The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has announced December 6 for regional elections to hold in Cameroon, an election in which 90 councillors will be elected. This is the first regional elections to ever hold in the West African country, as a move towards decentralisation of power which has mostly been domiciled in francophone Cameroon. 

Issues to Consider for Cameroon

Since the unification of the two former territories- French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons––the francophones have held on to power and are now being resisted by the English-Speaking side, who would rather be independent. 

Protests from the English-speakers were met by a lethal response from the government, which included a shutdown of internet and a ban on travelling outside Cameroon. This led to a rebellion in 2017 where rebels began agitating for their own region, known as Ambazonia. 

Years of fighting between separatists and the government in the English-speaking provinces in Cameroon has resulted in over 3000 deaths. 

Recently, the Nigerian government extradited 47 Cameroonian anglophone separatists, who have been designated as terrorists and arrested by the Cameroonian government, a move which has been condemned by the UN.

For Jude Randze, a political activist, this is a matter of life and death and there will be no slowing down on the agitation for an independent state by the Anglophones in what he describes as a “systematic marginalization at the hands of the French government.”

Bottomline

A free, fair and peaceful election may still be a far dream for Cameroon where Paul Biya has been president for over 3 decades. M. Biya has, however, promised the two Anglophone regions (Northwest and Southwest) a special status which could help quell the unrest. Opposition leader and founder of the Social Democratic Front, John Fru Ndi, has said he will boycott the polls unless peace is restored in the regions.