The President of the Republic of Cameroon may have acted exquisitely within time. In other words, constitutionally, the President of the Republic of Cameroon has the prerogative to prolong the mandate of MPs and Councilors, including Mayors, in case of ‘force majeur’. But, we would have dissociated and or distanced ourselves with the reason(s), the President did advance as reason(s) for the said postponement: the President of the Republic of Cameroon, did claim that, the main reason(s) for the decision to postpone the two elections is because of the overcrowded electoral calendar for 2018. Notedly, four elections were slated to hold this year: Senatorial, Municipal, Legislative and Presidential elections.
We are disillusioned with the way said President has subverted the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon, with staggering reports, that, on October 1, 2017, 100 plus unarmed Cameroonians, some with peace plants and or flowers were killed by security operatives in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon while demonstrating peacefully . We are of the considered opinion, just like free thinkers that, the reason(s) given and or advanced by the President for said prolongation of elections scheduled for 2018 is/are flimsy and or weak. Free thinkers, hold that, said postponement is due to security and financial reason(s): (1) the exacerbating insecurity in the two Anglophone Regions caused by the mounting and or increasing Anglophone crisis, (2) the insecurity in the Far North Region, where the war against Boko Haram has been raging since 2014, and not leaving out financial constraints. It would have appeared, much money have been spent by the government in a senseless war ongoing in the South West and North West Regions of Cameroon, between separatists, popularly known as ‘Amba Boys’ and government soldiers, with untoward and or unpleasant repercussion on human and material properties.
Nonetheless, said postponement has exposed the monstrous intent of our MPs, because it has to do with their self-interest, as their mandate has to be prolonged, both MPs of the ruling and the opposition accorded no objection to the correspondence of June 13, 2018, containing the intent of the president of the Republic of Cameroon to prolong their mandate, with Councilors and Mayors inclusive. It is said, you ‘can’t chop off the hand that feeds you’. Exquisite legislators and/or drafters we have got in Cameroon. God bless Cameroon.
By: Barrister Atoh Walter M. Tchemi
Legal Critic
Founder and Head of ‘The Time Law Firm’, Kumba
TEL: (00237) 77 62 73 08
atoh@thetimelawfirm.com
www.thetimelawfirm.com v