Cameroon’s 2018 Presidential Candidates

  Joshua Osih Nambangi

Joshua Osih joined the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in March 1991 in Douala.

In 2002 he was elected Regional Chairman of the Social Democratic Front for the South West region. In 2006, he was elected 2nd Vice Chairman of the party.

In 2012 and 2018 he was voted in both instances as 1st Vice Chairman of the party. At the 2018 Extra-ordinary Convention of the party that concludes the party’s primaries, he was chosen as the SDF’s presidential candidate for the 2018 presidential election of Cameroon to be held on October 7, 2018.

Joshua Osih holds an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability, and has about 30 years of experience in the aviation industry, notably in Operations and Management.

He is an established entrepreneur in Cameroon and is the Founder and Managing Director of notable companies including Camport PLC and Africa Travel Management.

Joshua Osih is an SDF Member of Parliament for the Wouri Centre Constituency in Douala and serves both as Vice President of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, and Special Rapporteur for the National Assembly.

He is Deputy General Rapporteur  in charge of State Income, Vice Coordinator of the Hope for the Youth Caucus, and a member of Multiple Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Joshua Osih was born on the 9^th of December 1968. This 49-year-old native of the South West Region is married to Tina Osih and has three sons.

 

Joshua Osih Nambangi: Social Democratic Front

The flag bearer of Cameroon’s Social Democratic Front, Honourable Joshua Osih presented his party’s manifesto and political programme weeks to the official launch of electoral campaigns.

 

After touring several localities to galvanise support and see for himself the realities on the ground, Joshua Osih decided to present his programme based on the realities on the ground.
In one of his earliest press conferences Joshua Osih presented his campaign team and revealed he had already mobilised 30.000 volunteers and hoped to see that number rise to 50.000 by the time the campaigns opened on September 22.
Joshua Osih in his trajectory has not failed to talk of a possible coalition which has been on the media for long but said any such move will have to be endorsed by his party.

In a bid to show his disapproval of the quality of administrators handling key positions in Cameroon, Joshua Osih has vowed to shut down the National School of Administration and Magistracy; ENAM if elected as President of Cameroon on October 7. Osih, made the promise while unveiling his Political Programme in Douala just before the start of campaigns for the Presidential Elections. He said ENAM was one of the schools in the country that had outlived its relevance and need to been shut down.

Points to note on his manifesto are the creation of a Ten State-Federation, increase in the Minimum Salary of civil servant to 160.000 CFA, instituting a Two Round Presidential Election, creating a Cameroonian currency among other things. He has also among other things promised to make Cameroon the Digital Headquarters of Sub Saharan Africa in the next five years.

Joshua Osih has detailed out his political, economic and social programme to be implemented if he is elected President of the Republic in a package dubbed “24 strong measures for 24 million dreams.”
1- Creation of a SMIC at 160,000 F CFA over 5 years.
2- Doubling the salary of civil servants over 5 years.
3- Providing a land title for each Cameroonian family.
4- Removing the payment of rents in advance and regularizing the relationship tenants and house owners.
5- Introducing incentives indexed on hardship for civil servants and similar in rural areas and difficult areas to fight absenteeism and abandonment of posts.
6- Establishing a local content orientation law and imposing it from the first year on the public order.
7- Free pre and post-natal consultations until the age of 2 and care for delivery by caesarean section.
8- Introduction of Health Coverage up to 500,000 FCFA per household per year for a premium of 1,000 FCFA per person per month.
9- Introduction of a School Grant for children from the most disadvantaged households.
10- Free and compulsory schooling until the end of the First Cycle and abolition of schooling in universities and state schools.
11- Education Program: Develop infrastructure and digital capacity to transform education and education.

12- Closure of ENAM
13- Elimination of fixed road checks.
14- Integration of vigilance committees (CoVi) active in the northern and eastern parts of the country in law enforcement.
15- Form of the State: Federalism based on the 10 current regions.
16- Presidential Election with two rounds for a 5-year term renewable once and introduction of the single ballot.
17- Opening of a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation National Conference.
18- Establishment of a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program.
19- Relocation of the chief town of the Central Region to another locality of the Centre.

20- Implementation of administrations and public services in their centres of interest.
21- Establish our monetary sovereignty.
22- Reduce the size of the government to a maximum of 20 ministers.
23- Actively promote the Transaqua project to supply the Lake Chad Basin with water.
24- To nominate Cameroon for the co-organization with two sub-Saharan African countries of the 2030 World Cup.
The entire applicant company project can be found at https://www.osih2018.com/project.

Joshua Osih Nambangi is the candidate of Cameroon’s leading opposition political party; Social Democratic Front SDF. This party is credited for being behind the birth of multi-party politics in Cameroon under the guidance of Ni John Fru Ndi, one of Cameroons most popular house hold names in the domain of politics.

Joshua Osih hails from the South West Region of Cameroon, one of the two English Speaking Regions of the country. This notwithstanding, his perfect mastery of French enhanced by his international background and many years of stay in the country’s Economic fief Douala where he is an entrepreneur makes him to cut across the national territory. The power of this linguistic wherewithal added to his capacity to cut across is believed to have accounted for his being elected as SDF Member of Parliament in Douala. His Southwest origins were completely over shadowed by his inert qualities as someone meant to shepherd people.

Joshua Osih is the Vice National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front and a successful business mogul of international repute running enterprises in Cameroon’s Economic Capital, Douala.

If international and National media is anything to go by then Joshua Osih is certainly one of the future leaders of Cameroon. According to Media organs of both the English and French expressions in Cameroon, Joshua’s origin, national image, international experience, political experience, business experience and mastery of the economic and socio-political landscape of Cameroon puts him in an advantaged position everything being equal.

To cut across in a country that is so ethnically, culturally and linguistically diversified like Cameroon is a very strong point in Presidential Elections. Joshua is one who cuts across as far as anyone can go.

However, a look at the pack reveals that he has to put up a ruthless fight against grey cats amongst who is the incumbent, H.E. Paul Biya who’s been playing the political game at the helm of power in Cameroon for almost four decades. Considering the power of strong personalities at the expense of strong institutions in Cameroon, it’s going to be indeed rugged.

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

Edev News : Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/+237652434918/ +237 667169106/ +237678401408