Did Mamadou Mota Falsely Claim Imprisonment Due to Anglophone Crisis?

Mamadou Mota, the First Vice President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), has made false statements regarding his and other party supporters’ imprisonment, asserting it was due to the Anglophone Crisis.

Mota, along with 353 CRM militants, was arrested in June 2019 and held in police centres in Yaoundé and Nkongsamba. They were detained for participating in a demonstration banned by the administrative authorities. The protestors were demanding the immediate release of their leader, Maurice Kamto, who had been jailed on February 12 of that same year.

Kamto was imprisoned for organising a mass protest, claiming a “stolen victory” in the 2018 presidential elections. Before the constitutional council announced the official results, Kamto prematurely celebrated his supposed win, saying he had scored “the penalty.” Ultimately, he came in second to the incumbent, Paul Biya. Since then, Kamto has consistently alleged electoral fraud.

Mota and the other protesters, advocating under the slogan “No to an electoral hold-up,” were not addressing the Anglophone Crisis. Instead, their primary focus was on demanding Kamto’s release and challenging Biya’s 40-year-rule.

In contrast, those jailed specifically for issues related to the Anglophone Crisis include leaders such as Ayah Paul Abine, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, nine others from Nigeria, Barister Agbor Nkongho Felix, and members of the Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, among others.

In a report published by MMI on Friday, questions were raised about whether CRM President Maurice Kamto and PCRN disputed leader Cabral Libii were genuinely concerned about the Anglophone Crisis or merely exploiting it. In response, Mamadou Mota falsely claimed that their imprisonment was due to demands for ending the Anglophone war, not for contesting Kamto’s electoral defeat.

“We went to prison because they demanded an end to the war. I have always personally visited English-speaking crisis prisoners. I have a bottle of water that Ayuk offered me in Kondengui. I will drink it on the day of our reconciliation. I’m leaving Maroua for Yaoundé to do it. In Kondengui, I treated several inmates from the English-speaking crisis at my own expense. I gave away more than 10 boxes of soap. My poor person did this,” Mota said in response to the MMI story.

The MMI question about whether MRC and PCRN leaders were political opportunists for not visiting Anglophone regions angered Mota. “This question seems unhealthy to me. The English-speaking problem has its solution in Yaoundé. Asking opponents to go to an area where no one knows the armed groups is an insult to the efforts consented to by the MRC,” he remarked.

Mota did not address the criticism that, for nearly 8 years into the crisis, Kamto, who publicly expressed concern for the Anglophone situation, had not visited the affected regions or reached out to Anglophone IDPs in Yaoundé, Douala, and other areas.

Kamto, who boycotted the 2020 municipal and legislative elections citing unresolved issues in the Anglophone crisis and unmodified electoral laws, is now preparing to participate in the upcoming 2025 presidential elections. It may be necessary to remind him that the Anglophone crisis persists and the electoral laws remain unchanged.

Mimi Mefo Info