“ELECAM is one of the targets of the current crisis rocking the North West and South West regions because people don’t believe we are credible and I am not prepared to lose my life because of a corrupt ELECAM officer, We have to convince the people that we are credible and transparent.
“Fraudsters will be sanctioned; it will not be business as usual. It is not the public that will expose you to us, we will expose you to the public”, Tambe Tiku warned while adding that ELECAM officers have no business fraternising with politicians. He furthered that if ELECAM should be threatened by the public, it should be while doing the right thing.
Tambe Tiku was corroborated by his colleague, Former Governor Thomas Ejake Mbonga who also warned Elecam staff and representatives of political parties present of the imminence of the 2018 elections. Ejake Mbonda told political parties’ representatives that: “2018 is tomorrow! Political parties should acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Electoral Code; they are partners in this process and should not only come afterwards to complain.”
Earlier, the Divisional Branch Head of ELECAM, Nangoh Stephen revealed that since the electoral register was opened on January 3 this year, only 804 voters have been registered in Fako; a dismal figure compared to about 5000 voters registered same time last year.
Nangoh Stephen blamed the sharp decline in voters’ registration on a flurry of factors; lukewarm attitude by some of the stakeholders, including political parties, insecurity in the English speaking parts of the country which has exposed the staff to numerous threats, limited finances to penetrate enclaved or distant areas, breakdown of electoral kits amongst others.
Some of the representatives of political parties present expressed worries over the complicity between some ELECAM officers and politicians of the ruling CPDM party. Ndoke Philip, SDF district chair for Muyuka narrated an instance where an ELECAM officer in Muyuka solicited the services of the Muyuka council by asking for a vehicle to use for ELECAM activities. This was hugely frowned at by the ELECAM board members who warned ELECAM staff to stop fraternising with politicians and elected officials irrespective of the party.
Christopher Tambe Tiku called on political parties to be more involved in the selection of Electoral Commission presidents during elections and make sure to select credible people to represent them at polling stations. He advised them to also take care of their polling agents because some of them have reportedly sold their votes for a few francs during previous elections.
At the end of the annual revision meeting, it was agreed that there is need for mass mobilisation of the electorate and that stakeholders should not wait till when the elections are at hand to get registered. Security forces were also enjoined to ensure the safety of ELECAM staff and property.
Speaking to The SUN after the meeting, Christopher Tambe Tiku revealed that the meeting was aimed at evaluating the mistakes of the past so as to lay a sturdy platform for the future. He stressed that it was necessary to expose some of the irregularities of the past so that stakeholders understand that the mindset of ELECAM in 2017 is not the same as was during the 2013 elections.
Reacting to the low voters’ registration Tambe Tiku said given the prevailing peculiar circumstances in the North West and South West regions, ELECAM staff should be commended for ensuring that 804 voters were registered during this period.
“We all know the volatile nature in which these two regions found themselves and it was very difficult to talk about elections; in the North West region for example, an ELECAM vehicle was burnt down and in some areas our staffs have been threatened. It is quite a disturbing situation and for the Fako divisional head to have succeeded to get the numbers he did, it shows that the ELECAM staff have not been sleeping despite the odds.”

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The brunt of the responsibility to ensure that the upcoming polls are credible lies hugely on the shoulders of the election monitoring body, Elections Cameroon, ELECAM. The challenge that faces ELECAM is however not limited to election management and monitoring but to the body’s composition and set up.
A tainted composition
Many observers have decried the composition of Elections Cameroon board, whose members are appointed by the incumbent president and are mostly scooped from the ruling CPDM party.
According to Christopher Tambe Tiku, Elecam Board Member and human rights activist, “It is impossible to be independent as an ELECAM board member after being a member of the CPDM; the appointment of members is supposed to be done after consultations with the Electoral Board, but this wasn’t done. If the board was consulted, none of these members would have been selected.”
“It is impossible to have served the CPDM at the highest level and then say you are independent”, Tambe Tiku adds, “even the recruitment of staff was done on the merits of political godfatherism.”
According to John Mukum Mbaku of the Africa Growth Initiative, “In order for an electoral management body to operate efficiently and effectively, it must be staffed with individuals who are competent and have skills to manage elections in a fair and credible manner,”
At the very least, Mr. Mbaku notes, a credible electoral management body should be granted five things: decisional independence to decide freely, institutional independence to perform its functions without undue interference from the government, adequate resources, a system of accountability, and a procedure civil society can use to file complaints against members of the electoral body for illegal or unethical conduct.
He furthered that there should be an impartial disciplinary system that allows for a range of sanctions against wrongdoing and abuses by electoral commissioners and staff members, including removing from office.
The Electoral code however hands partial immunity from prosecution for members of Election Cameroon. In its Article 6(1), the Code states “Members of Elections Cameroon may not be prosecuted, investigated, arrested, detained or tried for their views expressed in the performance of their duties..(2) Save in cases of flagrante delicto, members of Elections Cameroon may not be prosecuted during their tenure in office.”
A waning trust in the electoral process
Despite efforts by the election governing body towards raising awareness of Cameroonians on their civic responsibility, particularly the need to not only get enrolled in the electoral registers, but to participate actively in the voting process, the body has failed to break the threshold of getting at least 12 million of the over 23 million Cameroonians registered.
This has been blamed hugely, by political pundits, on the growing distrust in the election process and the increasing voter apathy that seems to have gripped many Cameroonians. Many of them doubt the independence of a body that seems to be cloaked in the fabric of the ruling CPDM party since a good majority of its members were either bigwigs of the party or former state administrators.
Jean De Dieu Momo, National President of the opposition party, PADEC puts the blame of the waning confidence in the electoral process squarely at the doorsteps of ELECAM. He says despite its financial might and man power, the body failed to express the political will to get 12 million Cameroonians registered adding that as at now only about 6500 Cameroonians have enrolled on the electoral registers. Momo also expressed reservations with the composition and functioning of the election body.
Elecam Board Member, Tambe Tiku also expressed concerns of voter apathy during a talk with journalist in Limbe at a workshop organized by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa where he said “voter apathy is a real concern for us as even some of those we have managed to get registered abandon their voters’ cards at Elecam centres.”
Electoral calendar haze
Another huge concern for Elecam and the general public is the uncertainty of the electoral calendar. Some politicians have even stoked fears that the government is planning to postpone the 2018 elections. During a press conference he granted on April 10, 2017, the National President of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon, MRC, Prof. Maurice Kamto accused the government of plotting to use the war against Boko Haram in the North and the current Anglophone crisis as reasons to push the 2018 elections thereby extending their stay in power.
The haze over the electoral calendar has also planted seeds of doubts and indifference in the minds of an electorate that is already on the jittery on the relevance and impact of an election.
Tambe Tiku assured that “The electoral calendar is purely at the discretion of the president of the republic but there is a limit to his discretion.”
The right to know
But according to the National Democratic Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that works with governments worldwide to strengthen and expand democracy, “The electorate ought to be adequately informed of voter rights and obligations, date and procedures of the elections, political party or candidate positions available, and above all, the importance of citizens participation in the exercise.”
This, according to them is very important because elections and political transitions have been amongst the threats to peace and security in Africa in the last 20 years.
According to the African Union, incidents on the actual voting day can trigger political violence, conflict and sometimes, full-blown war.
Election governing bodies are therefore carrying the huge burden and responsibility of ensuring that elections do not only serve as a mechanism for electing or replacing leaders, it should also be viewed as a tool for conflict prevention.
The case of neighboring Nigeria comes to mind when during the recent hotly contested presidential election pitting then incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP against Muhammadou Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, CPC The Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC headed by the its indefatigable chairman, Attahiru Jega managed to curtail violence by organizing what many have now described as a free and fair election.

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