Editorial: MINAT boss accuser, prosecutor, judge!.

“Being a Member of Parliament or leader of a political party does not entitle one to defy the authority of the state with impunity, incite rebellion against the 2025 presidential election, if selfish and partisan interests are not met”.

The outing was a mild warning. "This must stop before it's too late for this multi-recidivist MP”,

The minister did not have the courage to call a spade by its real name but left no one in doubt he was referring to Hon Cabal Libii, one of five Members of Parliament of the PCRN party in parliament.

Also found ‘guilty as charged’, but equally not named, was Prof Maurice Kamto of MRC. 

The MINAT boss also warned that political leaders being “haunted by the demons of destabilisation...will be hunted down wherever they may be and brought before judicial authorities according to the seriousness of their crimes” as “…no misbehavior will be tolerated.”

The minister further indicted those he qualified as “perpetrators of anti-republican and conspiracy-mongering behaviour...”, noting that “anti-democratic shortcuts have no place in our dear and beautiful country, Cameroon”.

The Guardian Post is in union with Minister Atanga Nji that nobody is above the law. 

But his lengthy public statement, which is long in content but short in context, raises a number of fundamental issues of democracy, the rule of law and overlapping duties in a bloated government.

In announcing the creation of 40 more political parties in  November last year, Minister Atanga Nji said: “In order to enrich the political debate and encourage the expression of freedoms, dear to the Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya, great champion of democracy in our country, the Minister of Territorial Administration has just approved 40  new political parties, which will henceforth contribute to the animation of a contradictory and constructive political debate”.

How will that noble objective be achieved, if political parties are being threatened for criticising the Head of State? 

If the vitriolic criticisms are suspected to be smeared with slander or libel, should the suspects not be taken to court? 

Even if that is the case, shouldn't it be the aggrieved or his office to complain or take the suspects to court?

The Guardian Post understands the commendable commitment of the Minister of Territorial Administration, who is also the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council, to ensure peace and tranquility before, during and after the various elections programmed for next year.

He should nonetheless be minded that there are potential risks if a political party, including that in power, employs “anti-democratic shortcuts” which include rigged polls.

As the minister is aware, flawed elections are often a trigger for collateral violence in Africa, some even leading to military coups like in Gabon. 

To avoid such a frightful scenario, we at this daily newspaper see patriotism in political leaders warning that they will be prepared to die to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible polls next year.

Democratic elections gyrate on the crystallisation of issues, no matter how complex they may appear, into policies and principles that allow voters to make value judgments on competing visions so as to decide on their future and leaders.

Political leaders have to enrich debates that could bringing about change or maintaining the status quo in a free environment of campaigns.

The electorate should be provided with enough information, or any vision of what the future might look like.

That, however, cannot be done without freedom of assembly and debates. For the MINAT boss to have announced that “since the beginning of 2024, twenty-six CPDM political meetings have not received authorisation from administrative authorities for various reasons" is an indication of a toxic environment deficient in freedoms.

If the ruling party can be "refused authorization," 26 times in less than five months, then there is a risk. It is then anyone's guess what would have been the case for opposition parties that often go under the sensitive skin of the regime in their rallies and press conferences with critical and objective verbal attacks.

True President Biya wants an enrichment of public debates. But political parties should be given the liberty to challenge the policies of the ruling party with their own manifestoes and even the character and competence of political personalities as it is within the tenets of democracy.

To attempt to curtail those rights as Ngo Mbe Maximilienne, the Executive Director of the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa wrote in reaction to the MINAT statement, "...violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights”.

As we reported yesterday, other prominent civil society leaders and prominent opposition politicians joined the bandwagon of condemning the MINAT boss’ diatribe as a sign of "panic" for a regime that could slide into the opposition next year; "impossibility not being Cameroonian".

Those who violate the law should be made to face the rigour of a judicial due process, which is what separation of power in a democracy is all about. 

At The Guardian Post, we do not hide our admiration for the workaholic and proactive MINAT boss, who is already doing so much in ensuring public peace.

However, we urge him to concentrate on ensuring massive registration of voters and the credibility of coming elections and allow judicial authorities to arrest and prosecute those who violate the laws of the state, especially on freedom of speech and political activism.