God the Politician

15. Tribute To Machiavelli

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Tribute To Machiavelli icolo Machiavelli is a name that no politician is indifferent to. Even those who claim to be the most devout Christians would admit that to succeed in politics a certain degree of ruthlessness is necessary. Politics is about grabbing power and keeping it. When in his book The Prince Machiavelli says the ruler must be both a lion and a fox, we should do him the honour of taking him at his word. When a politician who appears to be living in opulence tells you that he is not running for Parliament to enrich himself, we believe him without reflecting that nobody ever has enough. If we agree that Parliament which is known in French as parlement is a derivation of two words parler (to speak) and mentir (to tell lies), then an MP needs more than mere words to prove that the people and not his personal aggrandizement are his raison d’être for entering Parliament. When a politician says his mission is to bring about change and poses as the Messiah, we take him for his word. Since the return of multiparty democracy to Cameroon, only one political party has changed its leadership: the Liberal Democratic Party became the Liberal Democratic Alliance. The same persons have remained at the helm of all the major parties, including even the SDF which claimed it was out for change and vowed that Biya should go. If power is that sweet to them who only pick crumbs that drop from the table of the incumbent, then we can imagine how delicious it is to he who is at the helm of the state controlling everything. The year 1998 saw the beginning of a concatenation of events that demonstrated how deeply rooted the spirit of Machiavelli was in the party. The first was a rebellion in the SDF, whereby Mahamat Souleymane, the party’s first national vice chairman announced that he was going to hold a convention in Yaoundé. The last convention of the party was held in 1996 in Buea and Souleymane thought the next one billed for Yaoundé was overdue. But the national vice chairman had other grievances with his party’s leadership. He took exception to the manner in which the party was run. To him, the leadership of the SDF would not be able to effect N 114 the change and democracy it preached if things continued the way they were. He also did not like the marginalization of Francophones in the SDF. The convention was first billed for 28 November to 1 December 1998 but was later moved to 18-20 December. When Fru Ndi learnt of the planned convention, an emergency NEC meeting was convened and Souleymane promptly dismissed from the party in conformity with Article 8.2 of the SDF Constitution. According to this article, any individual or group of individuals engaged in activities that threatened the existence, interest or welfare of the party was considered as having automatically excluded himself/themselves. The dismissal decision was so swift that mediators did not have the opportunity to intervene. Moise Njambe, President of SOS Dialogue, a self-proclaimed civil-society leader, arrived at Ntarinkon after the dismissal had already taken place and Souleymane was replaced by Seidou Maidadi from the same Far North Province, like Souleyman. This is a clear example of the divide-and-rule policy that is characteristic among Cameroonian politicians. Souleymane was, however, undeterred by the decision. He was still doggedly resolved to go ahead. Logically, the party should have educated its militants or discouraged them from attending Souleymane’s convention so that it would fail. But no. Souleymane had to be stopped at all costs. Fru Ndi’s argument and that of Maidadi, Mbah Ndam and other top party officials was that Souleymane was using the SDF logo and headed paper. The decision to stop him was announced during the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree at Ntarinkon on 17 December 1998. Addressing militants, friends and sympathizers, Fru Ndi announced that no convention would be allowed in Yaoundé in the name of the SDF. ‘Bring Soulemane alive or dead to Bamenda’ were Fru Ndi’s exact words. Maidadi was appointed commander of the mission dubbed Operation Storm Yaounde with a solemn promise by Fru Ndi that he would go down to Yaoundé if the necessity for reinforcements arose. That announcement brought the occasion to an abrupt end. While party fanatics rejoiced over the decision to stop insurgents from destroying...