By NOELA EBOB BISONG
The Social Democratic Front SDF party in the Fako East constituency (Limbe, Tiko, Muyuka) has brought to the open what it terms “Alarming Electoral Fraud In Fako East During February 9 2020 Polls”.
In an Open Letter signed by Fritz Ngeka Etoke, Head of List of the SDF Fako East Constituency, the party takes time to reveal “the different instances and magnitudes of Electoral Malpractices, Fraud and Rigging that were exposed by our Anti Fraud Team.”
According to the party, “While we have been busy on the field campaigning and canvassing for votes in strict compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Code, we realized that other contestants in Fako East Constituency were busy mapping out strategies of rigging the elections in Complicity with the National Electoral Body, ELECAM.”
The SDF in Fako East maintains that “We have people who are ready to testify under oath to the fact that Mr. Ngwa Franko collected their electoral cards in exchange for money few days to the elections for electioneering. We think this is clearly an electoral infraction and deserves the attention of the courts, the civil society and local and international organizations that prioritize democracy and good governance.”
Election Day
Describing Election Day proper, the SDF alleges that Ballot Box Stuffing, Ambulant Voting and Vote Buying by the CPDM were the order of the day.
“A Case in point is that of an aspiring Councillor on the List of The CPDM in Limbe I whose name we got as Arrey Grace Manyi who is reported to have been caught with huge numbers of ballot papers at the polling station in the Manga William Avenue.
The SDF District Chairman For Limbe I, Ndenge Godden Zama and some other SDF aspiring Councillors caught the ballot papers with the lady red handed and almost stopped voting in the polling station.”
“There are testimonies of stuffing of ballot boxes with ballot papers in Limbe I, II and III as well as in some parts of Tiko.”
“Our Polling Agents discovered a case of Electoral fraud in small Ekange camp in Tiko Subdivision where a militant of the CPDM was caught attempting to fill up a ballot box with CPDM Ballot papers.”
“In Mile 4 and Moliwe, the CDPM aspiring councillor, Kountchou Emmanuel is reported to have been engaged in buying of votes and transportation of ambulant voters to vote for the CPDM.”
“… We have places where military were used to send away our polling Agents from the Centers. Such is the case with the Polling Center at the Limbe City Council Hall Bota.
At this point, I had to confront the SDO, at the Limbe City council hall when they forced out one of my polling agents who was proving to be working against their electoral fraud.
We also have cases were our polling agents were refused access even during the counting process at the close of the day.”
“A few minutes to the close of the Polls, I was informed of an attempt to fill an empty Ballot Box by the Polling Station Chairman of SNEC Mile I Center. The same Polling Station Chairman was caught in an attempt of transferring the sum of 20,000 Frs to our Polling Agents who refused to collect it.”
“We will also like to mention that, from our observation that not up to 5% of the population turned out for voting because the military a few days before the elections had embarked on mass arrest in Tiko, Muyuka and Mutengene.”
In conclusion, the letter reads that “We are also by this open letter, inviting the various diplomatic missions, the European Union and African Union Commissions, the UNDP and international organizations working on Democracy and Good Governance to consider our report on massive electoral fraud and low voters turnout to intervene in this matter which will in the days ahead be heard at the Constitutional Courts of our beloved country Cameroon.”
Fingers are crossed within the Fako East Constituency to see what the Constitutional Court makes of the accusations in the days ahead. Nonetheless, CPDM candidates, Gladys Etombi and Findi Stanley continue to celebrate their victory, following field results.