One year to the Presidential elections,

At less than one year to the Presidential elections, the campaign calling on citizens ,especially the youths to register for the election is heating up.In fact it is so intense that even the American embassy is getting actively involved. Social media is now more than ever being flooded with posts calling on people to register on voters' lists and some even come in form of a challenge. The long standing question here is that of - does this clamour for people to register and vote mean there is a hope in the election changing things or do we just want to show the international community that we too care about civic duty? Do our votes really count or are we just voting for the right to complain?
Let's take a little trip down memory lane and look at elections in general in Cameroon. In the past, elections in Cameroon were organized and supervised by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization and of course as is the case with almost every arm of the Cameroonian government, there was a general dissatisfaction with the electoral process.
December 29, 2006, by presidential degree, law NO 2006/011 was signed by President Biya creating a ‘NEUTRAL’ body; Elections Cameroon(ELECAM) to organize, carry out, and supervise voting in elections and referendums in Cameroon. ELECAM however, like many other things/laws in Cameroon will only see the light of day in 2010, just one year to the 2011 presidential elections. In April 2017, again, the year before this year’s presidential elections, the president signed a decree replacing Samuel Fonkam Azu’u as the Chairman of the Electoral Board of ELECAM, a post now held by Enow Abrams Egbe.
Enow Abrams Egbe before his appointment into the Electoral Board last year, was Inspector General for Elections in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation since October 2012. The native of Upper-Bayang Sub-division, Manyu Division of the South West Region, has been Governor of the then South Province and later staged a come- back as Governor of Adamawa Region in 2010. He had also served as Senior Divisional Officer in some parts of the then North West Province.
ELECAM is supposedly a ‘NEUTRAL’ body , meaning it functions without the intervention of any arm of the government or at least that is what we have been told so it is rather ironical that its Chairman and 10 of it's board members are also members of the C.P.D.M's central committee and political bureau and they are all appointed by PRESIDENTIAL DECREE, alongside most of the members of this organization. Most of its top officials are also graduates of the infamous ENAM. It is hard for one not to argue against the neutrality of the body?
That aside, let’s explore the conditions that must be fulfilled for one to be allowed to run for president in Cameroon. On paper, the process looks to be very simple. If a candidate wished to run under the umbrella of a political party that is represented in the National Assembly, Senate or Regional Councils, they just need to pay a fee of 30million francs and be at least 35years of age. While those representing parties absent in the National Assembly, Senate or Regional Councils need to obtain 300 signatures from top personalities which can be parliamentarians, senators, regional councilors and traditional chiefs of 1st degree. They will need 30 signatures each from the 10 regions of the country and are also expected to pay the 30million Francs fee and be at least 35years of age.
With such conditions anyone who deems himself fit can run for the presidency, but ironically still, the candidate of the C.P.D.M has already served 6 mandates and seems quite ready to serve another one .Does this mean that there is no body who is popular enough to defeat him in elections, even though we hear cries of dissatisfaction day in day out concerning the way his government runs the country's affairs? It is now commonplace in debates on the issue to hear statements asserting that Biya is the only one capable of ruling Cameroon.
In the 2011 elections, Biya swooped a staggering 77.99% of the votes. So the other 22 candidates who stood against him couldn't get as much a 40% of the votes combined? Frankly this is simply unbelievably.
Election results like those of 2011 make me doubt greatly if electoral votes in this country truly reflect the minds of the masses. Further up, I spoke about the ELECAM administration being made up of mostly loyals of the C.P.D.M and all of them receiving their appointment from the Unity Palace, hence I wonder if anyone can bite the fingers that feed him,I mean who does that? It is therefore not a stretch to believe that such persons can only serve the interest of their employer, and any person reasonable enough will have to agree with me on this.
It is no doubt that many people see elections in Cameroon as a sheer waste of time because it is almost always already clear who the winner will be and hence the historical low voter turnout in elections.
How do we go about solving the problem?
A man I respect very much once told me that in order to make an impact in the elections ,it is not only important that we register massively and show up to vote but we also need to stay and protect our votes by getting involved in the counting of votes. The question now is HOW?
I will be turning 21 which is the voting age in Cameroon and I will really love to vote in a free and fair election that will reflect the mind of the masses.Is this hope of mine possible or is it just as far-fetched as Cameroon's 2035 emergence goal?
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