THE SDF
(SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT): ROLE AND PATH OF THE PARTY IN THE THIRD PHASE
OF THE QUEST FOR CHANGE IN CAMEROON
Janvier Tchouteu-Chando
TISI BOOKS
NEW YORK, RALEIGH, LONDON,
AMSTERDAM
PUBLISHED BY TISI BOOKS
“Every process needs to follow its
historical course and arrive at a logical conclusion, irrespective of the
facilitators injected to speed up the process, or the obstacles put to stop or
bar it.”
—CHRISTOPHER
NKWAYEP-CHANDO
The course for change being pursued
today by the majority of Cameroonians (the struggling masses) does not bear its
origins from the wind of change (demands for democracy) that Soviet leader
Mikhail Sergeivich Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika generated across the
world, a wind of change that jolted those political systems that were failing
to conform to the demands of world civilization and progress, which place the
freedom and liberty of man and the interest of humanity above the twisted
interest of the unscrupulous selfish minority.
The course for change otherwise known as the Cameroonian
(Kamerunian) Struggle began in 1910 led by Martin Paul Samba (Mebene Mebongo). Patriotic
Cameroonians, who accept one another irrespective of their compatriots’ ethnic,
racial, religious or regional origins, acknowledge the fact that the first
phase of the Kamerunian (Cameroonian) struggle was defeated in 1914 by the
German colonial army following the execution of Martin Paul Samba and Rudolf
Duala Manga Bell. They also accept the fact that because of that defeat, the
land lost a unifying nationalist force to ensure Kamerun’s unity during and
after the First World War (The Great War), a void that played against the
Kamerunian people when the victorious British and French colonial powers went
about partitioning the defeated German Kamerun after the war.
The lethargy that followed the first defeat of the Kamerunian
struggle and the resultant partition of the pre-1911 German Kamerun into French
Cameroun and British Cameroons (British Northern Cameroons and British Southern
Cameroons) lasted for thirty years, or the equivalent of a generation, before
the divided Kamerunian people revived their national consciousness again. This
time around, the revival of the original objectives of the Kamerunian
struggle—independence, freedom, justice, development, unity, peace, democracy,
liberty, progress, international cooperation and international fraternity—was
done with an additional objective of reuniting a land and a people who through
no fault of theirs had been separated from one another to suit the interest of
Britain, France and other foreign powers.
Reuniting Kamerunians also meant mitigating the consequences of
partition and putting the land and its people on the path to realize the
original purpose of the Kamerunian struggle embodied in the words “THE
KAMERUNIAN DREAM” (CAMEROONIAN DREAM). This second phase of the Kamerunian
struggle dominated by the quest for reunification of British Cameroons and
French Cameroun was led by the UPC (Union
des Populations du Cameroun”, otherwise known as the Union of the
Populations of the Cameroons), a legal political party born in French Cameroun.
The UPC and its affiliate political parties commanded more than 90% of the
support of educated Cameroonians in both French Cameroun and British Cameroons
and had the open or tacit backing or sympathy of more than 80% of British
Cameroonians and French Camerounians before the vindictive and fearful French
authorities banned the UPC on July 13, 1955, a move that was backed two years
later by the British authorities in British Cameroons when they too banned the
UPC in 1957. With the elimination from the political scene of the party that
dominated in reflecting the aspirations of the Cameroonian people, advocates
for reunification and independence for British Cameroons/French Cameroun were
in a predicament.
The fact that the UPC was left after its ban with no other
option to freely lead the struggling Kamerunian masses to their aspirations,
the fact that the colonial powers perceived the UPC as an obstacle in their
design and influence over the former German Kamerun, and the fact that its
members were being hounded and killed, the UPC finally came to a conclusion
that it had no other option but to resort to the path of armed resistance. Yes,
more than ten years of armed resistance contributed enormously in the partial
reunification of the former Kamerun (British Southern Cameroons and French
Cameroun), but it came about with the death of more than half a million
Cameroonians (10% of the population), and it came about with the loss of
British Northern Cameroons to Nigeria. Yes, the cause that spurred the fight
for Cameroon’s reunification and independence resulted in the reunification of
British Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroon (the former French
Cameroon) in 1961 following the plebiscite results in British Southern
Cameroons, but it came at a high price—Cameroonians witnessed the first case of
crimes against humanity committed by the French army in French Cameroun and the
puppet regime they put in place there.
The assassination of the Ruben Um Nyobe (The UPC’s leader) on
13 September 1958 by French forces; the poisoning of his successor Felix-Roland
Moumié in Geneva in October 1960 by the William Bechtel, an agent of the French
secret service; and the execution of the third historic UPC leader Ernest
Ouandié in January 15, 1971, after he gave himself up in August 1970; marked
the second defeat of the Kamerunian struggle, the successful entrenchment of
the French-imposed system under the regime of French puppet Ahmadou Ahidjo (the
first Cameroonian president), and a new reality of a pseudo-independence to
soothe the pains and emotions of the patriotic struggling Cameroonian masses
and to neutralize their union-nationalism, considered to be an advanced ideal
bringing diverse peoples together in a continent plagued by ethnic, religious
and racial division. The carrot and stick strategy of suppression,
intimidation, handouts, extortion, bribery and corruption that the French
political leadership under the umbrella of FrancAfrique employed in their
backyard (former colonies and territories in Africa) sustained the 24-year rule
of Ahmadou Ahidjo, and has been sustaining the usurper regime of Ahidjo’s successor
Paul Biya ever since.
That defeat of the second phase of the Cameroonian struggle led
to a second political lethargy that kept the dynamic Cameroonian people docile
or politically subdued for two decades.
Today, we are in the third and hopefully or certainly the last
phase of the Cameroonian Struggle to realize the Kamerunian Dream of “THE NEW
CAMEROON”.
That the struggling Cameroonian masses have been whisked off
their political lethargy is glaring for all to see; that their determination to
realize the objectives of the eight-decade old Kamerunian(Cameroonian) struggle
is clearly and resolutely challenged or resisted by the status quo or the Biya
regime and its external backers (The French- politically setup in Africa otherwise
known as FrancAfrique) that have been benefitting from the mafia setup called
the Cameroonian system, is something the world knows about. But exponents of
change in Cameroon know that getting rid of the anachronistic French-imposed
system is the only recourse which would allow Cameroonians to build The New
Cameroon that would involve Cameroonians of all ethnic groups, religions,
political affiliations, regions and races in the process of nation-building.
Cameroonians know that getting rid of the system is the first step in reconciling
Cameroon and Cameroonians.
Today, in this third phase of the struggle, just like it was
during the second phase of the struggle, the force that stands as the vanguard
of the struggling masses has a different face. It has a different face because
the UPC did not resurface as the reincarnated historic UPC of 1948-1971. Just
like Martin Paul Samba’s movement did not lead the second phase of the
struggle, leaving the historic UPC to fill the void instead, the different UPC
factions are not leading the third phase of the Kamerunian struggle because
they are the pale shadows of the historic UPC. The Social Democratic Front
(SDF) is the new face leading the struggling masses in this third phase of the
struggle. It is the movement hoisting the banner of the Kamerunian (Cameroonian
) struggle first picked up by Martin Paul Samba, a banner that the leaders of
the historic UPC and its affiliates—Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP)
and One Kamerun(OK)—picked up three decades after Samba’s death, a banner that
fell down following the execution of Ernest Ouangie, a banner that stayed for
two decades in the mud during the subjugation of the Cameroonian people by the
French-imposed system, until the SDF came into the picture and picked it up.
The SDF is not a reincarnation of the historic UPC, but it
stands out today as the national, union-nationalists party that embodies the
eight-decade old Kamerunian struggle. Just like the historic UPC and its
affiliates inherited the task of realizing the aspirations of the struggling
Kamerunian masses from Martin Paul Samba’s movement, so has the SDF inherited
the task of realizing the Kamerunian ideals from the historic UPC. It is the
inheritor of the banner not only because of its all embracing nature and
objectives which has a place for all Cameroonians in the task of realizing the
NEW CAMEROON and in the task of nation-building, it is the inheritor also
because:
·
It ushered Cameroon into the third phase of the
Kamerunian struggle.
·
It embodies the true goals of the struggle.
·
And it is the successor of the UPC in the
pursuit of a cause that must be realized for the salvation of Cameroon, a cause
that is compatible with the changing times.
It is true the defeat of the struggling
masses and Cameroonian union-nationalists—the UPC and its affiliates the KNDP
and OK—in the second phase of the struggle by Franco-Ahidjo forces resulted in
the deaths of more than half a million Cameroonians (the first French
collaboration and participation in a genocide in Africa) and transformed the
reunited Cameroon into a one party dictatorship with a centralized system of
government. However, the worst part of that defeat was the political lethargy
that ensued, a lethargy that led Cameroonians to almost lose faith in the
cause, their country and themselves. But after witnessing the destructive
effects of two French-installed oligarchic regimes, the majority of patriotic
Cameroonians got jolted, a process that awoken their pride, aspirations,
democratic instincts and desire for the NEW CAMEROON. This time around, the SDF
became the embodiment of the Cameroonian ideal, the vehicle to carry
Cameroonians to that New Cameroon.
In accordance with Law No 67/LF/19 of June 12, 1967, and the
constitution of Cameroon which made it legal (but not practical) to form and
operate more than one political party in the country, the conceived Social
Democratic Front (SDF) through its founding fathers led by John Fru Ndi, headed
a delegation to the administrative heads in Bamenda, the provincial capital of
the Northwest Province and capital of Mezam Division. On that day, March 16,
1990, the documents qualifying the SDF as a legal entity to operate as a
political party, were handed over to the administration. This was the first
major step in bringing multi-party politics to Cameroon. In accordance with the
law, a political party or social organization could consider itself legal if it
received no word or reply from the administration after three months of
submitting its application for authorization to operate political entity.
Since the SDF made it a point to be an embodiment of legality,
the leadership of the mushrooming party agreed to launch it and usher in the
third phase of the Kamerunian struggle. May 26, 1990 was chosen as the day.
Bamenda was chosen as the venue.
THE DIFFICULT ROAD TO CHANGE
Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest Province
was clouded with high states and emotions after it woke up that Saturday, May
26, 1990, in anticipation of the launch of the Social Democratic Front (SDF).
Even though the resurgence of the Kamerunian struggle (now in its third phase)
was menaced by the threatening military presence in the Province, boosted by
reinforcement from the West, Southwest and Littoral provincial garrisons; even
though the fates of detained pro-democracy/pro-multiparty politics advocates
like Albert Mukong, Black Yondo and Anicet Ekani still hung in the air; even
though the murder in broad daylight of a pro-democracy lawyer in Bafoussam was
still fresh in the minds of the people, the Bamenda population stood resolute
that morning in its determination to usher in the rebirth of multiparty
democracy (political pluralism), as the first step to realize the
socio-economic and political aspirations of the struggling Kamerunian masses,
who had been held hostage for close to a century.
In Bamenda, as elsewhere, in other freedom loving towns and
villages across the national territory, the struggling masses did not wish for
a confrontation with the military and its French-backed regime. The
peace-loving Cameroonian people never imagined in their wildest dreams that May
26th would be a bloody day in the country’s history and that it
would come to bear so much historical significance in the Kamerunian struggle
to realize the Kamerunian Ideals and found THE NEW CAMEROON. But the launching
of the party in Bamenda by the SDF president (chairman) John Fru Ndi was
baptized by the trigger-happy security forces who opened fire on the armless
euphoric populace, leaving six advocates of change dead and hundreds wounded.
The brutality of the Special Forces that day revealed the monstrosity and
reactionary attitude of the Biya regime for those who did not want to believe
that the regime was a child of the Ahidjo regime and a continuation of the
French-imposed system meant to control Cameroon and prevent its
union-nationalists from ever coming to power. The launch was celebrated in the
petroleum city of Limbe (formerly Victoria) led by Dr. Samuel Fabu Tchwenko, in
Bafoussam led by Dr. Mobi and in the capital Yaoundé led by Dr. Siga Asanga.
Stunned and awed, Cameroonians and the rest of the world
watched and listened to the Biya regime as it contradicted and repeatedly
contradicted itself with one lie after another, centered on the theme that the
country’s security forces did not fire on the population, that the deaths were
caused by stampeding, and that those who died were Nigerians by origin who
gathered in Bamenda that day to witness the launch of the SDF. With government
in control of the media (print, audio and TV), the Biya regime and the
French-imposed system as a whole still failed to sell those lies to
Cameroonians and to the rest of the world. After all, the bullet wounds on
hundreds of Cameroonians were there for all to see, and the dead were
identified as Cameroonians with ethnic origins from three of the country’s ten Provinces.
Even so, what was particularly obvious was the fact that this
system, which is made up of those who never advocated for independence and
reunification, this system which is made up of anti-union-nationalists with a
majority Francophile bent, was so overtly discriminatory that they had the temerity
to call progressive-minded citizens of Cameroon of English-speaking expression
“Nigerians”, simply because these patriotic citizens had the audacity to be the
first among the majority of Cameroonians in overtly opposing the status quo—the
political mafia in place under the French-imposed system led by the Biya
regime.
During the immediate months after the launch of the SDF, the
Cameroonian people and the rest of the world witnessed the ruling party—Cameroon
Peoples’ Democratic Movement (CPDM), the government, the Biya regime and the
system in general bickering over the Bamenda massacre and wrangling over the
issue of whether to accept multi-party politics in Cameroon or not. Upon
realizing that multi-party politics was an unavoidable prospect in Cameroon,
especially with the mounting pressure at home and from abroad, and especially
with the impact Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika was having on the
African continent, the Biya regime and its French masters finally budged and
accepted the legality of multi-party politics and democracy in Cameroon.
Nevertheless, the system(The Biya regime and its French masters) were bent on
circumventing the developments. One way of doing that was by encouraging the
proliferation of political parties, so that by November 1990, the system had
legalized twenty one(21) political parties. The vast majority of these parties
had the government’s blessings with the intention to use them to thwart the
democratic drive.
The Social Democratic Front’s (SDF’s) consciousness of its new
role in the third phase of the Kamerunian struggle and its grasp of the
evolving political dispensation in the country, helped it to quickly become
aware of the confusion in the minds of the populace over the unexpected
political trend. So, in a bid to harness the democratic drive, it master-minded
the formation of the Coordination of Opposition Parties (COP), bringing
together those newly formed opposition parties that indicated they were against
the Biya government. The major objectives of the Coordination of Opposition
parties were:
·
To coordinate the activities of the of the new
opposition forces to win power from the Biya regime in free and fair elections.
·
To build a framework for the working of a new and
democratic Cameroon.
·
And to prepare or assist the populace so that
they could stand up to the demanding task of founding and building the New
Cameroon.
The SDF chairman (president) John Fru
Ndi accepted the post of Vice president of the Coordination of Opposition
Parties, while the president of National Union of Democracy and Progress—NUDP,
the veteran politician and ex-minister Samuel Eboua became the president of the
Coordination.
The first major demand the Coordination made to the Biya regime
and the French-imposed system was for the convening of a Sovereign National
Conference (SNC) as a forum to discuss and seek the basis around which the
country could move forward in addressing the socio-economic and political
problems prevailing in the country as a result of;
·
The premature execution of its political leaders
in 1914 by the German colonial army and the resultant partition of pre-1911
German Kamerun,
·
The makeshift independence granted to French
Cameroun on January 01,1960 to those who never fought or campaigned for the
reunification and independence of French Cameroon and British Cameroons.
·
A
manipulated reunification process in British Cameroons that led to the loss of
British Northern Cameroons to Nigeria, the reunification of British Southern
Cameroons and the former French Cameroon (The Republic of Cameroun) under
French puppet Ahmadou Ahidjo and its dictatorial French-imposed system designed
to serve the interest of the Elysee Palace in Paris.
·
An outdated French-imposed system under the
grand FrancAfrique scheme,
·
The destructive effects of two unelected
oligarchic regimes(of Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya) against the wishes of the
vast majority of Cameroonians,
·
And the stifling dominance of Cameroonian
affairs (internal and external) through the bad-faith policies of sectors of
the French-establishment (FrancAfrique).
In the SDF’s bid to take stock of its
ballooning influence and great strength; in its bid to give the party more
purpose; and in its effort to gauge the progress the party had made since its
creation, the party convened a constituent assemble in Bamenda in February
1991. It ended among other things with a decision to:
·
Amend the SDF constitution,
·
Retain the name of the party as the Social
Democratic Front,
·
Make Bamenda the headquarters of the party,
·
Make the emblem of the party to be a scale
placed on a ballot box, with a green tropical landscape as its background.
·
Adopt “Democracy, Justice and Development” as
the motto of the party.
The SDF Constituent Assemble not only
gave the party a broader purpose, it reaffirmed its sense of direction through
the following carefully and clearly articulated objectives:
1.
The SDF pledged to mobilize, rally and galvanize
Cameroonians into a united political force for the purpose of establishing a
just, free and democratic society where:
·
The elderly, the disabled, the retired and the
unemployed can live in dignity and security.
·
All workers and students are guaranteed the
right to form unions with the view to collectively bargain for decent working
and studying conditions, and for decent wages.
·
Tax laws are based on the ability to pay.
·
No one, especially a Cameroonian citizen, is
denied the opportunity for a better and decent life.
·
Sound education, proper nutrition, quality
medical care, affordable housing and nationwide communication facilities are
open to every citizen.
·
The people can find jobs.
·
All forms of oppression and repression are
suppressed or made illegal with the view of promoting economic, social,
cultural and linguistic development of the fatherland, the rule of law and the
preservation of all the fundamental freedoms, rights and liberties of the
citizens.
2.
The party also pledged to pursue a policy to;
·
Win power through elections,
·
Make a good government,
·
Build and protect the nation,
·
Encourage commerce,
·
Promote equality,
·
Advance science and industry,
·
Support the Arts and Humanities,
·
Develop and conserve our human and natural
resources,
·
Protect our environment
·
Relieve poverty.
3.
The SDF went further in its commitment to a
liberal democracy by pledging to promote international peace and cooperation in
accordance with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and United Nations
Organization (UNO) charters.
4.
As the national party that is conscious of
veiled Anglophobism by the Biya regime and the system in general, and which is
aware of Francophobism in certain segments of the population of
English-speaking Cameroon, the SDF also pledged to ardently protect and promote
Kamerun’s bilingual character.
To achieve the above stated objectives,
the SDF adopted Social Democracy as its political ideology and Participatory
Government (Participatory Democracy) as its guiding policy.
The February 1991 constituent assembly meeting ended as a
success story. Its achievements set the SDF apart and put them ahead of other
political parties in Cameroon, heralding a new thinking in the all-encompassing
effort to found the New Cameroon, a vision that set a precedence that many
other new political parties in Africa appreciated and tried to emulate.
Unfortunately, the status quo (the Biya regime and the system in general) did
not welcome the SDF’s increased worth and noble intentions for Cameroon,
Cameroonians and Africa.
June 01, 1996
THE SDF (SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT): ROLE AND PATH OF THE PARTY IN THE THIRD PHASE OF THE QUEST FOR CHANGE IN CAMEROON... by Janvier Tchouteu-Chando and Janvier Chando (Sep 26, 2013) - Kindle eBook
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