Gunmen blockade Cameroon bridge ahead of election

By DIVINE NTARYIKE

DOUALA, Cameroon{AP} -- Gunmen wearing military uniforms and carrying signs opposing Cameroon's longtime ruler blockaded a major bridge early Thursday, shooting at police for several hours in an attack less than two weeks before the presidential election.
Sporadic gunshots still could be heard in the area hours later, and heavily armed soldiers have been deployed across the city of Douala to search vehicles. President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, faces 22 challengers in the Oct. 9 poll.

Eyewitness Itah Robert said Thursday's early morning gunfight took place on the mile-long Wouri Bridge, which is used by some 35,000 vehicles a day.
"A fierce exchange of gunfire ensued and one of the gunmen plunged into the River Wouri," he said. "It is not clear if he drowned."

One witness told The Associated Press that the gunmen had placards that read: "Paul Biya Must Go At All Costs" and "Paul Biya Dictator."
Biya, who is considered one of Africa's remaining strongmen, is widely expected to win another seven-year term next month. In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, provoking nationwide unrest that left 40 dead according to government statistics.

The International Crisis Group expressed concern that public frustration with the government could spark election-related violence in Cameroon.

Earlier this year, the government ordered cell phone companies to suspend mobile services for Twitter after people used the social networking site to report the mass deployment of troops to prevent a "Drive Out Biya" march.
Many poor Cameroonians blame Biya for the the prevalent poverty gripping this nation of more than 20 million people, citing political stagnation and resource-plundering by his colleagues.

Biya was bequeathed power in 1982 by what was then Cameroon's sole political party. Since then, he has introduced modest democratic reforms, allowing multiple political blocs and some increased personal freedoms.
In 1992, he won Cameroon's first-ever multiparty presidential elections, but the ballot was internationally denounced as fraudulent. The opposition accuses his party of rigging elections to ensure his victory.

Cameroon opposition leader says other parties are ‘maggots’

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNN) — The chairman of Cameroon’s main opposition party, John Fru Ndi, said Monday that the other opposition parties competing in October’s presidential race are “maggots.”

Fru Ndi told supporters at a rally in the opposition stronghold of Bamenda that nearly all the parties running alongside his Social Democratic Front were set up by President Paul Biya as a ploy to fracture the main party.
Fru Ndi says he will resign after three years if he is elected president, rather than the usual seven-year term.
Twenty-three candidates will be on the ballot in the West African nation on October 9.

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, a Biya Cabinet minister, denied that the president created the “maggot parties” to weaken the Social Democratic Front but pointed to the relative peace enjoyed under Biya’s rule.
Biya’s campaigners have been renewing promises made over the course of his 29-year rule, adding that he is seeking another term because it is the people’s choice.

But Melvis Acho, a resident of Bamenda, disagreed. “We are tired of Mr. Biya alone ruling this nation for nearly 30 years with total repression. We lack jobs and even basic health care. Epidemics like cholera run for over a year, and no one seems to care. Corrupt officials and embezzlers walk away with impunity.”
In Bamenda, Fru Ndi raised the possibility of protests.

“I would not opt for youths to take to the streets in protest like that of the Arab Spring, but if Mr. Biya’s regime this time violates a free, fair and transparent election as he has always done, I would change my mind,” he told supporters.

The state-run media, CRTV, is being criticized by opposition candidates as favoring Biya’s Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement in order to render them voiceless in the campaign.

Cameroon opposition want poll official to resign over bias

By BISONG ETAHOBEN  

 Cameroon opposition candidates and civil society organisations want one of the 18 members of Cameroon’s elections commission to resign for allegedly campaigning for President Paul Biya.

Ms Pauline Biyong, a civil society leader who was appointed to ELECAM by President Biya, has reportedly won a contract to mount campaign posters and billboards for the incumbent.

An official of the Biya campaign team, who refused to be quoted because he is not allowed to speak on behalf of the team, told the Africa Review on phone yesterday morning that the contract was not awarded to Ms Biyong by the President’s campaign team, but by the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency.

Ms Biyong has refused to answer journalists’ telephone calls since the news of the scandal broke out. Meanwhile, security operatives Saturday blocked Mr Momo Jean de Dieu, a presidential candidate of PADDEC party, from launching his campaign in Mvomeka’a, President Biya’s village of birth.

The Divisional Officer of Meyomessalla under whose jurisdiction President Biya’s village falls, said Mr Jean de Dieu was banned from campaigning because he had neither applied nor received permission to do so. Cameroon law, however, allows all candidates to campaign anywhere around the country without prior authorisation.

Mr Momo said he decided to launch his campaign in President Biya’s village of birth because he strongly believes that to get rid of the lion, one must go to the lion’s den. It should be recalled that during the 2004 presidential election, Biya was branded the “Lion Man” in his campaign posters

In another development, the Taxation Department has ordered ELECAM not to refund $10,000 caution money paid by Pierre Milla Assoute, a former ruling party bigwig and current leader of the RDMC. 

-Daily Monitor

“The Untold Story of Cameroon Reunification” rated a Must-read at launching

  By Christopher Ambe Shu

A  book, authored by Professor Victor Julius Ngoh of the University of Buea,titled ‘The UNTOLD STORY of CAMEROON REUNIFICATION:1955-1961” published  this year in French and English was last week aunched  in Buea under the patronage of the Minister of Higher Education, at a massively attended ceremony. 

Various reviewers at the ceremony, which took place at the Amphi 750 of University of Buea, described the book as a MUST- READ.The 115-page book, dedicated to late renowned historian and professor, Z.Njeuama, has been published separately in French and English.It sells at 5000 Fcfa

Professor Vincent Titanji, Vice-chancellor of University of Buea, who chaired the launching on behalf of Minister of Higher Éducation Jacques Fame Ndongo, praised the author for painstakingly carrying out such important historical research work.

Professor Titanji noted that it is through research works like Professor Ngoh’s own that the real colours of the actors of Cameroon reunification are made public. He said the University of Buea welcomes enthusiastically book launches, and hoped that the book would stimulate debates and further research.

In his review, Daniel Abwa, professor of History, from the University of Yaounde 1, remarked, “The Book has been written with all the methodology imposed on historians in carrying out research”. He said the book analyses the untold history of the Foumban conference, which was intended to decide on the kind of Cameroon, Southern Cameroons and French Cameroon wanted to construct. “It is a very good book of Cameroon history, whose sources are the British Archives and Cameroon”

Professor  Emmanuel Pondi of IRIC, University of Yaounde 2, in his brief comments, said he knew little about Cameroon history, until when he read through “The Untold Story of Cameroon Reunification:1955 – 1961”.He challenged Cameroonians to rush for their copies, describing the book as a must-read.

For his part, Barrister Eta Besong Jr, president of Cameroon Bar Association, speaking authoritatively, stated, “No book has ever come out with such accurate reporting of the history of Cameroon as “The Untold Story of Cameroon Reunification” of Professor Ngoh has done”.

Nfon Victor Mukete, aged over 90 years, who is paramount ruler of the Bafaws in Meme, and who was a key actor in Cameroon reunification, described the book as “wonderful research”.

Also speaking,Mola Njoh Litumbe, Anglophone rights activist and chairman of the LDA party, said the book has confirmed that  La Republique du Cameroon only annexed Southern Cameroon. He insisted that ,the  Biya Administration   should immediately dialogue  with “Sothern Cameroonians” for the interest of peace and development.

The Chief launcher of the book,Mr. Dima Gabriel, founder of FIFFA SA,who was represented, donated 750,000Fcfa to encourage the author. Another Chief launcher, his majesty Tabe Tando,CEO of EUroil,chipped in 300,000Fcfa.In all, the purchase of the book on the spot generated  several millions of Fcfa.

In his response, Professor Ngoh said the massive turn out was testimony that Cameroonians want to know their true history.He reiterated that he painstakingly for years researched and analyzed authentic documents to come out with the book.

Cameroon :"It’s time for the implantation of the third pillar of the national triangle" - George Nyamndi, SLC Presidential Candidate

Professor  Nyamndi George

After contesting the 2004 presidential elections on the platform of the Social Liberal Congress (SLC) party, Professor Nyamndi George Dobgima is one of 23 qualified candidates to run for the coming October 9 presidential race.

 Professor Nyamndi, of the University of Buea, sat down for an exclusive interview with Recorder Associate Editor, Princewill Mukwelle ahead of October 9 presidential polls.

 In the following interview Presidential candidate, Professor Nyamndi, who is also President of the SLC, emphasizes on the need for the implantation of the third pillar in the Cameroonian nation. To him, the first of the three pillars to uphold the triangle of the Cameroon was planted in the Grand North on October 1, 1961 when Amadou Ahidjo was made President, the second in the South with Paul Biya as President. He says is time all Cameroonians rallied behind the implantation of the third pillar, which should naturally come from the   Grand West. 

  The SLC candidate is not warm about getting into an alliance in the course of the race. Read on:

Professor Nyamndi, congratulation on your qualification as one of the 23 candidates to run for the October 9 presidential elections 

  Professor Nyamndi:Thank you. Indeed the initial submissions rose to 53 and we are happy to say that we were among the 23 candidates who were selected to run the presidential race come October 9, 2011. 

Now there is a school of thought that holds that we only meet Professor Nyamndi George Dobgima and the Social Liberal Congress on the eve of election in this country, do you agree with that?

That school of thought has a right to its thoughts, but I want to say that those thoughts do not in any way reflect the reality on the ground. Without being overly positive I want to say that the Social Liberal Congress has always expressed its dynamism on the ground each time events have called for it. You may want to know that between 2004 -the last presidential elections and today the political ground in Cameroon has been very, very shaky -very fertile and the SLC has played a frontline role in shaping ideas and events in Cameroon; in making contributions to national debates; so I think it is not exactly reflexive of our role in Cameroonian politics to say that one is only meeting us now. 

 Last presidential elections in 2004 you were a participant- I mean you and your party .Did the impression you made motivating enough to have pushed you to  put up your candidature again this time around?. 

Hmm…going by common evaluation, I think we gave a very good account of ourselves in 2004 and it is on the strength of that record that we thought we could this time around build on our 2004 experience and make further progress. You know that after the elections in 2004, journalists, the society and other observers returned to the performances of all the candidates and I’m glad to observe that when general opinion centered on our performance there was agreement; one on the quality of our general composure and two on the depth of our message. I think the combination of these two factors give our overall performance a very, very good evaluation indeed. We do hope that in the coming elections we will return to what we did in 2004 to recue those positive things that society observed and appreciated and build on them;you know that the presidential race is a sustained effort in time, the final goal may loom in sight but it takes some effort to get there and that effort can only be the cumulative effect of constant thriving, constant engagement and commitment. And these are the moods if you like, in which the Social Liberal Congress and myself intend to face the upcoming elections. 

We may want to stay with the word performance given that numbers may not be of the essence in our discussion here; but let me ask you: Mr. President ,can you say exactly where the SLC is found in terms of its representation in the country today? 

That’s a very pertinent interrogation, I would not tell you that we cover the length, breadth and depth of the Cameroon We are a young party, growing and our journey into the country is gradual;from now we think that we are to be found in a very active way in regions like the Center, the Littoral, the South West, the West the North West and surprisingly the South. We are also making efforts to create inroads and exploit them into the northern territories. We already have skeletal representation in those areas and we do intend -thanks to the sustained nature of our own efforts- to beef up that skeletal representation; it is something more significant and we think that this will happen no later than during the upcoming presidential elections. 

Twenty-three candidates are running for the presidency in a country like Cameroon. Some people think that they are many given that 20 of them are in the opposition to challenge the incumbent. There seems not to be a match. Is the Social Liberal Congress going into this election with this thinking?

     Far from it; contrary to what people think I am convinced that the number of candidates is certainly not of essence as far as these elections go. What is as stake is the structure of the elections? Don’t forget that we are in a democratic situation or we are supposed to be in a democratic situation; and what does democratic practice require? That you give the candidates all the chances of fair evaluation; this doesn’t seem to be the case now, you cannot objectively in a democratic situation conduct elections and limit them to one round. If our elections were two rounds, the question of numbers just wouldn’t surface. The first round would enable a line-up of candidates according to performance and in the event where no candidate obtains the 51 or 50 plus majority as democratic practice requires there would be a run-off between the first two candidates and then the rest of them will fall behind these two candidates in coalitions; that’s the way things are done. But we have a situation where on the one hand we say we are in a democratic election and on the other we carry out very undemocratic practices. We are going to have elections with 21 candidates and let me note in passing that contrary to what you think it is not twenty versus one as you think it is 23 versus 23. We are in a race and normally if the playing field were level the chances would be the same for everybody. And so let me repeat: the problem is not the number of candidates, but rather the structure of the elections and the sooner we address this structure to clean it, to remove some of these huddles which mar our own democratic image the better .And how are we going to clean it? we are going to clean it- one, by giving it the conditions, the primary conditions that make for good democratic practice, by this we mean an independent electoral commission which we don’t have and a two- round election which alone can guarantee fair choice which alone can give a country the right leader that it chooses for itself. 

Sir, I am meeting you in the company of your supporters just a few days to the start of campaigns. If one were to hear from you -in three sentences, what concerns will the SLC seek to address in this country?

I am glad you observe that I am in the company of my very close associates; one of the key things that we have addressed our minds to within the context of the upcoming elections has been the campaign message that we want to deliver to Cameroon. And this campaign message I say and you are privy to it. It is together for the third pillar. We have a constructive attitude, a constructive method to politics in Cameroon. Over and above the common realities of road building, building of hospitals ports, airports and what else have you, we have the fundamental problem. If there is no country there will be no place in which to build the hospitals and roads and airports. Cameroon is still awaiting its delivery in geometric terms. You may want to know what we mean by together for the third pillar. You know that the country is also called the national triangle and a triangle has three parts right. Now, if you go down memory lane, you would discover that between the 1^st October, 1961 and today two of the country’s three pillars have been planted: one in the Grand North when Ahidjo was the President of this country, the other one in the Grand South with Biya as president of the country. The third pillar is awaiting its implantation and when we say together for the third pillar we mean that all Cameroonians should pull their resources put hands on deck and together as one indivisible nation plant this third pillar without which the Cameroonian reality will not see the light of day. This is the message we are taking to Cameroonians and our whole political endeavor will be built around the need for this third pillar to be planted ;the need for Cameroon to obtain its full solid basis and rise to the name nature has given it, that of a national triangle. 

 How do you assess the activities of ELECAM this far? Are you one of those who doubt that ELECAM will live up to its expectations?

Well, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. I will not asses ELECAM before it has done its job. Let ELECAM prove to us its worth. For the time being we give ELECAM the benefit of the doubt, we want to believe that ELECAM is made up of Cameroonians who hold their country dearly to heart and who are able to rise above certain considerations which may detract from nation building. I know quite a few of them who are men and women of metal. I have confidence in them and I will continue to have that confidence until they prove me wrong.

 You said a while ago that all 23 candidates involved in the coming presidential elections are equal. If at some point any of these parties solicits the SLC for an alliance, what will be your reaction given your lofty idea of building the nation in a vision of completeness?

 I do not know what we will stand to gain in a group strategy. As I have said, you become a group when you are sure that the group  will create an impact, but under the prevailing circumstances, groups will be formed to combat other groups and I am not sure I want to be part of that kind …let me not use a negative word. I am not sure I want to be part of that kind of scenario. Let us rather fight for the emergence of true democratic practice in Cameroon. And most of these questions will find their answers quite naturally in the democratic game itself. They come up time and again precisely because our intentions are not matched by our actions. 

 Thank you very much for talking to us.But is there anything you may want to add before we part company?

If there is anything I want to say it will be to tell Cameroonians that these elections place us in a significant moment in the history of our country and that we should rise to the challenge and do things that will make our country proud. There is only one such thing for now, the implanting of the third pillar, that will give birth to a truly united, integrated and prosperous Cameroon. 
(First Published in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of September 23,2011)

Cameroon : October 9 Presidential Election:Police Arrest Ayah’s Party Members in Bamenda!

*Seek to know force behind the presidential candidate's  popularity

By Christopher Ambe Shu

Hon. Ayah Paul:braving the odds

Police in Bamenda on Monday reportedly arrested supporters of the People’s Action Party(PAP), whose presidential candidate is Hon.Ayah Paul Abine and detained them .

According to PAP officials , “The coordinator of AYAH's People's Action Party, PAP, in Bamenda, Mr. Caspa Frankline was arrested at 9:40 AM Monday morning at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue by the Mobile Wing of the Forces of Law and Order. He was detained alongside other PAP members and held until 4 PM”.

PAP officials say that “They were forced and intimidated to explain the force ‘behind Paul AYAH and PAP'. The Recorder by press time did not succeed to independently verify the reason of the arrest with the Bamenda police.

But The Recorder has learned that PAP-which was registered in the early 1990’s with headquarters in Kumba and was little known, is now gaining more grounds in many towns even in Bamenda, the fief of the leading opposition party .

The arrest of Caspa Frankline and others is considered by PAP as intimidation by the Biya administration of presidential challengers.

Reports have it that ever since Hon. Ayah ,the only courageous CPDM MP who opposed a 2008 constitutional amendment scrapping limits to presidential terms ,resigned from the ruling CPDM several months ago and joined the PAP to contest the coming presidential polls, police have ,more than twice, in Bamenda and Buea reportedly acting on instruction from hierarcy,prevented him from educating Cameroonians at gatherings on his vision of a born-again Cameroon.

The arrest of PAP adherents took place against the backdrop of calls from civil society organizations for a level playing ground for presidential competitors and prayers from Christian communities for peace during this electoral period.

In Buea, for example, hundreds of clergymen and Christians, under the banner of Gospel Ministers’ Forum, coordinated by Martin Tem and Rev.Dr.S.M Mbote, last Sunday, September 18 marched about six kilo metres from Bongo Square to Molyko Stadium in what they described as a campaign prayer for peace before, during and after the presidential election.

There is the general fear that supporters of some candidates that will end up as losers may retort to violence and vandalism in protest. But informed sources have told us that all security forces have been put on red alert to check any disturbances during this electoral exercise.

Twenty-three (23) candidates including the incumbent, 78-year old Paul Biya of the CPDM will be competing to become the next president of Cameroon.

One of Biya’s top challengers will be John Fru Ndi, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Front, who like Biya has been chairman of his party since its creation in 1990.

Cameroon has over 240 political parties and 53 of them submitted their candidatures for the coming presidential polls, but Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the body charged with the conduct of elections rejected 30 applicants for non-compliance with legal requirements.

Cameroon has a population of about 18 million people.

According to Njang Emmanuel, Southwest Regional Delegate for ELECAM, more than seven million Cameroonians are enrolled in electoral registers at home and abroad. ELECAM had planned to register up to nine million voters.

Since the re-introduction of multi-party politics in Cameroon in 1990, this central African country has had three presidential elections: 1992, 1997 and 2004.

And the incumbent, Paul Biya emerged as winner of all the three polls ,against wide-spread accusations by the opposition that he was an election rigger.

Campaigns for this year’s presidential will officially kick off tomorrow September 24 and the 23 candidates are already strategizing to win over voters

(First published in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of September 23,2011)

WikiLeaks and The New Information Age

By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaoundé.

Seismologists usually say that long before the top of a volcano blows off, they hear it clearing its throat because they see the seismic rumblings. This is becoming the case with many areas of human endeavour since the seismic rumblings of our human futures in most areas can now be monitored. Humanity is fashioning various tools for such monitoring, but some are usually invented even before we can imagine how they will be used.

Such tools are embedded in the great social transformations of the 1980s that married computers to electronic communication, thus producing a revolution that is touching everybody, and everything, in all domains of human endeavour. This is unsettling some of those who lived much of their lives in the 20th century, and who are faced with the 21st century challenge of having to revise all sorts of assumptions they used to treat as solid, but which have since become fragile and flawed.

One of such assumptions is about the nature of information. The press has been awash with revelations from WikiLeaks of conversations between top nudges of the CPDM regime and the former American Ambassador Janet Garvey. Due to their past certainties, these barons failed to integrate the fact that in our new world, information tends to leak. When it leaks, we have more of it, and more of us have it! Information has become aggressive, even imperialistic in striving to break out of the unnatural bonds of secrecy in which secrecy-minded people used to imprison it. Today, like a virus, information tends to infect most of those around it. Therefore secrecy and confidentiality of all kinds have become anathema with the restless resource called information.

It is for these reasons that Harlan Cleveland in his wonderful book Nobody in Charge, urges those who claim to be at the service of the people to always take time to respond to the following self-test question before engaging in any line of action, public or private: “If this action (utterance) is held up to public scrutiny will I still feel that it is what I should have done (said), and how I should have done (said) it?”

After all, a definition of integrity is that you should be the same person to the world as you are in your private life, and in your secrets. We have to always take full moral responsibility for the judgments some relevant public now or in the future would ultimately make of our public or private actions and utterances.

Those who claim to be leading our society to the Promised Land should constantly reflect on the verdict they will get in the court of public opinion in relation to their unearthed secrets. They must always imagine that at one time or the other, there will be public judgment of their actions. We need leaders that no matter what they are doing in whatever field, come to feel personally responsible for the much wider context in which what they are doing has to be done.

It is the absence of an imagined future public knowledge of our secret deals, the absence of our constant self interrogation and probing of the rightness of our assumed secret deals, that have produced most of the known and yet to be known instances of public corruption that have debased our political history today. The best antidote of irresponsibility is the certainty that sooner or later, “secrets” will become public knowledge.

In any case, in the final analysis, the future of Cameroon will not depend on the “secret” utterances of self-seeking “leaders;” it will depend on the purity of the intentions of those who seek to provide leadership. After all, if becoming president of the USA depended on what some white people thought/think of black people, Barack Obama would never have become president. I personally watched a white diplomat in Yaoundé weeping openly when it became obvious that Obama had won! The weeping might have been on Democrat/Republican lines, but it could as well have been on racial lines…

Incidentally, the “Septentrion” seer-cum-soothsayer just mentioned the Anglophones in passing in his succession paradigms. But the secrets revelation galore brought forth Anglophones as the master players of the second fiddle! What with Mengot not looking beyond his nose? What with Inoni not expressing any ambition for power (although the Ambassador thought that he was a good PM)? To crown it all, Cardinal Tumi tells us in his recent book Ma Foi: Un Cameroun à Remettre à Neuf that one day he found himself alone with Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge; during their conversation he asked him if he believed an Anglophone could become president of Cameroon one day. A graveyard silence followed!

It is usually said that silence is golden, but not when it is the result of fear or lack of moral fibre. Silence is golden, if you think that what you say in private, you cannot assume in public!

Cameroon: God-fearing woman uses birthday to raise funds for church

 By Christopher Ambe Shu

Becky Effoe  with  money basket  processes as Chief  Endeley smiles

Her name is Becky Limunga Effoe, native of Buea and a Baptist Christian .She is currently the Director of the state-owned Intensive Vocational Training Center (IVTC) Buea, Cameroon.

Generally described as humble and generous, this soft-spoken Cameroonian mother-fondly called Auntie Becks- turned   fifty-something on September 17 .And, guess what. She took an informed decision: she used her birthday anniversary to glorify the Almighty God by organizing a massively –attended thanksgiving service at her modest worship house-Bender Baptist Church-Bokwango, Buea. 

The birthday thanks-giving service was also intended to raise funds for the construction of the official residence of her parish pastor. A significant but an undisclosed amount was  raised.

Bender Baptist Church is decades-old but as a village church lacks the sufficient funds to get its projects quickly realized. The current residence of the parish pastor is in a state of disrepair.

The four-hour divine service, co-officiated by Reverend Pastors Njobara Nelson and Ngong Patrick, was animated by various choral groups and Gospel Musician Ewune Hannah. The lyrics of the different songs sung at the ceremony were soul-searching, participants said

As  Becky Effoe  walks  she is cheered by granddaughter

 In attendance among the many high-profile invitees  were the Paramount Chief of Buea, retired Justice SML Endeley ;Roland Kwemain,former  world President of Junior  Chamber International (JCI) and Ngale kinge Jacob, retired  senior civil administrator and proprietor of Kingston Memorial Nursery and Primary School,Buea  ,and Peter Esoka,veteran journalist and moral commentator.

Testifying, Becky Effoe told Christians and invitees that God has always favored her especially in trying moments. She attributed her successes in life to the hand of God, adding that she could only pay back by glorifying the Almighty in whatever way possible.

 “Enemies send people to  kill Becky and when these people see me, they instead confess,”   Becky Effoe, almost in tears, said as the congregation shouted in sympathy.

The Nobles-choristers sing to her listening enjoyment

Other speakers at the service were all agreed that Becky Effoe is down-to –earth, friendly, hard-working and humble despite her high status in society. Before becoming the Director of IVTC, she had dutifully served as Private (Confidential Secretary) to four different Cameroonian Ministers for many years.

Before his sermon, Rev. Pastor Njobara said Becky Effoe was blessed to have people present “eulogies” to her alive, and described the different beautiful songs that rented the air as a foretaste of “what we (Christians) shall do in heaven”

In his sermon, Rev. Njobara Nelson drawing inspiration from the Bible book of Matthew 6:25-34, preached under the theme “Seeking First His Kingdom in Life.”

He challenged the congregation to be exemplars. “Your lives should show that Jesus Christ lives in you”, he said, warning that except people accept  Jesus   as  the light of  their  lives and work  according to God’s will, they may be struggling in vain.

Ewune Hannah,gospel musician, sings at reception party

The Pastor cautioned, “Don’t take the second step before the first. Therefore, seek first the Kingdom of God and every other thing will be yours.”

Rev. Njobara wondered why people worry when they can commit themselves to God in prayer for solutions to their problems.

God does not lead us to a mission without giving us a vision to complete it, said the man of God, who advised, “The greatest birthday is the day you are born-again; the day you give your life to Jesus Christ”

The thanks-giving service ended with a hectic reception party offered by Becky Effoe and family at the IVTC Premises, where Gospel singers continued their performance to the relaxation and enjoyment of all.

Parallel Vote Tabulation or Swift Count: Badly Needed in Cameroon!

By Tazoacha Asonganyi,Yaounde.

 When what is called “Offre Orange” announced that it was trying to “organise the people’s victory through the ballot box,” there was hope that civil society was getting up from it slumber to get fully engaged in electoral activities in Cameroon. However, enthusiasm about the outfit started to wane because instead of contributing to the construction of a level playing field to give the people the opportunity to achieve this, they started looking for an “Offre Orange candidate.” 

In countries like Cameroon where the regime in place has refused to budge on the organisation of free and fair elections, civil society has usually taken the regime on by ensuring that the election results reflect the votes cast by the people across the country. In the process, the people are usually spurred to use elections as a springboard for forcing change in their countries.

 

Civil society usually achieves independent verification of results from polling stations through what is called Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) using all polling stations in the country or a statistically selected sample of the polling stations. If the PVT is performed on a statistical sample of the polling stations, it is usually called a swift or quick count. It involves observation of the voting and counting of ballots at the polling stations, collection of official polling station results and independent tabulation of these results, parallel to election authorities.

It is known that the Philippine National Citizen Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) was the pioneer of the quick count.  NAMFREL was made up of 140 benefactors and 125 civil society organizations and had the declared goal of ensuring "free, orderly and honest elections" in the Philippines. It had member-volunteers from different religious, civic, business, professional, labor, youth, educational, and non-government organizations.

During the 1986 presidential election in Philippine, NAMFREL tried to obtain results from all 90,000 polling stations by mobilising 500,000 volunteers nationwide to monitor the polling stations across the country. At the final count Ferdinand Marcos declared himself the winner of the election; but the NAMFREL count showed that Corazon Aquino won. This gave birth to the “People Power” of Corazon Aquino (RIP), which produced the wave of “colour revolutions” that swept through Eastern Europe and other regions of the world, and liberated the people from the fangs of communism, and from the clutches of failed elections managed by dictatorial regimes.

The PVT also played a crucial role during the disputed Zimbabwean election held in March 2008. Since polling station results were posted outside polling stations, MDC supporters took pictures, often with camera phones, and sent these to a central location  where the results were tabulated, giving Morgan Tsvangirai 50.3% of the vote. This led to a salemate at the end of which, the Zimbabwean election authority announced that Tsvangirai scored 48.6% of the votes, and that a run-off election would follow. The rest is history.

In Ghana in 2008 the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), a 34-organization strong coalition deployed more than 4,000 election observers; 1,000 conducted PVT in 1,000 polling stations of the more than 22,000 polling stations in Ghana. The first and second rounds of the presidential elections that were decided by less than 1% of the votes, was helped by the Swift Count whose figures confirmed those announced by the electoral commission and helped all parties to accept the results.

 

PVT has also been carried out by civil society organizations in many countries, including Burundi, Kenya, and recently in Nigeria. In Kenya Civil Society Observation Programme (KCSOP) carried out a swift count during the 2010 constitutional referendum to help reduce tension and prevent a repeat of the election related violence of 2007.

 

In Nigeria a coalition of four prominent Nigerian civil society groups - the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria, Justice Development and Peace/Caritas Nigeria, the Nigerian Bar Association, and the Transition Monitoring Group - came together to form Project 2011 Swift Count to provide “an accurate, real-time picture” of the conduct of the accreditation of voters, voting, counting as well as the verification of the accuracy of the result as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). At the end of the poll, INEC official results were highly consistent with swift count estimates. Project 2010 Swift Count concluded that Nigerian citizens had a meaningful opportunity to vote and the results reflected the ballots cast.

 

Law No. 2011/002 of 6 May 2011 to amend and supplement certain provisions of law No. 92-10 of 17 September 1992 to lay down conditions governing the vacancy of, and election to the Presidency of the Republic in Cameroon states in section 92 (new) that: “(1) The results of the poll shall forthwith be entered into the report. Such report which shall be made in as many copies as there are members present plus 2 shall be closed and signed by all the members; (2) A copy of the report shall be given to each member of the Local Polling Commission present and having signed it. (3) One copy shall be forwarded within 48 hours following the close of the poll to the Chairman of the Divisional Supervisory Commission. (4) The President of the Local Polling Commission shall forward the original copy of the report to the head of the Council Branch of Elections Cameroon for filling. The said original copy shall be authentic.”

 

Section 77 (new) (4) of the above law stipulate that “polling stations shall be located in public places or in premises open to the public,” meaning that apart from the official presence of “representatives of candidates” at polling stations, representatives of civil society can be present. This also means that PVT is possible in the Cameroon electoral process. Although the recent law to amend and supplement certain provisions of Law N° 2006/11 of 29 December 2006 to set up and lay down the organization and functioning of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), "publication of election trends" was deleted in section 22 (new) (I), it in no way bars PVT to ensure independent verification of results from polling stations. 

PVT is important if we remember that in 2002, public authorities encouraged electoral fraud by banning all announcements of results, although CRTV announced the victory of the CPDM in all constituencies immediately following the close of the polls, even before the counting started! This allowed administrative officials to manipulate results to give victory to the CPDM, in conformity with the announcement of CRTV. It is also important because “representatives of the administration” that masterminded the manipulation of polling station results in the past are back in force in Local Polling Commissions, Divisional Supervisory Commissions, and the National Commission for the Final Counting of Votes! 

Other countries have seen the Bar Association, the Union of Journalists, and other key civil society organization lead the way in ensuring free, fair and credible polls in their countries. So far, these organizations seem to be just spectators in Cameroon. To add insult to injury, the opposition political parties are behaving as if they are all blind, deaf and dumb; not talking to themseles, and pretending neither to see, hear, nor read what is happening in other countries in similar situations like ours. 

To crown it all, a prominent Embassy in Yaounde carried out a PVT during the 2002 twin elections but when the results were in, they gave excuses that they could not cry more than the bereaved, since Cameroonians seemed to be “happy” with the results that were announced! They preferred to arm-twist government with the PVT and gain juicy investment contracts for their firms. Cameroonians need to take their destiny into their own hands first, before they can count on willing friends!