Elections in Cameroon: Administration, Security Services and Others

By Asonganyi Tazoacha

   Early in his reign in Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo set aside the legislative arm of government – Parliament – to rule by ordinance. The dozens of ordinances he signed dealt with issues like state of emergency, military tribunals, repression of subversion, etc. All the ordinances were meant to strengthen the hand of the executive branch - the administration - to use the “law” to silence the people. The ordinances: 1) instituted tight restraints on freedom of expression and association, 2) allowed the security forces under the command of administrative authorities to act with impunity, and arrest, torture and send citizens to prison, 3) established new offenses termed “subversion” or “rebellion” which all prohibited free expression of opinion, making it a crime for anyone to oppose or criticize any government action. All this served to intimidate those who might voice dissent. It set the stage for the dictatorial one-man rule that characterized Ahidjo’s reign.

   With the advent of Paul Biya in 1982, some cosmetic changes were made, resulting in the 1990 “liberty” laws, which were in effect the consecration of the overriding dominance of the administration over the judiciary that the ordinances had since established. As expected, the “liberty” laws did not work; freedom of association (Law No. 90/053), and freedom to hold public meetings and processions (Law No. 90/055) did not operate like in most democracies because of the overbearing influence of administrative authorities. Maintenance of law and order - arrest and detention of “bandits” (Law no. 90/054) - became arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition and civil society militants. In general, the laws were not different from the ordinances of Ahidjo of the 1960s because they were ‘promulgated’ at the pleasure of an individual or a cabal to serve personalised power, and were equally repressive. “Working within the framework of the law”became a singsong of the cabal.

   The electoral process was of course affected by the “freedom” laws. For example, during the rerun of parliamentary elections in Nde Division in 2002, an SDF team led by me went to Nde Division to monitor the elections. Filbert Etoundi was part of the team. We sent him to head the sub-team to Tonga, and for reasons not very clear to us, he was arrested on the morning of Election Day before the polls opened. Samuel Tchwenko and I spent a good part of the morning struggling to get him released from the Gendarmerie where he was locked up on the orders of the DO of Tonga. This caused us to miss the crucial opening of polling stations. The DO caused Etoundi’s arrest using powers vested in him by the law on the maintenance of law and order. These administrative officials interpret “banditry,” and “law and order” regulated by the law subjectively. They regularly invoke the law before, during, and after elections to block the activities of opposition political parties, to leave the field wide-open for the CPDM to score electoral and other victories.

   Further, the first council sessions after the municipal elections are usually held in the presence of the SDOs who preside over preliminary business until the oldest councillors are identified to chair the sessions. Following the 1996 Municipal elections in Yaoundé, the SDF shared the Yaoundé V (Essos) Council - where I was residing - with the CPDM: the “official” results showed that the SDF won 5 seats while the CPDM won 30, making 35 councillors since no party scored an absolute majority. On the day of the first council session, instead of allowing the oldest councillor (SDF Councillor Père Bebbey) to preside over the session, the SDO Ename Ename Samson took over the session, read the 35 names on the council list of the CPDM, declared them installed as Councillors of Yaoundé V Council, and asked them to proceed to elect their executive. The 5 councillors of the SDF were excluded with a wave of the hand of the SDO, and that was it! No effort to change that “decision” during the 5 years of that Council yielded any fruit.

   A similar impunity occurred in Yaoundé II (Tsinga-Mokolo-Madagascar…) after the 1996 elections. Following the meeting of the Yaoundé II Council Supervisory Commission, the SDF was declared winner of the Municipal elections in that council area. The minutes of the meeting were signed by the members of the Commission and distributed to the parties concerned. By law, that brought the role of the commission to an end. Interestingly, twenty four hours later, the same SDO Ename Ename Samson illegally convened another meeting of the Commission, claiming that the results of a ballot box that had just been discovered were not taken into consideration. Some members of the commission met again and added the votes and of course, the results changed: the CPDM was the winner by absolute majority! And so a second set of minutes was signed by those who attended the meeting, and that became the “authentic” result of the 1996 Municipal elections in Yaoundé II!

   In Yaoundé VI council, the SDF list also won the 1996 elections, but the CDM produced concocted documents to say that the Electoral District Chairman of the SDF, Tchoungi Marcel Owona who was the head of the council list of the SDF was a CPDM militant! And so the SDF list was rejected by a commission in which the CPDM was prosecutor, judge and jury, after it was clear that the SDF had won! In the process, the representative of the SDF in the Council commission was knocked down unconscious to end his resistance. He only regained consciousness in the “Sapeur Pompier” clinic in Mokolo. After all these electoral feats, Ename Ename Samson was later promoted to the position of Secretary General of the National Assembly.

   In another act of ruthlessness in Alou Council in Lebialem Division after the 2002 Municipal election, SDO Joseph Otto Wilson reconvened the Council Commission to change its report in which the SDF had been declared winner of the Council; with a doctored result sheet from a certain “MohLah” polling station that arrived several days after the closing of the polls, he caused the commission to write another report that declared the CPDM winner of the Municipal election in Alou Council. This happened not without the SDO ordering the Gendarmerie to brutalize, arrest, and detain many cadres of the SDF. It was all going on under the watchful eyes of NEO officials that allowed the SDO to have his way! The SDO was one of the governors meeting in Yaounde recently to prepare for … the upcoming elections!

   These brazen acts were legion in the past. We can only hope that they are all history and can no longer be re-enacted today, although we are reading in the press that some divisions in the South region are “no-go” areas!

   The Governors that met recently to discuss the upcoming elections did so not under the impulsion of ELECAM, but of the Ministry of territorial administration and decentralization. Overall, the administration and other stakeholders should play a big role in ensuring transparency of the electoral process. Administrative authorities, the bar council, associations of journalists and their media houses, civil society activists, religious leaders and others are all supposed to be fully involved in ensuring transparency of the electoral process through providing and promoting citizen engagement, voter education, citizen election monitoring groups, media insights and perspectives, security plans around the elections, etc. These are supposed to happen under the impetus of the Electoral commission – ELECAM – at whose doorsteps the buck of electoral transparency ends. ELECAM is supposed to be in synergy with all these stakeholders, and provide for the election period, written and well publicized directives or working rules for administrative officials, security services (police, gendarmes, etc.), journalists, citizen election monitors, election observers, and others, so that we can all work in harmony and deliver free and fair elections together.

Cameroonians fete Mandela’s 95th Birth Day

By Christopher Ambe

      A group of Cameroonians converged on Fakoship Plaza Conference Hall in Buea, Thursday 18 July, to celebrate the 95^th birth day of anti-Apartheid hero and South African first black President, Nelson Mandela, fondly called Madiba.

Cameroonians in family photo after celebrating Mandela's 95th Birth Day

    July 18 is Mandela’s birthday, which is also Nelson Mandela International Day, a day declared by the UN in recognition of the Nobel Prize winner's contribution to peace and reconciliation.

     South Africans in particular and the world in general were celebrating Madiba’s birth day amid reports that his health was improving, even as he was still in a critical but stable state.

     He was hospitalized since June 8 for recurring lung infection and was said to be on a life support machine, fuelling global fears that, Mandela was near death.

The celebration in Buea was organized by a group in Cameroon, known as the Mandela Forum, which has exited for more than six years.  

    A special aspect of the celebration was the lighting of nine and a half candles, representing Mandela’s 95 years.

    This  year Dr. Ernest Molua (alias Madiba) ,lecturer  of the University of Buea,was the brain behind Mandela’s 95^th birthday in Buea,according to Nwalimu George Ngwane,writer and pan-Africanist,who moderated the lively discussions  about Mandela at the conference.

    The conference brought together University lecturers, students, journalists, the clergy and other members of the civil society.

     Prayers were said, urging God to give Nelson Mandela longer life, by the Imam of Buea, Aboubakar; Rev Pastor Mary Wose of Presbyterian Church Molyko and Rev Dr. Mokake Paul, Field pastor Soppo Baptist Church

Mandela’s photo exhibition and the presentation of poems in honor of Mandela’s life and times, written by university students, also characterized the celebration.

     It was also an occasion for people to ask questions about Mandela, with Dr.Ernest Molua and Writer George Ngwane, who are quite knowledgeable about the anti-apartheid hero, providing answers, to the satisfaction of all.

   Writer George Ngwane  disclosed that, the Mandela forum in Cameroon, which  is recognized by the South African High Commission in  Yaounde , was one of several groups and individuals who campaigned  that the UN set aside a day in  honor  of Mandela.

   Dr.  Molua, who presented biography at the conference, said Mandela‘s life and times are a great inspiration for people who advocate human rights.

  The conference attendees all chanted “Happy Birth Day songs to Mandela, wishing him more years.

Cameroon: Is Southwest Region Under Administrative Exploitation?

                             By Njousi Abang* 

    Recently the new Divisional Officer for Buea was on a meet-the-people tour.  On the date he was scheduled to visit Molyko, all the business establishments were forced to remain closed until he arrived late in the night for the meeting. As a consequence of this, a lot of business opportunities were lost. Employees and employers who transported themselves to and fro their workplaces wasted the whole day without opening their establishments despite the taxes they pay to do business all year round. In addition to this, employers were bound to pay rents and workers for no work done. On the other hand, inhabitants of the vicinity did not go to their farms because an injunction order by the Chief forbade them from doing so.  

   Similarly,  before Buea was chosen to host the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of re-unification that never was, the Buea Municipality used to observed the first Wednesday of each new month as a day set aside for the inhabitants to clean up the town. Of late, the exercise has become a regular feature every Wednesday where all businesses, private and public establishments are shut down until after 12 noon. Take note that it is only the Head of State that has constitutional prerogatives to declare a public holiday. We have been held hostage by this regular occurrences with impunity.

   Intermittently, businesses and transportation of people, goods and services are constantly interrupted each time that a Minister, Governor, SDO or DO is on tour in this area. Recently, the out gone DO of Tiko on his routine visit to Mutengene in order to enforce this obnoxious orders, had to seize and destroy some bread that buyam sellams were selling thereabout.  This caused a lot of stir but nothing came out of it as the people buried their anger.

    On the average Inhabitants have been very reluctant to obey this rule because they pay taxes to the government, in order to do business, and Municipal authorities who have in turn hired HYSACAM to clean the town for them and dispose of their waste. Unconfirmed reports hold that billions of francs CFA are spent annually by the Buea Council to compensate HYSACAM for the work they are contracted to do on behalf of the population. Many inhabitants of the Buea municipality are beginning to question the role of HYSACAM and why they should be compelled to do work which they believe ought to be done by HYSACAM. Are we not paying for undelivered services? Are clean-up campaign days not just a trap to get defaulters pay huge fines to administrators? Where do the collections go to? Why MUST ordinary civilians stay off the road when a government official is passing by? Why MUST Civilians close down their businesses on some public holidays and special state events organized in their areas? Are some citizens more important than others? These are the questions on the lips of all and sundry.

   Experience shows that these actions of government and its officials knowingly or unknowingly disrupt businesses and infringe on citizens’ rights and freedoms. Economists claim that huge losses are incurred by civilians as a consequence. Citizens are becoming restless and uncomfortable with a lot of illegal collections and declaration of public holidays which make a lazy people to become so unproductive. Far from promoting a culture of hard work, government is accused of accelerating corruption and unproductiveness. 

    Mathematicians have worked it out too prove that an average Cameroonian works only three days a week. Most white-collar servants present themselves for work within this limited period but do very little. Those who depend on AES- SONEL for electrical power supply work less and suffer greater losses yet Cameroon goes on all the same. The situation is worse among farmers in traditional societies who have to obey native laws and customs which compel them to stay away from farms on ‘countri Sundays’ and those prohibited by unforeseen events. A majority of Cameroonians do not work but drink themselves to stupor while the burden of nation building and economic development lie on the shoulders of a few citizens who are quite often not recognized for the services they render. For instance, workers in the private sector have no way to join their counterparts to play, drink and smoke marijuana as it is the case with fellows who do not fall under rigid controls.

     If Cameroon MUST forge ahead, we need to engage the plough and work hard 24/24 and 7/7. We need to employ more workers to engage our machines fully. Workers need to work in shifts. Our banks need to function regularly and all round the clock to service those in need of funds to run their enterprises. A dysfunctional working platform or ATM machine can cost the company and customers a lot of stress.

 Cameroon has very poor work ethics. Many only become more serviceable when they have short-term gains to make. The administrators have to do much more to encourage and improve the work ethics instead of pushing the country more and more down the drain.

    Worried by this picture depicted above, some of us went down to the streets to determine whether Southwest Administrative Officials are helpful in this renaissance or not. Some people said No-o-o they are very unhelpful while others said YES they are. The latter ones who yes they are helpful were seen to be pro-government and beneficiaries of the system. This group said that there was no problem with the system in place. They claimed that most Cameroonians are corrupt and would likely do same if they had the opportunity. Furthermore, agents, who do the collections of fines, sell the pass to taxi drivers who desire to ply the roads during days set aside for clean-up and those who ensure compliance with administrative orders irrespective of their impact see nothing wrong with the bottlenecks imposed by the leaders who bar businesses and stop freedom of movement and interplay of economic forces in the market place.  In return for this, they score very high annual marks for personnel assessment. Similarly, those who do not fall under government payroll, receive their bonuses on-the-spot hence the more they collect the more they take home daily.

   The former group of people who question the legitimacy of government officials in perpetuating these obnoxious practices say that if the intention was really to keep Buea clean, then they would have been arresting and sanctioning those who do not clean Buea instead of blocking people from running their businesses even when their premises are clean. They go further to question why they carry out this practice only in Buea when they did not do same in other towns like Yaounde, Bamenda and Douala which is noted to have some quarters that stink of rot and dirt. One of the interviewees even threatened dragging the administration to court for forcing them to contribute for the celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of Re-unification when the councils and people of the Northwest and Centre Region did not contribute for the Grand celebrations of 50^th Anniversary of the Armed Forces and Independence of Cameroon respectively. “What do they take us for- Fools?” he questioned angrily. “Why MUST Southwest be tasked to contribute towards the celebration of national events?” “Is it because the event is coming to our soil?” he inquired further. “Please, just take 1/1000 of Oil Royalties due this oil producing area and pay for the event and leave South Westerners alone” a desperate Ndian youth who was standing nearby quipped.

   Cameroon needs to rework on its work ethics and ways of doing government business so that it does not show open discrimination and exaggerated tendencies that can cause chaos.

*Njousi Abang is National Coordinator, People’s Action Party (PAP), Cameroon

TI Global Corruption Barometer 2013: Cameroon Police, Judiciary identified as most corrupt!

                                             By Christopher Ambe

    Corruption in Cameroon, despite sustained efforts to curb it, still remains a significant problem and the services of the Police, Judiciary and the Education system have been indentified as champions of this vice, which has eaten deep in the fabric of this central African county, according to a survey conducted by Transparency International, dubbed the Global Corruption Barometer 2013, released last Tuesday. 

   Transparency International (TI) is the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption. Its national chapter, Transparency International –Cameroon, was created in 2000, two years after the corruption watchdog nailed Cameroon, by ranking it (in 1998) as the most corrupt country.

Minister Mbarga Nguele: Cameroon 's Police Boss

   In the recent past, Cameroon has been classed more than once as the most corrupt country in the world, forcing the Biya regime to launch a vigorous war against corruption, dubbed Operation Sparrow Hawk, which as sent many top government officials to prison for embezzlement of public funds.

   The Global Corruption Barometer 2013, which surveyed 114,000 people in 107 countries, revealed that corruption is widespread .The results show more than 1 in 4 paid a bribe in last 12 months(read a separate report on page 9 of this edition titled: Bribe paying still very high worldwide)

  At the level of Cameroon, according to Transparency International (TI), some 1000 people were in August 2012 randomly sampled and interviewed  from country’s   10 regions on their perception of corruption in the country as well as government’s efforts         to fight corruption, using a computer-assisted face-to –face survey. The target population represents 10 688 965 Cameroonian citizens aged of 18 and above.

    The   GCB 2013 for Cameroon results were released, July 9, during a press conference at the office of Transparency International –Cameroon in Yaounde,The  ceremony was presided over by the Vice- President of the Board of TI-Cameroon, Mrs. Beatrice Atcham Elom  and the Executive Director of TI-C, Mr. Roger Ngoh Yom, presented the GCB barometer.

 “The GCB 2012 result for Cameroon shows that citizens perceive corruption to be a significant problem in the public sector.  Police,  judiciary  system  and  education system are still seen as the top corruption ridden service sectors in the country, when police, judiciary and taxes services are the institutions where most people bribe to have a service during the 12 months preceding the study”, the TI report says.

“These results highlight the need for increased and continued action from the government as well as civil society in the country. This year’s GCB survey also focused on people action and the result shows that a majority of Cameroonians are willing to continue fighting corruption by reporting cases to authorities as well as by joining an organization that works to reduce it.”

  

Laurent Esso: Cameroon's Justice Minister

The report notes: “Police is seen as the most corrupted institution in Cameroon. On a scale of 1 to 5, survey respondents scored the police at 4.4 meaning they are extremely corrupted. However,  judiciary  and  education  system  are  also  seen  as  very  corrupt  with average scores of 4.2 and 4.0 respectively.

 In terms of percentage, the report says, “Eighty-six (86%) of respondents believed the police to be very or extremely corrupt while this percentage was 81% for the judicial and 72% for the educational system”

NGOs and Religious body on the other hand fall in the lower end of corruption perception. They both scored 2.5 lower than the average score of 3.5.

According to the survey, 59% of Cameroonians think that Government is at a large extent or entirely managed by a few entities of  people acting in their own best interests.

   Here  are the  IT key findings:46%  of  people  think  corruption  has  increased  and  24%  believe  it  hasn’t changed; Police appears as one of the most corrupt institution closely followed by the judiciary;62% of people in Cameroon have paid bribe to one of these 8 services (police, judicial system,  tax,  education system, medical and health service, registry and permit service, land service and utilities);69% of respondents who came in contact with police services had paid a bribe to obtain the service during the 12 past months, the judiciary system follows with 55%  and Tax services with 46%;Seventy-nine(79%) of  people agree that  ordinary people make a  difference in  the fight against corruption;50% of people think government is very ineffective at fighting corruption;74% of people are willing to report an incident of corruption.

  While TI-Cameroon has reiterated its readiness to join several anti-corruption watchdog organizations to press for the adoption of anti-corruption laws in the country, it is hoped that, the Cameroon government would use the survey results to intensify its war against corruption, especially in the Police, Judiciary and the Education system, identified as most corrupt service sectors.

 ( First Published in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of July 11,2013-as lead story)