The Cameroon News

October 29, 2011

Politics

Ekindi To Organise Protest On Biya’s Swearing In

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Progressive Movement President and candidate at the October 9 poll, Hon Jean Jacques Ekindi has said he will organise a sit-down protest next week against the election. The venue of the protest will be the premises of ‘Salle des Fetes’ at Akwa, Douala. He says the protest will take place as the swearing-in ceremony of President Paul Biya will be holding at the National Assembly in Yaounde.

Hon Ekindi, who spoke to The Post at his Douala residence on October 24, was speaking to a media organ for the first time since the proclamation of the election results on October 21.
He disclosed that he has already been receiving calls pressurising him to drop the planned protest, but vowed that nothing will stop him. The MP described as illegal the ban on public manifestations until after November 3 signed by Wouri Senior Divisional Officer.

He said while the CPDM militants will on that day be dancing, it will be the right of other citizens who disagree with the crooked way Biya got the landslide victory to protest against it. Ekindi said his invitation is addressed to all Cameroonians with a republican spirit. He insisted that the planned protest is not an affair of the Progressive Movement party but of all concerned Cameroonians.

As to why he has opted for a sit-down protest instead of a protest march, Ekindi said it is unfortunate that once an opposition party talks of a planned protest march, the CPDM and its satellite parties try to raise panic in public, by claiming that the march is meant to create violence and vandalism.

He wondered what type of claim they will try to make about the planned sitting, which will limit the protest only to the premises of the ‘Salle des Fetes’. Ekindi did not however give a clear response as to what he will do if the administration was to order the forces of law and order to seal the venue of the planned sit-down protest, or block him from leaving his home on that day.

The Yaounde Declaration

Meanwhile, Hon Ekindi admitted that the National Chairman of the SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, invited him to attend the meeting of some candidates, which held in Yaounde on October 15, and came up with what has become known as the Yaounde Declaration. Ekindi said he failed to attend due to the timing of the meeting.

He said having filed petitions at the Supreme Court, he thought the right thing for the opposition to do was to wait for the court to take decisions on the petitions, before holding such a meeting or planning any action. On whether he thought the Supreme Court would have ruled in favour of the opposition parties, Ekindi argued that the issue was not about having faith in the Supreme Court`s handling of election matters.

He said no party or candidate is under any obligation to file a petition after an election but that once a petition has been filed at the court, it is good to wait for the court`s decision before taking any other decision. Nevertheless, Ekindi said each of the presidential candidates who were invited to the Yaounde meeting had a right to attend or not.

Election Results Meant To Humiliate Me

Meanwhile, on his reaction to the official results of the October poll in which he occupied the 9th position with barely 21.593 votes, Ekindi insisted that the score did not reflect his true performance at the poll.

According to him, the score was a fake, just like the close to 78 percent which President Biya is said to have had. He said from the look of things, the election results were prepared well in advance, and simply distributed to the different candidates after the voting day.

He expressed the conviction that the powers-that-be wanted to humiliate him, by giving him fewer votes than what he actually obtained. Ekindi said that the party had polling agents in some stations and collaborators in others, across the country, and that the results on the tally sheets that were signed at the polling stations at the end of the vote counting exercise, gave him a fairly good result.

2012 Legislative, Municipal Elections

Meantime, Ekindi avoided commenting on the performances of the two Douala newcomers, Kah Walla and Barrister Momo, which has been considered impressive compared to his. He argued that it would be misleading for anybody to try to assess the political strength of any of the seven Douala based candidates from the official results.

This, because according to him, the election was not only heavily rigged by the CPDM, but that the powers-that-be also seemed to have targeted some particular opposition candidates for humiliation. He nonetheless said the elections which will show the real strength of the Douala based presidential candidates and their different parties will be the 2012 legislative and municipal elections.

Article source The Post