Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
It Is Indisputable That MANIDEM TO A Very Large Extent Was Anicet Ekane, And His Departure Is A Big Blow To The Party, Which Has Already Suffered A Big Resignation, Blamed On The Way The New Leadership Of The Vice President, Valentin Dogno Fils, Is Handling Things. Meanwhile, The Late Anicet Ekane’s Family, Failed To Drag The Gov’t, To Court Over His Death, As They Had Threatened. Why?
A Big Resignation Has Already Hit MANIDEM
An irony about the current leadership of MANIDEM, whose stock in trade is to accuse any person that disagree with them or with the party on any issue, of being sponsored by the CPDM, is that they can’t swear that they have never eaten money that came from some CPDM bigwigs. They cannot swear that some money that came from some members of the regime, did not get into MANIDEM. The party (MANIDEM) over the years depended to a large extent on its leader, Anicet Ekane, who as mentioned in another piece (Part 1), had among his close friends, some barons of the regime, who of course used to give him money. Nobody can say that Ekane was chopping that money alone, or that part of that money was never used to run MANIDEM, or that some members of MANIDEM that were closed to him did not chop part of the money.
Also, as related in another piece (Part 2), Ekane’s children disclosed that their father said when he dies, a committee should be created to organize his funeral, and that three members of the committee were to come from MANIDEM. One of three is Garbiche Electique, a journalist –cum – politician, who was very close to Anicet Ekane, and who has a hardline position in politics. Garbiche resigned from MANIDEM over a month ago, accusing the current new leadership of the party of secreting dealing with the CPDM regime. The Vice President of MANIDEM, Valentin Dogmo Fils, and other members of the Directorate of MANIDEM, do not talk about that.
Also, Valentin Dogmo Fils reportedly attended the private funeral of the late CPDM bigwig, Marcel Niat Njipenji, former President of the Senate, which was organized in Yaounde before the official funeral. Dogmo will of course say that Niat was a prominent elite of his native West Region, or that Niat was his big brother in their Bamileke tribe. Nobody criticized his attendance of the funeral. There was nothing with that. But when Sawa elites, without regard to politics, attended the funeral of their late Sawa brother, Anicet Ekane, last May 9, the MANIDEM leadership in pure bad faith, talked of how some CPDM elites were scandalously on the front seats at the funeral, as if they attended the funeral as members of the CPDM.
Why Ekane’s Children’s Failed To Drag The Gov’t To Court Over Their Father’s Death
Following the death of Anicet Ekane in Gendarmerie custody in Yaounde on December 1, 2025, the entire family as well as the MANIDEM Party wasted no time to link his death to his arrest and detention, at a time that he was not in good health. There was also the strong allegation that Ekane was deprived of his personal Oxygen Extractor. The Ekane family and MANIDEM all threatened to drag the Government to court over Anicet Ekane’s death in Gendarmerie custody. The result of the autopsy that that was conducted on the late Anicet Ekane by doctors designated by the Government side, was also contested by the Ekane family and MANIDEM. But by the time of the burial of Anicet Ekane, a little over five months after his death, neither the family nor MANIDEM had dragged the Government to court over his death in Gendarmerie Custody.
Responding to a question in the programme, ‘Carte Sur Table’, over STV in Douala, a couple of days before the burial of Anicet Ekane, his eldest son, Dr Muna Ekane, who was guest on the programme, disclosed that he and his brothers and sisters were determined to drag the Government to court over the death of their father, but were frustrated by their step – mother. He said the step – mother refused to give them the copy of the autopsy result, that the authorities gave to the family, and which was in her keeping.
Dr Muna Ekane said he thought they had a good chance to prove in court that the detention, or better still, the detention condition, led to the death of their father on December 1, 2025. He said it was no secret that his father was a patient before his arrest. But he explained that as a medical doctor that was closely following up the father’s health situation in the last two years before his death, he had no doubt that his father would not have died at the time he did, if he had continued to follow medical advice as he was doing before his arrest and detention.
Will MANIDEM Survive Anicet Ekane?
This question is on the lips of many political observers and analysts in Cameroon today, following the passing away of the Founding President of MANIDEM, Anicet Georges Ekane. This is partly because since its legalization in 1995, MANIDEM had over the years operated more like Ekane’s thing, or better still, has operated more under Ekane’s image. When you talk of MANIDEM, people think of Anicet Ekane, and nothing else. Also, the MANIDEM headquarters has since the party’s creation, remained in the family house of the Ekane Mbongo at Bonadibong, Douala. Following Anicet Ekane’s death, there have already been calls for MANIDEM to quit the family house. But the party leadership is resisting.
Also, since MANIDEM was legalized in 1995, the party has never participated in any legislative elections in Cameroon. MANIDEM participated in the municipal elections for the first time in 2020, when it managed to put up two lists – in Douala 1 and Dibombari Municipalities. There has thus over the years been a lot of questions as to why MANIDEM was created, or what the target or objective of the party was. Over the years, MANIDEM or is rarely seen, in the field. People know about the party’s existence only through press releases that the leadership frequently issues, and the press conferences they organize regularly, and especially through their regular posts on social media. The one thing MANIDEM has been excelling in, for many years today, is its aggressiveness. MANIDEM leadership excels in attacking, blackmailing or fabricating terrible accusations or allegations, against any party or personality that dares to contradict what the party says, or that dares to criticize the party. With the coming of the social media, MANIDEM has been very active on the social media, but not in the field as a political party.
In the 31 years of its existence today, MANIDEM officials cannot show or talk of any concrete thing that the party has achieved. MANIDEM was in fact over the years, basking in the popularity the party’s Founding President, Anicet Ekane, acquired before the party’s creation. It should be noted that the reference to Anicet Ekane as a hero in the fight for democracy in Cameroon, is not as President of MANIDEM. Rather, it is based on the very active and daring frontline role he played in the fight for democracy in Cameroon, in the very hot days of 1990 – 1992, including his arrest and imprisonment in 1990, in the Yondo Black Affair. That was before the creation of MANIDEM.
Though there is panic in the leadership circle of MANIDEM that Dr Muna Ekane, the eldest son of the late Founding President of MANIDEM, might in the near future want to take over the running of the party, some people doubt whether he is really interested, though no one can rule out the possibility that he can along the line take interest in the leadership of the party. In the programme, ‘Carte Sur Table’ over STV, where he was guest a couple days before his father’s burial, Dr Muna Ekane referred to MANIDEM as a party that is very much present on Facebook or on the social media, but absent in the field. Asked whether he thought MANIDEM would be able to survive its Founding President (late Anicet Ekane), Muna Ekane hesitated in his response, and then said he had doubts whether the party would be able survive his late father.
