Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
The Reaction To KAMTO’s Resignation By An Ally, Hon Jean Michel NINTCHEU, In A Social Post, Was Just Three Words, In Pidgin: “NDAMBA NA SENSE”. What Many Of KAMTO’s Fanatical Supporters Have Not Yet Realized, Is That There Are Two Maurice KAMTOS. In fact Maurice KAMTO The Politician, Is Much Different From Maurice KAMTO, The Prominent Law Professor.
Keen political observers will certainly agree that Prof Maurice Kamto was forced by certain circumstances to resign, The resignation is seen as a strategy to avoid humiliation by a possible court decision, as well as a strategy to avoid causing more harm to MRC that was facing the risk of missing another legislative and municipal elections, if he hung on to the post of National President of the party.
One of the major issues that pushed Maurice Kamto to resign as National President of MRC was a controversy over his re-election to the post of National President of MRC on December 21, 2025. One of the founding members of MRC, Dr Okala Ebode Joseph Thierry, who was a member of the Directorate of the party, had raised the issue of ineligibility of Kamto for re-election to the post of National President of MRC, citing Article 29 of the party’s Constitution. But Dr Okala Ebode ended up being dismissed from MRC by the party’s Directorate, whose membership is predominantly comprised of Kamto’s loyalists. In protest, Okala Ebode wrote a petition to the administration, protesting against the flagrant violation of the Constitution of the party.
Convention Held By Videoconference
There was also the controversy over the holding of the Extraordinary Convention of the party by videoconference, after the DO of Yaounde IV had prohibited the holding of the Convention at MRC headquarters in Yaounde. The main highlight of the Convention that held by videoconference on December 21, 2025, was the re-election of Kamto as National President of MRC. The administration considered that it was illegal for the MRC to hold the Convention by videoconference, and thus refused to recognize the resolutions of the Convention, whose major highlight was the re-election of Maurice Kamto as National President of MRC.
This meant that the administration did not recognize or validate the re-election of Prof Maurice Kamto as National President of MRC. It also meant that the administration did not recognize the other members of the National Executive Bureau of the MRC that were elected at the party’s Convention. They include five Vice Presidents, Secretary General and National Treasurer. It should be noted that the election of the leadership of MRC is by list system, in accordance with Article 32 of the Statute of the party.
The Case At Yaounde – Ekounou Court Is Not Easy For MRC
When the case between a group of members of the MRC led by Willy Mengue, and MRC (leadership), opened at the Yaounde – Ekounou Court of First Instance (Magistrate Court) on July 9, 2026, the team of MRC lawyers led by Barrister Hippolyte B.T. Meli, as is typical of lawyers, tried to downplay the whole thing. The lawyers told reporters that Willy Mengue and his group had no case, and even gave the impression that the matter would even be thrown out of court at the next hearing, because Mengue and his group had no case. But the matter has been going on in court, and even came up again on September 8, 2026, when Kamto resigned as national President. More so, indications coming out of the court were said not to be good for MRC.
The court is looking at two major things – Whether Prof Maurice Kamto who resigned from MRC in June 2025 and returned to the party in September 2025, was eligible to run for re-election to the post of National President of MRC, and whether the Extraordinary Convention of MRC that held by videoconference on December 21, 2025 was legal. Prof Maurice Kamto, who outside politics is prominent Law Professor, definitely knew that some of the decisions that the MRC Directorate comprised predominantly of his loyalists, took to enable him to get back the post of National President of the party, were gross violations of the Party’s Constitution and texts. But he condoned all those acts, perhaps he even gave directives for some of them, because he wanted to be get back the post of National President of MRC at all cost.
The Case Seemingly Took The MRC Directorate By Surprise
But in the face of the way things were developing in court, Maurice Kamto had to play smart. From the look of things, after Okala Ebode was sacked from the MRC, Kamto and his men apparently thought that was all. When Okala Ebode criticized the holding of the MRC Convention by videoconference as illegal, the response of MRC officials was that he was no longer a member of the party, and so had no business with the format in which the party decided to hold its Convention. Kamto and his men, apparently did not imagine that another member of the party’s Directorate, Willy Mengue, could after the lesson taught Okala Ebode, dare to stand up to challenge his re-election to the post of National President, not to talk of taking the matter to court.
CPDM Communication Officers Continue To Refer To Kamto As Former President
Also, there were indications after the Extraordinary Convention of the MRC that held by videoconference on December 21, 2025, that the CPDM regime did not recognize Prof Maurice Kamto as the National President of MRC. This could be seen from a number of indications, one of which was the fact that CPDM Communication Officers, and pro-regime commentators, continued to refer to Maurice Kamto as the former President of MRC, whereas MRC officials had made it clear that Kamto was re-elected President at the party’s Convention that held by videoconference on December 21, 2025
Legislative / Municipal Elections
Then there was also this fact that the declaration by the Minister of Territorial. Paul Atanga Nji, and thus MINAT, made it clear that the administration did not recognize the Extraordinary Convention of the MRC that held by videoconference, meaning that MINAT did not recognize Kamto as National President of MRC. This of course sparked fear in the MRC that the party might not participate in the much expected legislative and municipal election, if Kamto hung on as National President.
Strategic Decision To Resign
In the face of all these, Prof Maurice Kamto on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, finally took what his men describe as a strategic decision, to resign from the post of National President of MRC. There had been a growing risk of a public humiliation looming over Maurice Kamto’s head, if he hung on to the post of National President of MRC, and at the end of the day in the case at the Yaounde – Ekounou Court, the court rules that he was not eligible last year to run for re-election to the post of National President of the party. The court can also rule that the Extraordinary Convention of the party that held by videoconference, and which elected Kamto’s lone list in the election, was illegal! It would be a big public humiliation to see that Kamto, the Law Professor, was pushed out from the post of National President of MRC by a court decision, which clearly shows that he got back the post of National President of MRC by foul play. .
There was also the standoff between MRC and the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, over the issue of legality of the Extraordinary Convention of the party that held on December 21, 2025, and which re-elected Kamto as National President of MRC. The minister insisted that the holding of the Convention by videoconference was illegal.
Also, If Kamto hung to the post of National President of MRC, and at the end of the day, MRC is barred from participating in the much awaited legislative and municipal elections, it will be disastrous for him and the party. It will mean that MRC which boycotted the 2020 legislative and municipal elections, following a rather controversial decision that was announced by the National President of the party, Maurice Kamto, and which so much affected the party at the 2025 presidential election, would again not be represent at the National Assembly and in a municipal councils, with the risk of again missing out at the next presidential election.
“NDAMBA NA SENSE”
The risk of what could happen to him and the party if he hung on to the post of National President of MRC, was so heavy, that Maurice Kamto thought it wise to resign, and also leave the post with some honour, by claiming that he decided to have resigned for the interest of the MRC Party and the country. As one of Kamto’s political ally, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu, said in his reaction to the resignation, posted on the social media, “NDAMBA NA SENSE”. In this context, a good or smart politician must in politics use his brain to know what to do, and at what time to do it. That is why Kamto’s men are boasting that he outsmarted the court as well as the MINAT Boss, Atanga Nji, with his resignation from the post of National President of MRC. That Kamto was smart enough to jump out of the post of National President of MRC, before a court ruling could humiliatingly throw him out of the post, or before Minister Atanga Nji could certain measures against him and MRC.
There Are Two Maurice Kamtos
It should be noted that one of the reasons that have been making many MRC militants, especially the Bamilekes, to believe that any decision that the party leadership takes is right, is not only due to their fanatical support of Maurice Kamto. They in fact believe that anything that Kamto says, especially when it relates to law, is gospel truth, because he is a big Law Professor.
But keen political observers have since realized that there is a big difference between Kamto the politician, and Kamto the Law Professor. Kamto the Law Professor is a legal luminary, a guru in the field of Law, while Kamto the politician, is just like others; a man of many words, manipulative.
