The minister of Communication and Government spokesman has given details to journalists on the conduct of Sunday’s presidential election.
National and international observers of Cameroon have confirmed that Cameroon has an appeased democracy”, says Issa Tchiroma Bakary. He brought together media professionals in the conference hall of the ministry of Communication yesterday October 12, to give them perspective on four key issues pertaining to the just held presidential election. The issues of controversy are: excesses of foreign media organs, the state of the social climate that currently prevails in Cameroon, the Banjoun incident that led to the killing of Virginia Djemo on election day and the overall performance of Elections Cameroon, Elecam. Concerning the excesses of the international media, the minister castigated the fact that information from a certain French organ and other French inspired news sources do not reflect the reality in Cameroon. “This is similar to conspiracy”, he lamented. The said media describe last week’s election as “tied up” and present Cameroon as a “bloody dictatorship”. He used the forum to remind journalists that the “Cameroon as portrayed in the recent articles published by the said international organs is not the one we live in”.The second issue on which Mr Tchiroma panned was the state of the social climate in Cameroon. According to him, four parameters can be used to assure the national and international community that Cameroon is presently calm and peaceful. While expatiating on these factors, he insisted that “peace and security have not ceased to reign in Cameroon since Sunday October 9, Commonwealth observers have praised the electoral process despite few fouls that were noticed, observers of La Francophonie praised the campaign during a courtesy visit they paid him while the African Union delegation also said they are satisfied with what they saw in Cameroon”. On this score, the Government’s spokesman said the deficiencies noticed on the field will be corrected in the future. The third concern of Mr Tchiroma’s press conference focused on the killing of Virginia Djemo by an ex-convict and militant of the Social democratic front. It should be recalled that this lady was killed while rejoicing on Sunday October 9 in Banjoun following the announced edge of her candidate (Paul Biya) over his opponents. The killer, Waffo Nestor ran away after the macabre act. He ended with the general performance of Elecam. But before that, he cautiously told the media practitioners that “it is not in my power to substitute myself in the position of the leaders of this independent institution”. That said, he went further to unveil the four doubts that people raise against Elecam. They include: distribution of voter cards, possession of multiple cards by some voters, late opening of some polling stations and the problem of insufficient ballot papers in certain polling stations. He told the attendees that though there was a problem in the distribution of voter cards, 81 per cent of the chunk was effectively distributed across the national territory. In like manner, he gave plausible answers to all other worries that emanate from last Sunday’s poll. The one hour exchange between the minister and journalists unfolded in three phases: a first presentation in the English language, a second one in French and a couple of questions and answers between the media and the minister of Communication. Mr Tchiroma said “this press conference is the first of three that are to be granted”.
MANYANYE IKOME
