By Njong Shey
The President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party, Maurice Kamto, has asked his supporters to shun fear of they want a political change in Cameroon, or they will not live the life they want.
Kamto made the reflection this Monday, June 9, a day after authorities in Douala, Littoral Region, placed him under house arrest and used the police to disrupt his planned meeting with his supporters.
He was supposed to meet with thousands of supporters on Sunday after arriving on Saturday evening from Paris, where he had held a mega political rally.
However, despite authorities trying to intimidate him and his supporters, they remained defiant.
“Fear has never saved anyone,” Kamto said.
“It reduces us to servitude before finishing us off for good. Kill the fear in you before it gives you up. We only have one life, and fear is preventing us from living it to the full,” he added.
The MRC leader believes Cameroonians have the key to their future in their hands. His supporters constitute thousands of Cameroonians who are fed up with President Paul Biya’s 42-year-rule
According to him, there is only one thing that can make people who are hungry for change to lose: fear.
“But fear of what? And until when? State terrorism, which deploys repressive machinery paid for with our taxes to break the will of peaceful citizens, is no less horrible and detestable than the terrorism of Boko Haram, which takes the lives of our compatriots,” he added.
Plans to Defy Government Restriction
Although authorities disrupted his meeting in Douala on Sunday, Kamto hopes to defy fear and meet with his supporters again.
On Monday morning, authorities deployed security forces to several junctions in Douala, intending to arrest anyone who would come out to meet him.
Despite no violence recorded during their encounter with Kamto’s supporters on Sunday, the security elements remained were heavily armed on Monday.
This is not the first time that Maurice Kamto, or an opposition leader in Cameroon is being barred by the authorities from holding a political event.
On the contrary, militants of President Biya’s CPDM party do not undergo the same treatment. They are usually given free open venues and accorded security during their rallies, which sometimes blockade urban roads for hours.