Mooted opposition coalition: Potential anti-Kamto opposition gaining momentum!.

Those who first mooted the idea have been projecting Kamto as the person fit to be the face of a united opposition to challenge Biya. 

But as momentum continues to build ahead of the country’s next presidential election, things, some are saying, are appearing more complex than they seem.

Recent developments across the polity point to back-to-back secret meetings among the opposition political class. 

The strained element in all the meetings, authoritative sources are revealing, appears to be that the push for a coalition is peaking with others pictured in showing interest in a front without Kamto.

Olivier Bile fronting new opposition front?

In recent weeks, scholar and politician, Olivier Bile, is reported to have been on an offensive, consulting some opposition stakeholders. 

He is said to be working on what could emerge with a coalition without Prof Maurice Kamto, National President of the MRC.

Bile, reports hold, has so far consulted at least four key figures within the opposition circles separately. 

Among those he is said to have consulted is high profile international lawyer and anti-corruption consultant, Barrister Akere Muna. 

Akere is leader of the Now Movement platform and was a candidate at the 2018 presidential election. He dropped his candidature at the last minute in support of Kamto.

However, the political mill is suggesting the prominent personality could be up for something new this season.

Hon Cabral Libii, leader of the opposition Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, PCRN, is also said to have discussed building a new opposition front with Bile.

Denis Emilienne Atangana of the Cameroon Democratic Front, CDF, The Guardian Post has gathered, has also given a listening ear to the proposal of Olivier Bile.

Academic cum politician, Prof Jean-Claude Shanda Tomne, leader of the Popular Movement for Dialogue and Reconciliation, PMDR, is yet another character who has entered the opposition coalition game. Bile too is said to have consulted Prof Shanda days ago.

What new coalition is offering

Though the actors are said to be far from agreeing on who should head the coalition, The Guardian Post gleaned that the actors consulted so far are talking about giving voters a credible platform to decide on who becomes Cameroon's next Head of State. 

The political actors, we gathered, are in the meantime, still brainstorming but are expected to settle on details as the political climate changes.

New coalition targeting Kamto?

The name that has been touted since last December 10 to marshal any opposition coalition is that of MRC leader, Prof Maurice Kamto. 

He has largely gotten the endorsement of erstwhile Social Democratic Front, SDF, supporter and Member of Parliament for Wouri, Hon Jean Mitchel Nintcheu.

Hon Nintcheu is leader of the Cameroon Front for Change, FCC. Besides him, the Popular Action Party, PAP, of Njang Denis Tabe, has also endorsed Kamto to head the opposition into the next presidential poll.

But the undertones of the Bile-manned consultations, analysts are already saying, point to a coalition without a seat for Kamto. 

As a key political actor, some argue that no matter how genuine a push for a coalition is, leaving Kamto out sends across a different message.

For one thing, Hon Cabral Libii, who is said to have been consulted, is among the first persons to have called for further reflections when Nintcheu flagged off the coalition game, insisting on Kamto as leader.

In a tweet on January 30 this year, Hon Cabral had argued that “opposition political parties would have created a Coalition of Transition, which will publish a Document of the Mutualised Transitional Political Offer (DOPMT), then choose its candidate for the next presidential election in 2025”.

This was interpreted to mean outright rejection of Prof Kamto as leader of any opposition coalition.

40 new political parties also up to something?

What has not been felt on the political scene, at least for now, are the 40 new political parties authorised on November 9, 2023. 

When the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, sanctioned their existence, many had thought by now, the parties would have gotten to work.

With the authorisations having raised the number of political parties in Cameroon to 369, insiders are now speculating some drama in the days ahead.

The wahala for the opposition, especially in its drive for a unique candidate, sources say, could turn unimpressive when the ‘young 40’ enter the political arena.

It is already mooted that the grouping of new political parties could end up working for another opposition coalition. 

This, it is said, would be outside what Hon Nintcheu and Bile are pushing for. If this happens, the coalitions could move up to three and even more.