Editorial

Cameroon’s Minister for Sports and Physical Education, Pierre Ismael Bidoung Mkpatt, has insinuated that the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee is incompetent to determine the validity of elections at the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT. The Minister’s stand on the overdue electoral bickering at FECAFOOT was made known yesterday in Yaounde and broadcast nation-wide following fears that the perennial contesting faction of the federation led by former Vice President, John Begheni Nde was bracing up to take over management of FECAFOOT affairs less than 72 hours after the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee had ruled that the recent elections that brought current President Tombi Aroko Sidiki to power was null and void.

Can we therefore say the curtains have ultimately been drawn on the longstanding melodrama at FECAFOOT? We of this publication say NO! Needless taking you back to how we got to where we are now. Rather, let us take the cue from when Tombi Aroko was sworn in as FECAFOOT boss. As celebrations went underway at the FECAFOOT headquarters in the Tsinga neighbourhood in Yaounde, the brain trust of the distraught faction was meticulously putting together files to challenge the decision to uphold the validity of the elections. One file bungled, while the other one convinced the Conciliation and Arbitration Committee of the National Olympic and Sports Committee to nullify the deliberations of the last FECAFOOT General Assembly, by implication, declaring the elections null and void.

FECAFOOT had 21 days to appeal the decision. But three days into the appeal opening, Minister Bidoung Mkpatt, the same one who had been sacked from Government in 2004 in the heat of the stand off between FIFA and FECAFOOT over the Indomitable Lions single outfit, undertook to hoodwink a carefully chosen group of officials to come up with what is currently tearing apart the football family in the country. Can someone explain to us why Abdourhaman Amadou and Co. who seem to be a particularly clever lot could not be cowed into submission by a conglomerate of learned men of the law? Without being a football astrologer, Cameroon Concord can safely conclude that Abdourhaman and Co. are already whistling foul and are certainly taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne who, before any other thing else, will raise an objection as to what we will be reminded of as being government intervention in football management in Cameroon.

For a man whom President Biya, against all odds, decided to offer some political rehabilitation, it is regrettable that Minister Bidoung Mkpatt should consciously create more problems for an octogenarian leader suffering from insomnia. Which way out? It is a matter of common sense that in such a long drawn out problem, a lot has been wasted and destroyed in material, financial, ego-tripping considerations. For one thing, the Government will not allow itself to be dragged endlessly in the mud with impunity.

The incumbent is certainly unwilling to let go the golden fleece after coming so close yet so far. And Sheik Abdourhaman Amadou who has demonstrated with outstanding finesse how well to read and interpret mere texts will for nothing at all slant from being The Cameroonian of the Year to a toddler. However, the complicated polynomial which otherwise should necessitate mastery of the Binomial theorem takes just knowledge of a simple linear equation to resolve: Summon Tombi and Abdourhamann to an eyeball-to-eyeball closed door discussion and ask them to grant a press conference after the secret meeting during which they will announce the joint decision and subsequently jointly supervise its implementation. This is our medical prescription to cure the cancerous ulcer lethally gnawing away at the FECAFOOT substrate.

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Nov.2015

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Cameroon’s Minister for Sports and Physical Education, Pierre Ismael Bidoung Mkpatt, has insinuated that the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee is incompetent to determine the validity of elections at the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT. The Minister’s stand on the overdue electoral bickering at FECAFOOT was made known yesterday in Yaounde and broadcast nation-wide following fears that the perennial contesting faction of the federation led by former Vice President, John Begheni Nde was bracing up to take over management of FECAFOOT affairs less than 72 hours after the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee had ruled that the recent elections that brought current President Tombi Aroko Sidiki to power was null and void.

Can we therefore say the curtains have ultimately been drawn on the longstanding melodrama at FECAFOOT? We of this publication say NO! Needless taking you back to how we got to where we are now. Rather, let us take the cue from when Tombi Aroko was sworn in as FECAFOOT boss. As celebrations went underway at the FECAFOOT headquarters in the Tsinga neighbourhood in Yaounde, the brain trust of the distraught faction was meticulously putting together files to challenge the decision to uphold the validity of the elections. One file bungled, while the other one convinced the Conciliation and Arbitration Committee of the National Olympic and Sports Committee to nullify the deliberations of the last FECAFOOT General Assembly, by implication, declaring the elections null and void.

FECAFOOT had 21 days to appeal the decision. But three days into the appeal opening, Minister Bidoung Mkpatt, the same one who had been sacked from Government in 2004 in the heat of the stand off between FIFA and FECAFOOT over the Indomitable Lions single outfit, undertook to hoodwink a carefully chosen group of officials to come up with what is currently tearing apart the football family in the country. Can someone explain to us why Abdourhaman Amadou and Co. who seem to be a particularly clever lot could not be cowed into submission by a conglomerate of learned men of the law? Without being a football astrologer, Cameroon Concord can safely conclude that Abdourhaman and Co. are already whistling foul and are certainly taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne who, before any other thing else, will raise an objection as to what we will be reminded of as being government intervention in football management in Cameroon.

For a man whom President Biya, against all odds, decided to offer some political rehabilitation, it is regrettable that Minister Bidoung Mkpatt should consciously create more problems for an octogenarian leader suffering from insomnia. Which way out? It is a matter of common sense that in such a long drawn out problem, a lot has been wasted and destroyed in material, financial, ego-tripping considerations. For one thing, the Government will not allow itself to be dragged endlessly in the mud with impunity.

The incumbent is certainly unwilling to let go the golden fleece after coming so close yet so far. And Sheik Abdourhaman Amadou who has demonstrated with outstanding finesse how well to read and interpret mere texts will for nothing at all slant from being The Cameroonian of the Year to a toddler. However, the complicated polynomial which otherwise should necessitate mastery of the Binomial theorem takes just knowledge of a simple linear equation to resolve: Summon Tombi and Abdourhamann to an eyeball-to-eyeball closed door discussion and ask them to grant a press conference after the secret meeting during which they will announce the joint decision and subsequently jointly supervise its implementation. This is our medical prescription to cure the cancerous ulcer lethally gnawing away at the FECAFOOT substrate.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

19.Nov.2015

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Recent resignations and movements to other parties by politicians confirm a trend that has become recurrent since the advent of multi-party politics in the 1990s. It has become normal in Cameroon to hear of top political party officials and members resigning to join other parties. A recent case was in the Mfoundi II Section of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) following the arrival of over 80 former members of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, of Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya.

The militants were welcomed by members of the CPDM Mfoundi II Section in pomp and fanfare on Thursday, October 29, 2015. The new arrivals recalled that they decamped from the CPDM to the CDU several years ago and were now coming back. They said they were encouraged by the inclusive approach to development by CPDM Mfoundi II Section President and Yaounde II Mayor, Luc Assamba. While accepting CPDM party uniforms and gadgets, the carpet-crossers pledged commitment to the ideals of the CPDM party.

Four days earlier on October 25, 2015 in Bamenda, North West Region, SDF’s key activist, Dr Fomambu Lawrence announced that he was returning to the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, from which he decamped in 2003 to join the Alliance of Progressive Forces, AFP, of Bernard Muna; before ending up in the SDF. In the same vein, Maidadi Saïdou who left the SDF for AFP is now in the NUDP. Tayong Jacob and Mudoh Walters also crossed from AFP to NUDP.

Another resignation that made headlines recently was that of former Member of Parliament of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, party, Dr. Aka Amuam, who joined the CPDM party. Reasons given by political carpet-crossers do not seem to convince a critic like Dr. Eric Mathias Owona Nguini. He says the phenomenon in Cameroon is motivated by opportunism and the hope for political gains. “It shows that our political scene is not strongly structured around one of the fundamental principles which are the ideology, moral and technical orientation that political parties must uphold in running public affairs and ensuring political governance.

It also indicates that there exists a certain level of precariousness which obliges people to change parties,” he argued. However, the risks are obvious because resigning militants might be treated with suspicion in their new political parties, Dr. Owona Nguini warns. “So, they have to show proof of their loyalty and fidelity,” he advised, adding that this exigency could be very difficult because their new comrades will also have in their heads that “he who once betrayed will always betray.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

11.Nov.2015

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Recent resignations and movements to other parties by politicians confirm a trend that has become recurrent since the advent of multi-party politics in the 1990s. It has become normal in Cameroon to hear of top political party officials and members resigning to join other parties. A recent case was in the Mfoundi II Section of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) following the arrival of over 80 former members of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, of Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya.

The militants were welcomed by members of the CPDM Mfoundi II Section in pomp and fanfare on Thursday, October 29, 2015. The new arrivals recalled that they decamped from the CPDM to the CDU several years ago and were now coming back. They said they were encouraged by the inclusive approach to development by CPDM Mfoundi II Section President and Yaounde II Mayor, Luc Assamba. While accepting CPDM party uniforms and gadgets, the carpet-crossers pledged commitment to the ideals of the CPDM party.

Four days earlier on October 25, 2015 in Bamenda, North West Region, SDF’s key activist, Dr Fomambu Lawrence announced that he was returning to the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, from which he decamped in 2003 to join the Alliance of Progressive Forces, AFP, of Bernard Muna; before ending up in the SDF. In the same vein, Maidadi Saïdou who left the SDF for AFP is now in the NUDP. Tayong Jacob and Mudoh Walters also crossed from AFP to NUDP.

Another resignation that made headlines recently was that of former Member of Parliament of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, party, Dr. Aka Amuam, who joined the CPDM party. Reasons given by political carpet-crossers do not seem to convince a critic like Dr. Eric Mathias Owona Nguini. He says the phenomenon in Cameroon is motivated by opportunism and the hope for political gains. “It shows that our political scene is not strongly structured around one of the fundamental principles which are the ideology, moral and technical orientation that political parties must uphold in running public affairs and ensuring political governance.

It also indicates that there exists a certain level of precariousness which obliges people to change parties,” he argued. However, the risks are obvious because resigning militants might be treated with suspicion in their new political parties, Dr. Owona Nguini warns. “So, they have to show proof of their loyalty and fidelity,” he advised, adding that this exigency could be very difficult because their new comrades will also have in their heads that “he who once betrayed will always betray.”

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

11.Nov.2015

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Recent resignations and movements to other parties by politicians confirm a trend that has become recurrent since the advent of multi-party politics in the 1990s. It has become normal in Cameroon to hear of top political party officials and members resigning to join other parties. A recent case was in the Mfoundi II Section of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) following the arrival of over 80 former members of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, of Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya.

The militants were welcomed by members of the CPDM Mfoundi II Section in pomp and fanfare on Thursday, October 29, 2015. The new arrivals recalled that they decamped from the CPDM to the CDU several years ago and were now coming back. They said they were encouraged by the inclusive approach to development by CPDM Mfoundi II Section President and Yaounde II Mayor, Luc Assamba. While accepting CPDM party uniforms and gadgets, the carpet-crossers pledged commitment to the ideals of the CPDM party.

Four days earlier on October 25, 2015 in Bamenda, North West Region, SDF’s key activist, Dr Fomambu Lawrence announced that he was returning to the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, from which he decamped in 2003 to join the Alliance of Progressive Forces, AFP, of Bernard Muna; before ending up in the SDF. In the same vein, Maidadi Saïdou who left the SDF for AFP is now in the NUDP. Tayong Jacob and Mudoh Walters also crossed from AFP to NUDP.

Another resignation that made headlines recently was that of former Member of Parliament of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, party, Dr. Aka Amuam, who joined the CPDM party. Reasons given by political carpet-crossers do not seem to convince a critic like Dr. Eric Mathias Owona Nguini. He says the phenomenon in Cameroon is motivated by opportunism and the hope for political gains. “It shows that our political scene is not strongly structured around one of the fundamental principles which are the ideology, moral and technical orientation that political parties must uphold in running public affairs and ensuring political governance.

It also indicates that there exists a certain level of precariousness which obliges people to change parties,” he argued. However, the risks are obvious because resigning militants might be treated with suspicion in their new political parties, Dr. Owona Nguini warns. “So, they have to show proof of their loyalty and fidelity,” he advised, adding that this exigency could be very difficult because their new comrades will also have in their heads that “he who once betrayed will always betray.”

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

11.Nov.2015

Hits: 1467

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Recent resignations and movements to other parties by politicians confirm a trend that has become recurrent since the advent of multi-party politics in the 1990s. It has become normal in Cameroon to hear of top political party officials and members resigning to join other parties. A recent case was in the Mfoundi II Section of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) following the arrival of over 80 former members of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, of Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya.

The militants were welcomed by members of the CPDM Mfoundi II Section in pomp and fanfare on Thursday, October 29, 2015. The new arrivals recalled that they decamped from the CPDM to the CDU several years ago and were now coming back. They said they were encouraged by the inclusive approach to development by CPDM Mfoundi II Section President and Yaounde II Mayor, Luc Assamba. While accepting CPDM party uniforms and gadgets, the carpet-crossers pledged commitment to the ideals of the CPDM party.

Four days earlier on October 25, 2015 in Bamenda, North West Region, SDF’s key activist, Dr Fomambu Lawrence announced that he was returning to the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, from which he decamped in 2003 to join the Alliance of Progressive Forces, AFP, of Bernard Muna; before ending up in the SDF. In the same vein, Maidadi Saïdou who left the SDF for AFP is now in the NUDP. Tayong Jacob and Mudoh Walters also crossed from AFP to NUDP.

Another resignation that made headlines recently was that of former Member of Parliament of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, party, Dr. Aka Amuam, who joined the CPDM party. Reasons given by political carpet-crossers do not seem to convince a critic like Dr. Eric Mathias Owona Nguini. He says the phenomenon in Cameroon is motivated by opportunism and the hope for political gains. “It shows that our political scene is not strongly structured around one of the fundamental principles which are the ideology, moral and technical orientation that political parties must uphold in running public affairs and ensuring political governance.

It also indicates that there exists a certain level of precariousness which obliges people to change parties,” he argued. However, the risks are obvious because resigning militants might be treated with suspicion in their new political parties, Dr. Owona Nguini warns. “So, they have to show proof of their loyalty and fidelity,” he advised, adding that this exigency could be very difficult because their new comrades will also have in their heads that “he who once betrayed will always betray.”

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

11.Nov.2015

Hits: 1266

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