Cameroon Clergy Ring Alarm Bells Over Election

By Rebecca Tinsley

On October 12^th, Cameroon voters will be asked to grant 92-year-old President Paul Biya his eighth term in office. Biya, who has not spoken in public since May, has been in power in the Central African nation since 1982. Increasingly vocal Catholic clergy in the Northern and Western parts of the country as well as in war-torn Anglophone regions have criticised the corruption and mismanagement of the nation’s economy, questioning the legitimacy of the forthcoming poll.

In a recent pastoral letter, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala described a “thirst for social justice,” human rights and development in the country. He highlighted the corruption of the elite, writing that Cameroon’s democracy was tainted by institutional violence, intimidation and a lack of transparency, truth and justice. The archbishop also condemned separatist militias that have brought misery to millions of Anglophones through violence, extortion and kidnappings. He equally cited the brutality of the military which, he wrote, “razes entire villages on the mere suspicion of support” for the separatists. Sources close to President Biya reportedly claimed the archbishop was being “partisan.”

Archbishop Kleda’s concerns were echoed by Bishop Paul Lontsie-Keune of Bafoussam, who described the heavy-handedness of security forces against civilians. In an interview with Crux, Lontsie-Keune expressed alarm at the rise of hate speech, misinformation and tribalism. “Injustice can never bring peace. Electoral fraud can never bring peace. Lawlessness can never bring peace. And fear can never bring peace,” he said.

The October election takes place against the backdrop of the Anglophone conflict, now in its eighth year. In 2017, citizens in the historically English-speaking regions of the North West and South West protested against the Francophone-dominated central government’s marginalisation of Anglophone English-speakers objected when the Yaounde authorities tried to impose the French legal and education systems, and then responded to peaceful protests with what impartial international rights groups described as disproportionate force.

Since then, some separatists took up arms and have become increasingly violent, preventing 800,000 children from attending school, extorting money from businesses and individuals, and imposing “ghost town” strikes with force. An estimated one million Anglophones out of a population of seven million have fled their homes and 6,500 have been killed. The President of the National Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, used the recent ordinary meeting of bishops to launch a plea for children to be allowed to return to school.  The Yaounde government has resisted international efforts to find a negotiated peace.

In the lead up to the October poll, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has expressed concern about the forthcoming election, saying, “A safe and enabling human rights environment is essential for peaceful, inclusive and credible elections. It regrettably appears that this is not the case in Cameroon.” Turk condemned the arrest of 53 peaceful opposition supporters in August in Yaounde. They were later released, but the most popular opposition candidate, Maurice Kamto from the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, has been banned from standing in the poll. Meanwhile, the opposition is too divided to agree on a single candidate to challenge Biya.

Cameroonian political scientist Christopher Fomunyoh who serves as Senior Associate for Africa at the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) -- a non profit organization that supports democracy and electoral processes around the world -- describes the Cameroon electoral context as hugely problematic and concerning. He further stated that “Cameroonian Catholic Bishops are stepping up in a cardinal role reminiscent of their counterparts in countries like Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We pray their voices are heard and amplified by civil society, professional associations, changemakers and the media so peaceful, transparent and credible elections can become a reality in this important African country.”   

Both the African Union and the European Union were approached for comment on why their organizations were not participating in election monitoring missions in Cameroon. Neither responded.