By DOH JAEMS SONKEY
Things are no longer the same at both the Lower and Upper Houses of Cameroon Parliament as fireworks continue to multiply during the November 2017 ordinary session of Parliament traditionally dedicated to the examination and adoption of the state budget for the 2018 fiscal year.
For quite some time now, nearly all plenary sittings dedicated for general discussions on bills are pregnant with suspense as MPs of the leading opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF party continue with what they term Operation Block all deliberations until Anglophone problem is discussed in Parliament.
The operation went ugly in the night of 8 December 2017 as three UDC party MPs led by Hon Patricia Tomainou Ndam Njoya attempted in vain to be given the floor to speak in the House Chamber. Seemingly frustrated by the fact that the SDF standoff in Parliament prevented the Speaker, Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril from giving them the floor during general debate on the state budget in an angry mood, she mistakenly landed a name tag on the forehead of CPDM MP for Menchum South Constituency, Hon Wallang Richard provoking the oozing of blood.
Though she expressed remorse for her action through an excuse sms sent to Hon Wallang Richard, social media created a different scenario with the incident when some unscrupulous individuals posted claims that Hon Patricia Ndam Njoya intentionally hit Hon Wallang on his forehead with the name tag because he was opposing SDF MPs who had been insisting that the Anglophone crisis be discussed in Parliament before any other issue.
Such claims described as malicious have been refuted by the CPDM MP who did not utter any word in the House Chamber that evening.
SDF’s Operation Block all plenary sessions took a different twist last week as the party’s Senators introduced the fight in the Upper House of Parliament, thereby blocking a plenary sitting at the Senate chaired by the President, Marcel Niat Njifenji for over four hours. Deliberations only resumed after SDF Senators obliged Marcel Niat Njifenji to take an engagement to open up discussion on the Anglophone crisis in the next plenary.
SDF Senators however, promised to disrupt the voting of the state budget if the Senate President does not respect his engagement.
Keenly observing all these happenings in Parliament, some political pundits are sharp at declaring that democracy is now forcefully penetrating Cameroon Parliament thereby nursing hopes for a better future in the country’s political landscape.