Who Is Behind Mafia To Destabilize And Frustrate Cabral Libii And PCRN?
DO of Kribi 11 was instructed to withdraw authorization she issued for PCRN‘s Congress
It looks like a mafia to prevent Hon Cabral Libii from participating in the next presidential election
Kah Walla and CPP were victims of a similar mafia masterminded by Minister Atanga Nji in 2018
But at the end Kah Walla won the case against Tita Fon over CPP, at the Administrative Court in Yaounde
Hon Nintcheu warns that the ban on PCRN congress is inadmissible and unacceptable, and caution MINAT to stop its provocation
IF ONLY CABRAL LIBII HAD KNOWN! He rejected a party, JUVENCE, that was created and legalised for him by his friend, Valere Bertrand Bessala, and opted to instead takeover PCRN from somebody with a dubious character
One of Cameroon’s frontline opposition leader, Hon Cabral Libii Li Ngue, and his ‘Parti Camerounais pour la Reconciliation Nationale’, PCRN , that is Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation, are going through a very challenging period following what political observers see as a mafia masterminded by some members of the Biya regime, to destabilize and frustrate both him and the party, prior to the next presidential election. It would be recalled that Cabrall Libii who came third in the last presidential election in 2018, had some months ago declared that PCRN will participate in the next presidential election.
A few months ago, the first ordinary congress of PCRN was announced for December 2023. Then a couple of weeks ago there was more precision, when the leadership of PCRN announced that the congress will hold in the seaside resort town of Kribi, Ocean Division in the South Region, from December 15 – 17, 2023. PCRN officials followed the official procedure and obtained the authorization form the DO of Kribi II, to hold their party’s congress in Kribi 11 Sub – division.
Question Over Ownership Of PCRN, Surfaces
Then of all of a sudden trouble started for the National President of PCRN and the party. It was the France based whistle blower, Boris Bertolt (Cameroonian born) that first came out with the news that the Founding President of PCRN, Kona Albert, had sued Cabral Libii for having allegedly stolen his party. Kona was quoted to have insisted that he is the person supposed to be the National President of PRCN and not Cabral Libii. The whistle blower further disclosed that Hon Cabral Libiii had been summoned to appear at a court in Kaele in the Far North Region on January 4, 2024 for the matter.
Then on Monday, November 27, 2023, the DO of Kribi 11, withdrew the authorization she had issued to PCRN for the party’s congress to hold in Kribi 11 Municipality from December 15 – 17, 2023, on the pretext that “there is dissension” in the PCRN, and so the party’s congress poses a threat to public peace and order. The DO withdrew the authorization seven days after she issued it. Political observers are unanimous that the DO received instruction from hierarchy to do so.
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Nji Atanga, who is suspected to be behind the mafia to destabilized and frustrate Hon Cabral Libii and the PCRN, told RFI that the DO of Krbi was wrong to had issued an authorization for the holding of the PCRN Congress, when there is a dispute between two people over leadership of the party. He thus said the decision to withdraw the authorization was right.
Cabral Libii Reacts To Act Committed By DO
On Tuesday, November 27, the National President of PCRN, Hon Cabral Libii, issued a two page communiqué, to inform the national and international community of the scandalous act that the DO of Kribi 11 had committed, certainly under the influence of some hidden faces behind the scene. He asserted that the act committed by the DO to withdraw the authorization for the PCRN Congress, was a flagrant violation of the liberty to hold public meetings, guaranteed by the Constitution of Cameroon.
The PCRN leader noted that the DO’s withdrawal of the authorization came a couple of days after the party which had already raised a substantial amount of funds for the congress, had also ended the registration of delegates to the congress. He disclosed that more than 1500 delegates were being expected to attend the congress, with over 250 of the delegates coming from the Diaspora.
Hon Cabral Libii said those behind the mafia to ruin the ambition of the PCRN, also want to provoke the party militants to resorts to violence and cause blood to flow. He said those devilish minds that want to create violence in the country, will not succeed to pass through him or the PCRN. He noted that there were already lots of problems in Cameroon, and regretted that some people with negative mentality and selfish ambitions want to create more problems in the country.
The PCRN leader vowed that the party will do everything to see that justice is done, and so despite the withdrawal of the authorization by the DO of Kribi 11,, the party will thus continue preparations for the congress.
How Cabral Libii Got Into Politics
To better understand the problem between Kona Albert and Cabral Libii that has surfaced today over the leadership of PCRN, it is necessary to make a flashback on how Libii got into politics and moved on to take over the leadership of PCRN. It would be recalled that in 2016, the youthful Cabral Libii who then was not into politics, started an online group of patriotic Cameroonian youths, which had as objective to mobilise Cameroonians of voting age that had not yet registered their names in the voters’ register, to go and do. The target of the group was that the number of registered Cameroonians of voting age should hit 11 million by the time of the next presidential election in 2018. The group became known as Operation 11 Million.
With each passing day, the group grew in number as more and more youths, especially students of voting age, joined. In 2017, youths of Operation 11 Million in cities like Yaounde and Douala, also started going out in small groups to mobilise people, especially youths, of voting age, that had not yet registered to do so. Along the line, some members of the Operation 11 Million which had become a large group, proposed that that their leader, Cabral Libiii, should be their candidate at the 2018 Presidential Election. Suffice to say Cabral Libii who initially hesitated for quite a while, finally accepted in early 2018 that he would be a candidate at the presidential election. He thus had to get into politics.
Cabral Libii Runs For Presidential Election On Ticket Of UNIVERS Party
But one problem that Cabral Libii and the Operation 11 Million had was that the group was not a political party, and so could not put up a candidate at the presidential election. More so, even if the group transformed itself into a political party and succeeded to be legalised before the presidential election which was around the corner, the party could not still send in a candidate for the election. This was because the modified Electoral Law required that a party must have at least one councilor, to qualify to have a flag bearer in the presidential election.
Suffice to say Cabral Libii ended up striking an agreement with the National President of UNIVERS Party, Prof Prosper Nkou Mvondo, with whom he had a close relationship,, to run for the October 7, 2018 Presidential Election on the party’s ticket. There was heavy mobilization for the election by members of the Operation 11 Million, and Cabral Libii turned out to be the revelation of the presidential election, emerging third in the official result, coming after incumbent Paul Biya of CPDM and Prof Maurice Kamto of MRC.
The brilliant performance of Cabral Libii at the presidential election encouraged him and his supporters of the Operation 11 Million, to immediately think of the legislative and municipal elections that were around the corner. It should be noted that the legislative and municipal elections were supposed to hold in 2018, but were postponed to 2019, and later, again postponed to 2020.
Cabral Libii And Group Fall Out With President Of UNIVERSE Party
Meanwhile after the October 7, 2020 Presidential Election, there was a problem, between Cabral Libii and group on the one hand, and the National President of UNIVERS Party, Prof Nkou Mvondo, on the other hand. The problem was over money. It should be noted that the Government paid the campaign funds that were allocated to the candidates in the presidential election by the State of Cameroon, into the bank accounts of their different parties, and not directly to the candidates.
So for the case of Cabral Libii, his campaign fund was paid into the account of the UNIVERS Party, and could only be withdrawn by the National President of the party. Cabral Libii’s close collaborators were very unhappy with the way the money was handled by the President of UNIVERS, Party, Nkou Mvondo, and insisted that they leave the party. Worth noting, that money ‘palava’ went public.
Cabral Libii Rejects Party Offered By His Friend
After falling out with Nkou Mvondo and his UNIVERS Party, Cabral Libii and his group that were encouraged by the result of the presidential election to move ahead in politics, urgently needed a political party for the legislative and municipal elections.
Interestingly enough, Cabral Libii’s longtime friend, Valere Bertrand Bessala, who is today a regular participant on debate programmes over major TV Stations in the country, had quietly created and registered a political party to offer to him in times of need.
Worthy of note that after graduating from the School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, as a civil administrator, Valere Bertand Bessala was later posted to the Grand North as an Assistant DO. But due to what the administration considered as his radical views, he was brought back to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. While at the Ministry, Bessala took advantage to prepare documents and register a political party. He of course sis not use hos name. Bessala was never interested in politics, but he rightly foresaw that his friend, Cabral Libii, and his group, Operation 11 Million, will one day need a political party. And so Bessala decided to register a party named, JUVENCE, with the intention to later offer to his friend, Libii, when the need arose, as a surprise gift.
So when Cabral Libii and his group fell out with Nkou Mvondo and his UNIVERSE Party, Bessala thought it was the appropriate time to offer his friend the surprise gift, JUVENCE Party. But to his greatest embarrassment, when he offered the surprise gift to Cabral Libii, he declined the offer. It is not known why Cabral Libii refused to accept the party that was created and legalised for him by his friend. Well, he certainly had his reasons.
Cabral Libill Takes Over PCRN
Meanwhile after rejecting the offer of a new political party, Cabral Libii and his group in early 2019 initially tried to register a political party, but complained that the Ministry of Territorial Administration was complicating things probably with the intention to frustrate them. With the fear that legislative and municipal elections could be called at any time, Cabral Libii and his close collaborators decided to instead look for one of those legalized political parties that had been existing more in the handbags of the Founding President’s, then negotiate and takeover the party.
Cabral Libii and his collaborators ended up settling for the PCRN in the Far North Region, after striking a deal with the Founding President of the party, Kona Albert. The deal was finalized at a meeting which was held in Guidiguis, Mayo Kani Division in the Far North Region, on May 11, 2019. Kona of course remained a militant of the PCRN, and in fact Cabral Libiii counted on him to help to implant the party in the Far North Region. Worth noting that PCRN was legalized way back in 2002, but it was only after Cabral Libii and his group took over the party in 2019 that Cameroonians got to know of the existence of the party.
Founding President’s Controversial Accusations
Meanwhile the man who founded the PCRN, Kona Albert, had since striking the deal with Cabral Libii in 2019 been quiet, until recently when he suddenly started accusing Libii of having stolen his party. Kona alleged that Cabal Libii fraudulently transformed the meeting they held in Guidiguis on May 11, 2019 into the party’s congress, and that Libii claimed he was elected National President of PCRN at that meeting. Kona said he wanted to take back the leadership of PCRN which he insisted is his party. Suffice to say Kona has filed a case at a court in Kaele in the Far North Region against Cabral Libii, who has been summoned to appear in the court on January 4, 2024.
There are a number of questions or issues to raise here. Why was Kona Albert silent since May 2019 that he claims Cabral Libii stole his party, until recently? Also, Kona says Cabral Libii fraudulently transformed the meeting they held in Guidiguis on May 11, 2019 into a congress of the party. That is false. The PCRN leadership has in documents related to the congress scheduled for Kribi from December 15 – 17, 2023, indicated that it will be the first ever congress of the 21 year old party.
A Similar Thing Happened To Kah Walla And The CPP
The problem, or better still the drama that has sparked off between Cabral Libii and Kona Albert over PCRN today, is quite similar to what happened in 2018 between Douala based Edith Kahbang Walla and Akum – Bamenda based Samuel Tita Fon who was the Founding President of the Cameroon People’s Party, CPP. In fact the two dramas appear to be from the same playbook, and written by the same author.
When Edith Kahbang Walla, popularly known as Kah Walla, needed a political party, she contacted Samuel Tita Fon and they struck a deal in 2011 for her to take over the running of the CPP, a pro –regime party which had become more of a dead party. At the CPP congress that followed, Kah Walla was formally elected National President of the party, and Tita Fon was given the post of Honourary President. Kah Walla was CPP’s flag bearer at the 2011 Presidential Election, in which she made an impressive performance. There was no problem between Kah Walla and Tita Fon until early 2018, that is, prior to the 2018 Presidential Election, when all of a sudden the latter, just like Kona Albert today, declared that he was the National President of CPP, and started making negative pronouncements against Kah Walla.
At a meeting of the National Council of the CPP which held in Yaounde on March 8, 2018, Resolution No.3 that was adopted by the Council recommended the convocation of another meeting of the said Council acting as a Disciplinary Council, to examine the case of Tita Fon. Resolution No. 4 stated that: “Mr Tita Fon is suspended until the next Disciplinary Council meeting”. Tita Fon in his reaction signed a release saying that Kah Walla and Franck Essi (Secretary General of CPP), had been suspended from the party. A drama indeed!
2018 Presidential Election
Meanwhile as the drama rolled on, Paul Atanga Nji, who had become the Minister of Territorial Administration, signed a controversial and scandalous order addressed to all the Governors of the 10 regions of the country, instructing that only Samuel Tita Fon should be recognized or treated as the National President of CPP. What came out clear was that Minister Atanga Nji was behind the whole mafia. He did not want Kah Walla who had become very critical of the Biya regime, to participate in the 2018 Presidential Election. So the mafia was meant not only to frustrate Kah Walla, but to also punish her for her strong criticisms of the regime. But apparently unknown to Atanga Nji, was the fact that CPP under Kah Walla had taken a decision that the party would not participate in any election in Cameroon, until there were genuine reforms to guarantee free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
Meanwhile, Atanga Nji who was behind the creation of the so called G 20 group of purported opposition leaders headed by Barrister Jean de Dieu Momo, that supported the candidature of the incumbent Paul Biya at the 2018 Presidential Election, also wanted the name of CPP to be in the group. This was probably to give the group some of the credibility that Kah Walla had given to that CPP. The minister included Samuel Tita Fon in the G 20 as the purported National President of CPP. Tita Fon then claimed that CPP was part of G 20 that supported the candidature of Paul Biya at the presidential election, whereas the CPP boycotted the election.
Meanwhile Kah Walla filed a case against Tita Fon at the Administrative Court in Yaounde, over the issue of the office of National President of CPP. In 2019, the Administrative Court ruled that Kah Walla was the legal and legitimate National President of CPP. That judgment was considered to be a big blow to Minister Atanga Nji. As for Samuel Tita Fon, he had made some fast money in the mafia, and could thus stay him quiet. It should be noted that both Atanga Nji and Tita Fon hail from Akum, while Kah Walla is from Pinyin, all in Santa Sub –division, Mezam Division, Northwest Region.
Attempt To Frustrate And Block Cabral Libii from Next Presidential Election
Meanwhile, as can be seen the conflict that has sparked off in PCRN between the person who founded the party, Kona Albert, and the National President of the party, Cabral Libii Ngue, is very much similar to the one that sparked off in early 2018 between the man who founded CPP, Samuel Tita Fon, and the National President of the party, Edith Kahbang Walla. Also, the person behind the scene of the present conflict seems to be the same who was behind the 2018 conflict.
We are watching a drama where Kona Albert that struck a deal with Cabral Libii in 2019 for Libii to take over the PCRN, more than four years after suddenly jumps up to claims leadership of the party, and goes on to file a case not at the Administrative Court in Maroua, but at a court in Kaele. Political observers can easily see the game plan, at a time when there is increasing talk of an early presidential election next year. There is strong suspicion that the case filed by Kona Albert is just a game.
The case filed by Kona at the court in Kaele might likely drag on for quite sometimes, and if early presidential election is called next year, Cabral Libii will be in problems. The Government controlled Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, whose Managing Director and Deputy are from Ministry of Territorial Administration, will be instructed to refuse to receive Cabral Libii’s file as the PCRN candidate, on the pretext that there is case in court over the leadership of the party. And it will not be surprising to see Kona Albert in another G 20 as the purported National President of PCRN. Even if the court delivers judgment later that confirms that Cabral Libii as the legal National President of PCRN, the damage would have already been done to him, and Kona Albert would have made his money.
It should be noted that these negotiations or arrangements that lead to the takeover of a political party by another person or group, is not a verbal agreement. As was seen with the case of Kah Walla and Tita Fon, such agreement s are well documented and signed by the two parties. Cabral Libii is a jurist by training, and so certainly ensured that things were done in order, as regard the takeover deal between him and Kona Albert.
Nintcheu And Other Opposition Leaders Condemns MINAT’s Manipulation
Meanwhile quite a number of genuine opposition and civil society leaders like Prof Maurice Kamto of MRC, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu of FCC, and Barrister Akere Muna, have all strongly condemned the decision to ban the PCRN Congress and MINAT’s manipulation of the situation. Hon Nintcheu in a tweet said: “INTERDICTION DU CONGRES DU PCRN. INADMISSIBLE! INACCEPTABLE! LE MINAT DOIT CESSER CETTE PROVOCATION!!” That is: “THE BANNING OF THE CONGRESS OF PCRN. INADMISSIBLE! UNACCEPTABLE! MINAT MUST STOP THIS PROVOCATION”.
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