COMMENTARY-Kamto on house arrest: Is the CPDM living in illusion of one-party system?
By Hans Ngala
The Constitution of Cameroon guarantees the freedom to assemble, provided that the assembly is peaceful and adheres to the laws, such as notifying local authorities in advance. Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party leader, Maurice Kamto, said he wasn’t even going to organise a rally but to visit the head office of their party.
“We wanted my arrival to be a republican example with their guidance and security, that is why we informed them of my coming and gave them every detail…” Kamto said in a video message to his followers from his residence in Douala, where local security forces had detained him on Sunday.
“This is something we find difficult to understand because it is not an issue of public disorder, because we had given all the information to security forces,” Kamto said.
Despite this, there was a heavy police and gendarme presence along the road from the airport and from the party’s residence in Deido to the scheduled location for the visit.
This is not the first time Kamto has been detained since breaking away from the ruling CPDM party. Today’s blockade sends a rather ironic message: the Biya regime seems to be living in the past, under the delusion that this is the 1970s and 1980s of a one-party system in Cameroonian politics, where Ahidjo and later Biya could simply quash any opposition party with a wave of their fingers.
The desperation by Yaounde to contain Kamto says two things:
One: Yaounde has failed to convince Cameroonians because, for over 40 years of one-man rule, there is comparatively very little to show for it.
Two: Kamto has a charisma that is threatening the incumbent. The fact that Paul Biya is not in the spotlight, trying like any other candidate to garner votes, is telling in itself.
Does this attitude suppose that he has “already won”? Or is he just so sure that he will win in October?
And if the answer to any of these questions is “Yes”, then why fear Kamto so much? If the CPDM is sure that they have the cards and that the Cameroonian public will vote for them, why not level the playing field and play fair like all the other parties?
This gross abuse of power by the powers that be is what will cause a lot of moderate voters to lean towards people like Kamto. Suppressing Kamto’s voice will only help endear him to Cameroonians. Already, he has a laid-out plan of things he wants to achieve, and his manifesto is more appealing than any of the endless tweets that have been popping out en masse from Etoudi.
The CPDM with such an attitude will only help Kamto to gain popularity, as he will be seen as a victim of Yaounde’s tyrannical rule. Cameroonians with rational minds will begin to ask why it is acceptable for Biya who prides himself as a democratic ruler – to get warm receptions at the airport in Yaounde each time he enters the country in his capacity as President of the Republic, but CPDM members often politicize these moments by showing up with CPDM regalia.
Is Paul Biya the president only of the CPDM party? And why should a “democratic” country silence (or try to) silence the voice of a legitimate opposition party if the ruling party has no skeletons in its closet?
At press time, authorities in Douala even ordered Kamto to leave the city. This is a shocking turn of events in a country purporting to be a just and fair one where democratic rights are protected. With such a dictatorial manner of leadership at all levels, it’s a joke to witness these things, and young Cameroonians will not take Paul Biya and his administration seriously if this is their style of wooing the hearts and minds of Cameroonians.
These are just some of the questions that observant Cameroonians are asking themselves as they witness the repressive tactics of Yaounde in full display to a national audience once more.
