Elecam:

New DG of Elections pledges collaboration
Hon. Abdoulaye Babale was commissioned into his new functions by the President of the Electoral Board, Dr. Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, on Friday 24 July 2015.
By Mercy Neba in Yaounde

Hon. Abdoulaye Babale

The new Director General of elections has been told to ensure collaboration with the Electoral Board and reinstate serenity in the body charged with organizing and managing elections and referendums in the country.
    Abdoulaye Babale was prescribed these as he was being commissioned into his new functions by the President of the Electoral Board of Elecam, Dr. Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, at the Yaounde Mont Febe Hotel, on Friday 24 July 2015.   
    Speaking to the press after the brief installation ceremony, Dr Fonkam said that the two organs of Elecam – the Electoral Board and the Directorate General of Elections DGE are supposed to be complementary and not compete with each other as has been the case in the past.
    Expressing satisfaction with the Presidential Decree of 21 July 2015 appointing the new DG of elections, Dr. Fonkam said “Cameroon is a state of law and the Head of state president Paul Biya has put an end to the crisis that has been rocking Elecam for some time now.”

    “What came out to the public did not emanate from the electoral board, it so happened because some people wanted to make it public.     The crisis emerged from the implementation of the law governing Elecam. Elecam is the institution in charge of organising elections and there was need for corporation between its two organs, but unfortunately, this was not the case. It was therefore necessary to make this change for the institution to function well,” Fonkam Azu’u said, noting that president Biya’s choice of Abdoulaye Babale as the new DGE was ideal, as Hon. Babale has been a member of the Electoral board and knows how     and why the crisis unfolded.
“We hope that the new DGE will bring harmony and cooperation between the two structures of Elecam,” Dr. Fonkam said. 
    Taking up his functions, Abdoulaye Babale pledged to abide by the prescriptions of the Electoral Board President. He said the decision of the Head of state will help bring back serenity to Elecam especially as he will ensure strict respect for the laws and regulations enshrined in the electoral code.
    Abdoulaye Babale was born in Maroua, Far North region in 1946. He did his university education in France from 1968-1975 and ended up with a Doctorat de troisieme cycle in Telecommunications Administration. He also earned a post-graduate diploma in public law.
    Upon return to the country he held several senior positions in the ministry of post and telecommunications. He later became successively the Minister of Housing and Town Planning (1983-1986), Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research (1986-1988), and Minister of Higher Education, Information Technology and Scientific Research (1988-1990).
    He was also member of the Board of Directors and member of the Monetary Commission of the Bank of Central African States, BEAC.   
    Apart from these, Abdoulaye Babale was also Board Chairman of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Development IRAD.
    Before his appointment as DGE he was member of the Electoral board of Elecam since 2008.