The unnecessary euphoric anxiety
and interest raised by the opposition SDF
Parliamentarians in the minds of Cameroonians by tabling a bill in the National
Assembly pressing for a commission of inquiry to be formed in a bid to probe
former Minister of Transport who is present Minister of Communication Issa
Tchiroma Bakary flopped. The proposed bill which had as principal aim the
indictment of Issa Tchiroma on the embezzlement of the compensation of the
victims of the Boeing 737 crash in Douala
on December 3, 1995 has crumbled like a pack of very loose cards. The bill that
was declared admissible by the Chairmen’s Committee, giving the impression that
it was to go through, thus giving reason for the SDF party to start thumbing
their chests for causing another parliamentary earthquake has been thrown out
of parliament by the Committee on Resolutions and Petitions that voted 16
against 4 to reject the bill for lack of substance and supporting documents.
According to Nji Fidelis
Muh-Ziah, CPDM MP for Menchum North, Fungom, Questor and Member of Committee on
Resolutions and Petitions in the National Assembly, the SDF tabled bill was
thrown out principally on three grounds. He said parliament does not entertain
cases that are already being handled by the judiciary and even if Parliament
constitutes a Commission of Inquiry on a matter and the matter goes to the
judiciary, Parliament has to drop the matter. The plane crash issue he said had
already been to couts and parliament could not deliberate on such an issue.
Secondly, Nji Fidelis talking to the media after the SDF bill was rejected said
another thing that militated in favour of the rejection of the bill was the
fact that those who brought it to the Glass house acted on mere hearsay stories
propagated in a greater proportion by the local media and had no substantial
documents to prove the allegations. Hon Nji intimated that the tabled bill did
not have originals of supportive documents that could buttress the arguments raised
in the bill, thus parliament had to throw it out for lack of substantive
evidence. And that the third element was the fact that the allegations were
being propagated by a top government functionary who had served in several
positions in the administration and had decided to rebel against the system. To
him and most of his colleagues MPs, allegations from such a personality could
not be taken seriously by the National Assembly that works for the interest of
the population.
To the SDF, a Commission of Inquiry
was the right way to crucify Issa Tchiroma who the party considers is becoming
very popular in Cameroon
after the arrest of Marafa Hamidou Yaya. This was evidently so as the SDF has
thrown its weight behind one time SDF enemy Marafa Hamidou Yaya to the point of
constituting a legal team to defend him in court. The SDF is equally struggling
to reap political capital from Marafa through his nefarious activities of
letter writing from his prison cells. Throwing the bill out of the Glass house
meant the SDF and Marafa could not crucify Issa Tchiroma. The National Assembly
with a CPDM crushing majority could not discuss and cede to a proposal by the
opposition, especially as it was going to bring to disrepute a cabinet minister
who is serving the supreme interest of the regime.
Issa Tchiroma: Government
Defender And Not Sacrificial Lamb
The present Minister of
Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary doubles as Government Spokesperson. He is
the person charged with giving government position on burning issues or charged
with the defending of the regime against its detractors. Such defenders can in
not circumstances be transformed into sacrificial lambs for the interest of the
opposition. Although he was appointed as an opposition leader into the
government, his status as Government Spokesperson does not permit him to be
against government action. Since his appointment into government, Issa Tchiroma
has always stood firm behind the ideals of President Paul Biya and the Greater
Realisation programme. He has defended government on several grounds. This is
why Parliament could not sacrifice him by accepting the SDF tabled bill that
could put him into trouble and public ridicule if found wanting. A commission
of Inquiry would have required that he resigns as cabinet minister to give
ample latitude to the commission members to probe him and probably propose his
prosecution before the law. The CPDM Parliamentarians rejected the bill because
they could not allow the SDF to be judges of somebody who was serving the
interest of government.
No Credits To Marafa Hamidou
Yaya
The idea of tabling a bill for a
Commission of Inquiry to be formed by Parliament emanated from one of the open
letters of Marafa Hamidou Yaya that he has been writing since his arrest on
April 16, 2012. In one of the letters, he cited Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary
as one of the beneficiaries of underground methods that were used to settle the
compensation of victims of the plane crash that killed 71 people. Marafa in his
letter accused Issa Tchiroma who was Minister of Transport at the time of the
plane crash of haven received bribe from South African Airway authorities that
were supposed to compensate the victims. The SDF MPs picked up the story and it
is alleged that without having any documents to prove the allegations against
Tchiroma, hurriedly tabled a bill in parliament to indict him through a
Commission of Inquiry. If parliament granted the SDF request it would
have been giving credit to Marafa and thus to his letters that are variously
considered by the regime as attempts to divert public opinion on charges of
embezzlement that he is being accused of.
Equally granting the SDF wish by
forming a Commission of Inquiry would have been like given a gun to an enemy to
fire into your head. Legislative and Municipal Elections are forthcoming and
each party is struggling to weep political sentiments or use every occasion to
reap political capital. The SDF would have used the Commission of Inquiry to
their advantage, a thing the ruling CPDM party does not want. Also, the fact
that the SDF has constituted a legal team to defend Marafa Hamidou Yaya in
court against the regime is clear indication that the SDF wants to use Marafa
Hamidou Yaya to fight the regime, thus the regime has to protect those who are
doing everything like Issa Tchiroma to defend government.
However, it could be rightly
argued that the SDF only wanted to play to the gallery. Over the years the SDF
party has tabled numerous proposed bills that have hardly gone anywhere beyond
the level of acceptability. Even private member bills tabled have always been
rejected by the crushing CPDM majority for one reason or the other. Thus the
SDF was quite aware that the bill was not going to go anywhere and their aim of
crucifying Issa Tchiroma could not come to fruition, but they just wanted to
make some noise and raise the anxiety of the population. Bills tabled by
government go through easily since it is through voting. Equally government
hates to be dictated to by the opposition. If a Commission of Inquiry was
requested by government, it could go through parliament and not by the
opposition on a topic government does not want to be dictated to. The SDF
should change their tactics because Tchiroma cannot be crucified like Jesus
Christ who came to save mankind and instead lost his own life.
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