New efforts to end Littoral SDF crisis underway

There is yet another new dimension on efforts to end the protracted crisis that has been rocking the Littoral SDF for over three years and has split the party into two camps in the region.

Senator Jean Tsomelou, the permanent head of the different teams that the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the SDF, has been assigning since 2014 with the task of reorganising the basic organs of the party in the Littoral, has declared that “a political decision will have to be taken by NEC concerning cases of some Electoral Districts in the region where his team has, so far, been repeatedly obstructed from conducting free and fair elections.

Sen.Tsomelou made the disclosure in a telephone discussion with The Post recently. He, however, did not expatiate on the political decision that he says NEC will make.

But he asserted that the NEC team has been too patient with some recalcitrant cases in a number of Electoral Districts, in the course of the protracted reorganization exercise of basic organs in the Littoral SDF.

Without calling names, Tsomelou said it is unfortunate as well as inadmissible, that some people in the Littoral SDF want elections to be organised in their Electoral Districts, only when they are sure of their victory, else they disrupt the holding of elections.

“We can no longer continue to wait. We now have to move forward. Hopefully, NEC will have to take a political decision on those cases that have been holding us back, to enable us move forward.”

The two outstanding cases are known to be Douala I and Mbanga Electoral Districts of the SDF. A source in NEC told The Post that the political decision Senator Tsomelou is talking about is contained in Article 14 F of the SDF Constitution.

According to the source, Article 14 F recommends that, in a case where it is not possible for an Electoral District that is due reorganisation to be reorganised before a Regional Election, theold Executive Bureau of the Electoral District remains in office.

That after theRegional Election, the new or re-elected Regional Chairman and his Executive Bureau will then take the responsibility to reorganise the Electoral District.

Divisional Elections

Tsomelou also disclosed to The Post that elections for Divisional Bureaus in the Littoral SDF, which were earlier scheduled for June 19, 2016,have now been rescheduled forJuly 24.

He also disclosed that the tentative programme, his team has drawn up for the elections shows that the elections will be partial, as elections will only take place in Divisions like Sanaga Maritime where all the Electoral Districts have been reorganised.

He said Divisions like Wouri that have pending cases will have to wait until the party hierarchymakes the expected political decision. But he said they were not yet certain as to the number of Divisions where electionswill take place on that July 24.

He said if before that date,the SDF hierarchy has taken the expected political decision, then, the July 24 elections will be organised in all the five Divisions of the Littoral SDF (the SDF has split Mungo Division into MungoNorth and Mungo South).

No Regrets For The Assignment

Asked if he regrets that NEC assigned him to reorganise the Littoral SDF, torn by a protracted crisis, Tsomelou said he has no regrets at all. He said all SDF officials and militants across the countryknow about the protracted crisis in the Littoral SDF, and that it would be a herculean task to reorganise the basic organs of the party in such a Region.

“But we are pushing on, and there is no question of throwing in the towel or turning back, no matter the threats I have received or the invectives that have been poured on me by some persons.

Before I was given this assignment by NEC, some other NEC members had earlier been here and things did not work. But I am determined to succeed in the mission that the SDF hierarchy has assigned to me”, he asserted.

It is an open secret in the SDF that the National Chairman, Ni John FruNdi, has been the main force behind maintaining Sen.Tsomelou, since 2014, as leader of the NEC team for the reorganisation of the crisis-ridden Littoral SDF. The NEC team has time and again been reconstituted or reinforced, but with Tsomelou as leader.

Since the Littoral SDF crisis erupted in January 2013, each time a NEC team is sent to the Littoral, each of the camps will try to buy over the leader. When one camp succeeds, the other camp will cry foul. But from all indications, both camps haverepeatedly tried in vain to buy over Tsomelou. That has made him to be treated as an unfriendly element by the two camps.

None of two camps has found any reason to accuse him of corruption or of being partisan, unlike his immediate processor, Ferdinand Asapngu.

The Stakes In District Elections

Tsomelou asserted that organising elections at the level of the Electoral Districts is challenging and complicated because,it is the Electoral Districts that will produce delegates that will vote for the Divisional Coordinators, especially vote for the Regional Chairman.

The post of Regional Chairman is definitely the biggest target of each of the two camps in the Littoral SDF.

Leaders of both camps know so well that their performances at the divisional and regional elections will depend largely on their control of the different Electoral Districts.