Senator Kemende Explores Possible Ways of Political Transition in Cameroon
Senator Henry Kemende is one of Cameroon's most outspoken politicians in the Upper House. Cameroon People's Francis Ekongang Nzante caught up with him and he talked elaborately on the possible ways that Political Transition could be achieved in Cameroon.
Excerpts
You are considered in many circles as a Legal Luminary and a household name in political circles. Who exactly is Senator Kemende?
I want to consider those adjectives you have used to describe me as compliments and I thank you for that. It is your judgment to refer to me as a household name in political circles and equally your judgment to refer to me as a Legal Luminary. Barrister Kemende is just somebody who does things in his own style and in a very simplistic manner. It is motivating to hear you describing what I do in that manner. Barrister Kemende is a Lawyer that was sworn into practice in 1999. I took my training with Justice John Nkengong Moni and Justice Nyoh Wakai. Emminent personalities as far as this country is concerned. It is a privilege to have passed through the hands of someone like Nyoh Wakai who was once a Supreme Court Judge in the former West Cameroon and Founder of the SDF Party. It is equally a privilege to have passed through the hands of Nkengong Moni John, a former Minister of Transport and Cameroonian Ambassador to about four countries. I respect these two old people and I am proud of them. Besides being a Lawyer now for twenty years standing I also became interested in politics. I developed interest in politics after serving in ONEL 1 and ONEL 2 in Ngoketunjia as Divisional Head for two years. I eventually left ONEL and made my first attempt to get into Parliament in 2007 and did not succeed. From there I left Lawan Bako's UDP and moved to the Social Democratic Front SDF after I was solocited by my political partners of yesteryears and my contemporaries at the time to work as an Elections Monitor in ELECAM that had just been created. I worked as an ELECAM Boss in the same Ngoketunjia Division for a year. I felt that was not my calling and resigned to join the SDF. That's how I eventually became Senator.
Cameroon has been through a ravaging Anglophone Crisis for three years and counting. What is your take on the way involved parties have been handling the crisis?
We should call a spade a spade and simply look at the way the Government has been handling the crisis. If the Government had managed the situation correctly, the crisis would not have reached the stage at which it is today. The Government ill managed the crisis and did not foresee the extent to which it would degenerate. The seriousness of Anglophone problems in this country have not been given the attention it deserves over the years. If they had been appreciating the Anglophone Ill feeling correctly from when we had independence by joining French Cameroon then we should not have had the problems we are facing today. If the Government was doing its job it would have realised that there always have been pockets of resistance to changes that were being made in the Anglophone Coponent. They should have already known from their informants or intelligence that there were ill feelings among Anglophones due to the inconveniences that were being brought to bear upon them. It was exacerbated by the so called 1972 Referendum. The ill feeling grew in leaps and bounds. They can't say they didn't know about these feelings when on every October 1st they sent out uniformed men to arrest activists of the Southern Cameroons National Council SCNC. You cannot be sending uniformed men to arrest people and in the end you say you were not aware of the existence of a problem. They were arresting the activists because they knew that the message they were carrying could be bought by the public. When it came to this crisis they should have known that the ground was really hot because it was something that had been boiling for years. They could forsee that there was going to be an explosion right away. They believed time and force would solve it. Unleashing their force on the lawyers beating them in their robes. Lawyers were beaten and locked up in a way that gentlemen should not be treated. From then the situation degenerated to where we find ourselves today.
Cameroonians have been harping on Political Transition. What do you think is the best way to go about this?
For Political Transition to take place, the people in power must aknowledge that it is necessary. If they don't aknowledge the need for Political Transition then it can't work. Transition must have its bases from the constitution which should define the way it should take place. It can therefore take place when they decide to disolve the government and make consultations. Another possibility is for the Head of State to resign with his entire Government thus creating a Power Vacuum. The Constitution will now come into operation to pave a way forward. The Head of State himself could make Transition possible by dissolving the whole Government and constituting a Transitional Government under his rule. That's the only way a transition can come about through the operation of the Constitution. In the absence of this, Political Transition can only take place through the use of force. In such a case, the Constitution will be suspended and everything will be determined by the Military Junta in power.
Cameroon has seen a series of massacres notably the one in Ngarbuh in Ntumbaw and many contradictory reports have come in. What is your take on this?
When a situation like that occurs, it is usually difficult to know the exact figures. People run into the bushes and it is difficult to determine exactly the number of dead bodies. It is only after an investigation has taken place and all members of the community accounted for that you can arrive at exact figures. One death is not less important than fifty deaths. The death of any single Human being inflicts much pain on the family that loses a loved one. When you have lost a loved one then you will be able appreciate the value of a single life that is lost. When you talk about one death in terms of its effect on a family then it is the same like fifty deaths.
Who ever is responsible, be it the regular army or the armed Mbororos will have to render account to posterity. If it is the Goverment and they are denying thinking that by doing so they will run away from responsibility, then they are fooling themselves. The point is that it is the duty of the Government to protect the life and property of the its citizens. So when they fail in this responsibility irrespective of who did the killings, they carry the responsibility. Instead of them denying responsibility and pushing it onto people whom we don't know, they should apologise to the Cameroonian people for failing in their duty. If all the killings and destruction of poperty have been carried out by the Amba Fighters as they are called, then it is reason enough for the Army to withdraw and for the Government to resign and aknowledge defeat.
What is your take on the Twin Elections that just took place in the country?
If we had taken two steps towards Democracy then we have taken about five steps backwards. It is unfortunate that before the present delimna, Southern Cameroons had conducted Free and Fair Elections without any reproach from anybody. It is also unfortunate because if Cameroon has made five steps backward then the hitherto Southern Cameroonian has made Ten steps backwards.
If you were to address a message to Armed Separatists what would it be?
I would tell them not to fall in the trap of being accused as the defense forces are being accused on a daily bases. The population they are fighting for is suppossed to be the hen that lays the golden egg. If they are fighting for that population, then they must also do everything to protect that same population. They need not harass that population nor take them into the bushes for ransoms. They must define where they get their finances. They should not lose the confidence of that population that is counting on them for protection.
What is the way forward for the Social Democratic Front the SDF?
One of the Founding Fathers of the party Justice Nyoh Wakai had foreseen what is happening today. I sounded a warning within the NEC Forum. This warning was leaked out and it went viral on Social Media though it wasn't intended to. What I was worried about came to pass. We have been winning elections in the past and the population has always been behind us. The Rigging Machinery that has always been in place was always uncovered by the watchful population. The population that we counted on in the past was no longer there. They were running into the bushes. They were not there and we knew that they were not going to be there and we went in for elections. It was unfortunate. The best we should have done was to go in for elections in the eight Regions and we have come out suffering the greatest casualty than other political parties. When High Tides bring fishes ashore, the fishes should be very careful when the tides are dropping. They should make sure they follow the waters back without which they will die.
Les Gens Du Cameroun: Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237678401408/ +237696896001
No comments:
Post a Comment