The Social Democratic Front, SDF, which was launched on May 26, 1990 in Bamenda is 22 years old in the Cameroon political arena. As a political party, the SDF has had its own fair share of a checkered history of political upheavals within and without the party. After its launching in 1990, the SDF became a near religion, especially in the North West Region and beyond and nobody could defy its decisions. However, today the SDF is a mere shadow of itself, due to political blunders of the party and the inordinate ambition of the party’s national chairman to always be the flag bearer of the party in every political game. Yet rightly or wrongly the SDF is still tagged today as the frontline opposition party in Cameroon as it has always emerged second, though at times distant second with a paltry score to the ruling CPDM party in all the elections that the SDF had made up its mind to participate in.
The long awaited programmed and often postponed, and for unexplained reasons of the SDF’s 8th Ordinary National Convention finally held in the Bamenda Congress Hall from October 12-14, 2012. According to the statutes of the SDF party, a National Convention is a forum when and where the National Executive Committee, NEC, the decision making organ of the party is renewed through elections as well as conducting elections for the post of the National Chairman of the party. The convention then is considered the highest decision making organ of the SDF party. It is for this reason that the SDF National Convention is often considered as a turning point in the life of the party each time it is held. And the SDF does not toy with the idea of a convention, reason why any attempt by whatsoever disgruntled group within the party to hold a parallel convention has often met with brutal force from the SDF. The late Prof Ngwasiri, late Diboule and of course Souleymane Mahamat paid heavy prices in their attempts to defy the SDF in organizing parallel conventions.
John Fru Ndi, SDF National Chairman who preaches democracy but has always un-democratically or unorthodoxly forced himself to the helm of the party made it again during the 8th Ordinary National Convention of the party. It could not be otherwise given that Fru Ndi as usual had earlier on browbeat everybody to back out of the National chairmanship race, leaving him as the uncontested candidate. Although most SDF militants swallowed Fru Ndi’s decision, and that of the Investiture Committee that eliminated most potential candidates to various positions in the party on very flimsy excuses, they were unable to hide their surprise at the invitation John Fru Ndi unilaterally extended to Paul Biya, National Chairman of the ruling CPDM party to attend the SDF 8th National Convention. Fru Ndi who was out going National Chairman, it is argued by most militants had no mandate to issue such an invitation which has greatly exposed the SDF party as an ally of the ruling CPDM.
President Paul Biya’s party, the CPDM responded positively to Fru Ndi’s invitation by constituting a powerful delegation to take part in the SDF convention in Bamenda. In actual fact, Ahmadjoda Hadjoudji one of the Deputy Secretary Generals of the CPDM signed a communiqué on October 10, 2012 designating Gregoire Owona, Minister of Labour as head of a powerful delegation comprising Ibrahim Talba Malla, CPDM Organizing Secretary, Emma Lafon, Fru Jonathan and Moukan Nitcheu Jean Fabien to attend the SDF Ordinary National Convention. If Fru Ndi in extending the invitation to Biya thought he was to act cowardly like him who on several occasions has snubbed the invitations from the CPDM party, then he made a terrible mistake for the CPDM has proven that it is a party that respects other parties and is out to set a good example for the likes of Fru Ndi to copy.
The Billboard Of SDF National Conventions
The SDF was launched in Bamenda on May 26, 1990 with the lost of six lives that have been considered by genuine SDF militants as martyrs of political freedom in Cameroon . The party held its Constitutive Assembly on February 3, 1991 and elected its National Executive Committee. The SDF after establishing their first NEC refused to sign the Tripartite Declaration of November 1991, and later on boycotted the 1992 Parliamentary elections that were held in March. It is a universal truism that democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. Thus the real safeguard of democracy is education. In the early years of the SDF, the party was bereft of political education, reason it stumbled on the way. Paradoxically the SDF that boycotted the 1992 Parliamentary Elections announced at its May 1992 National Convention that it would take part in the Presidential Election of that year. Fru Ndi was unanimously selected as the SDF candidate and he scored about 36% of the vote against about 40% for incumbent President Paul Biya. The SDF cried foul of a stolen victory but remained at mere rhetorical cries. That was the beginning of the end of the SDF as Fru Ndi thereafter became bitter and concentrated on axing those who eyed his position instead of leading the party to national victories. And it has become second nature in the SDF that National Conventions are avenues for Fru Ndi to show how popular he is within the party and not how politically strong he is to lead Cameroonians to the ‘Promised Land’ that he promised them in the 90s. It is for this reason that the 8th National Convention of the SDF was low-keyed and considered mere routine as nothing extraordinary happened. The dreaded article 8.2 that Fru Ndi uses at will has drenched the party of people of substances and only his bootlickers are they to handclap him to prominence.
Fru Ndi’s Invitation To Biya Sparks Debate Within SDF
Albeit Einsten a renowned writer on politics once opined that, “An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.” This is invariably true in the case of Fru Ndi, who despite accumulating enormous wealth on the back of SDF militants and in the name of the SDF still remains apparently insatiable. Otherwise how can it be explained that Fru Ndi blows hot and cold at the same time? This is the same Fru Ndi who vowed that Biya would not visit Bamenda and ended up reaping heavily from the visit. This is the same Fru Ndi who has been coordinating the G7 only to turn around and invite the same person the G7 is out to combat. This is the same Fru Ndi who criticizes Biya for holding fast to power, yet would not cede power to anybody in his own party. This is the same Fru Ndi who criticizes Biya for appointing ministers yet appoints his friends and those who are ready to put cash on the table to positions in the SDF. Fru Ndi’s invitation of Paul Biya to the SDF Ordinary National Convention had no other agenda apart from begging for money. It is often said that one good turn deserves another. Fru Ndi refused to attend the 3rd Ordinary Congress of the CPDM, yet because of greed invited the CPDM to the SDF Congress because he knows full well in advance that the constituted CPDM delegation could not come to the SDF Ordinary Convention empty handed. However, Fru Ndi’s invitation to Biya sparked debate within the SDF as grass root militants questioned the rationale of such an invitation to a rival party that has been considered within SDF circles as the stumbling block on their forward match to grab political power in Cameroon . Fru Ndi during the rally at the Bamenda Municipal Stadium told militants that he invited Paul Biya because times have changed and the SDF needs to adapt to the changing political climate. His superfluous explanation did not convince militants as they murmured that their chairman had again eaten ‘soya’
Fru Ndi Joins Presidential Majority
Aristotle stated that politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness. This assertion holds true to Fru Ndi who has abandoned the ideology of the SDF and is seeking his personal aggrandizement since his handshake with Paul Biya in Bamenda during celebrations marking the 50th Anniversary of the Cameroon Armed Forces. It is on record that Fru Ndi before meeting Biya in Bamenda had boasted publicly in rallies that the day he meets Biya Cameroon will change. The unexpected did not happen when Fru Ndi met Biya in Bamenda. Instead of Cameroon changing as fru Ndi had promised, it was Fru Ndi who suddenly changed and became Biya’s best disciple and worshipper. This was especially so as unconfirmed sources from the Unity Palace adduced to the fact that Fru Ndi left the meeting with Biya with close to FCFA 30 million that he kept to himself at the chagrin of his delegation that met with Biya. Fru Ndi even shouted at NEC members that very day, arguing that even if he took money from Biya what was the problem with it, given that others had been taking. But before Biya could digest his meeting with his arch rival, the very arch rival, Fru Ndi immediately went to his farm and selected the best bulls from his cow herd and forwarded to Biya in the guise of preparation for New Year wishes. That same year Fru Ndi was seen with his son Benjamin Achu in the Unity Palace shaking Biya’s hand, while his closest collaborators that were supposed to be with him on such a visit watched helpless from television screens.
Fru Ndi equally ferried people to Ebolowa for the Agro-pastoral show to meet Biya and curry for favours. Since then Fru Ndi can aptly without any fear of contradiction be described as the frontline member of the Presidential Majority and no longer a leader of the opposition party. After the October 2011 Presidential Elections, it is alleged that Fru Ndi made surreptitious attempts to join government. Fru Ndi’s invitation to President Paul Biya to attend the SDF Convention has been interpreted variously by SDF militants as seeking for a platform to please Biya and negotiate his entry and that of his family members into the next government. This view evidently holds ground given that all anterior secret and open deals between the SDF and the CPDM were handled by Gregoire Owona who is attending the SDF Convention. It is even on record that Gregoire Owona once jokingly told Fru Ndi that he, Gregoire Owona will take one of Fru Ndi’s sons (Benjamin Achu Ndi) to the CPDM. It is coming to pass that not only Benjamin Fru Ndi might join the CPDM but his father too. After all Fru Ndi says the SDF is his ‘thing’ and he can use it to chop.
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