Policy speech of SDF National Chairman Ni John Fru delivered
at his Ntarinkon Residence on January 14, 2016
Fellow Cameroonians, Ladies and
Gentlemen, Brave People of Change,
Twenty-six years gone! Yes,
twenty-six years already. How quickly time goes by! Twenty-six years since,
together, we have been struggling for the advent of a new and better Cameroon!
But that important time span cannot make us forget that for thirty-three years,
our dear country has been languishing under the reign of a dictatorship
masterminded by a group of corrupt and dishonest officials.
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I would once again wish to pay
tribute to those Cameroonians who, under the reign of Mr. Biya, have made the
ultimate sacrifice for the construction of a democratic, peaceful, free and
prosperous country, where the well being of Cameroonians must be at the heart
of all our preoccupations. From 1982 till today, in all regions and all
families, many of our compatriots have lost their lives through torture,
bullets or speedy tele-guided trials.
I would once more like to pay
glowing tribute to those Cameroonians who since 1990, under Mr. Biya’s regime
lost their jobs, property, were maimed and sacrificed their lives, for a
democratic, free and prosperous Cameroon; a peaceful Cameroon whose interest is
at the center of our activities.
I wish also to pay tribute to Pa
Nicolas Ade NGWA, our compatriot who passed away on January 3, 2016. Pa Nicolas
Ade Ngwa who, not only fought along with us, but served the Party over a long
period of time as the first National Administrative Secretary and used his
administrative know-how to set up the archives and filing system of the Party. I
humbly ask everyone to observe a minute of silence in memory of this great man
and many others who contributed in a no small way to the struggle.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The reason for which we created a
political party: the Social Democratic Front (SDF) is still topical and is
proof of the fact that the fight for democracy is ongoing. We have the firm
conviction that the one party system has never succeeded in either guaranteeing
fundamental human rights or providing efficient and accountable
governance. Rather it has often bred tyranny, corruption and perpetual
oligarchy. We remain determined and committed to the struggle to rid our
society of these ills. We reaffirm our commitment to our relentless fight
against social injustice, tribalism, nepotism, corruption, wastage, moral decadence
and all forms of discrimination. Democracy remains the only genuine and
commendable means by which a people can get to power, build their future and
live in harmony.
Together we should without
discrimination, and with the help of each and every one, deploy all our efforts
to force the Biya regime to institute democratic governance in 2016 by carrying
out the following:
-
The Constitutional
Council provided by the constitution 20 years ago has become a necessity in
order to enable it contribute to our evolving democracy;
-
A Consensus Electoral Code, an Independent
Electoral Commission and an Electoral Calendar are the minimal conditions for
free, pluralistic, transparent and democratic elections;
-
Introduction of the single ballot paper,
the only means by which the buying of consciences at the polls can be
checked;
-
Revisit the audio-visual law so as
to grant subsidies to all media institutions and not only to CRTV;
-
Effective implementation of the
collective agreement and auto regulation laws which are the guarantors of a
free and independent media landscape;
-
The effective implementation of
section 66 of the constitution on the declaration of assets by those who hold
public offices;
-
The passing of Legislation on double
nationality.
I call on our parliamentarians as
usual to seek ways and means to bring the above into fruition in the interest
of our dear fatherland.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Like other preceding years, 2015 was
characterized by very disturbing situations for us as individuals and as a
nation. Those who govern this country considered hawking, moto-taxi, call-box, the
indiscriminate opening of off licenses, churches and other dangerous activities
as assuring employment, to the extent that they considered them as having
created hundreds of thousands and even millions of jobs. It is awful for a
regime to consider such precarious activities as a mode of development of a
model economy.
Again, the 2016 Finance law remains
a faraway dream to our citizens. When we consider that the prices of a kilogram
of rice and other basic necessities have risen by more than 200 francs CFA as a
result of the implementation of the Common External Tariff of 5% on food stuff,
it becomes evident that life will be unbearable to the ever increasing poor
Cameroonians in 2016.
A reduction of 20 francs CFA per liter
of fuel means that in 2016 the price of fuel at the pomp shall continue to be
expensive, whereas the price of crude oil in the world market had dropped
drastically by 60% since March 2015 and we ought to have had corresponding
reduction by 60% which is 402 francs since then. This is an insult to
Cameroonians as fuel prices shall continue to be more expensive in Cameroon
than elsewhere in Africa and the world, despite the fact that Cameroon is an
oil producing nation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Close to half of our compatriots
live on less than 500 francs CFA a day which is less than the poverty line and
worst still, this amount is far less in the rural areas and in the northern
part of our country. In real terms, more than 70% of our youth are unemployed;
our real inflation rate leaves much to be desired and our growth rate does not
predict better days to come. While Cameroonians are over-taxed, the very low
investment budget is not consumed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, our country is waging war
against the Boko Haram sect in the Far North, fighting insecurity in the East
and great banditry in the hinterlands. We must reflect on the very fundamental
and remote causes of this state of affairs. We have lived through decades of
discriminatory and unbalanced development of the National Territory. Some
regions of our country are swimming in luxury while some other regions are in
abject poverty. It is no wonder that Boko Haram found fertile ground in the Far
North region, and would have done same if it penetrated into some parts of our
hinterlands. We had over the years drawn the attention of the Biya regime to
the evil consequences that would befall Cameroon as a result of this
discriminatory development of the national territory. We continue to
congratulate and encourage our valiant soldiers who are fighting at all these
fronts to defend the integrity and sovereignty of our territory.
This also gives us the occasion to
reflect on the future of our country with the view to charting a better
tomorrow for our people. In this wise, it is our bounding duty to dissuade our
children from easy going life and inculcate in them the indispensable values of
good morals and hard work which constitute the bedrock of a sane society and a
prerequisite for our development. The education of our youths and the guarantee
of primary health care are the indicators of prosperity. Adequate training will
enable the citizens to acquire decent jobs.
In the domain of agriculture, we
continue to practice subsistence farming. We should modernize in order to make
it competitive and to guarantee self-sufficiency. Our population should be the
first to benefit from our resources. Cameroon covers 1.6% of the surface of the African
continent and ranks 5th in biodiversity after the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa. Cameroon is rich in natural resources and contains
approximately:
-*
21% of the African fish species
*
48% of the mammals
*54% of the bird species
*
50% of known continental amphibian
species
*
50% of the reptile species
*
42% of all recorded African
butterfly species.
Despite such an endowment in rich
resources, the country of plenty is characterized by severe poverty.
The Social Democratic Front seeks to
address the poverty situation of the citizens through proactive and progressive
agricultural policies. Such policies will address some of the known
obstacles to agricultural development in Cameroon particularly deforestation,
wind and soil erosion, indiscriminate exploitation of our natural resources
(forests, fisheries, livestock,), insufficient involvement of the local
populations in decision-making, weak legislation and law enforcement,
entrenched corruption and inefficiency and institutional inertia.
The liberalization of the fertilizer
sector was not in itself a bad thing. But poor focus, inadequate preparation
for the transition, inefficiency and corruption in the bureaucratic machinery
of the State created artificial scarcity leading to skyrocketing prices which
have contributed to cripple Cameroon’s agriculture and preclude its industrial
development. The situation has been compounded today by the consequences of
global warming and climate change. In order to adapt to the changing climatic
situation and also mitigate its consequences on agriculture in our country, we
will develop
partnerships with the youths, women and the private sector in general for the
effective participation in the provision of inputs. In doing this, we
shall ensure that biological and environment friendly methods of protection are
widely adopted. The use of manure from household refuge and animal dung,
the preparation and production of compost manure and the use of vegetable
remains on our farms will be promoted.
This will bring to a halt the burning of our
vegetation and charring our soil which has resulted in the destruction of the
texture of the soil, its humus and its beneficial micro-organisms that enhance
plant growth. These policies and measures will enhance our agricultural
production and also go a long way to contribute to the reduction of the
emission of greenhouse gases.
We are therefore compelled to make some reflections on
the concept of climate change. Generations to come will better apprehend this
world phenomenon if, while they grow, they are taught the fundamentals of
weather observation which has been abandoned in our school programmes.
These principles used to be acquired during “Nature Studies” in the
primary, secondary and professional schools. It was during these studies
that climatic elements such as temperature, humidity, amount of rainfall, wind
direction or cardinal direction of the wind, just to mention these few, were
studied by the pupils and students alike at all the levels. In the
implementation of such basic principles, future generations will be able to
mitigate the consequences of climate change and adapt to changes in weather and
seasons in every sphere of life. So, we call on the Biya Government to
reintroduce these programmes in our educational system.
It is sad that today the CPDM obese Parliament blocked
an SDF Private Member Bill on the protection of wetlands and water catchments
only to turn around to pretend to be fighting against climate change. That is
political demagogy.
Be that as it may, we call on the developed and
industrialized countries whose attitudes and activities have depleted the ozone
layer of the atmosphere and facilitated the conditions for climate change, to
take their responsibilities to stop climate change. These countries have
exhausted the tropical rainforests of the world through selfish and
indiscriminate timber exploitation.
We call on them to repair the damage already caused by
stopping indiscriminate forest exploitation and compensating for damage caused
to the regions which are primary victims of such exploitation.
The planting of trees should be devoid of politics. We
have pretended for too long in the planting trees in our country; the facts are
clear that there is nothing or very little to show for it. The desert continues
to threaten the northern region of our country more than ever before. The SDF,
therefore, proposes that for every tree cut, two or more of the same specie be
planted and for the northern region generalise and intensified tree planting
should be the order of the day. In this wise, we call on the exploiters
and the government of Cameroon to create tree nurseries of the exploited
species and Sahel tested species to make planting and replanting possible.
Lodging, potable water, electricity,
our roads and highways continue to pose a great challenge. Talking about our
road
infrastructure and transportation, this is a sector of our society that is
devoid of policy, is destitute and has fallen into ruin.
The regime purports to spend colossal sums of money
yearly on the maintenance and construction of roads but we do not have the
roads. No sooner do the CPDM contractors leave the job site than pot holes
start appearing and wind and rains start washing away the thin layers of poorly
mixed tars and undrained earth roads. Road construction and transportation in
general has been arrogated to the financing of the party in power. The
only qualification to win a road construction contract, importation of
transport equipment such as railway coaches and air planes in our country is to
belong to the CPDM. Everything in this sector is done with nothing but
political patronage.
Our vision is to ensure sustainable
maintenance of the road infrastructure with revenue derived from toll gates and
weighing bridges. The Biya regime high jacked this vision, as it did with many other
SDF visions, implemented it haphazardly with disastrous consequences leading to
our roads becoming death traps and the funds derived from them being diverted
into unwarranted and even destructive political ventures. We call on
Cameroonians to dislodge all tollgates found on the dilapidated sectors of our
road infrastructure and civil disobedience in the payment of tollgates by all
road users until the roads are properly maintained.
It is very disturbing that roads are allowed to be
damaged completely and then repair contracts are awarded to unscrupulous
contractors and embezzlers of the regime in power. We shall not let gullies cut
across our roads, take lives, destroy vehicles and paralyze economic activity.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Social Democratic Front
celebrated her silver Jubilee in 2015. Twenty five years of existence, Twenty
five years of battle; Twenty five years being at the forefront of the fight for
change in our country.
We have lived exciting and memorable
moments together. Moments of communion, joy, happiness and pleasure as well as
moments of crisis which we cannot overlook. That has been our political
journey. At this point, it is an opportunity for each and every one of us to
ask for pardon and to equally forgive others.
The dream of our fathers of
independence and the founding fathers of the SDF has been to build a
Democratic, modern, prosperous and peaceful Cameroon where every son and
daughter will have equal rights and equal opportunities. It is against this
backdrop that I wish you a happy and prosperous new year 2016.
Long live Cameroon.
May God bless us all!
Ni John FRU NDI
National Chairman
edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237678401408/ +237696896001
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