NW: From opposition stronghold to political shifting ground

Politicians in the early 1990s who joined the crusade for change launched by the Social Democratic Front, SDF, and anticipated that the harvest was going to be too soon, later discovered that it was not the case.

Fed-up with the struggle, they started crossing the floor from the SDF to the ruling Cameroons Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM. Meanwhile, some of the people who had thought that they could still find democracy in the CPDM or change the CPDM from within, but did not succeed, also crossed over to the SDF. Other parties whose leaders defected to sister parties included National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP and Ben Muna’s Alliance of Progressive Forces, APF.

Political prostitution amongst politicians in the Northwest Region was and is still highly motivated by pecuniary motives, which illustrate that Cameroonians are in a hurry to see change, but are either not patient enough to wait for it or are unable to sustain the struggle for change.

A good number of politicians got fed-up with the attitude of the SDF hierarchy and other political parties and decided to go where the bread is better buttered –the CPDM.

The CPDM recorded the biggest political catch four years ago, when the Northwest Regional Chairman of the SDF, Henry Kum, resigned and joined the CPDM. His initiation ritual into the CPDM was performed by the Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic, Paul Nji Atanga, at a public ceremony in Bamenda.

A few weeks after Henry Kum departed, the SDF received another shocking blow, when one of her female rallying forces, Margaret Nyah, decamped to the APF. Nyah’s departure was regarded as a bad omen for the SDF and the end of the party in the Northwest. But, surprisingly, Nyah staged a comeback - prodigal daughter, so to say - to the SDF fold, just two years after discarding it.

Parliamentarians who left the SDF for the CPDM and APF include; Hons Jones Tansa, former MP for Ndu; Philip Che, former MP for Wum; Emmanuel Bangsi, former MP of Fundong; Banarbas Asah of Menchum Valley; and Nagam Chia of Boyo.

Meanwhile, Hon. Andrew Akonteh, the fire-brand SDF militant alias vanguared No 1, also defected to Miller Asoute’s party that was disqualified on the eve of the 2007 Presidential elections. Hon, Akonteh, later created his NGO, and quit politics for good.

Despite the aforementioned examples, political prostitution in the Northwest Region is very rampant, depending on the direction of money and positioning. There are militants of A or B party, that have changed their political colours without blinking, provided they are given money, food and drinks.

During the pioneer Senate election in Cameroon in 2013, Councillors who constituted the Electoral College were targeted by both the SDF and the CPDM. Gullible SDF Councillors in Nkambe, Njinikom, Bafut and Fundong were lured by rich CPDM bigwigs to vote for the CPDM list. They actually took money and voted the CPDM list.

As concerns other frontline opposition parties in the Northwest, the Regional Chairman of the NUDP, Dr. Lawrence Fomamboh, parted ways with the party and joined the SDF. He is currently a NEC Member and Shadow Cabinet Minister of Public Health.

The former Fundong District Chairman of the SDF, Michael Nuck, dumped the SDF for the NUDP, in the same capacity.

Recently, the former District Chairman of Balikumbat, Dr. Pius Lesiga, who failed to win the 2013 Parliamentary election, abandoned the SDF and joined the CPDM. He occupied this position which he inherited from late John Kohtem, who was brutally murdered by late Fon Doh Gah Gwanyim of Balikumbat.