The erstwhile Secretary General of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Prof. Elizabeth Tamajong, has warned President Paul Biya not to be deceived by the pretentious calls of power mongers to seek re-election.
Prof. Tamajong sounded the note of warning in Yaounde on February 16, while reacting to President Biya’s Youth Day address. According to her, man is a political animal, reason why some CPDM militants want their Chairman to remain in office.
“I sincerely think that, no matter how ferocious the calls may be, if he knows, from the depth of his heart that he doesn’t have the physical strength to continue to rule Cameroon, then he should not give in.
“He is Paul, the Biblical conversion from Saul. I know he cares for Cameroon and for him to truly go down in history as somebody who brought democracy to Cameroon as he claims, he should think carefully because the calls for him to stand are from self-centred and ego-inflated individuals. It is not because they really want him there, for once he falls, there will be a deadly scramble. So, he should take a wise decision for the benefit of Cameroon,” Prof. Tamajong stated.
She said there are former world Presidents who are living in peace because they respected the Constitution of their countries, organised free, fair and transparent elections and left power.
The former SDF Scribe said such Heads of State still enjoy amenities and salaries offered by the State. “Goodluck Jonathan organised elections and left power as a hero. President Biya will forever be remembered and honoured, if he were to bow out today,” Prof. Tamajong stated.
The Director of the National Education Centre in the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, urged Biya to continue to work relentlessly for the remaining period of his manadate.
“He should not fall into the temptation of modifying the Constitution to precipitate elections. Instead, let him strengthen the democratic institutions; make ELECAM truly independent and credible and leave on a clean slate. The institution of a single ballot at elections, which the President is very much aware, should be part of the electoral reform. Let biometrics be from registration through voting to the declaration of results for the sake of transparency and peace as it obtains in other countries,” Tamajong further stated.
Meanwhile, in reaction to Biya’s 2016 Youth Day speech, Prof. Tamajong said the call to reform the education sector, agriculture and the new information and communication technology caught her attention. According to her, in the early 1960s, late Dr. John Ngu Foncha, repeatedly told young people that it is only the cultivation of the soil that will never fail them.
“Crops from the farm will provide food and income for your wellbeing,” she quoted Foncha. To her, if Biya had paid tribute to Foncha and the forefathers in his speech to the young people, it would have been a plus to him.
She said in the West Cameroon days, agriculture was part of the education policy, where all the schools were obliged to own gardens. “We were taught on how to make compost manure even in the primary school, make crafts of all sorts and the creation of the technical school in Ombe and agricultural and veterinary schools was to harness this.
But today, when homework is given in school, we the parents go to the market and buy the items for the children to take to school. All these kill initiative and the creative direction children could take in life. So, we must change our mindset and mentality.
“For farming to take roots, schools must be ready to include weekly farming practicals on their timetables and showcase their agricultural products during competitions. Children must be taught to understand that the richest people in the world today are those engaged in agriculture. They should not be falsely misled that farming is for the poor and dirty in society.
“The idea of green revolution started in former West Cameroon. So the President cannot be talking today without paying tribute to it and behaving as if nothing happened during the days of late Ahidjo and Foncha,” she held.
On how the FCFA 102 billion announced by the President could be better distributed to help young Cameroonians, Tamajong said it will be a failure if the resources are placed again in the hands of Yaounde bureaucrats.
She proposed that local Councils, which are close to the people and know the reality on the ground, should be given the opportunity to identify young people and groups that could deliver in the rural areas.
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