Sept. 30 Twin Elections: Why the CPDM Did Not Win in Ndu

(NewsWatch Cameroon)-The Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM again crash-landed in Ndu during the September 30 twin polls. While the party militants in Nkambe central worked like bees in total unison to secure nectar, those of Ndu worked in dispersed ranks, making victory a farfetched dream. In spite of the improvement in the CPDM score in Ndu, the party lost the elections, thus compromising the victory obtained in Nkambe Central, since the two localities make up a joint constituency with two MPS.

In 2007, the CDPM scored 32% at the legislative elections in Ndu. At the September 30, 2013 elections, the party put up a better showing improving to 43%. Political observers are strongly of the opinion that the CPDM could have done better and might even have won in Ndu had there been the zeal to win and a concerted effort on the part of the militants.

Naomi Nfor

Some pundits argue forcefully that the stage was set for winning but was later torpedoed by some half and unworkable measures adopted by the party hierarchy in Ndu. It is being discussed in the open that the inappropriate choice of CPDM candidates and campaign team for Ndu is the main reason for the party’s waterloo in the September 30 polls.

At the legislative, it was widely believed that the candidate, Naomi Nfor, who was unfortunately brought in at the last minute did not have the charisma, popularity and political clout to call the shots and break the SDF hegemony in Ndu. Another factor that is believed to have contributed to the sanction votes in Ndu was the choice of Naomi Nfor by her uncle Hon. Kwalar who was remembered to have played a central role in the Ndu genocide.  

Prior to the election, popular CPDM loyalists like Alhadji Abdou Borno and Emmanuel Bongnjo Kwalar had done serious groundwork to secure victory for the CPDM party at the elections. However, with Ndu and Nkambe making up one constituency with two parliamentary seats, neither Emmanuel Bongnjo nor Abdou Borno could run for the legislative in Ndu given the gender quota imposed on political parties by Elections Cameroon. If this had to happen, then the male candidate for Nkambe who brought the CPDM victory in the subdivision would have been dropped in order for the CPDM list for the Donga Mantung Centre constituency to sail through the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon.

Although Naomi Nfor was considered an unpopular, political greenhorn, observers maintain she could still have emerged victorious had the CPDM campaign team in Ndu worked as a coherent unit.

Accusing fingers have been pointed at the Ndu CPDM campaign team leader for failing to instill a collaborative spirit amongst his associates in the buildup to the polls. These pundits say the CPDM campaign team was made up of elitist politicians who abandoned the campaigns to the parliamentary candidate and the list leader for the council. These elitist politicians also failed to contribute financially to support the campaigns. Some of them claimed they had contributed to the party either at the level of Yaounde or Bamenda and could not eke out another franc at the local level.

Alhadji Abdou Borno

At the municipal elections, a bogus list of snobby politicians was also invested as councilors for the Ndu council. These councilors, most of whom live and work out of Ndu reportedly stormed Ndu in posh cars and resided in classy hotels in Ndu town rather than going into the villages to woo supporters. They persistently showed their interest for the mayoral post and overlooked the fact that they had to first of all win the council for the CPDM. They were only seen around polling stations on Election Day. As the Holy Book says, ‘seek ye first the kingdom and all other things will be added unto thee’. These reckless CPDM militants did not understand this biblical statement as they went seeking for other things (Mayoral positions) and forgot that if they had worked for the party’s victory all other things would have come.

The miscalculation on the part of the invested politicians might have stemmed from the fact that all councils in the country shall henceforth manage huge government budgets to the tune of FCFA 1 billion annually. This might have been the reason why in another municipality, a Secretary General at the Presidency went home to be elected councilor in other to keep close watch over the management of this sum and avert embezzlement in the council. 

Meantime, as regards what happened in Ndu, some of the councilors reportedly went back to their places of work after the official launch of the campaigns and only came back to vote.

Emma Kwalar: If he was the candidate?

Moreover, some of those who were on the field are said to have spent their time carrying out in-house blackmail against the list leader and other candidates on the list. Rather than contributing financially for their party to win the council, most of the councilors allegedly gathered money to buy other councilors to vote for them as mayors when they would have won the council.

It is widely believed that it was because of the in-house fighting, blackmail, and the change of candidates at the last minute by the CPDM central committee that the electorate sanctioned the CPDM in Ndu.