By David Atangana
The one time main opposition party in Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), staged a comeback in the two English-speaking regions on May 20, with militants participating in the National Day march past for the first time since the Anglophone Crisis escalated.
The party took part in 20th May activities in some towns of the crisis-hit regions, including Buea, headquarters of the South West, where it pulled an unprecedented crowd.
Clad in the party’s colours of green and white, militants were part of the civilian march pass in Buea as well as Mbengwi and Santa, in the North West region.
It was the first time for the party to take part in a public event in the two Regions since the escalation of the Anglophone Crisis in 2016.
The political scene of the two Regions has been dominated by the governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) which has hitherto occupied elective positions without any adversary.
The presence of the SDF at this year’s National Day in the two regions is a signal for a tough political competition in next year’s elections especially in the North West region, which was the SDF’s base before the Anglophone Crisis erupted.
Officials of the SDF say the party is coming back powerfully.
“We participated in all the regions and administrative units of the country,” a former SDF Member of Parliament from the North West Region told MMI.
He hinted that the 34th anniversary of the party, coming up on May 26, will not be business as usual.
“We have something huge coming on May 26. We are relaunching the party as it happened in the 1990s,” he said.
The new party Chairman, Osih Joshua Nambangi, Member of Parliament for Wouri, is yet to give the party the populism it once enjoyed under its late founding leader, Ni John Fru Ndi.
Osih Joshua, for the past months, has been touring the country holding consultative talks and availing himself with militants.
The party, which currently has four members of Parliament, hopes to regain lost glories as the country braces for local and Presidential Elections come 2025.
