This is probably the classiest reaction since the announcement of Maurice Kamto’s resignation. The UDC does not shoot the ambulance. It shoots the system.
In a two-page statement made public on September 9, the national president of the Democratic Union of Cameroon, Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya, refuses to fall into the “easy commentary” that has been stirring Facebook for 24 hours.
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“This is not just an MRC matter”
For the UDC, the mistake would be to believe that this is an internal problem of the MRC. The party recalls that it has known, for more than 30 years, the price of commitment and that it sees today the same mechanism repeating: Parties “weakened” by “destitution,” the “carrot and stick theory,” leaders whose legitimacy is “constantly challenged,” militants under “pressure and intimidation.” The consequence is that political leaders spend more time defending their right to exist than defending their project for Cameroon.
“Champagne popped for underhanded moves”
The UDC denounces, without naming it, a climate where political victories are celebrated in “quiet lounges where champagne is popped to rejoice in trickery or illegal underhanded moves against democracy.” For the party, this conception of politics is dangerous. Because according to it, “a political party is not an enemy of the State. An opponent is not an enemy of the Republic.” On the contrary, “challenging a regime in place for decades that shows alarming signs of misgovernance is an act of bravery that means Loving Cameroon.”
Power’s correction
The most direct passage addresses the Yaoundé regime by presenting the meaning of what could express the height of power. According to Tomaino Ndam Njoya, the greatness of power is not measured by the silence of its opponents, but by its ability to accept their existence. And adds that the strength of a democratic state is not to have a weakened opposition, but to be able to face a strong opposition “without fearing democracy.”
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A message that contrasts with the reactions of Aimé Bonny or Denis Emilien Atangana who saw the resignation as a flight.
Finally, the UDC has a word for the two resigners. It expresses its “republican respect” to Maurice Kamto and Mamadou Mota, and launches to the MRC militants: “Do not let the difficulties of Cameroonian politics turn your commitment into resignation.” Recommends the mayor of Foumban and former national deputy.
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