"The Party System in Cameroon Is Stabilising"

Dr Agbor Ambang A. A, Political Analyst, spoke to Cameroon Tribune on lessons learnt from first-ever election of Senators in Cameroon.

What reading do you make of the fact that out of the over 200 political parties in the country, only two are represented in the Senate?

It is a positive step. People have raised a similar question with me. Now that just two political parties are going to be represented in Senate, is it legitimate enough, is it legal enough? Talking about a trivial majority and a vital few, I will say we are evolving towards stabilising our party system.

When you look at leading democracies, you must not need a hundred or two hundred political parties for there to be democracy. If we have a major leading opposition political party and it is represented in the Senate, it is a true reflection of the opinion of Cameroonians; especially as the senators came through elections, and not appointment. I do not think the fact of having just two political parties in the Senate should negate the practice and principles of democracy. What we should be seeing is the institution called the Senate which to my mind is a milestone in our democracy.

The SDF, according to result trends, is second but lost in its stronghold, the Northwest Region. Is this a good sign for the party and the democratisation process in the country?

There is a silver lining here in the cloud. The cloud is SDF losing in its own backyard. The silver lining is SDF winning in other areas which we thought were the backyard of other political parties. It confirms one thing - that the leading opposition party in Cameroon is the SDF. It also confirms that the SDF has a nationwide character. We need mass parties and not parties circumscribed to ethnic and regional zones.

If we can register SDF victories in Adamawa, West and other regions of the country, then I see it as a positive side. The fact that the SDF lost election in the North West is important to look at the character of the election. This was an election by a well-defined electorate. In popular elections in the future, not talking of guarantees or in absolute terms, I doubt if one would beat the SDF in that same backyard. We do not have to raise misgivings about the leadership of the SDF in the North West. We are moving towards stabilising by-partism in democracy. If this is what we are consolidating, then I think we can only celebrate the victory of the SDF.

The UDC and UNDP parties lodged petitions in court against CPDM and SDF victories. In your opinion, were there any malpractices during the election campaign period?

It is not the first time we are having post electoral litigations. They are expected, especially as the UDC and the UNDP all this while operated on the premise of political zones and backyards. There is a dawn of some consciousness that democracy and party politics do not sell the interests of the nation when those things crystallise on ethic and regional basis.

It is a positive step if our party system enables Cameroonians to transcend ethnic and zonal considerations and affinities. If they are contesting, it is based on their expectations that they were going to win because of their ethnic and zonal following. In so doing, they lost sight of some of these developments. The party system is stabilising and like I have always said, some countries sign a decree to eliminate all satellite parties. Some parties raise the financial threshold in order to make it impossible for others to exist. Cameroon seems to have elected this system of evolving and allowing the factors on the grown to eliminate satellite parties. The strategy seems to be justified with this option. These were major elections and some of them could not survive. They do not even have a place in our party arrangement. It is not a question of court judgement that will justify their presence and existence. It is competition in the field which they cannot rise up to it. We are not passing judgement.

What major lessons can we draw from the April 14 election of Senators, especially with regards to the future?

I think we should all welcome the advent of the Senate. If we go by the very etymology, it will help us appreciate the role of the Senate. This is something that started in Rome and was called the Council of Elders. People were called to ratify the actions and decisions of the assemblies of the masses. This particular practice was transposed to major democracies of today. The Senate has its place. Its coming to Cameroon is based on a number of factors - same arguments in an evolving democracy.

It is one of those institutions envisaged in our Constitution and the Head of State talked about putting in place our institutions gradually. The timing may depend on factors related to his own convenience and discretion, but what is important as far as the country's democracy is concerned is the fact that the Senate has been borne. This is the House of wise men, especially when a nation is gradually going towards a complex transition. We need the Upper House for people who are intelligent and have acquired a lot of experience. They are there to play the role of moderation on the decisions and laws that will come from the Lower House (Parliament).

Senators were equally there to act whenever the King died in Rome. That is why modern democracies have given them the mandate to manage that kind of transition. The Constitution has envisaged such a possibility. In terms of law-making, these are senior, seasoned lawyers and politicians who are there to ensure that we have quality laws. The legislature is a compound of two elements - the Assembly and the Upper House. It was imperative that we put in place the Upper House to make sure that the opinion of the people is taken into consideration.

What is your general appraisal with regards to the future?

The quality of the people who have been elected as Senators gives me reason to hope that we are going to have a quality Senate because of their standing. I said a Senator should be one who is intelligent, but intelligence is not enough. He/she must have acquired a lot of experience about State matters. These are the calibre of people going there. It is true there might be some defects, but they can be cured with time. Let us give our Senate a chance.