Skip to main content
      CHILLY GHOSTS DOOM CAMEROON'S  TWIN ELECTIONS


BY MILDRED NDUM WUNG KUM

Government's plan to execute the 2020, 2, 9 municipal and Parliamentary Elections faced real stiff opposition from persons barricading polls. Election day in Bamenda was marked by scenes of lockdown, military cars in circulation, dead streets and goverment officials going to polls  under heavy cover of military artillery.

The normal ambience often perceptible during an election was stripped as the activity was taking place against a strongly condemnable backdrop amidst distabilised security

The twin elections were once more a stage for the four years old anglophone crisis to exhibit a manifestation of opposing views between Anglophones canvassing for an independent state against the will of the ruling CPDM government preaching a one and indivisible Cameroon. Just on the eve of elections, separatist fighters orchestrated a campaign to dismantle every effort towards the electorate. A six days lockdown was programmed, warnings were sounded, life threatening messages circulated and some attacks were recorded on  candidates aspiring for leadership positions in politics all against the twin polls.




A Polling booth in one of troubled zones, voters can barely be spotted

The elections took place within a planned lockdown. Thus from dawn to dusk on the d day of elections, polling stations were boycotted by the hand full of registered electorate who anticipated voting. 

The entire northwest region had two thousand three hundred and forty eight polling stations yet these were fused into sixty polling centers for security reasons with some polling centers hosting about eleven polling stations.

Merging polling stations together into polling centers further complicated movement of voters to polling centers as it entailed covering miles to get to a polling center, a task which simply put voters off the trend.

In the entire city of Bamenda, just the Old Town and Up - station neighbourhoods were somewhat lively with voting for obvious reasons; Old Town is inhabited by Hausas and Mbororos who pay no heed to the separatist ideology of lockdown, election boycott or secession meanwhile the Up Station neighborhood is the administrative and military headquarter of Bamenda, it harbours government stalwarts who were prompt at exhibiting voting duties for politico- administrative defensive purposes.



Voting at the Old Town Polling Station

In the northwest region regime loyalties like minister Mbayo Felix, Paul Atanga Nji, Adolph Lele Lafrique, Senator Regina Mundi and Mbah Acha Rose were accompanied by a proportion of the local masses to the polls. They however all voted under strict military escort.


Voting witgin tight security


Staff of the local elections regulating body ELECAM were for the most part of the day idling as just a few voters turned out to vote. It appeared some polling stations recorded zero turn out of the electorate.

Gun battles between state and none state arm forces were recorded in Snongwa, Bafut and Bali. The case of Bafut was perculiar as election material was burned and some military equipment set ablaze by suspected separatist fighters. Elsewhere in Bali, gun battles between the state and  none state armed groups resulted in the dead of about fifteen separatist fighters.

Statistics of polling stations revealed small insignificant turn out of the population which was a clear sign of voter apathy from the very point of voter registration. 

For example Up station Bamenda with a massive population of voter age group reflected registered electorates between one hundred and fifty and slightly above five hundred and fifty registered voters with less than fifty persons voting in some polling stations

The twin elections pitted six political parties contesting for seats  in the municipal and parliamentary: the CPDM, UDP, SDF, OPDC, UNDP and BRIC.

A number of irregularities were noted at polling centers.

-The Army Camp Voting Centre at up station Bamenda recorded the following oddities:

-Polling station A: No political party representative to monitor elections. The SDF monitoring agent came after 9am against the Constitution and was sent away.


-Polling station B, Only CPDM polling agents available.

-Polling station C, only CPDM and SDF polling agents present.

-Sixth military sector A: just CPDM polling agents available.

-Regional Delegation of National security A: the SDF party representative  sent home because his name doesn't appear on the list of those to supervise the party.

-The ballot papers of all political parties contesting the elections were not available in polling stations.

-Absence of international observers at polling stations

- Absence of polling agents for UDP and OPDC in all the polling stations at the Army Camp Voting Centre.


-The names of some registered voters didn't appear on the list but they voted by showing their ID or votera card to polling agents.



Comments

Post a Comment

Editor's Picks

UBa opens doors for a Hate free Institution   By Mbuh Stella Hate Speech is a potential source of conflict, contributing to thousands of lives lost around the globe, experts have warned. In Cameroon, Hate speech is practiced both online and offline. The phenomenon is a call for concern. It is against this back drop that Defyhatenow  a Non Governmental Organization is working towards raising awareness and combating Hate speech. Recently, a team from the organization led by Laure Nganlay Nadege, Communication Associate at Defyhatenow visited the University of Bamenda, UBa to initiate a program which will in the days ahead engage students  in the fight against Hate speech and other forms of information manipulation. During the discussion, delegation member, Derick Kinnang, who is also Research and Administrative Officer at Defyhatenow said 'hate speech is a can of worms that should not be allowed to take roots in the communities" Defyhatenow Delegation presented their missio...
1 comment
Read more
ABDUCTED SENATOR ATTRACTS SOLIDARITY of BAMENDA ARCHBISHOP The Office of the Archbishop in the Archdiocese of Bamenda has published a communique requesting for the release of Senator Regina Mundi, one of Cameroon's Senators wallowing in captivity after she was kidnapped April 30th, 2022. The communique dated May 10, 2022 carries the insignia and signatory of the Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Andrew Nkea.    "I am sending out this open appeal to those who are keeping Mrs Regina Mundi to kindly show mercy on her and liberate her from captivity. To those who kidnapped her, Mrs Mundi is a senator but I am appealing to them to remember that, she is also many other things than being a senator" The letter notes The communique goes ahead to note the reputations of the kidnapped official; she is a mother and grandmother, an ex student of the Catholic school -Queen of the Rosary College Okoyong, a devout Christian of the Presbyterian Church and an advocate for rural women. The p...
Post a Comment
Read more
CATHOLIC PRIEST CAUTIONS FELLOW PRIESTS TO PRIORITIZE PRIESTLY DUTIES  Compiled by Cameroon Infotrend                Rev Fr Joseph A. Jum In today's world where those in the ministerial priesthood are into multitasking, with many other priests being versatile like a jack of all and others being ubiquitous, a fellow priest in an insightful write up recalls the intrinsic functions of the priest. Reverend Father Joseph Awoh Jum is a Roman Catholic Priest of the Diocese of Buea, currently Vice Chancellor in the Catholic University of Cameroon CATUC Bamenda. In a lengthy but thought provoking write up, the pastor seems to be drawing his fellow brother priests who have become increasingly busy such that the zest for other duties sometimes outweigh the zeal for pastoral issues. Read the article below culled from his Facebook page; the author captions it THE "CORE WORK" OF THE CATHOLIC PRIEST Catholic Christians who work closely with priests know tha...
Post a Comment
Read more