By DOH JAMES SONKEY
The first ever verdict of the newly created Constitutional Council has been passed. The verdict which witnessed the declaration of 4 petitions not admissible, the withdrawal of one petition and the adjournment of another petition for Monday, 19 March 2018 was passed last March 15, 2018 after over five hours of hearings at the Yaounde Conference Centre.
The four petitions rejected include that of Valentin Engono acting on behalf of UCDI party requesting for the cancellation of ELECAM’s acceptance of the lists of all the nine political parties running for the Senatorial Election of next March 25, 2018 because of discrimination, frustration acts, manifested errors, and the use of anti-constitutional laws, that of Zacharie Gbamine Gbamine against a candidate on CPDM’s list in the East region, Isabelle Tokpanou.
The petitions of outgoing CPDM Senator, Saki Lamine who complained of being sidelined by her party and that of Didango Mbororo CPDM Sub Section President in Noun Division in the West region, Ahmadou Ahidjo suffered from the same rejection fate as the Constitutional Council made it clear to them that they don’t interfere in the selection of candidates by political parties because it is an internal affair.
On each case, the President of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana gave the floor to the rapporteur, who is the persecutor for the specific case, to read out the case files and make recommendations whether it could be deemed admissible or not. Despite the fact that in four out of the six cases, the rapporteur deemed the petitions non admissible, the President however gave the plaintiff and the defendants an opportunity to plead their cases.
After observing that four of the litigants did not respect the law as the complaints were filed by people who were neither candidate nor political party taking part in the election or any person serving as a Government representative in the said election, the Constitutional council declared the petitions non admissible in compliance with Section 129 of the Electoral Code which states that “objections or petitions relating to the rejection or acceptance of candidates, as well as those relating to the colour, initials or emblem adopted by a candidate may be brought before the Constitutional Council by any candidate or political party taking part in the election or any person serving as a Government representative in the said election, within a maximum period of 2 (two) days following the publication of the list of candidates.”
Turning point at the hearing was the announcement by the President of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana that, the complaint filed against the CPDM list in the Adamawa region by NUDP Senator, Pierre Flambeau Ngayap who doubles as Secretary General of the party has been withdrawn.
No reason was announced and all attempts by reporters to get Senator Pierre Flambeau Ngayap cough out the reasons for their action proved futile. It is worth noting that the NUDP of Bello Bouba Maigari and the CPDM of Paul Biya are in a non-written pact of alliance.
The climax of petition examination was file No3 tabled in by SDF Senator, Paul Tchatchouang calling for the cancellation of CPDM list in the West region on grounds that “the name Joseph Teingnidetio who is candidate No 7 on the CPDM list is allegedly not found in civil status registration documents of the region.”
It is this file that pushed the Constitutional Council to summon Teingnidetio Jean on the CPDM list in the West to be physically present in front of the jurisdiction on Monday, 19 March 2018 at 11am for continuation of hearing on the petition against the CPDM by the SDF Senator.
As soon as the case was called up before the adjournment, it sparked heated debates as a college of lawyers from the leading opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF party and the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM tried tirelessly to prove the existence or not of the candidate No 7 on the CPDM list in the West region.