The Majority of those who swelled the number of aspirants for the October 12 Presidential election to a total of 82, are arguably political hawks, rented jesters, spoilers and soapbox migratory egrets who show up only during presidential elections for narrow reasons.

The Post learnt that many of such presidential aspirants are somewhat mercenaries who have been hired to do the bidding of the conservatives against the mainstream opposition.

There are also those who are seeking notice from the establishment, hoping to strike a deal when the chips come down. Many others are people who believe that just running the presidential race is equal to adding more flesh to their CVs. Going by inside sources at the election management body, ELECAM, the files of many such aspirants are incomplete. For instance, one aspirant who submitted files of his candidacy on the ticket of Ecological Forces Movement for the Revival of the Economy, Bes Siping, did not present a receipt to prove that he has paid the sum FCFA 30 million to the state treasury as required by the law. He argues that he could not pay the sum of money into the treasury because the state owes him so much money. There are equally many who claimed that they were independent hopefuls but could not present the 300 signatures of personalities from the 10 regions of the country. According to section 121(b) of the Electoral Code, independent candidates must be put forward by at least 300 dignitaries hailing from the ten regions, with 30 signatures from each region. The provision states that persons who qualify to append such signatures shall be Members of Parliament or of Trades Chambers or Regional Councillors, Municipal Councillors or First-Class Chiefs. From every indication, such a condition is difficult to fulfil in the present dispensation, given that such personalities are predominantly pro-CPDM, who would not stake the candidate of their party for anyone else.

There are also aspirants who are challenging the hopefuls invested by their parties. That is the case with the ruling CPDM party. After officials of the party deposited the files of their aspirant, President Paul Biya, last week, Leon Theiller Onana retaliated by equally depositing his file at ELECAM as presidential hopeful for the same party. Both the UPC and MANIDEM parties are victims of this cacophony of “one party, two aspirants” as it were. Abduramman Baba and Ntimba Yamb all claim to be aspiring candidates for the UPC. Another faction of the UPC led by Hon. Robert Bapooh. Lippot is in an alliance with the ruling CPDM party. There was another candidate who did not fulfil the age criterion of being at least 35 years old as provided for by the law. He is only 26 years old. Another hopeful who hails from the Boyo Division of the Northwest Region triggered booing and jeering from critics when he declared that the main objective of his candidacy was to garner more than 10.000 votes for the incumbent President Paul Biya.

Despite the madding crowd, the mainstream aspirants who are expected to generate electrical fires in the election are just a few. They are: President Paul Biya, Prof. Maurice Kamto, Hon. Joshua Osih, Cabral Libii, Akere Muna, Hermine Patricia Ndam Njoya, Bello Bouba Maigari, Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Serge Espoir Matoumba. Even after giving the pride of place to these front liners, political analysts warn that nothing should be taken for granted because it is likely that some of the newcomers could spring surprises.

The candidacy that is causing acrimonious exchanges in public discourse is that of Prof. Maurice Kamto, who submitted his file on the ticket of MANIDEM party. The pro-establishment wave against Kamto’s candidacy is so strong that many observers have predicted, wrongly or rightly, that the regime would not allow the law Professor to run in the October 12 Presidential race. During a debate on Info TV recently, two pro-regime commentators, Prof Nguini Owona and Elimbi Lobe, swore that Prof. Kamto would not be allowed to run for the upcoming presidential election. Prof Nguini Owona even declared during an interview on STV that he will go into exile if Prof. Kamto ever becomes the President of Cameroon.

Prominent members of the regime like Gregoire Owona, Paul Atanga Nji and Jean De Dieu Momo have gone on an all-out campaign of vilification of Kamto’s candidacy in both the social and traditional media. That is why Kamto’s supporters are crying foul to the effect that there are subterranean moves to stop their candidate from running the Presidential race at all costs. As ELECAM settles to study the candidacy files after the July 21 deadline, there are speculations that a majority of the 82 files will be rejected. Section 126 of the Electoral Code provides that: “Within no less than 60 days to the date of the poll, the Electoral Board shall draw up and publish the list of candidates. It shall forthwith notify the Constitutional Council of such lists of candidates”. It is speculated that the weeks ahead will be very eventful as the Constitutional Council examines complaints on files that would have been either accepted or rejected by the ELECAM.

By Yerima Kini Nsom