SDF frustrated over blockade of private member’s bills

The SDF Parliamentary Group has expressed frustration over the blockade of private member’s bills by the CPDM Parliamentary Group.

The group expressed its disappointment in a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday November 19.

“To our greatest dismay, the CPDM Parliamentary Group has blocked these private member’s bills at the level of the Chairmen’s Conference, even without taking a look at the contents of these proposals submitted to the chairpersons.

Nobody read any of the proposals. They were barred outright from going to the committee which has the competence and time to appreciate their contents, in violation of the laws and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly,” the SDF Parliamentary Group leader, Hon. Joseph Banadzem, declared at the conference.

During the conference, SDF MP for Wouri Constituency and Vice Chair of the party, Hon. Joshua N. Osih, enumerated the bills which the group proposed recently in order to ameliorate governance and living conditions in the various spheres of national life. They include: “private member’s bill No. 067/PPL/AN to modify and complete law No 92/007 of 14 August 1992 relating to the Labour Code.”

The opposition party also tabled Draft Resolution No 036/PPR/AN to establish a Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry related to the acquisition by the Government of Cameroon by a preferential loan of the China Exim Bank of two Xian MA60 Aircrafts for use by Cameroon Airlines Corporation. Hon. Osih said his party was out to expose the racket that surrounded the purchase of the fragile aircraft at very exorbitant prices.

The SDF equally tabled another private member’s bill No 066/PPL/AN to modify and supplement some provisions of law No 1968-LF-3 of 11th June 1968 to set up the Cameroon Nationality Code. Through the initiative of Hon. Osih, the SDF group also tabled a bill to modify and supplement law No 2004/17 of July 22, 2004 on the orientation of decentralisation.

According to the SDF, none of these bills have seen the light of day. Going by Hon Banadzem, all these submissions are on topical issues. One of them, he went on, is simply alerting Government to honour a Presidential engagement to the Cameroonian Diaspora while another one is seeking to satisfy and suppress workers’ quest for strikes, among others.

“We want to draw the attention of the national community that the SDF refuses to be dragged into inertia. That is why we have called for this press briefing to commune and share with you the obstacles we are facing in relation to our work as Legislators.” The MP said the SDF has noted with dismay that laws of the Republic are constantly being violated by the Government.

“We want to state that the Cameroon Government has systematically violated so many laws concerning the budget. In 2007, the Law on the Fiscal Regime of the State was voted and Section 21, 35 and 39, especially with regards to mid-year review of the budget and the depositing of the Finance Law was voted,” he averred.

He said it was incumbent on the SDF to draw the attention of Cameroonians to these violations which are, in themselves, causing a lot of prejudice to the citizens. To him, MPs cannot say that they are given the necessary time to do their work diligently.

“The 37 percent execution rate of the Public Investment Budget, down from 50 percent last year, does not surprise us,” the MP remarked.

Banadzem holds that the SDF is actively involved in the democratic evolution of the country through party activities, national elections and Parliamentary debates. He regretted that the aspirations of the masses that they have been trying to articulate in the private member’s bills they have proposed are being rejected by the overwhelming majority of CPDM MPs at the National Assembly.