Rutgers University-Newark

Democratic Rollback in Cameroon

Felix Njume
Intro to Comparative politics
20189:790:203:Q2
Professor Janice Gallagher
Monday November 14, 2018

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Over recent years, Cameroon has been involved in an immense crisis due to an abuse in its
democracy, and the decision of the country’s president to completely ignore the fact that there
is a crisis going on in the central African country. Why and how is democracy been rolled
backed in Cameroon? The body of my essay will analyze the reasons why I think Cameroon is
facing a severe rollback in democracy, and the areas in which this rollback is very evident. In
other words, I will state and explain the areas which are essential to Cameroon’s crisis. This
involves its leadership, system of government and its effects on social movement and positive
rights. The first part of this piece will explain the background and root cause of the crisis,
from colonization to an autocratic leadership. My conclusion will encompass a summary of my
introduction, overall suggestions and takeaways.

After the first world war, Cameroon was partitioned between the United Kingdom and France.
This accounts for why the people in Cameroon are either French or English speaking. A
referendum was coordinated by the British, giving English speaking(southern) Cameroonians
two options. To join as part of Nigeria or to unite with their French speaking compatriots.
Eventually few southern Cameroonians decided to merge with Nigeria, while majority of them
decided to unite with their French speaking brothers and sisters because they had known these
people all their lives. Things weren’t going very bad after that, until about the 1970s. During this
period the first president of Cameroon (late Ahmadou Ahidjo) began to openly favor his ethnic
people. He provided jobs only to French Muslims. Those who were very qualified and educated
weren’t given a chance because they were neither French nor Muslims. This favoritism lasted
up until 1982.

In 1982 Ahidjo fell sick and had to go for treatment in nearby Senegal. He temporarily
bestowed power onto Paul Biya, the prime minister at that time. In 1983, Paul Biya
made arrangements for an election to be conducted, wherein he was the sole candidate
thereby winning the presidential election automatically. While in power Paul Biya became very

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autocratic. There was only one party in place few years after his rise to power as president (the
CPDM) Cameroon’s people democratic movement. He refused to accept opposition parties up
until 1990. Even after the institution of political parties, Biya sort to prolong his stay in power
by manipulating election results.

Criticized by some for a supposedly "hands-off" style of rule, President Paul Biya in
March held a cabinet meeting for the first time in more than two years. Biya has been in
power since 1982, making him one of Africa's longest serving leaders. Under his rule, Cameroon
has survived an economic crisis and of course the previously mentioned one-party state to
multi-party politics.
But his rule has also been marked by endemic corruption and reversal of democratic gains,
leading to the abolition of term limits in 2008, which allowed him to run for re-election in 2011.

Biya is characterized as an aloof president. He rarely makes public appearances and

spends most of his time out of the country (mainly in Switzerland and France). His biggest
challenge faced ever, has been the issue of the Anglophone crisis. Under the constitution, Biya
has sweeping executive and legislative powers. He even has considerable authority over the
judiciary; the courts can only review a law's constitutionality at his request. The CPDM
continues to dominate the National Assembly, which does little more than approve his policies.

He is known for suppressing anyone who tries to oppose his policies or express basic freedom
of speech. In November 2010, Bertrand Teyou, a Cameroonian writer published a book
titled La belle de la république bananière: Chantal Biya, de la rue au palais (English: "The beauty
of the banana republic: Chantal Biya, from the streets to the palace"), tracing Chantal Biya's rise
from humble origins to become Paul Biya's First Lady. He was subsequently given a two-year
prison term on charges of "insult to character" and organizing an "illegal demonstration" for
attempting to hold a public reading. Cameroonians are afraid to speak about political related

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issues in public. Worse still calling out the actions of biya.

During the previously held presidential election on October 2018, Biya routinely saw his way
into the presidency. The SDF (opposition party) described the placement of polling booths in
military barracks and presidential palaces as unconstitutional. It asked the government to
explain how it will enable the huge numbers of displaced Cameroonians to vote. Meanwhile,
mass voter apathy – with only 7 out of a total 13 million voters registered to vote – suggest that
many citizens see the electoral process as illegitimate to begin with.

The original thought was that “If huge portions of the populace are unable to vote due to the
Anglophone unrest, the election may lose even more of its perceived validity. However, this
wasn’t the case as Biya went ahead to be sworn in as president despite wide claims that the
elections were rigged. It was also reported that he won over 90 percent of votes in the
Anglophone regions, having the courts back him by denying all 18 petitions that were presented
about the elections being fraudulent (Reuter, 2018)

In February 2014, French citizen Michel Thierry Atangana was released from a
“supposed” prison in Yaoundé (Cameroon’s capital), under Biya's orders. He had been
arbitrarily detained for 17 years under false claims of embezzlement because of supposed
closeness to presidential candidate Titus Edzoa. Considered a political prisoner and prisoner of
conscience by the United States Department of State, Amnesty International, Freedom House,
and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention since 2005, Michel was released under
Biya's personal decree but the Working Group's tripartite demands remain unfulfilled.
In 2016 Cameroonians in the nation’s capital city of Yaoundé criticized Biya’s reaction to the
country’s worst train crash in which 79 people died. Criticism included government officials
who remained anonymous, fearing a backlash.

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The Anglophone protests in late 2016 were led by English-speaking lawyers in protest against
the use of French in Cameroonian courts led to violent clashes with police. Opposition party
leader Edna Njilin of the Cameroon People’s Party spoke out against the enforced use of French
in the classroom. In January 2017, the government ordered a suspension of Internet services in
the Northwest and Southwest provinces. Criticism of the suspension and increased
opposition led to resumption of services in late April.

By June 2017, protests in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces and cities led to extreme
police brutality with 4 protesters killed and over 100 arrested. International criticism has been
levied on the United nations for their lack of response to the growing Cameroonian crisis.

In April 2017, a Cameroonian journalist working for Radio France Internationale, Ahmed Abba,
was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a military tribunal for failing to report acts of
terrorism. The judgement was severely criticized by human rights groups including Amnesty
International.

On 7 November 2018, another Cameroonian journalist, Mimi Mefo, was arrested after
reporting on social media that the Cameroonian military was behind the murder of an American
missionary in the country, Charles Trumann. In October of that year Mefo was charged with
"publishing and propagating information that infringes on the territorial integrity of the
Republic of Cameroon," but was released and charges were dropped on 12 November after her
arrest was condemned by both local and international media groups.

Over the years, English speaking Cameroonians have been pushed to the curb. According to (A
tale of two nations: Southern Cameroon vs La Republic du Cameroun) military prosecution of
unarmed English speaking Cameroonians has become normal. Attempts at dialoguing between
Biya’s administration and the separatists have failed. Hundreds of people are being held in

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prison, and many have been killed. Tens of thousands are now refugees and many more are
internally displaced.

Around late 2017, the lawyers of southern Cameroon chose to make their voice heard by
Protesting. Since the dissolution of the federal system of government, there has been a
dysfunction in the legal system in Cameroon. This is because common law was practiced in west
Cameroon while civil law in East Cameroon. The lawyers were unhappy with the fact that
Judges were trained in the civil law legal system, and sent to work in the Anglophone regions
which practiced common law. When the lawyers staged a peaceful protest walk, the
government sent the security forces to do what it does best: brutal suppression. At this point,
everything happening in the Anglophone regions have been given little to no attention (A
report on the current Anglophone crisis: the case of kumbo). Spending a good amount of my
teenage years in Cameroon, I can testify about how protest is being treated in Cameroon. It is
safe to say there is no right to free speech.

Around January 2017 when the Anglophone protests was still very fresh, people sort to pass
across their grievances through social media networks. With the help of Facebook, Instagram
and WhatsApp, Cameroonians in the diaspora were able to get in touch with their families and
also be informed about what was going on during that period. The images and videos that were
shared were very vital in justifying protests in Cameroonian embassies in the United Kingdom,
US, France, Canada, Germany and Belgium. When the government realized the effectiveness of
the media in passing across this information, it decided to shutdown internet access across the
entire Anglophone region of the country. With this shutdown lasting for close to 95 days (from
January to April)

The brutal suppression of protest by the arm forces has caused a good number of Anglophones
to flee. According to the United Nations, 160,000 English-speaking Cameroonians have left their

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homes to seek refuge in other areas of Cameroon or abroad, especially in Nigeria.

President Paul Biya has been silent for long in relation to the on-going unrest in the country's
English speaking region. His silence has made matters worse and it is about time he took
decisive measure to resolve that crisis if he wants history to remember him after his nearly 40
years in power.
The leadership of Cameroon and its system of government has played a vital role in
erasing every liitle hope of democracy in cameroon. Its effect on the right to free speech,
liberty and participation has affirmed the fact that cameroon just like many other African
nations is not a democratic country

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