Mr. Grégoire OWONA,
I have read the text you published yesterday on your Facebook page. It aims to be a response to the position expressed by Maurice KAMTO regarding the recent presidential election in Cameroon.
I allowed myself one preliminary question. Why have you, Mr. OWONA, not reacted until now, while public opinion has been demanding the truth of the ballot box? Other well-known political figures have already spoken on the matter. Several presidential candidates have demanded respect for the truth of the ballot box. For several days, you remained silent. It took Professor Maurice KAMTO speaking on the subject for you to react on the very same day.
The most important idea in your text is undoubtedly the correlation you try to make between the events in Dschang and Professor Maurice KAMTO’s village. The localities of Dschang and Baham are not as close as you imply. To get from the first to the second, one must leave the Menoua Department, cross the Mifi Department, then the Koung-Khi Department, and finally reach the Hauts-Plateaux Department and drive to Baham. By car, that would take over an hour and a half. Baham is indeed the native village of Professor Maurice KAMTO and his ancestors. His father and mother are buried there.
You speak of Maurice KAMTO who is from distant Baham, but you forget a closer personality, the Vice Prime Minister, Jean NKUETE, your comrade from the RDPC, of which you are officially the deputy. His native village is in the PENKA Michel Subdivision, just minutes from Dschang, within the same Menoua Department.
From now on, Cameroonian citizens in Douala, Garoua, or other localities who contested the presidential election results in their own way should know that Mr. OWONA, our Minister of Labor and Social Security, will certainly find a link between them and Maurice KAMTO.
Political leaders should foster harmony among citizens, build bridges, not break them. In this specific case, it must be observed that Professor Maurice KAMTO was not a candidate in this election.
Mr. OWONA, in your text you ask Maurice KAMTO to be pedagogical. Cameroonians have seen that he has been just that for years, long before your request. He has been decisive in awakening the political and patriotic consciousness of Cameroonians. For the last presidential election, he initiated several procedures before the Constitutional Council, the ELECAM Electoral Council, and the administrative courts. As National President of the MRC, Maurice KAMTO petitioned the Constitutional Council to ensure that ELECAM respected the provisions of Article 80 of the Electoral Code.
You claim that Cameroonians would have understood Maurice KAMTO’s approach. Which Cameroonians are you talking about?
After reading your text, I realized you missed an opportunity to remain silent. You should never have emerged from the RDPC’s post-electoral process that has been absorbing you since October 12th. I saw a photo of you sitting in what appeared to be your campaign headquarters.
Now, get back to work, and let’s see what comes out next week.