2025 presidentials: Can they keep aside self-interest, form coalition?.

Unlike the opposition parties which alliance with the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, is known, those who continue to claim to be the real opposition have been working in disperse ranks.

It is a bad reality that has bedeviled multiparty politics in Cameroon in contemporary times. While many have continued to blame the opposition’s barrenness in terms of accessing the highest office of the land on disunity, some are beginning to dream of something else.

That dream is now playing around the possibility of opposition living forces grouping to potentially face Biya or a CPDM candidate in next year’s presidentials. 

Analysts are arguing that the sweet talk and promises of heaven on earth for Cameroonians from an opposition in disperse ranks will never produce anything good without a formidable coalition.

Upsetting the over four decades CPDM rule, which many have continued to insist is a continuation of the Cameroon National Congress, CNU, of the late Ahmadou Ahidjo era, pundits say, needs extra work and not jesting about.

With the unprecedented mobilisation within the CPDM, to possibly hand Biya another seven-year mandate, which could keep Cameroon under his control for 50 years, those expressing hope for a regime change through the ballot box are also jittery. 

Many are those who are lamenting that Cameroon’s opposition leaders claiming to have the wherewithal to change the fortunes of citizens are yet to put the country first.

With 2025 in the horizon, many are those who are insisting that any opposition project which does not federate forces is doom. 

In such a situation, analysts are saying the new generation of opposition leaders will have themselves to blame.

Faces that can make impact in coalition against CPDM

Given the extent to which the CPDM has been weaved into the fabric of the Cameroonian society, those advocating an opposition coalition say dismantling such needs collective sacrifices. 

They say the complex and heterogeneous nature of followership for parties can only produce a victorious candidate in unity.

Pundits are already profiling Cameroonians with potential for change, and whose impact, they say, would best make meaning when they relate with others to present a unique message, project and candidate at next year’s presidential election. 

Among these faces are Hon Osih Joshua, Member of Parliament and National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, SDF; Prof Maurice Kamto, National President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC; Hon Cabral Libii, National President of the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation, PCRN; Hon Jean-Michel Nintcheu, leader of the Front for Change Cameroon, FCC.

They also cite Prof Olivier Bile, leader of the Union for Fraternity and Progress, UPF; Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya; National President of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU; Batonnier Akere Muna, 2018 presidential candidate and leader of the NOW Movement platform;  Cyril Sam Baka, National President of the Alliance of Progressive  Forces, AFP; Njang Denis Tabe, National President of the Popular  Action Party, PAP; Honourable Pierre Kwemo, National President of the United Socialist Movement, UMS.

Also on the list are also Prince Ekosso, National President of the United  Socialist Democratic Party, USDP; Aboubakar Ousmane Mey, leader of Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Justice Plus and Coordination for Change in Cameroon, CCC platform; Edith Kah  Walla, National President of the Cameroon People’s Party, CPP and civil society actor.

These personalities, some are insisting, can only demonstrate their love for Cameroon and give meaning to their quest for change, if they keep greed, self-interest aside and unite to give the ruling CPDM party candidate a run for his/her money. 

Any of these names and platforms that go solo in next year’s election, others say, will only be playing to the gallery and throwing dust into the eyes of the population.

Need for all opposition confab without preconditions

Barely 12 months to next year’s election, the long wait for a new era at the helm of the State, scholars say, requires diligent and frank exchanges without preconditions. 

Those nursing ambitions to run and others who have had experiences in the political scene, many are suggesting, should break the jinx, face their fears and rewrite history, through frank and open consultations to come out with something unique.

In the Cameroonian setting, analysts are insisting that defeating the incumbent regime in any political consultation, requires a panoramic assessment of the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, SWOT, of the CPDM and the different potential opposition candidates.

The absence of such an opposition renaissance, many say, will mean the same people criticising Biya, working to perpetuate his life-presidency project.

Many are already pointing to the traditional grandstanding of some opposition figures, who have consistently maintained a high-horse position whenever pushes for coalitions come to the fore. Such an attitude is said to be one of the main reasons the opposition has failed in the paste.

Coalition only way to quench thirst for change, boosting citizen engagement

The missing catalyst within the political scene for long that has rather boosted voter apathy and slowed citizen engagement, many are insisting, has been a divided and greedy opposition. 

For political sloganeering and show of I-can-do-better-than-Biya, to make meaning to citizens, analysts insist, the panacea remains a united opposition front against whoever will run on the CPDM ticket, in next year’s presidential election.

The recent voter registration effervescence, witnessed nationwide in the build up to next year’s poll, it is already being said, could end up leaving those desiring a change of leadership at the helm of the State, devastated, if the opposition fails to put up a formidable coalition to face the current Unity Palace occupant. 

Such opposition incongruence, they insist, will only further alienate citizens from politics and emboldened the CPDM regime’s grip on power. 

Harvest in unity, share in the interest of citizens 

With the usual forgone conclusion that no opposition candidate can singlehandedly defeat a CPDM candidate of Biya in an election, the way out for the opposition, some are saying, remains a formidable coalition.

Those who see meaning in this say it is better for the entire opposition to unite, present a unique candidate, win the presidency and form an inclusive government for all to contribute their lot in nation building. 

Time to dream again, dream better

In the first quarter of this year, two opposition coalitions were in gestation. These were Alliance Pour Une Transition Politique, ATP, which in English is “Alliance for Political Transition”, led by Prof Olivier Bile.

As at that time, the ATP is said to have reached out to figures such as Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya, Valere Bessala, Aboubakar Ousmane Mey, Hilaire Zipang, Anicet Ekane, Andre Dibamou, Aboubacar Sidiki, Cyprien Olinga, Pierre Kwemo and Guibai Gatama.

Documents had also emerged in this light, containing names viz; Akere Muna, Djeukam Tchameni, Cabral Libii, Prosper Nkou Mvondo, Osih Joshua, Baleguel Nkot, Elimbi Lobe, Celestin Djamen, Georges Minyem, Henriette Ekwe, Jean Marck Bikoko, Denis Emilien Atangana, Prof Shanda Tomne, Benoit Essiga, Samuel Billong, Jean Pierre Djemba, Sam Mbaka and Phillippe Nanga, as having been consulted by the ATP.

There was also the Alliance for Political Change, APC, fronted by Hon Nintcheu, to endorse Kamto for next year’s presidential poll. Nintcheu, under the banner of the APC, had also reached out to jailed separatist leaders.

Even though many have faulted the moves as having been disunited and wanting to defeat the CPDM, pundits say those behind such schemes should not give up. 

Others are unanimous that despite the March 12, 2024, warning from the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, halting the moves, the opposition can dream of a coalition and work better to give the CPDM a run for its money next year.

Innovate, don’t copy errors of yesteryears

The good in terms of opposition coalition in Cameroon was the Union for Change in 1992. It is the closest the opposition has ever come to, when Fru Ndi was the face inspiring change. 

In 2004, there was an abortive coalition that ended in confusion, in favour of Biya. Twenty years on, observers are unanimous that those in the opposition must not copy such errors if they mean well for Cameroon.

It should be recalled that in the build up to the 2004 presidentials, heavyweights such as the late Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF and the late Dr Adamu Ndam Njoya of the CDU, failed to agree on a consensus candidate. 

Then, there was also the last-minute withdrawal of a one-time regime baron, former Minister Edouard Akame Foumou. He too was among those tipped to lead the opposition but be backed out, renewing his loyalty to Biya!

The independent candidature of the late John Fru Ndi and Ndam Njoya, all of blessed memory, ended the dream of the Coalition for National Reconstruction and Reconciliation, CNRR. 

Unlike now when the opposition is not yet saying anything meaningful, the CNRR was made public in August 2003, on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.

The opposition leaders had issued a statement on August 21, 2003, indicating that: “They had solemnly undertaken before the Cameroonian people and the friends of Cameroon, to present a single opposition candidate at the 2004 presidential election”. 

As the nation inches towards 2025, the dream of many Cameroonians is an improvement of the 2004 attempt that could at last give the opposition a victorious laugh of satisfaction through the ballot box.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3240 of Wednesday September 25, 2024