Tag: Cameroon politics

Cameroon – History Repeats Itself ?

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great PeopleLeave a comment
Flag of Cameroon

Africans, it is so important to know our history, so as to be better equipped so it does not repeat itself again and again and again. I would like to publish here the words of the Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo, who highlights the fact that history is repeating itself in Cameroon. Although many may not totally agree with him, the similarities between the events of 1955 and 2025 are numerous. In 1955 in Cameroon, the Union of the People of Cameroon (UPC) of Um Nyobe (Ruben Um Nyobé: Fighting for the independence of Cameroon), was shut down as it was fighting for the total independence of Kamerun. In reality, Cameroon never got its independence as the then colonial regime and later the puppet government killed the independence movement, and Cameroon’s freedom was confiscated. Today, the same thing is happening again: the main candidate who represents a change, whatever it is, a new chapter in the life of the country (the current leader has been in power for 43 years now, and was in the high levels of power – minister and prime minister – 20 years before that) has been blocked from participating in the upcoming elections by some “magic” trick. The 12 October 2025 elections will go on without him even though he has a major support of the population, and this is starting to look like a carbon copy of the events of 1955. Truth be told, Cameroon, like many Francophone African countries never got its independence. Thus, maybe the real battle is to break the chains of bondage, and resume the fight our forefathers started? Let’s have Millions of African Leaders: Be the Leader You Want to Have!

The excerpts below is from Actu Cameroun based on Jean-Pierre Bekolo Facebook’s post. Enjoy!

=====

Map of Cameroon, with the capital Yaoundé

“Is it possible to compare what happened in 1955 in Cameroon with what we are experiencing today? Yes, we can say—with all the caution required for such a historical comparison—that the Cameroon of 2025 resembles, in many ways, that of 1955. If we need our history, it is not to complain, but to move forward. However, in Cameroon, history has not freed us: it has chained us. The events we are experiencing today, and which we will experience until October 12, could well be an almost exact repetition of a drama already played out during the colonial era—and never closed.

… It’s 1955. Two camps are facing off. On one side, those who want Cameroon to belong to its children. On the other, a colonial power that gives nothing away without repression. And between the two: collaborators, opportunists, wheeler-dealers, those who know where the truth lies but hope for crumbs. These don’t really believe in the system, but they find it to their advantage. They don’t support the regime out of conviction, but out of comfort, cowardice, or calculation. They know exactly what needs to be done for this country to change—but they prefer to wait for their appointment, their per diem, their prestigious position. They are the same people Fanon described: local elites who serve domination without bearing its name, intellectuals who rent from the established order, journalists of silence. In 1955, the colonial power identified two targets to be destroyed: the radicals, who must be killed, and the moderates, who must be bought or neutralized. Any voice in favor of an independent Cameroon is then a threat. We must divide, oppose, buy, crush…

… In May 1955, while Cameroon is still officially under French rule, the Union of the People of Cameroon (UPC) embodies a strong desire for independence. Its vision is clear: to build a free, sovereign nation, free from colonial rule and compromise. But this ambition is perceived as subversive. On May 20, 1955, the colonial government banned the UPC. In the following days, many cities go up in flames: Douala, Yaoundé, Ebolowa… The repression is brutal. It marks the beginning of what is now called the war of liberation, with its trail of violence, clandestinity, and sacrifices. Um Nyobè and his comrades are forced to flee, then to engage in armed struggle. In July 1955, the official ban on the UPC is confirmed. The nationalist movement is criminalized, the 1956 elections take place without it, and the independence project carried by the Cameroonian people is confiscated.”

…

GoodBye to a Courageous Leader : Ni John Fru Ndi and Ushering the Multi-Party Era in Cameroon

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great PeopleLeave a comment

John Fru Ndi (Source: NewsduCamer.com)

Ni John Fru Ndi, the major political opponent to the current president of Cameroon for almost 3 decades has passed away. Affectionately called “The Chairman,” John Fru Ndi came up at the twilight of the National Conference in Cameroon with the creation of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in 1990. Over the years, his party came to symbolize hope in a place where there had been no ‘real’ leadership change in over 30 years. His party was seen as the main opposition party to the government for over 2 decades. He was unavoidable in the political arena, and ran for president several times. He came close to winning in the October 1992 presidential election, but through some constitutional gymnastics and some play by the Supreme court (always) his win was pulverized and given to the governing party. The Supreme Court judge who heard his petition alleging fraud, said his “hands were tied” – and let the official results granting victory to incumbent Paul Biya, with 40% of the vote, stand. This caused great upset among SDF supporters and Fru Ndi was placed under house arrest for three months in his home in Bamenda, and a state of emergency was declared in the country. Later, Fru Ndi was nonetheless invited with his wife to the inauguration of US President Bill Clinton in January 1993.

Ni John Fru Ndi (Source: Bonaberi.com)

Like everyone back then, Fru Ndi began his political career in the 1980s as a member of Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC). Through the years, he grew frustrated with the one-party system. In 1990, during the years of the National Conference when Cameroon officially ended the one-party rule, he formed the opposition party the Social Democratic Front (SDF). Although he hailed from the Northwest province of Cameroon (English speaking area of Cameroon), he strove to represent all Cameroonians, and aspired for the unity of the entire country seeking a federally unified Cameroon. He addressed the masses in pidgin English. Soon, SDF came to stand for “Suffer don finish” – where with his arrival in power, his party would usher the end to suffering. At political rallies, he would raise his fist to shout “SDF” to the crowd, who would chant back en masse: “Power to the people!” This call and response was repeated until the third time when they would roar back: “Power to the people and equal opportunities!” The masses were galvanized; for many Cameroonians who had been muzzled for far too long under the one-party frame, this was the opportunity to exercise their civic duties and participate in the political life of their country. They saw in Fru Ndi the alternative to the stuck-up politics. Their efforts were repressed by the governing party; the early 1990s were the years of strikes, street protests, “zero-deaths,” and more.

John Fru Ndi addressing the masses in Bamenda (Source: Cameroonpostline.com)

In recent years, Fru Ndi was not a supporter of the secessionist rebellion in Anglophone Cameroon that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced countless people over the last six years. He was even kidnapped twice and beaten up by militants of the secessionist group in 2019, and part of his house was burnt down. The  secessionists were angered by what they saw as his betrayal for not supporting their demand for an independent state of Ambazonia, as they call Cameroon’s two English-speaking areas – the Northwest and Southwest regions. This forced him to sadly relocate from his beloved Bamenda to the capital Yaounde. He was very proud of his origins and rarely was seen wearing anything but atogho, traditional Bamileke clothing from the Northwest region, or Boubou: A Traditional African Garment.

Flag of Cameroon

Many claim that he should have united the opposition behind one leader against the government, as he had failed to get the coalition formed by the opposition to agree to field a single candidate to take on Mr Biya; or that he had been corrupted by the governing party.  Fru Ndi may have made mistakes, but at some point he represented the hopes of millions, hopes for a different future, a different alternative; and he had the courage to stand up and create a party who united people from all levels of the society, ushering the era of multi-party in Cameroon which was often paved with thorns. He has left a major imprint in Cameroon’s politics.

Below are some tributes from AfricaNews,

“I salute the memory of a singular, charismatic and courageous leader,” said current opposition leader Maurice Kamto who ran for president in 2018.

“The story of the return to multi-party politics in Cameroon cannot be written without [Fru Ndi’s] name in bold gold,” said politician Akere Muna, who ran for president in 2018. “His life is a lesson to the fact that leadership is about serving and not about being served,” he said.

“Ni John Fru Ndi for the SDF (Social Democratic Front, editor’s note) was the guide, that is to say, the man who traced the furrow along which we walk, the man who against all odds imposed the return to a multi-party system in Cameroon on 26 May 1990 and with it a set of individual and collective freedoms granted to the entire Cameroonian people” Marcel Tadjeu , Chairman of the Douala 5 SDF electoral constituency told AfricaNews correspondent.

Read also articles on the BBC, ABC, and AfricaNews.