Human Rights Commission Disappointed with Crushing CPDM Majority in Just Ended Elections
By Polycarp Labah Nginyu

The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) in Cameroon Chairperson, Dr. Divine Chemuta Banda, has told pressmen in Yaounde that the commission is greatly disappointed with the crushing majority wielded by the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM) in the local councils and parliament following the elections of July 22 and the re-runs of September 30.

Dr. Banda was addressing pressmen at the fourth Ordinary Session of the NCHRF which held at the Yaoundé Conference Center from 4 to 5 October 2007.

Dr. Banda disclosed that for any government to stand tall, proud and be equal to the task, it needs a very strong and vibrant opposition to ensure checks and balances. He admitted that the twin polls were neither free nor fair. Dr. Banda asserted that they of the commission noticed irregularities in the process. While doffing his hat for the judiciary which did it job to cancel fragrant cases of irregularities for a re-run in some constituencies, the chairman castigated political parties who are not able to file convincing petitions at the Supreme Court sitting as the Constitutional Council and regretted that had the contesting parties with their battery of lawyers followed the required procedure, their petitions should not have been thrown out of the court as easily as was the case.

During this fourth Ordinary Session, the board of the NCHRF looked into its 2007 first semester report, the activity plan for 2008 and the 2008 draft budget. It equally identified threats to peace as poverty, disease, corruption, injustice, crime, violation of human rights, destruction of the environment, religious and inter-tribal conflicts amongst others. Twenty-six of the thirty members that make up the board attended this session

Finally, the NCHRF envisages setting up a befitting head office in Yaoundé and regional offices round the country and recruiting qualified and competent staff to enable it carry out its mission successfully.