The regime is adamant to change- Likiye

The Regional Chairman of the SDF for the South West, George Ngeke Likiye has said that though the party has tried hard to institute many institutional changes in Cameroon, the present regime has been very stubborn and adamant to change.

Likiye was speaking ahead of celebrations marking the 24^th anniversary of the party.

Amongst other issues raised in this interview, he said there is no tuning back and that the struggle must continue after 24 years.

It is a compelling read; He spoke to the Sun’s Managing Editor, Norbert Wasso Binde

Mr. Regional Chairman of the SDF, we want to thank you for always being available to answer our questions from The Sun Newspaper and Happy anniversary to your party the SDF. 24 years old, what assessment can you make of your party?

Thank you very much, it is a pleasure to be here and thank you for wishing us a happy anniversary. I think it’s been 24 years of ups and downs; however the ups are more than the downs. For 24 years, we have actually brought political change in Cameroon and up to this point, what we are saying is that there has been a lot of improvement politically, economically and of course, Cameroonians as well within this period have been able to speak out their political minds and to say exactly what they want to say, so I think it’s been 24 years of effective politicking, 24 years of penetrating through the stubborn regime that we have that has been very adamant to change; we’ve been able to persistently push the changes that Cameroonians actually need.

Don’t you get the feeling that there is a sense of resignation with your militants, may be they seem to be tired after 24 years; don’t you get that sense when you go about?

Actually I don’t get that sense and I differ with people who think that after 24 years people should be tired. It is a struggle and that is why the SDF still constitutes itself as a front. Indeed 24 years is a longtime, but not 24 years that has been wasted, it is 24 years of hard work and so we should not withdraw because we are very close to achieving our political goals. Nothing good comes easily, people have to work extremely hard for it and so we believe that for 24 years we have done some work, but there is still a lot that has to be done.

What are some of the things you have identified that still has to be done?

There is lot that still has to be done. We have not had a very good level playing field as far as elections are concerned. Cameroonians are actually looking forward to a system where elections have to be credible but up to this point, we regret to inform you that ELECAM is not independent. ELECAM still has a lot of work to do and it has not been empowered to function as a political monitoring body that is capable to organize elections because they are dependent on the CPDM regime. ELECAM does not have a budget of its own, it begs from the government and its structures are not properly rooted in the entire country; there are certain areas where the body does not exists and it lacks workers. Most of the workers especially during elections are civil servants! We think that if there has to be an earthquake of political change in this country, then, we look forward to seeing an independent body that has the capacity to organize, monitor and pronounce elections. This is actually the headache of this country.

Do you think your electoral misfortunes can only be tide down to the weaknesses of ELECAM, the field not being level etc? Don’t you see something not right within the party? The party itself is not well structured, the SDF is sometimes absent in many polling stations on election day; even during the period of making lists, they don’t come up with solid lists; internal strife, bickering and so on! Don’t you think all these have helped to weaken the SDF?

Well, these are normal activities within every big political party like the SDF, and like I said before, there is still a lot that has to be done. This lot also has to do with some internal arrangement within the party and that is what the party is embarking on at the national level, to ensure that we have credible people within all the structures of our leadership. We are in the process of reorganizing the party, beginning from the wards to the electoral districts, to the divisions and to the regions, and eventually this will culminate to the national executive committee which of course has to come in the next three years or so. I think that these are things that have to be put together. You know the SDF is a very big party and we lack adequate financial resources to mobilize the militants of the party in the entire country, so certainly there are some areas that the party is not well structured, but these are just very isolated and few cases. We think that in the next political consultation, all these will be addressed.

During the 18^th anniversary of the party, one of the things you said was that the SDF needs new leadership! Six years after, has the SDF had new leadership?

Yes definitely the SDF has had a new leadership from that time. We have had new people elected into the National Executive committee during our last convention that took place in Bamenda. Also, there has been new leadership in some electoral districts and other areas. However, we still need to put people in certain positions to make things happen. It is true that some people are tired, while others don’t have the economic resources to mobilize the people and some others find it difficult to move within some enclave terrain. We are in a process to ensure that leadership is changed in areas where it is considered slow, to ensure that we energies our people through constant meetings and telling them about the ideals and aspiration of our great party.

For the ordinary man on the street, the feeling is that the SDF is criticizing the CPDM regime that its national chairman has been there for very long and should change. Is it not the same argument that holds for the SDF?

Well I certainly don’t think that is the same argument which holds for the SDF. Mr. Biya has been in power for over 30 years and the SDF has been existing for 24 years. You see, the problem we have which people don’t want to see is that it is the SDF that is actually pushing the government to act on the wishes of the people and so we think that it doesn’t matter what people say. The SDF has occupied a very important political role in this country that has always been the watchdog of the regime. We can’t say that changes are not necessary; the SDF will change its leadership when the appropriate time comes. Cameroonians should still have faith in our leadership because it is a powerful leadership, one that has a lot of confidence and is able to point out to the government where the problem is.

Let us come to your region. Before the September 30 twin elections of 2013, am sure your victory list before the elections was very high, but after the elections the list is very much reduced. What specifically do you think the Southwest suffers, because the party seems to be in a bigger decline in the region! Do you share our assessment?

Not really, I strongly differ with you if you think that our party is in decline in the region. You will see that right now at least, the party has been able to make some improvements from the past. For instance in Fako division, previously we hadn’t even a single council, but right now, we managed to have the Tiko council and the results in Tiko were very good. In Limbe, we came close to winning but it did not go as we had expected and in other areas like Buea, we were sure to win but did not make it. The reasons why the SDF did not do so well especially in Fako division is because of the fact that the authorities that be actually did not want to see the SDF succeed in its political agenda. I mean the leadership in the region itself was making open statements that the SDF cannot come to leadership at a time when the Head of State was going to visit the Southwest region. They therefore did so many improper things to frustrate the SDF party during the elections. I would squarely tell you that the elections were bought; you know people were trading with the SDF ballot papers. The senior elites of the CPDM who are actually very worried about the SDF coming to leadership did everything possible to expand their financial might to ensure that votes were bought in various places. Cameroonians have to know that if the country has to change, the change can come from any angle of our political spectrum and not necessarily within the ruling party. It can come from other parties like the SDF because we are all Cameroonians and our aim being to develop our country. But what we saw during the election was that people were buying the SDF ballot papers everywhere, and it was especially worse in Buea, as people bought for up to FCFA5000 per SDF ballot paper when the voting had gone down to about 5pm!

But it was also with the complicity of some SDF officials and militants!

Well, if it were done in complicity with some of our militants, I will not blame you for saying so, but I think this is also the corruption we are talking about, for the person who proposes to give the money is the one who is corrupting the one who receives, because without the proposal, there will be no acceptance. What we are saying is that this group of people who are loaded with money snatched from the regime should stop doing this because they are not helping the political atmosphere of this country. We think that it is about time that the election body ELECAM carry out very important reforms in the nearest future which will ensure that whenever there is election, the winner is known as the winner, which in other words means that we are clamouring for a single ballot paper, which will frustrate all vote buyers as they will have nothing to buy anymore.

As a regional chairman, what are your plans in the weeks and months ahead to ignite the flame of your militants especially after the low spirit which resulted from the last twin elections?

Actually we have had a very good plan of what to do which is that we have to bring in new leadership in all the areas in the region where we did not win the elections, to make sure that we bring people who have plans to make us win in the future. We have started that in Limbe, because the district chairman resigned due to his inability to have led the party to success, which was quite positive on his part. Now we have put in place a caretaker team which has to mobilize the people to ensure that in six-months we have a new electoral district bureau here in Limbe, and same will happen in Buea, Muyuka, in the entire region and of course we will expand to Manyu division where the is need for us to actually penetrate the entire division to ensure that we have a leadership in the three strong electoral districts we have there. All in all, we are working towards bringing the party together again and to ensure much success in the next political confrontation.

Is your enthusiasm and verve still as strong as it was when you first became district chairman and or regional chairman? Is your commitment still strong? Have you not wavered?

No, my commitment is even stronger than before, because I know exactly where the problems are and those who constitute them. My strategy now is to see exactly how to solve these problems in the various areas where they are. You know political maturity comes with experience and that is what I have gathered.