Unlike In Ivory Coast, Opposition Parties In Cameroon Have Ahead Of The 2025 Presidential Election, Continued Like In the Past To ‘Excel’ In Division.

 Unlike in Ivory Coast where opposition parties last week came together to try to form a bloc ahead of the next presidential election, in Cameroon where the President, Paul Biya, has been in power for over 40 years, opposition parties are still failing to close their ranks and form a bloc or a united front, ahead of the 2025 presidential election. Instead, small coalitions of opposition parties are being created here and there.

Opposition parties of the northern part of the country like Bello Bouba Maigari’s UNDP, Issa Tchiroma Bakary’s FSNC, late Dakole Diassala’s MDR and Hamadou Mustapha’s ANDP, have all been engaged in separate political selfish deals that oblige them to support the incumbent, Paul Biya, at presidential elections. Things will only change at the 2025 presidential election, if President Biya who will be 92 next year, finally take his retirement, and is not a candidate at the 2025 presidential election.  But at moment the leaders of the northern parties do not know what will happen next year, and thus are in state of uncertainty. That is, they do not know whether President Biya will be a candidate at the 2025 presidential election, considering his age.

Southern Parties In Disarray

Meanwhile in the Southern part of   the country, opposition leaders and parties are as usual talking about their purported commitment to opposition unity for the 2025 presidential election, but in practical terms they continue to move towards different directions.  Early this year, the leader of FCC, Hon Michel Nintcheu, who is more of an MRC militant surfaced with ‘Alliance Politique pour le Changement’ APC, that is, “Political Alliance for Change’.  But it soon turned out that APC is not a platform to bring together opposition parties, to form a solid bloc that can kick out the CPDM from power at the 2025 presidential election. Rather, APC is an alliance to support the candidature of Prof Maurice Kamto, the National President of MRC, at the 2025 presidential election. So far, only MRC is a major opposition party in APC.

Prof Olivia Bille’s ATP

Meanwhile soon after that Nintcheu, with Kamto in the background, came public with APC, Prof Olivier Bile followed with another ‘opposition coalition’ which was initially known as ‘Alliance pour une Transition Politique au Cameroun’, ATP. That is, Alliance for a Political Transition in Cameroon. . Worth noting, that the name of the alliance has been modified or changed from Alliance for a Political Transition in Cameroon to Alliance for a Peaceful Transition in Cameroon.

That aside, the impression was initially given that almost all major opposition parties in the country, were either already onboard ATP, or were on their way. The names of Hon Cabral Libii Ngue’s PCRN, Mayor Hermine Patricia Tomaino epse Ndam Njoya’s CDU, and Hon Joshua Nambangi Osih’s SDF, were mentioned. Later Prof Olivier Bile when pressed by journalists to say if SDF and CDU were actually onboard the ATP platform, said ATP was still in discussion with the leaderships of the two parties.

Suffice to say Hon Cabral Libii’s PCRN, is so far the only major opposition party in ATP that counts eight registered political parties onboard. The other seven opposition parties that have signed up as being onboard the ATP, are: Prof Olivier Bile’s Les Liberateurs (former UFP), Djeukam Tchameni’s MDI, Celestin Djamen’s APAR, Prof Minyen Georges’s  LCN, Dr Floriant Ndana Jean Marie’s  ‘Mouvement A18 / A25, Prof Prosper Nkou Mvondo’s UNIVERS, and the PSC / UPS Party.  Non of the seven small parities in ATP has ever won a council or a parliamentary seat at elections. Some even only exist on paper

SDF And CDU Seem Working To Create Their Own Coalitions

Contrary to the impression that was given by Prof Bille of ATP, the CDU and SDF seem to be instead working to create their own coalitions for the 2025 presidential election. Some two months ago, the National President of CDU, Hermine Patricia Tomaino epse Ndam Njoya, who is also the Mayor of Foumban, was in Douala where she among other things held a meeting with some local political actors. Hilaire Dzipan of ‘Mouvement Progressistes’ party, who was one of those that attended the meeting, disclosed that they discussed the possibility of working together under the canopy of an alliance, for  the 2025 presidential election.  As for the National Chairman of the SDF, Hon Joshua Nambangi Osih, he too is alleged to be doing some groundwork to create SDF’s own coalition.

Position Of UMS Leader, Still Not Known

One of the veteran opposition politicians around, Sam Georges Mbaka (former 1^st Vice National President of the CDU), who is today the National President of AFP, is known to be rallying some political actors especially in Douala which is his base, to reflect on a political alliance for the 2025 presidential election.

On his part, Hon Pierre Kwemo, the leader of a small but serious political party, UMS, that currently has two parliamentary seats and also runs two councils including the Bafang Council, has so far not made his position public. Some of his supporters are however arguing that he is supposed to be the opposition candidate for the 2025 presidential election, on the pretext that among all the leaders of opposition parties that want to be candidates at the election, he has occupied the highest elective post. That is, the post of Vice President of the National Assembly. That argument is certainly controversial. Some political observers even doubt whether Pierre Kwemo has interest for the presidential election.

Whatever the case, it would be recalled that Hon Pierre Kwemo was first a militant of the SDF, before leaving to create his own party. In the SDF, he got to occupy the post of 1^st Vice National Chairman of the party, and also the post of Vice President of the National Assembly. Kwemo is today a member of the National Assembly for his native Upper Nkam Division, on the ticket of his party, UMS.

Union For Parliamentary Majority

The National President of ‘Reformateurs’ Party, Samuel Billong, has on his part created a coalition which he terms, Union for Parliamentary Majority. He says it is an alliance that aims to bring together opposition parties to work as a team at the next municipal and Legislative elections in Cameroon, so as to enable the Cameroon opposition to possibly have majority seats in parliament, precisely at the National Assembly.  It should also be noted that the Alliance for Peaceful Transition in Cameroon of Prof Olivier Bille, says members (political parties) are also discussing the possibility of working together at the Legislative and municipal elections.

This is the way that the Cameroon opposition has over the years been operating. Always divided!  Opposition leaders don’t seem to understand or to be moved by the adage that: “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”. But after the presidential election, some will come out in their isolated corners to cry that the election was allegedly rigged by the Biya regime, and that their victory has allegedly been stolen. All these, after they failed to heed to the people’s call or to heed to the sense to wisdom, to come together as a bloc to face the Biya regime at the election.