From: shemlon@occlusal.rutgers.edu (Shiyghan Shemlon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: CAMEROON: Mandat Prsidentiel et Partis Politiques
Summary: PROPOSALS FOR SOLVING THE CURRENT CRISIS
Date: 10 Jan 93 03:33:41 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1993Jan9.150228.2113@lut.ac.uk>, M.Titahmboh@lut.ac.uk (Mana TitahMboh) writes: 


I AM PERSONALLY DELIGHTED THAT THIS DISCUSSION HAS TAKEN THIS TURN,
WHERE CAMEROONIANS ARE NOW TRYING TO PROPOSE SOLUTIONS TO CAMEROON'S
PRESENT CRISIS. I WILL URGE THOSE WHO HAVE IDEAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO ALSO
DO THEIR BEST TO FORWARD THESE IDEAS TO PROMINENT CAMEROONIANS WHO ARE
LIKELY TO BE PART OF THE THINK TANK THAT WILL PRODUCE A FUTURE
SOLUTION. I ALSO URGE CAMEROONIANS WHO HAVE ACCESS TO THE NETWORK TO
SOLLICITE AND GET CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THOSE WHO MAY NOT HAVE A NETWORK
ACCESS. I PLEDGE TO FORWARD ALL PROPOSALS POSTED ON THIS NETWORK TO
ALL CAMEROONIAN GROUPS THAT ARE LIKELY TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION TO
OUR COUNTRY'S CRISIS. 

In article <1993Jan9.150228.2113@lut.ac.uk>, M.Titahmboh@lut.ac.uk
(Mana TitahMboh) writes
> In article <1993Jan8.164229.1@gallua.gallaudet.edu>,
> pcs_mbei@gallua.gallaudet.edu writes:
> |> Dans un effort d'apporter ma trhs modeste contribution ` la situation
> |> politique
> |> du Cameroun, j'aimerais faire deux modestes propositions. En effet, la vie
> .......
> ....... [Stuff Deleted]
> .......
> |> S'agissant du mandat prisidentiel, ma modeste suggestion voudrait qu'aprhs
> |> la
> |> rivision de la constitution, il ne soit permit au Prisident de la
> ripublique
> |> qu'un maximum de 2 ` 3 mandats. C'est-`-dire, si la durie du mandat est
> |> fixi ` 5 ans, la seule personne ne purrait gouverner que 10 ans. Ainsi `
> |> la fin du second mandat, le Prisident sortant ne pourrait plus se
> |> reprisenter
> |> aux ilections pour un troisihme mandat. Je trouve extrjmement insultant,
> |> arrogant, que le mjme individu gouverne des millions d'bmes, comme si Dieu
> |> n'avait pas doti les autres des mjmes aptitudes intellectuelles.
> 
> I agree with this in theory, but, convinient as that is for limitting
> personality cults, I think it would limit the peoples' choice in who
> they want 
> to run their country. Having said that, this idea might have avoided the 

I do not think this limits the people's choices. It hasn't done so in
the United States of America. I think what it does is, it limits the
develpoment of HUMAN GODS. The constitution should prevent a
single individual from holding office for more than 2 CONSECUTIVE
5-year mandates. This will prevent anyone  from spending their whole
life in office trying to devise mechanisms of how to stay in power.
Since former Presidents can stage a comeback, I don't see why anyone
cannot try to get back to the Presidential Palace after a 5 or 10 year
rest. If they did well during their term(s) in office they could still
get the people's vote. The rest period could also permit them to
reflect on some of their mistakes. Whatever the case no one should be
President  for more than 10 years consecutively. By the way in 10
years you make enough mistakes for anyone to want you back anyway.
So a comeback might be impossible but I don't regret it.
No leader is indispensible. Even the English could do without
Churchill after the War. 


> happenings after the recent election, but by itself it cannot solve all the
> problems. The key changes that need to be introduced alongside this one are 
> 
> 1) Accountability: This would ensure that we don't fall in the trap of having
> different leaders with just as corrupt/inept regimes.
> 
> 2) An Independent Judiciary: The judiciary should "run their own affairs"
> according to the laws of the land. In particular, if accountability
> exists, no 
> judge should view their appointment as a political favour and,
> therefore should 
> be able to concentrate on administering justice.
> 

These are very important points. I think this is the crux of our
problem. The gov't is not accountable to anyone because no one decides
whether they should be there or not. A system that spells
"accountability to the electorate or you are out is necessary". Many
accused Fru Ndi of declaring he had won before the Supreme Court
spoke. I can bet you, any of you including myself would have done same
in his shoes. He knew the courts were tightly controlled by Biya and
believed he was going to be robbed of his victory by a Supreme Court
that had to serve its Master, President Biya. The Judiciary must be
independent of the Executive in a sytem that prides itself of having
effective checks and balances. I don't think we can say that of the
present Cameroon system. The closest Cameroonians ever came to this
was in the West Cameroon administrations from 1955 to 1965. The French
Administrative System (even in France) brings the Judiciary too close
to the Executive for my liking. I think we should copy and adapt the
American (USA) guidelines for Executive-Judiciary relations.

In addition the Electoral Law should be changed. No one should be
elected as President with less than 40% of the popular vote as Biya
supposedly was. Even in a country with the Electoral College system
this never happens. There should have been a run off election for the
two top candidates if non of the candidates obtained 50+% votes. This
is what "a gov't by the people means". You cannot have more than 60%
of the Cameroonian public shouting "WE DON'T WANT BIYA" and you still go
ahead and install him, and then be surprised at the stalemate.

> There are several other reforms that could be introduced, notably making
> ministers answerable to parliament for their actions [in practice], and the
> latter more involved in the running of the country ... limit [or abolish]
> presidential decrees...
> 

This is very crucial. All Ministers, Secretaries of States,
Chairpersons of important State Corporations, Delegate Generals and
Ambassadors should be confirmed by parliament. Some of the
appointments I do agree are political, but someone must check to make
sure the competent people are given the job and that there is no
ethnic or regional over-biasing as is the case today.

I do not think Presidential decrees have a place in our Cameroon of
today. They should simply be abolished. You cannot govern a country by
decree. Benevolent despotism died in the 18th century.

> |>Par ailleurs, le Cameroun, comme la plupart des Etats africains, a plus de
> |> 50 groupes ethniques (50 est le minimum). Comme cela est le cas

230 POUR ETRE EXACTE MON FRERE.

> |> au Cameroun, les partis politiques ont tendances ` se former selon les
> |> affinitis tribales, ou tout au moins, regionales. Il n'est donc pas 
> |> surprenant qu'actuellement, on dinombre plus de 50 partis politiques au
> |> Cameroun. 50 partis politiques, pour un pays de 12 millions
> .......
> ....... [Stuff Deleted]
> .......
> |> du rest horreur. Afin donc de minimiser le facteur tribal, ou rigional,
> |> et de cultiver au Cameroun un vrai sentiment national, mon avis ` moi est 
> |> qu'il serait de temps de non seulement riviser la constitution nationale,
> |> mais aussi limiter (constitutionnellement) le nombre de partis politiques
> |> qui seraient authorisis ` exister. Peut-jtre 2,3,4,5 partis, cela
> ne ferait 
> |> aucun mal aux politiciens.
> 
> I don't actually see anything wrong with the formation of fifty or
> more parties 
> as long as they are "legal" according to the present rules. What
>worries me is 
> the ability of very small parties to find themselves in coalition government
> -effectively carpet-bagging tools for thie leaders - with the same
> regime they 
> so vehemently denounced. I hope that  this is a "teething problem"
> and that once 
> the man in the street is "enlightened" the proliferation of small
> parties will 
> .......
> ....... [Stuff Deleted]
> .......

I think we are in a process of political maturing here. In my opinion
you shouln't worry about the large number of political parties. All
political parties with an ethnic or regional base will soon realize
that they can never produce a President. Of the 50 political parties
in existence, only 6 (12%) were able to field candidates for the
October 1992 Presidential elections. Of this 6, Paul Biya's RDPC and
John Fru Ndi's SDF each recieved more than 35% of the vote (God alone
knows what the exact figures were), Bello Bouba Maigari's UNDP about
17%, Adamou Ndam Njoya's UDC about 5% and Jean Jacques Ekindi's MP and
the RFP candidate each got less than 1%. As you can see things sort
themselves out pretty well. The RDPC and SDF were the two most
nationally represented parties and their candidates did relatively
well nation wide (even if Biya's base was still considered to be The
Center, East and South Provinces and Fru Ndi's was the North-West,
Western, South-West and Littoral Provinces). Bello Bouba whose party
was predominantly Northen based lost for this reason. He didn't do
well enough in his Northen base. So ethnic affiliations led to Bello
Bouba's downfall and I will bet he learned his lesson. The other
parties except Adamou Ndam Njoya's were too small to even compete.
The UPC was too divided to present a candidate, even though I believe
it is a strong party. Eboa's party and other small parties rallied
behind Fru Ndi as the candidate for change.

From the above analysis you can see we shall end up with 3 or 4 strong
parties and may be 2 or 3 small parties to play the role of spoiler in
the formation of coalition governments incase no single strong party
gets the majority in Parliament (if we finally end up with Gov't
approved by parliament). I personally think this is politically
healthy and good for the country.

>
> |> > |> J'aimerais lire vos opinions ` ce propos.  
> |> > |> Poppi 
>
> Mana

I have the following proposals to add to the above.

1. THE EXECUTIVE: 
     The President and Vice--President should be elected
   on the same ticket according to the above terms  and the ticket
   must get 50+% of the popular vote to be elected. 
     Bilingualism should be one of the required qualifications of all 
   Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates until Cameroon
   reverts to a single African Language.
     All appointments should be confirmed by parliament as stated above
   and bilingualism should be a requirement. 
     The number of ministries should be curtailed to 1/3 the current
   number to control waste and duplication and should remain uncahngeable.
     The Executive Structure should be independent of political party
   structures. Some of our problems of today are because we cannot
   seperate the state Executive from the CPDM ruling party.

2. THE LEGISLATURE:
     It should be bicameral. A SENATE with 20 members (2 per province)
   to insure equitable powers for all provinces, and a House of
   Parliament of 200 members (1 Parliamentarian per ~60,000 people).
     This should be styled after the US, British and French Systems. These
   bodies should be independent of the Executive.
     Elections to the House should be by constituencies of ~60,000
   inhabitants.  Each constituency should elect its representative. The
   constituencies should not be limited to the current administrative
   boundaries within a province. The list system must be abolished.
     Senatorial elections should be province wide with no regional
   limitations for candidacy.
     The Senators and Parliamentarians should also be elected for a
   5-year term.

3. THE JUDICIARY:
     The current System should be revamped and made indepedent of the
   Executive. The Supreme Court should be made up of renowned Justices
   appointed  for a single 10-year term and confirmed by the
   Legislature. All members of the Judiciary system should also be
   independent of the manipulations of political parties.

4. DECENTRALIZATION:
     If the majority does not opt for a federal structure, I will
   propose the following decentralization of the existing structure.
   If the majority opts for Federalism I have a different  structure
   in mind .
     Provincial Governors should be elected not appointed. Divisional
   Officers, sud-Divisional Officers and District officers should also
   be elected not appointed. (Appointing a Bassa for example as "Prefet
   du Noun" doesn't sit well with me. It gives the impression to the
   local Noun villager for example that a foreigner is ruling them.
   Many may argue with this, but I am sorry it is just the basic truth.
   Refusing to acknowledge it leads us no where. Can you imagine
   appointing an Ewondo mayor of Douala? You will be lynched.) It
   should however be required of all these elected officials to be
   trained Administrators. 
     All non-National Services like Police, Regional Planning, Local
   Taxation, Primary Education, etc. etc., should be reverted to the
   provinces.
     Each province should have an Elected Provincial Congress (a mini
   provincial Parliament) and all essential provincial  services
   should be headed by Provincial Delegates.

5. CIVIL SERVICE:
     A civil service (a modification of the current Civil Service)
   should be established at State and Provincial Levels. This should
   be institutions that  are independent of all political parties, so that
   any Cameroonian can be a career civil servant without singing the
   praise of the powers that be as is the case today. As they say
   Presidents come and go but the state remains. A strong and well
   structured civil service with defined ministries, secretariats of
   state and provinvcial delegations will insure that this is the case.

PEACE TO ALL MY FELLOW COUNTRY MEN..


SHEMLON WO WAN WAN VIBAN
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african