November 18th, 2018
Fellow
Cameroonians,
On October 7,
voters cast ballots in the presidential poll which had nine candidates in
competition. I congratulate those who participated in that exercise. I also
commend the candidates who created opportunities for citizen engagement, and
raised hopes for genuine democracy and meaningful change through the ballot
box. Unfortunately those hopes did not materialize and the legitimacy of the
presidential election is now in question.
In July, many
months before Election Day, I publicly shared my concerns about the political
and security environment, and stated categorically that the country was ill
prepared for the polls. Unfortunately, the handling of major aspects of the
electoral process have left many Cameroonians wondering about the impact of
these polls and the future of democracy in our country. This includes concerns
about the inability to conduct elections in the Anglophone regions of the North
West and South West; the lack of transparency in the tabulation and
transmission of election results nationally; and the contentious litigation of
electoral disputes and lack of unanimous acceptance of results. The legitimacy
of the presidential election outcome is contested by the main opposition
candidate and many Cameroonians. At the same time, despite my repeated appeals
for high-level, inclusive dialogue since the beginning of the Anglophone crisis
in 2016, the killings in the Anglophone regions continue unabated, and every
loss of life deepens the pain and suffering and further undermines prospects
for national reconciliation.
Today, Cameroon is
more divided, more polarized, more fragile and more insecure than ever before
in its modern history. Despite the legal trappings of today’s government, its
legitimacy is seriously questioned by millions of our fellow compatriots and
friends of Cameroon across the world. The credibility of many of our key
institutions, including the newly established Constitutional Council, is at
stake. Force, physical violence, hate speech and ethnic stigmatization have
become instruments of choice in public discourse and impact negatively
interactions between state authorities and civilian populations.
Under these
circumstances, Cameroonians of good will have a civic duty to rise and strongly
demand a significant course correction to avoid more violence, further
disintegration and eventual state collapse. The following ten recommendations
are submitted in that spirit, and require urgent consideration.
On Peace and
Security: We need a holistic, comprehensive approach to stop the killings.
1) Release all
political prisoners and detainees not charged with violent crimes and held
solely because of the Anglophone crisis, and create an enabling environment for
high-level, genuine dialogue to seek long lasting solutions.
2) Order an
immediate ceasefire and lift curfews in the North West and South West regions
to restore normalcy, enable youth to resume gainful employment, and facilitate
the return of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and
refugees.
3) Stop immediately
the killings and destruction of property in Anglophone regions, and all forms
of violence against civilians and security personnel.
On Elections: The
contested legitimacy of the electoral outcome cannot be ignored.
4) To dissipate the
lingering cloud of illegitimacy over the election results, commit an
international reputable auditing firm such as Price Waterhouse Cooper or
Deloitte & Touche to conduct a technical audit of ELECAM documents related
to the October 2018 presidential poll.
5) Make public the
findings of such international audit in order to restore confidence in
elections and the institutions in charge of electoral administration and
oversight.
6) Launch
immediately a high level Ad Hoc Committee on reforms to review the Constitution,
election laws and other legal instruments, and propose by a set deadline
recommendations on major reforms that must be undertaken in all sectors.
7) Assign the
chairmanship of the Ad Hoc Reform Committee to an independent, seasoned, and
well respected jurist with an in-depth understanding of democratic governance
processes.
8) Commit to
implementing the reforms as soon as they are enacted, and prior to any further
elections at the local, regional or national levels.
9) Under the new electoral
framework to emerge from the Ad Hoc Reform Committee, organize early
presidential elections that would allow for more transparent and credible polls
whose legitimacy will not be questioned.
10) Avoid the
manipulation of security and administrative services and pull back the country
from the negative spiral of hate speech, ethnic stigmatization, violence and
harassment of independent professionals, notably journalists, lawyers and
teachers, who are pillars of every democratic society.
I call on the
government to take concrete measures to regain peace, rebuild the country’s
reputation and restore the dignity of Cameroonians. This requires extraordinary
steps, including those listed above, to address head-on the multiple crises we
confront at this time.
Dr. Christopher
Fomunyoh
President
The Fomunyoh
Foundation
Edev Newspaper: Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237652434918 / +237696594138
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