We are not in any hurry to accept membership application - CPDM

Former Balikumbat SDF district chairman in Ngoketunjia division, Lecigah Pius who applied for CPDM membership since November 2013 will have to wait until officials of the ruling party would have deliberated and okayed his admission into their ranks.

This was one of the major outcomes of the CPDM Ngoketunjia II (Balikumbat) statutory enlarged section executive meeting that held on August 3, 2014 under the chairmanship of the section president, Senator Dingha Ignatius Bayin.

Speaking during the meeting which saw the ‘surprised’ attendance of Lecigah Pius who ran for the September 2013 parliamentary elections in the Balikumbat special constituency on the SDF ticket but lost heavily to the CPDM candidate, Senator Dingha announced that he received an application from the former SDF district chairman in November 2013 to militate in the CPDM but quickly added: "Mr. Lecigah’s application is under consideration…we will announce his admission into the party when we deem it necessary…".

Even though the announcement at the August 3, 2014 meeting that Lecigah who resigned from the SDF had applied to now militate in the Balikumbat CPDM was greeted with a thunderous applause, Senator Dingha told The Guardian Post by phone yesterday that: "It is the section conference that will endorse his admission into the CPDM Ngoketunjia II section…".

He quoted Lecigah as saying he is joining the CPDM because he (Lecigah) is interested in development which according to the former Balikumbat SDF district chieftain can only come through the ruling CPDM party. Senator Dingha told The Guardian Post that Lecigah has already taken the firm commitment to respect the CPDM party texts and to work in collaboration with CPDM locals in Balikumbat to completely bury the SDF in the area. He added: "Dr. Lecigah was categorical that he is not joining the CPDM to get any posts but to work hard to merit whatever comes his way…".

It is worth mentioning that while announcing his resignation from the SDF after he lost the September 2013 parliamentary elections, Lecigah castigated the SDF hierarchy for abandoning campaigns for the polls to him alone. He had equally charged his former party officials for being too egoistic and taking little or no interest in issues affecting their grass roots militants.

Meanwhile those present at the August 3 meeting during which Lecigah’s application to join the CPDM was announced included among others: the DO for Balikumbat, Ngwa Martin, the commissioner for public security in Balikumbat subdivision, Kere Andrew, CPDM central committee member, Sama Margaret and the mayor of Balikumbat, Wasum Augustine Lehdogha.

Balikumbat CPDM party officials at the meeting were lectured on the restitution of the regional seminar that was organized by the central committee of the party in Bamenda on June 14, 2014; with inputs from the section president, Senator Dingha Ignatius who attended the Bamenda seminar.

Senator Dingha who many see not only as the bedrock of the Balikumbat CPDM but the main financier of CPDM party activities in the entire sub division lectured militants on mayors and party influence, the responsibilities of CPDM mayors and the security concerns of the nation.

All these against the backdrop of the decentralization of development projects to local collectivities and more especially considering the overwhelming majority of CPDM managed councils in Cameroon. Most importantly, Senator Dingha admonished participants at the meeting to be vigilant and to report cases of people they find in their vicinity whose identities and missions cannot be accessed.

In perspective, participants brainstormed on an elaborate joint section conference scheduled for Saturday September 13, 2014, ahead of the 6th November celebration of the accession to the supreme magistracy of President Paul Biya to power. The meeting was sanctioned by a motion of support to President Biya urging him to forge ahead with the security dispositions taken and his major accomplishment programs.

Party officials who spoke to The Guardian Post on the sidelines of the meeting hailed Senator Dingha for his financial contribution, peace-crusading missions and unmatched support-mobilisation without which the ruling party would not have won the September 30, 2013 council and parliamentary polls in Balikumbat.

"Our MP and mayor should ever remain thankful to Senator Dingha for working tirelessly to give them victory at the September 30, 2013 elections", a senior party official who pleaded for anonymity told The Guardian Post.