CPDM on opposition bench!.

But let’s look at history of great political parties. It is not impossible for the almighty CPDM to crash into an opposition seat or even disappear after its Founder and National President, whose aura is so imposing that nothing is done by his officials without attributing “thanks to the Head of State.”

Kenya African National Union, the once dominant post-independence party for decades, ruled Kenya until its crushing in the 2002 polls. It then shrunk into a minor regional player.

Zambia's sole ruling party lost power in 1991, subsequently fading into political insignificance, amid leadership squabbles. 

History is full of such dominating ruling political parties that fizzled out after the departure of their towering leaders, wind of change, inflated egos in internal altercations, different ideologies or pivotal issues of time.

The symptoms are in the ruling party in Cameroon, which explains last Wednesday’s meeting at the Yaounde Conference Centre. It was convened by the CPDM Central Committee Secretary General, Jean Nkuete. 

He conceded to delegates that “…we must frankly acknowledge that the prevailing environment is not favourable to us in the run-up to the coming municipal and parliamentary elections. Indeed, growing public disenchantment at both national and local levels, rising expectations, unfulfilled promises and shortcomings of every kind are increasingly being highlighted and denounced from every quarter”.

He rightly read the warning writing on the wall. How that will be edited to reflect the aspirations of the living agony of millions of Cameroonians on the street from whom real power emanates, will determine whether the party remains on the driving seat or just an inconsequential passenger in the coming years, which could be months, as municipal and legislative polls, twice postponed, come up next year.

Reviewing the October 12, 2026 disputed presidential election, in which its candidate slumped from 71.28% in 2018 to a marginal 53,66 in 2025, he said “…the last elections revealed a very significant and discreet triangular collusion of negative forces, backed and supported by local, foreign, and spiritual enemies, against the flourishing of Cameroon”. 

He didn’t explain who were the “foreign” and “spiritual enemies” or how they affected the party. 

Rather, his party was criticised on the eve of the presidential poll for performing a CRTV televised traditional ritual, showing some ministers and officials led by Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, the CPDM Press Officer, dancing round an empty stool at the Unity Palace.

There is no doubt that the ruling party’s candidate genuinely faced significant competition from the opposition, despite failing to provide a single candidate to challenge him.

The CPDM scribe said such a challenge highlighted the need for the party to find new strategies to maintain its gains in parliamentary and local assemblies. 

“The overall political climate is not favorable to the party on the eve of the elections,” Nkuete reminded delegates.

To change the trend, the theme of the conclave was: “The imperative of a CPDM landslide victory in the legislative and municipal elections: Reasons, prerequisites, actions”. 

He challenged the militants at all levels not to succumb to defeatism but must "more boldly and proudly maintain the leading positions we hold in the municipalities, regions, National Assembly, and Senate," and “prepare to defend them fearlessly”.

In the struggle to defend and secure its stability and hegemony, regional leaders were urged to remain calm to reassure grassroots members, and to demonstrate political clarity, foresight, realism, and pragmatism. 

It is essential to maintain close contact and ongoing engagement with the population throughout the intensified election preparation period, he said.

The party is simultaneously relying on its traditional strategies and on solutions commensurate with the challenges to develop more effective arguments which “require rigorous and methodical work, fostering calm within the ranks, identifying strengths and weaknesses, defining objectives, and mobilising financial resources, among other things”.

Thus, in the coming months, the focus will be on resolving issues related to mobilisation, training, information dissemination, and awareness-raising.

Seminar participants will receive training to be effective on the ground before the electoral body is convened. They will definitely be sent on missions to disseminate the training at the regional, divisional, local branch, and district levels.

There is are question to answer. How do the campaigners explain the unfulfilled promises, like the Limbe Deep Seaport, SONARA unrepaired for over five years while another refinery is launched in Kribi?

What do they tell the electorate why youth unemployment, likened to a time bomb, soars while General Managers of State companies violate nine-year term limits to serve over three decades in some cases?

What will they tell voters why the Higher Judicial Council, legally to meet yearly, has not sat for five years and overwhelming judges with cases and congested prisons?

How will they explain constant electricity blackouts that cripple small businesses, yet inflated bills, inadequate drinking water and a poor health delivery service?

These are burning issues that will remain on the agenda for debates.

A day after the CPDM conclave, which one commentator described as only a “black smoke came out”, SDF opposition leader, Osih Joshua, said: "A Head of State absent for more than six weeks, a vacant Vice Presidency, Cameroon on autopilot, and you don't rely on autopilot in a storm".

According to Osih, the SDF is not out to describe the fire. “We came with water to put out the fire”. 

Jean-Michel Nintcheu, an opposition MP called on the Constitutional Council to declare the Presidency vacant.

The Cameroon Democratic Union, UDC, said it did not wish to speculate on Paul Biya's personal situation, but that it believed that the continuity of the State cannot rely on silence or assumptions.

MRC Vice Chair, Mamadou Mota, sharply criticised the Minister of Higher Education, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, over President Biya’s prolonged stay abroad. 

Mota, labelling it as a "de facto exile" and questioned State governance, while Fame Ndongo dismissed the criticism as baseless legal nonsense and defended the president's works from abroad.

Prof Fame Ndongo and the Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman, had reiterated that the President was working from abroad and will be back soon.

Yet, the debate about his long stay, also linked to succession, does not seem to get off the radar anytime soon. 

The CPDM party, as epitomised at last Wednesday’s meeting in Yaounde, attended by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Central Committee, Political Bureau members, leaders of Divisional delegations etc, has a hard nut explaining the real issues at hand, which is rising cost of living for the ordinary citizens, reeling infrastructure and unfulfilled promises.

The daunting issues will determine the outcome of the coming municipal and legislative elections, which could produce a miracle that turns the table as it happened in 1992, when the CPDM had no majority in the council and 88 seats at the National Assembly. It could have sent ruling party to the opposition bench, if some opposition parties declined to give it a majority. History has a way of repeating itself and only time will tell.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3860 of Monday July 27, 2026