Editorial: 2025 presidentials; Osih should redeem SDF, join coalition!.

Even the ruling party in the last presidential election had two alliances. One was the Presidential Majority and the other Group 20 (G20).

Surprisingly, a major opposition political party like the National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP, of Bouba Belo Maigari, is in government executing the programme of the ruling CPDM.

With presidential election slated for next year at a time three terms in office are considered an abomination or "democratic coup d'etat", some dynamic opposition personalities are unanimous that only a single opposition candidate can root out incumbent, Paul Biya, 91, who has been in office for over four decades.

So far, three opposition alliances have been formed, each supporting Prof Maurice Kamto, Barrister Akere Muna and Hon Cabral Libii.

The SDF party, which candidate in 1992, the late John Fru Ndi, benefited from an alliance called the Union for Change and came second, though claiming "stolen victory", is not hot about joining an alliance.

After its last Saturday's National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Yaounde, the National Chairman of the party, Hon Osih Joshua, who took up the mantle from the late Fru Ndi, in a comment that burrows beneath the skin of proponents of the alliances said forming a coalition was to facilitate a victory for the ruling party.

Hon Osih, who took a humiliating fourth position at the 2018 presidential poll, down from the traditional second place the SDF was noted for, said a coalition would be “Replacing Mr. Biya with a Biya who will only perpetuate this system. It is therefore important that we change the debate. We are not looking for a providential man”. 

Paradoxically, he said in answer to a reporter's question that: “We are delighted that the parties are coming together. We are open to anyone who would like to work with us. I will repeat what I have always said; the SDF does not close the door to any coalition,” he stressed.

If the SDF does not close the door to an opposition alliance, why then should it perceive such unity as "replacing Mr. Biya with Biya"? For Osih, he wants an alliance with a transition programme as its nexus. That is also what Libii has been lobbying for.

How can a transition programme be realistic if those nurturing it are not in power. It could just be a dream with closed eyes. For it to be a vision, it has to come with an open heart.

Such a vision requires that the leaders of genuine opposition political parties, not those who are easily influenced by contracts or government appointments, come together, agree on the modalities of a transition and use it for their campaigns.

But before them, political wisdom compels them to coalesce around one leader in an alliance. Three modalities have been suggested by the existing unions in gestation.

For Hon Libii, he prefers that the leader should be elected. That is not feasible, especially given that the electorate would be hairsplitting to agree on.

Another school of thought wants the most popular opposition leader, judging from the results of the last presidential election, to run as a single opposition candidate. 

In that mould, Prof Maurice Kamto stands out as a shooting star. The third option is for an Anglophone candidate, drawing inspiration from the Foumban Constitutional Conference, which stipulated a sort of rotational power structure.

Francophones have ruled for more than six decades and by that argument of equity, Akere Muna, who is a candidate of an alliance of some 20 parties and civil society organisations, should be the candidate.

Osih's SDF, which has its strongest fief in the North West and South West Regions, should logically support Akere's candidature. Without that support, the SDF will be inadvertently supporting "Mr. Biya replacing Biya," which has many interpretations.

It could mean President Biya having a smooth ride for another seven years or if he decides to retire to the village, his CPDM replacement could be escorted to Unity Palace. In that scenario, it would be Osih's SDF "replacing Mr. Biya with Biya" and not any alliance, as the SDF National Chairman said last week.

If Hon Osih has not been told the home truth, he should be briefed that since he took over the leadership of the party, through a controversial election, the SDF, which was once acclaimed as the "party of change" and "equal opportunities" has been variously described as a "CPDM section".

Cameroonians in the opposition have not forgotten so soon that he joined 73 CPDM Parliamentarians, when the House was not in session, to sign a memo to the United States Congress, condemning them for asking for protection for refugees fleeing the conflict in the North West and South West Regions.

To his chagrin and CPDM bedfellows, the US government snubbed the letter and granted the compatriots temporal protection. What has Osih and his CPDM friends in Parliament done to ensure safety for their return?

Why did Osih not table the conflict for debate in the National Assembly or withdraw his signature as demanded by NEC?

Those answers, which allow the electorate to give their own interpretations, do not augur well for the SDF as an opposition party. 

It is up to Hon Osih to redeem the image of the SDF as a vibrant opposition party that can spit fire and demonstrate that power comes from the people.

That was the motive of the party’s Founding Fathers, who should not be turning in their graves in fury that the six martyrs killed during its launching in Bamenda were sacrificed for egoistic interests.

The Guardian Post urges the SDF NEC to join a union. We have no doubt that their contribution shall be relevant to effect the change Fru Ndi died fighting for. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No: 3261 of Wednesday October 16, 2024