CPDM reorganization in Tombel:

Rose Ngassa’s desperate maneuvers flop woefully

- A last minute attempt by the Central Committee to annul elections and impose the beleaguered mayor as WCPDM president met with a stiff resistance from “wounded” militants

- Hon. Emilia Lifaka hailed for steadfastness, objectivity and sense of the general interest

By MesumbeMichealEwang in Tombel

Mayor Rose Ngassa

A belated attempt by the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM party to cancel elections in Tombel and impose the mayor of Tombel, Rose Ngassa as WCPDM section president for Kupe-Muanenguba III, Tombel has been nipped in the bud.

                CPDM militants from all the sub-sections and clans of Tombel, stormed the Buea venue of an emergency meeting, called by the SW regional supervisory committee for the reorganization and mounted a stone-walled resistance to efforts by the head of the regional committee, TalbaMalla, to convince them to accept a consensus arrangement that would co-opt Rose Ngassa into the list of elected WCPDM executives in Tombel.

          The ‘wounded’ militants argued that Rose Ngassa had been beaten in an election that was generally acknowledged as free and transparent; it is only preposterous and an evidence of bad faith on her part to claim that the election was flawed.

                Besides, Tombel CPDM militants recalled that Rose Ngassa had earlier rejected an invitation for her to join a unitary list that took into consideration all the socio-logical representations in Tombel. She reportedly boasted that she was popular and strong enough; that she will constitute her own list and they should allow the ballot box to determine which candidate(s) had the better arguments to run the section.

                It emerged that Ngassa Rose was badly beaten in the election. She scored slightly over 700 votes as against over 3500 votes for her challengers. It is for this reason that Tombel militants held their ground that they cannot negotiate any consensus with Ngassa.

                “There can be no consensus now; it is already too late: We invited mayor Ngassa to join the unitary list that gave due consideration to all the socio-logical components in Tombel but she shunned us; she turned down our invitation. She boasted that she would beat us in free and fair elections. The ballot box has decided. So, let Rose Ngassa accept the verdict of the ballot box. Let her be humble and concede defeat,” fired the spokesperson for CPDM women in Tombel, whose name we could not get by press time yesterday.

                The Median learnt on good authority that Rose Ngassa’s case could hardly even prosper at the Buea meeting this because her hope of getting the president of the KupeMuanenguba divisional supervisory committee, Hon. Emilia MonjowaLifaka to defend her, met with an adamant, objective and uncompromising Lifaka, who stood her grounds that as far as she was concerned “the election in Tombel was peaceful, free, fair, transparent and democratic.”

                Hon. Lifaka explained that she took particular interest in the reorganization exercise in Tombel because she understood that the stakes were high especially giving the metropolitan nature of the town.

                She mustered strong that in defiance of the difficult access roads, she still was able to make it to Tombel on two separate occasions just to make sure there was no problem with the reorganization there. “And in fact, there was no problem”, she affirmed, stating that she had actually validated the election results in Tombel as well as those in Bangem and Nguti.

                Tombel CPDM militants were discernibly surprised at Hon. Lifaka’s outing at the meeting this because many believed she too had been bribed by Rose Ngassa, who was said to have distributed money and food items all over the place, buying over the SDO for Kupe-Muanenguba, HadissonQuetong and even the paramount chief of Tombel, HRH Chief Sale.

                Denizens of Tombel say the SDO is so incredibly and pathologically corrupt that he has so easily been pocketed by Rose Ngassa. They say HadissonQuetong is a parody of a public administrator, who is putting his selfish, parochial interests in front of the general interest of the people of KupeMuanenguba Division.

                The Median learnt that when Rose Ngassa boasted in the meeting that she almost single-handedly sponsors the CPDM in Tombel, another lady jumped on her feet and asked her to withdraw her statement. The lady asked Ngassa if she ever spends a complete week in Tombel for several months running. She told Ngassa to her face that she was an absentee mayor who runs the Tombelcouncil from abroad. That Ngassa could not present an attractive balance-sheet of her stewardship at the council and that is why the Tombel populations decided to sanction her.

                We learnt that the populations of Tombel have not forgiven Ngassa for conniving with the Kupe-Muanenguba SDO and some elite of Tombel to auction the town’s hillside quarry to the Dangote group. It is also rumoured in Tombel that she and the SDO are presently in negotiations to get the same investor to buy an adjacent hill still in Tombel.

                Participants at the Buea meeting were unanimous in telling TalbaMalla and co that the reorganization has signaled a new impetus; a new revival of the basic organs of Tombel CPDM, and that any attempts to annul the election will only kill this new spirit.

                It emerged that TalbaMalla saw reason in the arguments raised against Ngassa’s petition and he had to adjourn the meeting without adulterating the ‘procesverbale’ of the election.

                However, some militants have still expressed reservations about the intentions and motives of the Central Committee. Many said though their fears might have been allayed, the forces of evil that pushed the central committee into giving undue consideration to Rose Ngassa’s controversial petition are still at work. Many still fear that a last minute ‘coup de theatre’ could still be performed at the Central Committee.

                “With the CPDM you cannot always be sure of what will happen. Don’t be surprised that by some last minute “coup de theatre” Rose Ngassa is parachuted to the post of WCPDM section president for Kupe-Muanenguba III, Tombel,” speculated a militant who opted not to be named in this report. The militant added: “But such a grossly anti-democratic and unpopular move will only destabilize the CPDM in Tombel and auction its militants to the opposition, as was the case before the 2011 presidential election and the twin municipal and legislative elections in 2013.”              

                It should be borne in mind that CPDM militants and even some sympathizers of the opposition in Tombel have given the credit for the renewed impetus in Tombel CPDM to the new Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Finance, H.E. Elung Paul Che, who ever since his appointment in April 2013 as the GM of the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilization Fund CSPH did everything possible to get the party once again on the right path. Militants say Minister Elung’s sense of mobilization and his development-driven politics not only easily won for him the admiration of the predominantly youthful population of Tombel it also provided the magic wand during the 2013 twin elections.

                Many believe Elung’s adoption of a pragmatic door-to-door campaign strategy and his involvement and empowerment of the hoi-poloi in Tombel - bike riders, sang diggers, market women, call-box promoters etc, easily won for the CPDM party the sympathy of the metropolitan population of Tombel.

                That is why today it is publicly acknowledged in Tombel that if Rose Ngassa was re-elected as mayor of Tombel, it was thanks in great part to Elung Paul, who personally campaigned for her.

                But it appears some elite of Tombel are not comfortable with this rapidly growing popularity of the youthful and charismatic Elung Paul; they are doing everything to turn the CPDM militants against their party this so as to give the authorities the impression that Elung is not as popular as they might think.