OPPOSITION CULTURE


BUILDING AN OPPOSITION CULTURE IN CAMEROON: THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT (SDF) PERSPECTIVE


The creation of an opposition culture has been a long and ardent struggle for many Cameroonian political parties. Among threats by the government of arrest on the crime of subversion, the challenge of creating a viable opposition that would be a catalyst to the elimination of the one-party system was 34 years in the making, all in the name of making Cameroon a truly democratic republic, writes the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Cameroon.


Hon. Joseph Mbah- Ndam, MP Mr Mbah-Ndam is the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Cameroon. As well as being a Barrister-at-Law, he is also National Legal Adviser to the Social Democratic Front, and a Member of the Pan African Parliament.


Hon. Joseph Mbah-Ndam, MP


Introduction The Social Democratic Front (SDF) from inception would not have faced the challenge of building an opposition culture in Cameroon if what happened in 1966 had not taken place. Before 1966 a multi- party democracy with a functional opposition was well established both in the French speaking and in the English Speaking Cameroons.1


French-speaking Cameroon Prior to 1966 and before reunification, multi-parties and the formation of civil society organizations flourished in French-speaking


8 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue Three - Cameroon


Cameroon. Between 1945 to 1957, the following political parties and pressure groups existed: “Resemblement Camerounais” (RACAM), a Branch of the French Socialist Party (RPF), “Block Démocratique Camerounais” (BDC) founded by Louis Paul Ajoulat who had been member of the French Party called “Movement Républicain Français” (MRP), The “Union des Populations du Cameroun” (UPC); “Evolution Sociale Cameronaise” (ESOCAM), “Union Bamilike” and “Renaissance Camerounaise”, formed to counter the UPC, “Cercle Culturel Camerounaise of Dr Beybey- Eyidi, “Union Sociale Camerounaise” (USC) of Charles Okala, “Movement Démocratic Camerounais”(MDC) of Andre Mbida, “Resemblement du Peuple Camerounais”( RDP). After 1957, with the growing popularity of the UPC platform, most of the political parties and pressure groups called for the independence of French Cameroon and reunification with British Cameroon. The most serious threat to


President Ahmadou Ahidjo’s regime came from the “Union des


Populations du Cameroun” (UPC), particularly its exiled faction. Ahidjo’s political base was still very narrow in 1960 and his Union Camerounaise (UC) Party had only 31 of the 70 seats in the East Cameroon House of Assembly following the elections held in December 1956.2


Before the


legislative elections of 1960 were held, a new political group, the “Forces Vives de l’opposition” was formed. It embodied the leaders of most of the southern political parties except the exiled wing of the UPC. President Ahidjo exploited the


rift between the exiled faction of the UPC, which called for a boycott of the elections and legalized the other faction that preached participation. During the UC congress held in Maroua in September 1960, Ahidjo called for the creation of what he termed a “great national Party”. His aim was to plant the UC in the southern part of Cameroon by calling on the other political parties as allies. The first Party to accept Ahidjo’s call was the “Movement d’Action National Camerounaise” (MANC) of Charles Assalé and Soppo Priso that declared its allegiance to the UC in


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