According to the
Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, the President of the Republic is the guarantor of State laws and the Constitution. We have therefore thought it wise though
belated to write this open letter to President Biya Paul on the said extension
of Parliamentary mandate and the Electoral code. We have these strong feelings
as youth to voice out these concerns so that things could be corrected. After
all Mr. President once said “Cameroon is Cameroon”. In some months now, your
ministers in the persons of Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo and Minister ISSA
Tchiroma Bakari have reacted angrily following the letters from Comrade Marafa.This has shown the Cameroonian people that, since
you are not in touch with them, the best way we could get to you is through
open letters. We hope ours too would be taking seriously as in no distant future, we shall organized a sit down hunger strike
to voice our anger over some vexing pertinent issues in Cameroon amongst which
are the issues we are raising in this letter: the Unconstitutional extension of
MPs mandates which unfortunately all of them have sat quiet.
Mr. President, whilst I was a student leader in UB some years back, I used to have the conception that Politics is not a game in the real sense of the word but more importantly today, I have come to realized that it is a big game of personal interest in Cameroon rather than being a game for the collective interest of the masses. It is so disturbing that even the opposition MPs in the face of this travesty sat quiet seeing the violation of the Constitution they are called to uphold. We are not surprised at the attitudes of your CPDM Mps because the Cameroon youth have lost respect for them and soon each of them in their respective areas shall begin paying the price of sacrificing justice. We want to assure you that, your Mps all play politics of the stomach, something you have thought them to do over the years. Mr. President you remember that, during the adoption of the Electoral code in Parliament, opposition Mps walked out of parliament to show their disapproval of the sham called Electoral Code which you promulgated into law. Your Handclapped CPDM Mps threw out the proposals of the SDF on the basis that it was unconstitutional. Now we aske, what stopped you or your Mps to cause the revision of the Constitution so that the proposals of the SDF, other opposition parties and civil society could be entertained? Yet , you and your Mps decided to play the politics of personal interest throwing the aspirations of the Cameroonian people to the dustbin. You are already in your last term of office whether you like it or not, why not give the Cameroon people a better electoral code? What are you afraid of? Whether you like it or not, the youths of this great nation shall soon cause a great metamorphosis in the way things are managed.
Mr. President, whilst I was a student leader in UB some years back, I used to have the conception that Politics is not a game in the real sense of the word but more importantly today, I have come to realized that it is a big game of personal interest in Cameroon rather than being a game for the collective interest of the masses. It is so disturbing that even the opposition MPs in the face of this travesty sat quiet seeing the violation of the Constitution they are called to uphold. We are not surprised at the attitudes of your CPDM Mps because the Cameroon youth have lost respect for them and soon each of them in their respective areas shall begin paying the price of sacrificing justice. We want to assure you that, your Mps all play politics of the stomach, something you have thought them to do over the years. Mr. President you remember that, during the adoption of the Electoral code in Parliament, opposition Mps walked out of parliament to show their disapproval of the sham called Electoral Code which you promulgated into law. Your Handclapped CPDM Mps threw out the proposals of the SDF on the basis that it was unconstitutional. Now we aske, what stopped you or your Mps to cause the revision of the Constitution so that the proposals of the SDF, other opposition parties and civil society could be entertained? Yet , you and your Mps decided to play the politics of personal interest throwing the aspirations of the Cameroonian people to the dustbin. You are already in your last term of office whether you like it or not, why not give the Cameroon people a better electoral code? What are you afraid of? Whether you like it or not, the youths of this great nation shall soon cause a great metamorphosis in the way things are managed.
Mr. President, we are informing you that, the worst law or decree you have
signed in your 30 years of rule is the Electoral Code. CYC is not the only
group saying so, the Archbishop of Doula Diocese Mgsr Kleda recently faulted
the adoption of the Electoral Code, and he predicted calamities following such code
as you neglected the opinions of all sectors your Prime Minister consulted.
Comrade Marafa letters gave an insight of such a code. Mr.
President, God is still saying something. The various postulates of Comrade Marafa, the Catholic
Priests and even the lame warnings of the Opposition groupings should not be
taking lightly. At best, Government should take positive actions.
Mr. President, the highlights of this letter is/was the extension of the Parliamentary mandate which is Unconstitutional. We were seemingly shocked, the opposition sat quiet. We are aware that, because of their minority in the house, the CPDM led Mps can adopt any bill with or without their approval as you their master (Biya) approve.We expected a symbolic opposition from the opposition parties to draw the attention of the Head of state. The CPDM led Mps refused adopting the proposals SDF gave on the electoral code on the basis that they were unconstitutional.For the sake of conscience clearing, the opposition could have made public the unconstitutional nature of extension of parliamentary mandate, yet our opposition Mps even the most vocal sat quiet. Mr. President, we are convinced you caused billions of tax payers’ money to swell their accounts to keep their mouth quiet. law No 2008/001 of 14 April 2008 to amend and supplement some provisions of law no 96/6 of 18 January 1996 to amend the Constitution of 2 June 1972, Article 15 (4) reads “In case of serious crisis or where circumstances so warrant, the President of the Republic may, after consultation with the President of the Constitutional Council and Bureau of the National Assembly to decide, by law, to extend or abridge its term of office. In this case, the election of a new Assembly shall take place not less than 40 (forty) days and not more than 120 (one hundred and twenty) days following the expiring of the extension or abridgement period”. I think the above provision from the Constitution is clear, in our case it so warrants that because of the adoption of the so called new electoral code and introduction of a smokescreen biometric system, the President in consultation with the house decided to extend the mandates of MPs to six months renewable once following their term of office expiring in July this year. It is clear from the above provision that, Mr. Biya extension of six months renewable once is unconstitutional rather it should have read 4 months extension non-renewable for National Assembly elections to take place since not more than 120 days is exactly four months. May be the President thinks that Four months is too small, then Mr. President since you have the majority in Parliament and you can change the constitution as you willed, you should have cause the amendment of the Constitution to accomodate your six months extension then the extension would have been constitutional. You should be reminded, Nigeria took weeks to register over 100 million people, you know why? They had the political will to make things happen. It is because you lack the political will and all what is on your mind and that of your party is how to steal elections….you saw no need making things straight for the good of the nation. It is a shame however that law makers sat quiet on this issue.
Cameroon Youths for Change wants to assume Mr. President was wrongly advised by the National Assembly because they want to keep their positions so that they keep stuffing their accounts, and because Cameroon is Cameroon, you can still ensure that justice is seen to be done to the Cameroon People.
I rest my case
Much Obliged.
Bara Mark B.
Regional Coordinator
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