2025 Presidential Election: Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu, Desperately Wants MRC Leader, Maurice Kamto, To Run On The Ticket of His Party, FCC

  In an unprecedented claim, Nintcheu who entered parliament on the ticket of the SDF, insist he is now an MP of FCC.

 An MRC lawyer in a TV debate agrees with Nintcheu, while a CPDM lawyer strongly disagrees with him

But why can Nintcheu not take this matter to the Constitutional Council for clarification?

The National President of the FCC Party, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu, who entered the National Assembly on  the ticket of the SDF Party, has insisted in a rejoinder addressed to the national daily, Cameroon Tribune, that following his departure (dismissal) from the SDF on February 25, 2023, followed by the revival of his party, RAP, and then  the ‘official change’ of  the party’s name to  FCC on October 14, 2023, he had since then become an FCC  member of the National Assembly. He claims it was thus wrong for Cameroon Tribune to have published a list on which SDF is presented as having five MPs, which means including him, whereas he has since become an MP of the FCC.

It should be noted that just like in the rejoinder to Cameroon Tribune, Hon Nintcheu has since his dismissal from the SDF on February 25, 2023 alongside over 30 other militants (G 27+) for anti –party activities, been hanging on Article 15 (2) and Article 15 (3) of the Constitution in his claim that he is now MP of FCC. In the rejoinder he once more cited Article 15 (2) which states that: ‘Chaque depute represent e l’essemble de la Nation’, and Article 15 (3) which states that: ‘Tout mandat imperative est nul’. This simply means that each MP, precisely a member of the National Assembly, represents the entire nation. That is logical in the sense that main function of MPs is to examine and adopts bills, and the bills are for the entire country and not just for their different constituencies. So their work in parliament is for the nation.

Nintcheu Contradicts Himself

Meanwhile after citing  Article 15 (2) and (3) in the Constitution, Hon Nintcheu goes on in his rejoinder to say that:  “What this signifies is that even though investiture is given to a parliamentary candidate by a political party, once he becomes an MP, he is no longer the property of a political party. He represents the entire nation”. He describes those dispositions in the Constitution as pertinent “Just to cite my own case, from the moment that I am MP (representative of the nation), and National President of a political party, FCC, one should be of bad faith not to acknowledged the fact that FCC is represented in the National Assembly”, he argues.

Some political observers and analysts hold that Hon Nintcheu in his argument, contradicts himself.   The list that was published by Cameroon Tribune contains the number of political parties that are represented in the National Assembly, and the number of seats that each of those parties have. Hon Nintcheu insist that after leaving the SDF he is now the MP of his party, FCC, but at the same time says once somebody because an MP, he is no longer the ‘property’ of any political party.

Investiture For A Presidential Candidate

Hon Nintcheu in the rejoinder also cites Article 21 of the Electoral Code, precisely Article 21 (1) and (2), which has to do with the investiture of candidates for the presidential election. A candidate is given investiture by a party represented in the National Assembly, in the Senate or in a municipal council. If not, the candidate will have to fulfill conditions of getting 300 signatures from some particular personalities, to be an independent candidate.  Hon Nintcheu argues over and over that his party, FCC, is represented in the National Assembly as he an MP, and so the party qualifies to send in candidate for the 2025 presidential election.

 MRC And CPDM Lawyers Disagree On Interpretation Of The Law

Meanwhile, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu’s claim that his party, FCC, is represented in The National Assembly  where he is  a member, was a subject of a  heated debate between Barrister Roland Dieuwou of MRC and Barrister Joseph Claude Billigah of  the CPDM, over Equinoxe TV’s flagship programme, ‘Droit de Reponse’ on Sunday, January 26, 2025.  Without any surprise, Barrister Dieuwou of MRC, just like the party itself, was strongly in defense of the position of Jean Michel Nintcheu, that he (Nintcheu) is now an MP of FCC, following his exit from the SDF, on whose ticket he entered the National Assembly.  Barrister Dieuwou, just like Nintcheu, hung on Article 15 (2) and (3), that, once somebody is elected an MP or enters the National Assembly, he becomes the MP of the nation.

However Barrister Billigah of the CPDM, argued that his colleague of the MRC, just like Hon Nintcheu, were interpreting Article 15 (2) and (3) of the Constitution in a way that they want things to be, and not in the spirit of the dispositions of the Law. Barrister Billigah argued that when Article 15 (2) and (3) states that when one is elected into parliament he becomes an MP of the nation, it does not mean that an MP is no longer a member of the party that gave him the investiture to run for parliament, and also campaigned for his election. Barrister Billigah pointed out that in the National Assembly, there are still parliamentary groups of political parties, elections into the different posts in the Bureau of the National Assembly are also practically done based on the number of seats that each party has in parliament, State subventions are given to parties represented in parliament, and so on. To Barrister Billigah, Jean Michel Nintcheu entered parliament for the current mandate on the ticket of the SDF, and cannot claim that he is now MP of his party, FCC, even though he was dismissed from the SDF.

Prof Maurice Kamto’s Candidature

Meanwhile in an article posted on social media, Prof Edouard Bokagne, questioned why Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu is so desperate in the claim that his party, FCC, has an MP, and thus qualifies to send in a candidate for the 2025 presidential election, when from all indication he does not want to be a candidate in the election. Prof Bokagne answered the question himself, saying that it is all about trying to get a party that will give investiture to  Prof Maurice Kamto candidature, since Kamto’s party, the MRC, boycotted the 2020 legislative and municipal elections, and  thus has no MP, no councilor, and of course no senator.

That is a fact.  The MRC leader, Prof Kamto, recently posted an article on the social media to reassure his supporters that he will be a candidate at the 2025 presidential election. He said though MRC has no MP, senator or councilor that can enable him to run on the party’s ticket, his candidature is however supported by a coalition that will give his candidacy investiture for the presidential election. What he meant was that he will run on the ticket of a member of the coalition that qualifies to send in a candidate for the election. He definitely had Nintcheu’s FCC in mind.

When Nintcheu and Kamto struck a deal in December 2023 that the former should create an alliance or a coalition to support the latter’s candidature at the 2025 presidential election, it was based on the understanding that Nintcheu’s FCC has an MP, and that the party will give investiture to Kamto to be a candidate at the presidential election.  Nintcheu went ahead and created the Political Alliance for Change (in Cameroon) to support Prof Maurice Kamto’s candidature for the 2025 presidential election. Nintcheu is the National Coordinator of alliance, whose membership has never been made public. Now the nightmare that is staring Nintcheu in the face, is that his FCC will not be able to give investiture to Kamto for the 2025 presidential election, because in reality FCC does not have an MP.  Prof Edouard Bokagne, said in his post on social media that Hon Nintcheu is trying to create a record in politics, that a new party that has not participated in any election, has an elected MP. Good for the Guinness Book of Record, indeed!

Why Not Go To The Constitutional Council For Clarifications?

As aforementioned, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu has been battling with this issue since he was sacked from the SDF on February 25, 2023, alongside over 30 other militants. It would be recalled that at the March 2023 session of parliament, when there was the annual elections of members into the Bureau of the National Assembly, Hon Nintcheu backed the leader of PCRN, Hon Cabral Libii Ngue, to raise a baseless argument that the post of Questor that was occupied by the SDF, was supposed to move to PCRN.  According to them, this was because the number of parliamentary seats that SDF had in the House had dropped by one, since Nintcheu was no longer a militant of the SDF. That did not work.

The Mentor thinks that instead of the National President of FCC, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu, to continue to make this issue a subject of public debate every now and then as if that is where the final decision has to be made, it will rather be wise for him to take the matter to the Constitutional Council, for clarification.

There is also the issue or question over the legality of FCC itself. So besides  the issue of whether FCC has an MP or not, it is not also certain whether NIntcheu’s FCC  even has a legal existence that will enable the party to be able to send in  lists for the legislative and municipal elections scheduled for next year. This is something that Nintcheu is supposed to apply wisdom and seek clarification from court, so as to be certain whether FCC as of today has a legal existence or not.