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| Mola Njoh Litumbe |
Mola,
as Chairman of the legalized political party known as the Liberal Democratic
Alliance (LDA), we have not seen your team on the electoral playing field in
recent years. Can you tell us what your
problem is, especially now that the State supports political parties
financially to participate in elections?
To
have meaningful elections, there has to be a level playing field for all
players, and my party’s assessment of the political situation in Cameroun is
that the playing field is strewn with rocks that make playing good political
football almost impossible. Politics is
a contest between individuals and parties, and for there to be fair play, the
services of an independent umpire are indispensable. You know yourself that we are only right now
seeing the beginnings of an Independent Electoral Commission which is still
trying to find its feet on the ground.
Besides, there are always differences of opinion between contesting
parties in all elections, needing the intervention of an impartial Judiciary.
In Cameroon, the Higher Judicial Council which
not only recruits magistrates and judges,
and which also disciplines and promotes them, is presided over by the
President of the Republic, and in his absence the Minister of Justice, both of
whom are politicians of the same ruling party.
It would have been foolhardy for me to contest Presidential elections in
the hope of winning, in which the President of the Republic is also a candidate
for, in the end, one of his judges would have to deliver the un-appealable verdict. In this regard a willing judge will always be
found to return the favour of his position and declare the President the
winner!
Furthermore,
my position has always been that there is no Treaty of Union between Southern
Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, as required under international law,
so I could not see myself, as a citizen of Southern Cameroons, seeking to be
President of a foreign country, La Republique du Cameroun that we never legally
joined to constitute one state. After
many years of stating this fact, for which I have been handsomely rewarded with
three illegal house arrests, I was delighted that on 05 April 2013, a
high-powered conference debate with some 800 participants took place in
Yaounde, presided over by the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency
of the Republic, and attended by several cabinet ministers and other senior
state officials. Principal speakers were
eminent historian Professor Victor Julius Ngoh of the University of Buea, and
seasoned Professor of Public Law and Constitutional Expert Ondoua
Magloire. They all came to the
conclusion that there are no legal documents binding Southern Cameroons with La
Republique du Cameroun. Professor Ondoua
then concluded by saying that there should be no celebration for re-unification
that never took place, but that we should celebrate the anniversary of the
present state of Cameroun that was born in 1961 following discussions between representatives
of the two Cameroon parties in Foumban in 1961.
The pity of such a conclusion is that there is no record of any agreements
reached at the Foumban get-together between the President of the sovereign
state of La Republique du Cameroun and the Premier of a UN British colonial
trust territory whose colonial type constitution reserved powers over foreign
relations, defence, etc. to the British Imperial Government in London and
outside the competence of the Southern Cameroons Legislature.
Mola,
since you do not believe that Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun
are one country, what advice would you give to your party adherents who wish to
vote on 30th September?
For
reasons I have explained earlier, the LDA will not be fielding any candidates,
but those party members and sympathizers who wish to participate, should vote
not for a particular party but for individuals who are sympathetic to the
Southern Cameroons cause, which has now been conceded by the high-powered Government-
sponsored debate of 5 April 2013 in Yaounde.
They should vote for Change, and certainly not vote for the party which
has been in office for so long that it has taken many things for granted. Look at the mega corruption in high places
and with no proper sense of direction, as evidenced by the on-going trials for
theft of huge amounts of public funds. For Southern Cameroonians in particular,
vote for men and women of “timber and calibre” who would, like the Hon. Justice
Paul Anya of PAP, assert their independence and represent the Voice of their
People in Parliament and in the Councils.
To vote for the status quo is to prolong the agony especially of
Southern Cameroonians who thought they were joining La Republique du Cameroun to create a Federation of two
states, equal in status. Ask yourself
what has become of the state of West Cameroun that was alleged to have joined
the state of East Cameroun to create a federation? Does one state, in a partnership of two
states equal in status, swallow the other state and extinguish it? That is the question.
What is the solution you propose to solve this
problem, now that La Republique du Cameroun has conceded that there is no Union
Treaty joining the two Cameroons?
What
I have always said is that the two parties, La Republique du Cameroun and
Southern Cameroons should go back to the drawing board, under the auspices of
the United Nations, and strain every nerve to arrive at an arrangement in
keeping the wishes of the founding fathers, for a strong united Federation of
two states, equal in status. Upon
reaching a mutually acceptable Agreement, this should be reduced in writing and
a copy filed at the UN Secretariat in New York, in order to comply with UN
Charter Art. 102(1), thus making the joining legal. If they fail to reach agreement, the parties
should, peacefully, go their separate ways, so that Southern Cameroons too
enjoys its unquestionable and inalienable right of self-determination and
independence.
[This interview also appears in The Recorder Newspaper,Cameroon,of September 27,2013]
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