The new appointment at Elecam will change nothing - Cameroon opposition

The appointment of 73 year old Abdoulaye Babale as Director-general of elections in Cameroon (Elecam), in place of Mohaman Sani Tanimou, has not gone down well with most of the politicians from the opposition.

For Célestin Djamen, member of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) which is the main opposition party, this change of the head of one of the organs of the structure in charge of elections in Cameroon is "non-eventful", especially as it will not change the fundamental problem of elections in Cameroon.

"I think it is important to remember that Mr Babale who replaced Mohaman Sani Tanimou is co-founder of the CPDM in 1985, he was vice-president of the Organizing Committee of the extraordinary Congress of the CPDM in 1995. He was a former member of the central Committee of the CPDM. I think that the fact that president Biya appointed him today to replace Mohaman Sani Tanimou changes nothing. Obviously, the issue is not to change men, it is important to know that the president of the Republic, in his usual habit, is trying to create a diversion. It is a non-absolute event.

The fact that we changed Paul for Jacques changes absolutely nothing on the fundamental problem. It is evident that we should clarify the competence of the president of the electoral Council and the Director of Elections Cameroon. This is the real issue because if we talk about alternation in Cameroon, it obviously passes by the electoral code and not documents that edify Elecam. We know perfectly well that changing the driver when a car is down cannot solve the problem," said the Councillor of Douala 1 over Radio Equinoxe.

Cyrille Sam Mbaka, Vice President of the democratic Union of Cameroon (UDC) is almost of the same opinion and he believes that the real problems about Elecam are different.

“We need a more powerful tool, an effective modern biometrics, we need new legislation so that there is no more overlap and we especially need a new electoral code,” he said.

In contrast to Célestin Djamen, who was more radical, the member of the party led by Adamou Ndam Njoya however, believe, that this appointment will help to resolve some internal problems at election Cameroon.

"What is certain is that there was an improvement because the Director General of Elections comes from the Council and you know that the electoral Council is made up of those who have taken an oath.”

You also know that there was a conflict between the two bodies. At the moment when the appointed DG comes from the Council, we think that internally, the problems will no longer arise,” he added.