The President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), Professor Maurice Kamto has continued his stand-off with President Paul Biya’s regime by insinuating that the 2018 Presidential elections were rigged to favor Biya’s eternal stay in power.
“In a century, should we still be alive, we will still claim victory over that election. It was clear and obvious,” he declared.
He mentioned this in an interview with French-based media, TV5 Monde. “Professor Maurice Kamto during the interview cast huge doubts on the country’s democracy, as he thinks it has been compromised on all fronts.”
The CRM’s defeat in the 2018 elections was proceeded by nationwide protests by the party against the regime in 2020. The September 22 protest was not without its consequences. 124 CRM militants were arrested and are still in detention, amongst them the party’s spokesperson, Olivier Biboum Nissack, was arrested from his home.
Kamto has called the arrests arbitrary and dictatorial. He maintained that the CRM party was created on democratic principles, of which freedom to protest counts as one.
Contrary to views propagated on the media, Kamto pointed out that “The CRM Nationwide march on September 22, 2020, was not against the reelection of President Paul Biya. It was rather to demand an end to the Anglophone crisis, for electoral reforms, to stop a possible agenda of an unconstitutional transfer of power, and for transparency in the usage of funds aimed for the organization of the AFCON in Cameroon.”
Out of all arrested militants, Kamto said not all were arrested during the protest. “some were taken before the protest, like my Spokesperson, Olivier Biboum Nissack, and Professor Alain Fogué of the CRM’s national treasury. They were both arrested on September 21.”
In the interview, Professor Maurice Kamto expressed concerns for incarcerated militants, some of whom he thinks should not have seen a cell, having just staged a peaceful march. “Some have appeared in front of a military tribunal, and may even face the death penalty as they have been accused of crimes against the state like an insurrection,” he expressed.
It should be recalled that the defense lawyers for the incarcerated CRM militants earlier this month abandoned the case. They cited intentional obstruction of justice from the judicial system as the reason for them dropping the case, famously laying down their robes in front of the press. Maurice Kamto thanked the lawyers for their effort and urged Cameroonians to unite in a collective fight against the repugnant judicial system.
Professor Maurice Kamto this weekend was equally in attendance of a concert organized by Cameroonian rapper, Valsero at the “Le Zenith” in Paris France. The artist, an ardent ally of Professor Maurice Kamto organized the mega-concert to call for the release of political prisoners and to end the war in the Anglophone Regions.
The concert pulled a mammoth crowd of at least 7000, amongst them members of the BAS, Ambazonian representatives, and opposition political figures.