Imminent creation of Constitutional Council

Marcel Niat Ndifenji

Anxiety grips Niat, Cavaye as
Parliament elects bureau this week
Political analysts say President Biya has not been able to appoint members of the Constitutional Council because of the complex geo-strategic and political calculations involved in the power sharing process in Cameroon.
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde  
The presidents of the senate and National Assembly, Marcel Niat Ndifenji and Cavaye Yegieu Djibril respectively, should be having sleepless nights, as both houses of parliament vote members of their respective bureau this week. Parliament opened for the 1st ordinary session for 2015, on Thursday, 12 March 2015.
    The anxiety of the two high personalities can be expected because their reelection or not will determine the choice of a president for the Constitutional Council that should be created by President Biya any time soon.
    President Biya in his state-of-the-nation address on 31 December 2013 announced the imminent creation of the Constitutional Council as a means towards advancing the democratization process in the country.
    Political analysts say even though he made the announcement, President Biya has not found it easy appointing members of the very important and strategic institution because of the complex geo-political calculations involved in the process.
    Some analysts contend that the difficulty in naming the members of the constitutional council stem from the fact that President Biya is hesitant appointing a Francophone to head the institution especially because most, if not, all other sovereign institutions in the country are already headed by Francophones viz- President of the Republic, President of Senate, President of National Assembly, President of Economic and Social Council, President of Supreme Court etc etc.
    Of all the sovereign institutions in the country only the Prime Minister’s Office has an Anglophone at its head.
    That is why some political analysts are speculating that President Biya is not unaware of the fact that appointing another Francophone to head the Constitutional Council would be one too many; it will only deepen the frustration that Anglophones have been expressing and will give the separatist SCNC a stronger argument.

    However, given the very strategic role that the Constitutional Council will have to play in the socio-political and democratic future of Cameroon notably its role as umpire of all elections organized by ELECAM, some analysts still believe that Biya would not be comfortable having an Anglophone at its head. That is why some argue that President Biya may sacrifice either Niat or Cavaye and replace the one or the other with an Anglophone this, so that he creates space for the appointment of a Francophone to head the Constitutional Council.
    Recently when the Supreme Council of the Magistracy was being chaired by the President of the republic, some political watchers speculated that may be for once President Biya would send the octogenarian President of the Supreme Court, Alexis Dipanda Mouelle, on retirement and replace him with an Anglophone. But it turned out that Dipanda was actually put on retirement but was replaced not with an Anglophone but with yet another Francophone.
    Also, when recently the Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, dropped the names of some students that were admitted into the Institute of External Relations IRIC and replaced them with others, under the guise of an obnoxious policy of regional balance, many questioned why the policy only favours some regions notably the South, Centre, East, Grand North etc but not the two Anglophone regions.
    And this may explain why Anglophones have continued to complain of glaring discrimination and marginalization in appointments to top positions in a country that prides itself as an island of peace and unity in Africa.