Senator Charles Mbella Moki’s Silence: A political calculation?

By Christopher Ambe

    Success in life means setting the right goals and strategies to achieve them; attaining real success suggests shaping and reshaping your goals and strategies.

    This, Senator Charles Mbella Moki, seems to have understood very well. Watchers of Fako political players especially CPDM politicians would quickly agree with me that, ever since he became Senator Moki has, thoughtfully, abandoned his yester years’ political strategy of frequent public speaking-despite the fact that he is an orator.

   

Senator Mbella MoKi

In the past, you could not provoke him and go free. He would, tactfully and sometimes bluntly, fire back. But now he is too silent, some say secretive -even when provoked in public or in the media by opponents.

   His silence has been interpreted differently by both detractors and admirers- for example, that he is regretting that he became a member of Senate, where he cannot manage a budget; that he is envious of the office of Mayor of Buea even when he voluntarily chose not to seek reelection, after serving as Mayor of Buea for 11 years to go higher. There is also this argument that his silence is senatorial-whatever that means.

 

Silence for a purpose

The Recorder has learnt that the silence is purposeful. Senator Moki, seen by pundits as a political manipulator and calculator, has told The Recorder that, there is time for every thing: time to achieve your goals “noisily” and time to achieve them quietly.

    It is thought  that Senator  Moki ,calculating as he has always been,   may now be  inspired  by the  guerrilla tactics of the  famous  Chinese leader  Mao Tse-Tung ,who noted:“ The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.”

    Take it or leave it: the sagacity, so far, displayed by this CPDM apologist in the political terrain has made the CPDM hierarchy in Yaounde to consider Senator Moki as one of the solid pillars of the leadership of the CPDM in Fako. To them,Senator Moki is an asset !

   Within the CPDM in Buea and ahead of the highly expected party reorganization, Senator Moki’s silence concerning his next political ambition seems to be a thorn in the flesh of other aspirants.

Who will be next President of Buea (Fako III) CPDM? Will Senator Moki seek reelection as Section President? These questions are searching for answers.

    Although Senator Moki’s silence is disturbing to local rivals,   administration officials and CPDM senior officials have continued to pour encomia on him, describing his silence in the face of smear campaigns as a sign of political maturity and tolerance.

    However, it is not clear whether Senator Moki would like to seek reelection as Section President. Considering his high status as Senator, he seems not to be interested.

   But again, as a CPDM ace loyalist and with allegations rife that the party hierarchy in Yaounde would very much wish to see him continue at the helm of the party in Buea, it is doubtful if he can turn down hierarchical proposal to continue as Buea party chieftain. After all, in the CPDM, even when election is concerned, party discipline must prevail.

Before becoming Senator(he is one of the youngest Senators), Mbella Moki’s political forward-march from a simple CPDM militant, to YCPDM section president, to CPDM section president and then two-term plus mayor of the historic and strategic town was not by error but by design.

    How he meandered his way up the political ladder-sometimes even when it was almost certain that he would emerge a big loser, has earned him far more admirers -across the national territory -than expected.

   It would be recalled that as two-term plus mayor of Buea,Mbella Moki  transformed many of his challengers and detractors into admirers, with  his infrastructural achievements and sugar-coated discussions.

   Imagine how he fought hard for Buea to host the 50^th Anniversary of Cameroon’s Reunification-an event that brought much infrastructural development to Buea.  Who does not see, for example, the new Buea Council Office which as mayor he designed and constructed to the admiration of all?

   This Bakweri elite, who hails from Likoko Membea village in Buea Subdivision is not only a husband but also a God-fearing father of several children. But he can, sometimes, be arrogant and emotional, if he sees the need.

   As a career electrician-cum politician, Mbella Moki foresaw success in politics; he developed soft spot for party politics and fell for the ruling CPDM with all his might.

Memory lane.

Mbella Moki, started his 2013 senatorial bid like a joke by announcing it well ahead of time, to a large audience, during the launching of Buea Transparency Initiative, at Capitol Hotel, Buea. And so it came to pass.

    In 2002, when he made public his decision to gun for the office of Mayor of Buea, detractors said he was not qualified to be mayor of a university town. But those who championed this argument were later ridiculed, realizing that he did not only complete his first mandate but won a second five year, plus an extension of one year.

    It is no secret that smear campaigns against Mbella Moki have in the past boomeranged as he instead gained more sympathy from the electorate. This may hold true today

   Mbella Moki’s leadership skills enabled him hold other strategic posts of responsibility elsewhere such as President of Southwest FECAFOOT, President of Southwest Mayors, and is a Board member of CAMWATER.

   Could Senator Moki’s silence a be a harbinger of bigger appointments for him? Is the silence another political calculation or strategy?

   Unpredictable as Senator Moki now appears, this Likoko wonder boy, is a personality to watch. Going by sources close to the centre of power in Yaoundé, Senator Moki may sooner or later spring a surprise, if not surprises.

   As the famous Abraham Lincoln once observed, “The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time”

 (First Published in The RECORDER Newspaper,Cameroon,of April 2,2015)