Leon Theiller Onana, who is a Councillor of the ruling CPDM party in Monatele, Lekie Division of the Center Region, has asserted that the chairman, President Paul Biya, should rebuild the party before leaving power.
Onana expressed the need for youths in the party, whom he said have been marginalized over the years, to rise if the party must survive.
Change, he said, should come from within the CPDM.
“I have choosen to express these concerns within our party to avoid joining a counterproductive opposition since my conviction is that change will come from our ranks,” Onana said in a statement.
He clarified that questioning the internal life of the party should not be confused with the governance of the country, stating that those appointed by the President to run the country have betrayed him.
Dissent against 92-year old President Paul Biya is getting louder, with many Cameroonians expressing their wish to see him relinquish power after 42 years.
Over the years, such calls were championed by the opposition.
However recently, militants of the governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) are beginning to speak out against Mr Biya’s continuous rule.
A few weeks ago, 10 party militants issued a statement calling on him to step down before the 2025 presidential elections.
Here comes another party official penning down an open letter to President Biya, calling for change in the CPDM party.
Stating that Paul Biya has come of age, Leon Theiller Onana said, “The objective of this letter is to challenge you on the urgency of rebuilding the party before your well deserved retirement.”
He regrets that Cameroon now operates in a freewheeling mode, with party officials running important government positions as private properties.
The younger generation, in such a context, is speechless.
“Your speeches on equal opportunities and multiple circulars at the level of the general secretariat of the central committee are mere noise making,” the disgruntled Councillor noted.
Such an attitude, he further observed, is serving as a political cemetery for youths in the party, giving an upper hand to corrupt party officials who are only seen flirting during elections.
Revealing that he has been held hostage by party barons from expressing his opinions, he said, “Far too many young comrades have experienced the same setbacks in the past to the point of resigning from the party to join other opposition parties.
“The emergence of young political actors in 2018 is the response to your questioning on the inertia of Cameroonian youths has benefitted only young people outside our party,” he observed.
The youth wing of the CPDM, he added, “is a subjugated, oppressed and almost non-existent organisation in the arena of political debate”.
“All these reminds me of the degrading term ‘sardines’ used against us in 2018 – entailing that we campaign for bread and sardine,” he regretted.
Calling on President Paul Biya to make an assessment of young people holding positions in the party, Onana did not lose sight of reminding President Paul Biya, now 91, that he became President at the age of 49.
“Remember, great comrade, that you became President of the Republic at 49 after having assumed high functions as charge de mission at 26,” he continued.
“I mention this aspect so that you can situate the socio-political evolution curve of Cameroon in 2024.”
He said the probability of the CPDM losing next year’s elections is low but real due to Biya’s four-decade rule.
“This problem leads us to serious reflection and we have made a commitment to personally challenge you before the start of the next electoral campaign,” he assured.
“The clock of 1985 has evolved and the clock of the world is now reduced to a smartphone where everyone can scrutinize what is happening at the neighbours house.”
