Appointment of Senators: When SDF joins Presidential Majority through the window!.

04/03/2023

The outgoing Senate had only seven elected opposition candidates, down from the 14 SDF Senators when the Upper House of Parliament came into existence 10 years ago.

At the March 12 polls, President Biya’s ruling CPDM party grabbed all the 70 seats; winning in the South West and his South Regions without a challenger in a one horse race.

In exercising his constitutional prerogative to appoint 30, the Head of State raised the number of his party Senators to 94 and gave the rest to "opposition" parties with which it has some kind of alliance.

The six beneficiaries of the presidential largesse were Flambeau Ngayap (UNDP), Marlyse Aboui (ANDP), Paulin Djorwe (MDR), Besongoh Akemfor (UPC), Tizi Tourmba Malaye Yves (FSNC) and Vanigassen Mochiggle of the SDF.

Apart from the SDF of Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi, the four others are in government or have been in it in the past. The SDF had, for years when it was an intimidating political force to reckon with, resisted the teasing to swallow the bait that would have dragged it into the Presidential Majority or join the government.

Today, it is a spent force fighting itself and has swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker by going into the Senate with one member! What will he (Vanigassen Mochiggle) do that the 14 SDF 14 Senators failed to accomplish years ago when the party had a Parliamentary Group at the at the Upper House of Parliament?

The Member of Parliament, MP for Wouri, Hon Jean-Michel Nitcheu, wrote on his Facebook page condemning the appointment of the lone SDF Senator.

“A Fru Ndi activist appointed Senator by Paul Biya!," he described the appointment, saying: "The SDF shamefully enters the Presidential Majority through the window”.

He might be dramatising it cynically in revenge for his expulsion and that of over 26 other top brass of the party. But more constructively, he is not far from the truth. The CPDM will beat its chest with claims that six parties are represented in the Senate. But of what use?

In the appointment, Biya did not forget his old guards and as if in an afflatus of inheritance, two sons of first class traditional rulers were included to replace their late fathers.

Seidou Mbombo Njoya, former president of FECAFOOT, was appointed to inherit Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, his late father who was the revered "king" of the Bamouns in the West Region. He passed on as a Senator. Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko, paramount ruler of the Bafaw in Meme Division, in the South West Region, replaces his legendary father, Nfon V.E Mukete in the Upper House of Parliament.

If Biya maintains his tradition of a demographic that skews heavily towards aged people who are already starting to thin in numbers, the 88-year-old Marcel Niat Njifenji, the Bamileke apparatchik will keep the chair which makes him constitutional Head of State (successor) in case of an unexpected vacancy or impediment.

As the second most important personality in the national hierarchy, Senator Niat doesn't physically look smart, which has often heightened debate over Biya's succession.

Before the appointments, there were persistent speculations that President Biya would appoint his eldest son, Frank Biya, to the Senate in preparation to groom him for the helm of state, but the guesswork did not come to pass.

Whatever the composition of the bureau of the third Senate would be, it is without quibbling that the opposition has been crippled by the ruling party using the carrot and stick strategy in a country where many politicians, some pseudo, others retired civil servants who are appointed or co-opted, care more about themselves or brutally said, their stomachs, and not the interest of the people they are supposed to represent.

No one expects the third Senate to make any impact, especially on the conflict in the North West and South West Regions that remains a threat to political stability and economic growth nor would it add much in terms of inter-party competition or democratic checks.

Such a one-party dominated Senate as in the past 10 years will just in action remain like a quiet storm in a teacup than bad weather with earthquake or tsunami possibilities.

If anything, it will ensure that Biya will have a legitimate interim successor should he retire or abrogate his term. If that happens, can Hon Niat, who was called from retirement in 2013, hold the forth, even with a fractured and crippled opposition that the ruling party is absorbing to the point of an implosion? Will he stand the succession battle that has been surreptitiously going on in his party?

Despite the crushing majority, the CPDM hierarchy must know that with time and in a country with an increasing number of educated and jobless youth, absolute power is often more ephemeral than imagined.

">

04/03/2023

The outgoing Senate had only seven elected opposition candidates, down from the 14 SDF Senators when the Upper House of Parliament came into existence 10 years ago.

At the March 12 polls, President Biya’s ruling CPDM party grabbed all the 70 seats; winning in the South West and his South Regions without a challenger in a one horse race.

In exercising his constitutional prerogative to appoint 30, the Head of State raised the number of his party Senators to 94 and gave the rest to "opposition" parties with which it has some kind of alliance.

The six beneficiaries of the presidential largesse were Flambeau Ngayap (UNDP), Marlyse Aboui (ANDP), Paulin Djorwe (MDR), Besongoh Akemfor (UPC), Tizi Tourmba Malaye Yves (FSNC) and Vanigassen Mochiggle of the SDF.

Apart from the SDF of Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi, the four others are in government or have been in it in the past. The SDF had, for years when it was an intimidating political force to reckon with, resisted the teasing to swallow the bait that would have dragged it into the Presidential Majority or join the government.

Today, it is a spent force fighting itself and has swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker by going into the Senate with one member! What will he (Vanigassen Mochiggle) do that the 14 SDF 14 Senators failed to accomplish years ago when the party had a Parliamentary Group at the at the Upper House of Parliament?

The Member of Parliament, MP for Wouri, Hon Jean-Michel Nitcheu, wrote on his Facebook page condemning the appointment of the lone SDF Senator.

“A Fru Ndi activist appointed Senator by Paul Biya!," he described the appointment, saying: "The SDF shamefully enters the Presidential Majority through the window”.

He might be dramatising it cynically in revenge for his expulsion and that of over 26 other top brass of the party. But more constructively, he is not far from the truth. The CPDM will beat its chest with claims that six parties are represented in the Senate. But of what use?

In the appointment, Biya did not forget his old guards and as if in an afflatus of inheritance, two sons of first class traditional rulers were included to replace their late fathers.

Seidou Mbombo Njoya, former president of FECAFOOT, was appointed to inherit Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, his late father who was the revered "king" of the Bamouns in the West Region. He passed on as a Senator. Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko, paramount ruler of the Bafaw in Meme Division, in the South West Region, replaces his legendary father, Nfon V.E Mukete in the Upper House of Parliament.

If Biya maintains his tradition of a demographic that skews heavily towards aged people who are already starting to thin in numbers, the 88-year-old Marcel Niat Njifenji, the Bamileke apparatchik will keep the chair which makes him constitutional Head of State (successor) in case of an unexpected vacancy or impediment.

As the second most important personality in the national hierarchy, Senator Niat doesn't physically look smart, which has often heightened debate over Biya's succession.

Before the appointments, there were persistent speculations that President Biya would appoint his eldest son, Frank Biya, to the Senate in preparation to groom him for the helm of state, but the guesswork did not come to pass.

Whatever the composition of the bureau of the third Senate would be, it is without quibbling that the opposition has been crippled by the ruling party using the carrot and stick strategy in a country where many politicians, some pseudo, others retired civil servants who are appointed or co-opted, care more about themselves or brutally said, their stomachs, and not the interest of the people they are supposed to represent.

No one expects the third Senate to make any impact, especially on the conflict in the North West and South West Regions that remains a threat to political stability and economic growth nor would it add much in terms of inter-party competition or democratic checks.

Such a one-party dominated Senate as in the past 10 years will just in action remain like a quiet storm in a teacup than bad weather with earthquake or tsunami possibilities.

If anything, it will ensure that Biya will have a legitimate interim successor should he retire or abrogate his term. If that happens, can Hon Niat, who was called from retirement in 2013, hold the forth, even with a fractured and crippled opposition that the ruling party is absorbing to the point of an implosion? Will he stand the succession battle that has been surreptitiously going on in his party?

Despite the crushing majority, the CPDM hierarchy must know that with time and in a country with an increasing number of educated and jobless youth, absolute power is often more ephemeral than imagined.