Did Biya Urge Fru Ndi To Become A Senator?

By Musa Isa

President Paul Biya and the opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF leader, Ni John Fru Ndi have met for the 5^th time within 2 years. This was last January 3, 2013 at the Unity Palace. Fru Ndi, whom Chronicle learnt, hurriedly left Bamenda for Yaounde to present New Year wishes to Biya, carried with him an agenda. With the announced staging of senate elections early this year, speculations have been that the 74 years old SDF boss, may just want to become a senator. Could this have been one of the issues which President Biya shared with him, when they hobnobbed?

Worthy to note, that Biya assured North West fons that he would ensure that some of them become senators. This was while he received them in December 2010 in Bamenda. By law, the Head of State appoints 30 senators, 3 from each region, while 70 are elected.

Fru Ndi and Biya hobnobbed for nearly 7 minutes at the Unity Palace. Jean Jacques Ekindi of Mouvement Progressive commentators hold, merely exploited Fru Ndi’s presence to score points. Yet, the fulcrum of the New Year wishes presentation fell on Biya in a chat with Fru Ndi.

It is believed that having been recently cordial with the regime, Biya urged Fru Ndi to become a senator. This, to thwart complaints from the SDF Chairman that as leading opposition party leader, he is supposed to be granted a status. This has been Fru Ndi’s outcry, which the CPDM hold that the privileges which Fru Ndi would have had are instead reaped by the SDF parliamentary group leader.

A presidential source, hinted Chronicle that Biya had since expressed need for Fru Ndi to become senator. It is believed that Fru Ndi too has been pampering Biya so that the conditions to get into senate should not be stiff as is being indicated.

With senate elections therefore signaled to hold before the municipal and legislative, there has been a nuance. Shortly after chatting with Biya, CRTV’s George Ewane quizzed Fru Ndi to know what actually they were discussing.

 

Full Text of Biya-Fru Ndi Discussion

George Ewane: You are here at the Unity Palace. We saw you talk with the President of the Republic for long. Can you share with us Cameroonians what are some of the things you discussed with the Head of State?

Fru Ndi: I told the Head of State that I have not been very happy with the couple of things happening in the country. That he wants to come up with senatorial elections now, which to me will not be very fair for the Cameroonian people because he would be conducting the senate elections on the council that was elected under ONEL.

ONEL condemned those elections that there were not free and fair/transparent. It is because of that, that ELECAM came in.

ELECAM has conducted just one election: the presidential. They should now continue and not to jump back and take an election exercise that was conducted by ONEL to have senatorial elections. It would not be representative; it would not be fair.