Fru Ndi Presidential Bid Signals Only One Thing -- Cameroon’s Opposition Is “Officially Dead”
Cameroon is a country with more than 200 political parties and yet the country has known just two presidents for over 50 years after independence with one party being a product of the former post independence one party and one man being in charge since 1982.
The country’s fractious and unproductive opposition party has contributed significantly to the rise and rise and permanent stay of the ruling CDPM party in power, an advantaged the ruling party has not been shy to use to continuously stay at the helm of government activities.
While the argument why the ruling CPDM can go on and on for a year and the opposition will not be mention, the reality still remains, had the country succeed to put forth a unified opposition, the situation would probably have been different and is indeed a big would.
But despite the existence of over 200 opposition political parties in the country, there are basically not more than 5 real opposition parties in the country if we have to go by those with at least a seat at the national assembly with the SDF being the biggest by far-at least by the standards of other oppositions at home while many of the other parties struggle to define themselves on the country’s political landscape and can barely be identified out of the families from which the head of the parties com from.
But with the SDF succeeding to gather just a handful of over a dozen opposition MPs out of 180 available and same number of senators whom they got at the mercy of the ruling CPDM who decided to fail the rules in two regions of West and Adamawa and ask their militants in a rare show of political benevolence to vote for the chief opposition party to give a semblance of an opposition in the upper house of parliament, the situation in the country could not have be worst with the few other parties with representatives in lower house in alliance with the main ruling party to further complicates the political math.
The political landscape has left a mountain for the main opposition the SDF to climb as the CPDM obese majority and government controlled parliament basically works to keep the party and its leader in power at the expense of any other thing in the world.
With the opposition failing on numerous times to forge a strong and single majority to challenge the ruling party especially in the presidential elections with pointing fingers directing in all directions for the supposed reasons for failure of having a coalition, the fracture, powerless, dismantled and disempower opposition has been useless at home and only gives a wrong impression abroad of a democratic government in a ‘one party country”
With the coming of the Anglophone problem which has threaten to divide the country with many trade union leaders jailed, students out of school and business and jobs lost, one would have thought if the parties could not unite to fight a common enemy of CPDM, they would in solving the problem of the people but yet again they did not. Preferring to go separate ways in an unproductive efforts that has allow the government to grind the opposition and tsunami coming from trade union and activist to a haul that for once after close to a generation has threatened their comfort but was far from the opposition camp
And as Fru Ndi, returns home from a European tour probably embolden by the fact that he is seen by the world as Cameroon’s lone meaningful opposition, the aging national chairman has assured his now handful of supporters and disappoint many by announcing he will be running for next year’s elections-solo of course just in case you wonder if he can amass some sort of a coalition this time.
But with mounting criticism to the head of what many thought was the only opposition begin breaking from the cry of its supporters and defiling all expectations to make a quick unexpected announcement about an elections many consider to important to go alone amidst the political atmosphere, that decision probably put the final nail in the coffin of the country’s opposition parties.
While the argument why the ruling CPDM can go on and on for a year and the opposition will not be mention, the reality still remains, had the country succeed to put forth a unified opposition, the situation would probably have been different and is indeed a big would.
 |
| Fru Ndi Presidential Bid Signals Only One Thing -- Cameroon’s Opposition Is “Officially Dead” |
But with the SDF succeeding to gather just a handful of over a dozen opposition MPs out of 180 available and same number of senators whom they got at the mercy of the ruling CPDM who decided to fail the rules in two regions of West and Adamawa and ask their militants in a rare show of political benevolence to vote for the chief opposition party to give a semblance of an opposition in the upper house of parliament, the situation in the country could not have be worst with the few other parties with representatives in lower house in alliance with the main ruling party to further complicates the political math.
The political landscape has left a mountain for the main opposition the SDF to climb as the CPDM obese majority and government controlled parliament basically works to keep the party and its leader in power at the expense of any other thing in the world.
With the opposition failing on numerous times to forge a strong and single majority to challenge the ruling party especially in the presidential elections with pointing fingers directing in all directions for the supposed reasons for failure of having a coalition, the fracture, powerless, dismantled and disempower opposition has been useless at home and only gives a wrong impression abroad of a democratic government in a ‘one party country”
With the coming of the Anglophone problem which has threaten to divide the country with many trade union leaders jailed, students out of school and business and jobs lost, one would have thought if the parties could not unite to fight a common enemy of CPDM, they would in solving the problem of the people but yet again they did not. Preferring to go separate ways in an unproductive efforts that has allow the government to grind the opposition and tsunami coming from trade union and activist to a haul that for once after close to a generation has threatened their comfort but was far from the opposition camp
And as Fru Ndi, returns home from a European tour probably embolden by the fact that he is seen by the world as Cameroon’s lone meaningful opposition, the aging national chairman has assured his now handful of supporters and disappoint many by announcing he will be running for next year’s elections-solo of course just in case you wonder if he can amass some sort of a coalition this time.
But with mounting criticism to the head of what many thought was the only opposition begin breaking from the cry of its supporters and defiling all expectations to make a quick unexpected announcement about an elections many consider to important to go alone amidst the political atmosphere, that decision probably put the final nail in the coffin of the country’s opposition parties.
No comments