The will of Kumba II electorate should be respected - Osih

The 1st National Vice Chairman of the SDF, Hon Joshua Nambangi Osih, has asserted that the people of Kumba II voted for an SDF list and not an individual, whom he accuse of hijacking the Kumba II Council.

He insists that the will of the people of Kumba 11 should be respected, and regrets that indiscipline is been condone in the SDF.

In an interview granted The Post in Douala on November 3, 2014, prior to the holding in Bamenda this weekend of a crucial meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the SDF, Hon Osih expresses the hope that NEC will be able to take a final decision on the appeals that were filed by the present Mayors of Kumba 11 and Tubah, who had earlier been dismissed from the party.

The interview also touches on a number of other interesting issues, including Osih being an MP in Douala. Read on:

The Post: A few weeks ago some militants were dismissed from the CPDM that used to criticize the SDF for sanctioning some of its militants by applying the dreaded Article 8.2 – dismissal for anti-party activities. What is your reaction?

Joshua Nambangi Osih: As an SDF official, I can not comment on the decision that the CPDM took to dismiss some of its militants, for we of the SDF are politically matured and consider that as an internal affair of the CPDM. I can only comment on the criticisms the CPDM used to make about some internal decisions that were taken by the SDF. Well, each time the CPDM criticizes the SDF, it means that the SDF has done the right thing. If we do the wrong thing they will rather be happy, because it will play to their advantage. So I am delighted to see them criticize us, because it means we are doing the right thing.

But one thing I will to like to remark is that because the CPDM was criticizing the SDF, many members of the SDF thought that the party needed to calm down with discipline. I think that all the problems we have inside the SDF today, is because we calmed down on indiscipline, and we tried to reconcile people who were indiscipline with ourselves. And this has caused us more problems.

I have always been on the side of strict discipline, and I think that it is big time for the SDF to be again this party where you do not joke, where anybody who violates the statute of the party should b sanctioned, and sanctioned seriously. We are a party that is meant to govern Cameroon.

Cameroonians are counting on us to govern this country to morrow, and I think we can only govern this country to morrow if we are appropriate with ourselves, if we are strict with discipline, and if we sanction without any emotions.

Talking about indiscipline, the Mayors of the SDF-run Kumba 11 and Tubah Councils, Martin Ndobegang and Martin Meshongong Tanjong respectively, were in a decision of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the SDF on October 26, 2013 ordered to leave the posts. One year later they are still in office. Are they still militants of the SDF?

These two individuals were served with their exclusions from the SDF at that time. As far as I know, they executed their rights of recalls to that decision. I am not very close to that file, but I think the procedure is still ongoing. So I can not comment until they have exhausted all forms of appeals possible. We are in a political party which means that we were are very dynamic, and which as well means that all decisions are not taken on the basis of the statute. Some decisions can be political, if they have to.

As regard the decision that the party took concerning the two individuals you have mentioned, the party took a conservative position which is an obvious position; that of excluding the two individuals because they did not respect the position of the party taken by he National Investiture Committee. These individuals embarrassingly did not respect the signature of the National Chairman of our party. That is something on which we can not joke.

I think that in the next NEC meeting scheduled for November 8, 2014, we might see clearer on this issue. Those who have been tasked to handle the situation and clarify it will likely present their report to NEC. We will at the situation in the field and see what is going on exactly, case by case.

So if good reasons can be advanced for the appeals of those individuals to be entertained, then we will look at them. But if they do not have sufficient reasons, I am afraid the earlier decision that NEC took, will be final, and we will no longer consider them as members of the SDF. But for me as an individual militant of the SDF, until those appeals are entertained by NEC, I personally do not consider them as militants of the SDF.

There were reports a few months ago, that you were in Kumba apparently on a secret mission to rally the councilors of the Kumba 11 Council to pass a vote of no-confidence against the Mayor, Martin Ndobegang. Is that true?

A vote of no-confidence! That is not exactly what I was doing. The Kumba 11 Council found itself in a situation where the choice of the party at the level of the investiture was without due consideration to party discipline, put in the minority inside the council. So the first work that had to be done, was to get a majority again in within the council, before we can take any decision after that. It was the party that asked me to go to Kumba. The work I went to Kumba to do was to get a majority inside the council. I was helped by Hon Awodu Mbaya. Suffice to say that work has been done, and it is now behind me. The party wants a majority inside the council to do what?

The majority is so that what we say is in accordance with what a majority of the councilors will agree in within the council. I accomplished the assignment I was given by the party, and I am proud of the work that was done. Right now it is up to NEC to take decisions there to. What I can say right now is that as far as the SDF is concerned, the Kumba II Council is not functioning normally, and a decision has to be taken.

If we have not taken a decision yet, I believe it is because our National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, wanted to explore all possible avenues to come to the best decisions possible. There are many ways that a party can sanction a militant. There are even some sanctions that tend to be more severe punishment on somebody, than exclusion from the party.

Whatever the case, I am hopeful that when we come out of the NEC meeting on November 8, we will be able to communicate a final position of the party on the matter concerning the Kumba 11 and Tubah Councils. One thing I pray personally that we reach, is to make it such that the will of the people of Kumba 11 is respected.

What is the will of the people of Kumba 11?

At the September 30, 2013 Municipal Elections, the people of Kumba 11voted for a list and not for an individual. They wanted the SDF party with the list that was presented to them to manage their council. That is how we got elected.

I do wish, and I do pray, that all those concern; the 25 councilors, the National Executive Committee, and the Southwest Regional Executive Committee of the party, can come to the conclusion that the will of the people of Kumba 11is respected. That is what is of utmost importance to me.

I think it is important to understand that the SDF in this matter is fighting for the will of the people of Kumba 11to be respected, and it is now one year that they haven’t had the council they voted for. Rather, they have a council that was hijacked. This is inadmissible.

Now, lets talk about you as a parliamentarian. You entered parliament in October 2013 after your victory at the September 30 Legislative Elections. How has your first year in parliament being?

Well, it has been a year of learning, and it has been an exciting year as well, with much work to do in the Finance and Budget Committee which I happen to be the Vice President. As I got into parliament, we were in charge of putting in place a bill that takes care of the fiscal state of the regime, which has completely change the way state budgetary and financial management occurs. So, it has been a lot of work in the committee.

How has it being in your constituency, Wouri Centre (Douala 1 and Manoka Sb-divisions)?

As regard my constituency, Wouri Centre, it has unfortunately being a slow year. We have been having issues inside the party (Douala 1 and Manoka Electoral Districts of the SDF) that we trying to handle. I am convinced that before the end of the year, those issues will be handled, to make it such that I will be able to touch base inside my constituency through the party, as against going direct as I am doing now.

Why should an MP instead want to touch base through his political party?

Being an MP from a constituency does not mean that a parliamentarian does not have a party. An MP is for the entire nation. But an MP is supposed to relay to the entire nation via his constituency, and relays towards his constituency via his party. He cannot cut any of them off, because they are part of the equation. I got elected MP as a member of a party, and I have to respect that.

We have garnered that your party, the SDF, has been having problems with the reorganization of the basic organs, in your constituency.

The party has been suffering from organizational issues within the constituency, and it has taken much longer to fix, than I would have thought.

We have some people who are fighting the fact that our party is waxing strong. However it is normal. It is something that happens in any big organization. Hopefully, we are towards the end of that situation. With the situation over, we will be able to work much more proactively for the four remaining years of the mandate.

You are the first ever person from the English speaking part of Cameroon, to be an MP in Douala. Have you faced any particular problem as an Anglophone MP in Douala?

I do not think that I was elected MP because I come from one part of the country or the other. I consider myself as Cameroonian, and that is the way I presented myself to the electorate. People do not relate to me as being from one village or the other. People of Wouri Centre Constituency relate to me as being their representative, and as such, I am at their service. I have been telling them that I am at their service, and they have to use me. That is just what we have been doing.

So take it that I am not an English- speaking MP or an Anglophone MP. I am a Cameroonian with origins from the Southwest Region, of which I am very proud. I am an MP from the Wouri Centre Constituency. Douala is a cosmopolitan town, and so I also consider myself as a son of Douala. I have been in Douala 1 since 1988, and I consider myself as a son-of-the-soil. Over the years we have seen many mayors and MPs in Douala who are people that hail from regions like the West and Centre, and it has never being an issue. Why should it be an issue with somebody who hails from the Southwest Region, which is even part of the Sawa people, being an MP in Douala?