Senatorial Elections: Traditional rulers called to campaign for CPDM

The call was from Hon Cavaye Yegui Djibril, speaker of the National Assembly and honorary member of the National Council of Cameroon Traditional Rulers, NCCTR.

The traditional ruler of Maga in the Far North Region was speaking at the opening of the second executive meeting of the National Council of Cameroon Traditional Rulers in Yaounde on Saturday March 30, 2013.

Though recognizing that not all traditional rulers are militants of the ruling CPDM, Cavaye told the close to 100 traditional rulers who were present at the

The president General of the National Council of Cameroon Traditional Rulers, the Lamido of Garoua, Alim Garga Hayatou in his opening address stressed on the need for traditional rulers to be involved in nation building.

At the end of the meeting, NewsWatch caught up with HRH Fon Chafah the 11^th of Bangolan who is the Secretary General of the council, hear him:

NewsWatch: Why this meeting?

Fon Chafah: You know since we created our council, we’ve constantly had executive meetings but not a joint session with the council of eldest. So we decided that the executive meeting together with the council of eldest should meet today first of all to look at what we have done for the years past, look at our status and internal roles and regulations to see if there are some adjustments to make. And finally to come up with a working document, to see how an official status can be given to traditional rulers in Cameroon because we do not have one. When we look round in Nigeria, Ghana and other nations where traditional rulers are recognized and given their rightful places, we realize that in Cameroon, we are only there for ceremonies, used and dumped. We want to be officially recognized, we want the state to take its responsibilities towards us. We want a national headquarters in Yaoundé where we will have our hall known and we can meet and deliberate on our issues.

NewsWatch: The theme of your meeting is traditional rulers and ethics, why the choice?

Fon Chafah: Ethics because our society is diving into all sorts of decadence. Traditional rulers who should represent morality and everything for our society should not be indifferent. We think that our moral values are declining as days go by and traditional rulers owe a duty to their people to make sure that we preserve what is left of our values.

NewsWatch: Your meeting is holding at the threshold of senatorial elections. Are traditional rulers lobbying for an appointment of one them into the senate by the head of state?

Fon Chafah: Our national council is apolitical but it does not mean a traditional ruler cannot be a senator. If the head of state in his wisdom feels that traditional rulers can play a role in nation building, he will in his wisdom choose those he thinks he can choose. We are not putting pressure on any body what so ever. Traditional rulers are Cameroonians they have their civic rights and duties. So they can take part in the nation building in any form. But we have a national president who has the mandate of Cameroonians, to take decisions on behalf of everybody. What ever decisions our Head of State takes, traditional rulers are always there to support his actions.

By Ndi Eugene Ndi