Mola Njoh Litumbe,86,is the Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Alliance,a Cameroonian political party that does not longer contest elections in the country,citing uneven playing ground. Mola Njoh is also a strong campaigner for the restoration of the rights of Southern Cameroonians, and as such has been subjected to several arrests by the Biya Administration.Below is his reaction to the Last September 30 twin elections in Cameroon:
TO ALL THOSE IT MAY CONCERN
 |
| Mola Njoh Litumbe |
The
general opinion is that the recently conducted twin elections were a
great improvement on similar exercises in the past, but for my part, I
cannot say that the recent elections were FREE and FAIR for the
following reasons:
To
have had free and fair elections for the contesting parties to play
free and fair political football, there ought to have been a level
playing field for all contestants. This was not the case, for two
principal reasons:
All
senior officials from the rank, I think, of sub-director upwards,
working for the State of Cameroon, were released from their functions
as state employees, and dispatched to their constituencies of origin to
campaign for the ruling CPDM. Their salaries and other perquisites,
including pension rights, constitute a charge on the Public Treasury.
In effect, therefore, the CPDM had an overriding advantage over the
other contesting parties, by not only using state employees and other
staff in Government controlled institutions, to invest their influence
in their constituencies of origin where they command clout, in favour of
the CPDM party, but diverted State resources to their advantage.
Such
a practice is not fair to the other contestants. Not only that, there
have been public prosecutions lately for state officials accused of
misappropriating public funds. Theft is theft, no matter the amount of
money stolen. Therefore all those civil servants who abdicated their
state functions and went campaigning for their chosen political party,
should similarly be prosecuted for divertion of public funds in respect
of the state salaries and perquisites they enjoyed
during the campaigns. Their superiors who released them should also be
prosecuted for aiding and abetting the commition of a crime.
Secondly,
to have a free and fair game, there has got to be an impartial umpire.
I watched football last night on TV, and very much enjoyed the World
Cup preliminaries being played towards getting the world's winning team.
To accomplish this task the services of an independent umpire are
indispensable. For a political contest, it
is imperative that there should exist an Independent Judiciary to rule
on infringements to electoral regulations which prohibit cheating or taking unfair advantage over the other contestants.
Sadly,
for Cameroon Republic, a Judicial organ of the African Union has found
for a fact that the Judiciary in the Republic of Cameroon is not
independent because the President of the Republic is Chairman of the
Higher Judicial Council which hires and pays all Judicial officers
including
Registrars, Magistrates and Judges, and all Court decisions are
rendered by delegated powers from the President.
It
is therefore easy to understand that if the President's party is taking
part in an election contest, to the extent to which the Judiciary is
not independent, the chances of the President's party winning in any
election dispute are enormous, so long as the President is head of the
Judiciary.
If
Justice was was to prevail, the CPDM party should be disqualified in
all constituencies where civil servants or other state officials were
campaigning openly for the CPDM, and the results declared in favour of
the competing parties. This is the best way for President Biya to
demonstrate that he is President of all Cameroon and that the Rule of
Law also applies in Cameroon in the conduct of public affairs for which
he is responsible. Otherwise the show-case trials in Yaounde would
appear to be for reasons other than misappropriation of public funds.
Mola NJOH LITUMBE
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