging me by reason of my candidacy. Before the dust had settled, some of those same criminals led by Mr. Abangma Sampson Negbo of the University of Buea, his nephew Mr. Abangma Divine, and Mr. Obi Okpun Christopher of PAMOL, meeting in Loyalty Law Chambers, Kumba, on January 2, 2011, forged a similar document in the name of Akwaya leaders, claiming that a meeting had held at Mamfe on December 26, 2010, where the document had been drawn up. The very CPDM that prides itself with practising “advanced democracy” seems to connive at, or, perhaps, even encourage the ruthless condemnation of rudimentary practices of democracy such as declaring one’s candidacy for a post within the party.

 Fearing for my life and the safety of my family, I have decided to quit the CPDM with effect from the date of this letter, namely, the 3rd day of January 2011. I shall continue to serve the fatherland as a parliamentarian of the nation till the end of the present parliament by virtue of Section 15 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon.

I sincerely thank my national president for giving me the opportunity to serve under the banner of the CPDM this far.

 Yours truly,

AYAH Paul ABINE