Editorial: PCRN leadership tussle; Judiciary decision should be final.

As early as 2013, it set up a 17-member ad hoc committee to investigate cases of indiscipline, manifested by some party supporters. 

In the words of the committee’s chairman, former Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge: “It is a solid task, but we have solid people in the commission...we will be able to do our job without fear or favour”.

Decisions taken by the commission are guided by Article 34 of the CPDM basic texts, which outlines the disciplinary procedure. 

According to Article 33 of the basic texts, victims of indiscipline risk disciplinary sanctions, ranging from warning to blame, suspension, forfeiture of office, temporary exclusion, and definite exclusion.

The SDF has its own internal methods of disciplining recalcitrant members as it was observed with the sacking of some 37 members. 

Even when the dismissed members went to court, the judges ruled that there were internal disciplinary measures that had not been exhausted.

Other political parties such as the UPC, Kah Warah's CPP, and PCRN have not had such internal rules to settle disputes.

In such a situation, the Minister of Territorial Administration had to step in to settle the disputes in the most controversial manner, leading to the courts overruling against the decision of MINAT, in the cases of UPC and CPP.

This time around, the minister of Territorial Administration stepped into the leadership tussle in the PCRN, acknowledging Robert Kona as the legitimate leader of the party, against Hon Cabral Libii, serving parliamentarian on the platform of the party and who was its presidential flagbearer at the 2018 poll.

The Court of First Instance of Maroua, however, suspended a congress convened by Robert Kona, which was aimed to put him back in office and to definitively exclude Cabral Libii from leadership.

Furthermore, the verdict contradicted the Minister of Territorial Administration, who had ruled in favour of Kona, in its standoff with Libii.

Robert Kona had, in fact, convened a congress in Maroua on May 25 and 26, 2024, in the hope of regaining the leadership of the party. However, the Maroua Court of First Instance of Maroua judge, Zizamle Essaya, ruled that Kona did not have the power to convene such a congress.

The judge based his decision on the statutes of the PCRN, which stipulate that only the national president can convene a congress. 

However, for the court, Cabral Libii is still the legitimate president of the PCRN, because no congress or court decision has been called in to question his election since the Guidiguis congress of May 11, 2018.

Last week, the pro-Robert Kona faction suffered another setback in court. This comes as the Far North Court of Appeal ruled July 4, rejecting its request for stay of execution of the ruling of the Maroua Magistrate Court.

The court had proscribed its congress of May 25 and 26, 2024. The ruling has further complicated arguments to establish the legality of a supposed congress, which the Kona-led faction of the party later held on Saturday June 1, 2024, in Guidiguis, Mayo-Kani Division.

A video had surfaced after the supposed meeting in which Kona, a retired civil administrator, claimed he was voted National President of the PCRN. 

Kona had also made declarations claiming that he had dismissed the embattled PCRN National President, Hon Cabral Libii and others from the party.

In addition, Kona said the party had endorsed Biya for the 2025 presidential poll.

Is endorsing the incumbent Head of State not an indication of who should be playing the drums of separating one of the most vibrant opposition political parties, with five parliamentarians and seven councils?

Why is the Ministry of Territorial Administration interested in who is leader of a political party, when some have their internal rules while others without such guidelines have the courts at their disposal?

There is no question Cabral Libii was voted leader of the PCRN, which has its internal rules stipulating when they hold an elective congress. 

Isn't it just jurisprudence that Libii should continue to lead the party until another legitimate congress is held, to confirm him or vote for another leader?

Cameroon, as Cameroonians are reminded by those on the driving chair in Yaounde, is a "country of law". 

The internal dispute within the PCRN should be left to the courts to settle, not MINAT or ELECAM.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3164 ofWednesday July 10, 2024