Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Member Of MRC Directorate, WILLY MEMGUE, Others, Support Dr OKALA EBODE’s Position, That In Line With Article 29 Of The Party’s Statute, KAMTO Did Not Qualify To Stand For Re-election. That, Following His Resignation From MRC Last June, He Returned In September As “New Militant’, And Was Supposed To Wait For At least 3 Years. The Matter Is Now In Court.
As The Mentor News stated in the previous article ( Part 2) on the crisis In the MRC Party, one of the frontline opposition parties in the country, MRC, has since late last year been plunged into a crisis, which is only widening or degenerating further. One of the two main causes of the crisis in the MRC Party is the re-election of Prof Maurice Kamto, as National President of the party, at an Extraordinary Elective Convention of the party, which reportedly held by a videoconference on December 21, 2025.
It should be noted that the Extraordinary Elective Convention of MRC, which held on December 21, 2025, came up within the backdrop of the return to the party in September 2025 of Prof Maurice Kamto, after he officially resigned from both his post of National President, as well as from the MRC Party in June (2025) and moved over to Ekane Anicet’s MANIDEM Party, in bid to get the party’s investiture to be a candidate at the October 12, 2025 presidential election. Kamto who moved to the MANIDEM Party in June 2025, returned to MRC in September 2025. He was reportedly re-elected at National President of MRC at, an Extraordinary Elective Convention of the party which held by videoconference on December 21, 2025
Dr Okala Ebode’s Against Kamto’s Immediate Return To Post Of President of MRC
But last December, one of the ‘Founding members’ of MRC, Dr OKALA EBODE Joseph Thierry, put up an argument against the immediate return of Prof Maurice Kamto to the post of National President of the party. He strongly argued that Kamto was not eligible to run for election to the post of National President of MRC, barely three months after he returned to the party. Okala Ebode insisted that the MRC Constitution (Article 29), states that a new member of the party, must militate for at least 3 years uninterrupted in the party, before running for a top post in the party, like that of National President. The argument became a big embarrassment to senior officials of the MRC that initially shied away from any public debate on the issue.
Meanwhile, Okala Ebode recalled that Maurice Kamto resigned from the MRC in June 2025, and returned to the party in September. He argued that the return of Kamto’s to the MRC last September, meant a new beginning as militant of the party, and that according to the party’s Constitution, he had to militate in the party uninterrupted for at least for at least three years, before being qualified to run for the post of National President of the party. To Okala Ebode, Kamto who ‘resigned’ from MRC in June 2025, returned to the party in September 2025 as a new militant.
But MRC officials who initially shied away from the debate, instead claimed that Okala Ebode had been dismissed from the party, and thus was no longer a member of the party, and so had no business with whatever happens inside the party, or with the party’s internal affairs. To MRC officials thus, the issue of a new militant having to militate in the party for at least three years, before qualifying to run for the post of National President of the party, was an internal affair of the party.
But Dr Okala Ebode, has continued to strongly reject the claim that the eligibility issue is an internal affair of the MRC. He pointed out that the issue rather has to do with the flagrant violation of the Constitution of the party by Prof Maurice Kamto, more so, a Law Professor, and cannot be reduced to an internal affair of the party. Okala Ebode argues that if the Constitution of a political party was an internal affair of the party, then political parties in the country would not have been obliged, to submit copies of their Constitutions to the Ministry of Territorial Administration.
Dr Dieudonne Essomba’s View
As the debate range, Vision 4 TV Consultant, Dr Dieudonne Essomba, gave his own point of view on this issue of the MRC Convention, during the programme, ‘Club D’Elites’ , over Vision. 4. Essomba in his analysis, mostly focused on the point raised by Dr Okala Ebode, that Prof Maurice Kamto was not supposed to immediately return to the post of National President of MRC. Essomba reminded MRC officials that a copy of the Constitution of their party was, in the party’s file at the Ministry of Territorial Administration, commonly known by the French acronym, MINAT, just like the Constitutions of other legalized political parties. He warned that MINAT would definitely exploit Okala Ebode’s complaint, to reject the re-election of Maurice Kamto to the post of National President of MRC. This is considering the fact that the Constitution of MRC, clearly states that any new militant must militate for at least three years uninterrupted in the party, before qualifying to run for the top post of National President of the party.
Essomba went on to caution the leadership of MRC, that if the party insisted that Maurice Kamto was re-elected last December 21 as National President of MRC, and he goes on to sign the investitures of the party’s candidates for the legislative and municipal election that are being expected, MINAT might cause the rejection of MRC lists. That MINAT might argue that Kamto is not the legal National President of MRC, and thus has no authority to sign the investitures of candidates. Essomba also cautioned MRC officials not to forget the fact that, “MINAT IS CPDM”.
Willy Mengue, Others, Also Against Kamto’s Re-election
Meanwhile, it is not only Okala Ebode that stands against the re-election of Prof Maurice Kamto as National President of MRC, at the Extraordinary Convention of the party which held online on December 21, 2025. Speaking in a programme over Info Matin TV in Yaounde recently, Willy Mengue, a member of the MRC Directorate, insisted in an interview that Okala Ebode was right in the issues he raised, against the re-election of Maurice Kamto as National President.
In the interview, Willy Mengue corroborated Okala Ebode’s argument that since Maurice Kamto resigned from MRC in June, and returned in September 2025, the MRC Constitution is clear that he return as new militant or member, and must stay for at least three uninterrupted years in the party, before being eligible or qualified to run for any top post in the party, which includes the post of National President. Mengue minced no words that the issue of the holding of the December 21, 2025 election online aside, Kamto’s candidacy in the election was in the first place illegal, as he ran in the election barely three months after his return to the party, in gross violation of the party’s text.
Gregoire Owona Calls On Kamto To Respect The Constitution Of His Party
Meanwhile, even though the ruling CPDM Party, which is definitely happy with the crisis in the MRC has been silent, some senior members of the party have as individuals been criticizing or ridiculing Maurice Kamto, a Law Professor, over his flagrant violation of the constitution of his party, which he certainly contributed in writing. The most senior member of the CPDM, who has publicly commented on the crisis in the MRC, is the Deputy Secretary of the party, Gregoire Owona, Minister of Labour and Social Security. In a social media post, Gregoire Owona, who is known to be quite active on the social media, ‘advised’ Kamto to try to respect the Constitution of his party, and wait for three years, before he can again run for the post of National President of the party. Gregoire Owona ridiculed opposition leaders whom he said try to give lessons to the CPDM, on the respect of the Law, when they do not respect the Constitution of their parties.
Case Filed At Yaounde –Ekounou Court
Meanwhile a group of three members of the MRC Party, led by Willy Memgue, filed a case against the re-election of Prof Maurice Kamto as National President, at the Court of First Instance (Magistrate Court) Yaounde –Ekounou, and the case opened on Friday, July 9, 2026. The other members are Georgette Laure Kamegne (Laure Noutchang), and Sabastien Mballa Wouria II.
When the case opened at the Yaounde –Ekounou Court on July 9, 2026, MRC had a team of six lawyers led by Barrister Hippolyte B.T Meli.
What MRC Officials And Lawyers Are Saying
Meanwhile, MRC officials, and the party’s lawyers in the case, insist the Prof Maurice Kamto’s candidacy in the election that took place during the December 21, 2025 Extraordinary Elective Convention of the party, had no problem of eligibility. They claimed that the National Council of MRC, which met on October 26, 2024, gave the party’s presidential candidate, Prof Maurice Kamto, who was also then the National President of the party, the authorization to choose the modality to president his candidacy at the 2025 presidential election in the county. They say it was in line with that authorization that Kamto decided to go in for the 2025 presidential election, on the ticket of another party, MANIDEM.
The MRC officials admit that following the ‘departure’ of Kamto from MRC into June 2025 to MANIDEM, the Directorate of the party which then was led by the Acting National President of the party, Mamadou Mota, in a communiqué issued on July 21, 2025, said the Directorate of MRC had taken note of this resignation from the party. But the MRC officials and lawyers, notes that the Directorate of MRC in another communicate issued on August 12, 2025, invited Prof Maurice Kamto to return to the party, and that he did so in September, and was reintegrated into the party as an old member on October 7, 2025. They claim that the reintegration of Prof Maurice Kamto, by the Directorate of MRC,re-established his status as an old member of the party.
But the question that political observers and analysts are then asking is whether the Directorate of the MRC, has the power to shelve an Article in the party’s Constitution? The response of Willy Mengue and his group’s response is a big No. This will definitely be the centre of the debate in case that was filed by Willy Mengue and others, at the Yaounde – Eklounou Court.
