FINAL STATEMENT OF THE RM POLITICAL BUREAU

Meeting of the Reform Movement (RM) Political Bureau held on May 2, 2020 at the party’s headquarters located in EMOMBO – Yaoundé.

 

The Reform Movement (RM) Political Bureau held a working session on Saturday, May 2, 2020 at 4.00 pm. The working session was presided over by Mr. Billong Samuel, National Chairman of RM. The members of the politburo attended the working session.

The Chairman indicated in his keynote address that the meeting was devoted to the remobilization of the instances of the party. He further gave the working session’s agenda in two main points: (1) the remobilization of the instances of the party and (2) an assessment of the sociopolitical situation prevailing in Cameroon.

 

The agenda being seconded and adopted, the floor was given to the General Secretary for him to address the priority issue on the agenda.

  • Remobilization of the instances of the party

The General Secretary reviewed the actions that have been taken so far pertaining to the remobilization of the instances of the party, as put forward by the Chairman. This includes, but is not limited to:

The holding of discussions within divisional federations under the leadership of the General secretariat;

 

The execution of maintenance works at the Party’s headquarters;

The redesign of the Party’s website;

The restructuring of the Party’s communication unit;

The establishment of a selection procedure of the communication unit;

Preparatory work for a seminar on the party’s communication plan to be held in May.

The National Chairman expressed his gratitude to the Secretary General for having carried out those actions which are part of the RM remobilization. He instructed him to finalize the recruitment of the Communication Cabinet and the organization of the seminar on the party communication plan, to supervise the replacement of the resigning members within the divisional committees, and to plan the finalization of the installation of the Reform Movement (RM) federations in the 58 divisions of Cameroon and in the Diaspora by the end of 2020.

  • Assessment of the sociopolitical situation in Cameroon

The National Chairman thanked the members of the Politburo who all remained faithful to the reformist ideal of our Movement; he recalled that the primary mission of the party is to work for the unity of the Cameroonian nation, crucial foundation of all social transformations for the welfare of Cameroonians. Subsequently, he made an overview of the sociopolitical situation in Cameroon.He noted and deplored the critical situation of the country characterized by the extreme poverty of the Cameroonian populations, the serious threats to the national construction project caused by the embezzlement of public funds, the bureaucracy of the governing system and the unreasonable selfish ambitions of the elites.He noted and deplored the inability of successive governments to achieve projects likely to improve the life conditions of Cameroonians: projects for the construction of social housing, improvement of energy supply deficit, projects aimed at improving agricultural production, densification projects for land transport networks, etc.He noted and deplored the mismanagement of electoral processes and  the adamant refusal of the CPDM regime to carry out a consensual reform of the electoral code, the manipulation of the law, the encroachment on individual and collective freedoms with arbitrary imprisonment of political and media figures;He particularly denounced the situation of civil war in the North-West and South-West regions, the difficulty for households to meet their basic needs due to the high cost of living, the great poverty endured by the populations of the Far North region under the threat of almost daily incursions by Boko Haram and the chaotic management of the coronavirus pandemic because of the absence of a merit-based, transparent and responsible leadership.After these words of the National Chairman and the exchanges arising from this issue with the participants, the Political Bureau of the Reform Movement spoke its mind on the following essential points:

COVID-19 pandemic and on the goverment response strategy ;

On May 02, 2020, the country has 64 deaths and 2,077 individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus in the 10 regions of Cameroon, keeping a sense of proportion given the low rate of tests and deaths in the community. This result is the consequence of a government strategy which let the country move on to the phase of community contamination by being lenient in controlling travelers potentially carrying the virus, controlling borders and refusing to isolate cities from Douala and Yaoundé and from the rest of the country.The Reform Movement notes with regret that the spread of the virus is beyond the control of the health authorities as the Minister of Public Health pointed out numerous deaths in the community. It pays a tribute to the memory of all the victims of this health crisis, congratulates the entire health care professionals in the frontline of this war in some cases without the appropriate protections, calls on the populations to respect social distancing, hygiene measures and the systematic wearing of masks, the RM is upset with the government inconsistencies in the lifting of response measures to COVID-19 and notes with regret the government’s refusal to take effective palliative measures to support households and businesses to face the consequences of COVID-19.

On the controversy related to the absence from public view of the Head of the Stat;

Following the observation of the effective absence of the President of the Republic from public view for almost two months, apart from the controversial video of the visit of the French Ambassador to the Unity Palace on April 16, 2020, the Reform Movement noted and deplored the lack of an effective leadership giving room to a poor coordination of government actions, especially at a time when the populations are in distress fighting against a widely spreading pandemic;It noted and deplored respectively the unworthiness and the inconsistency of the fabrications over the death of the President of the Republic and the partisan calls for popular unrest which nourish national disunity.It recalls that the management, if necessary, of the vacancy of the powers of the President of the Republic concerns exclusively all Cameroonians in strict compliance with the constitutional provisions relating thereto.

 

The civil war in the North West and South West regions;

 

Civil war in the North West and South West regions;The so-called Anglophone crisis, broke out of protests and social demands in October 2016 that turned into an armed insurrection at the end of 2017; is now a civil war that rages between the national army against the armed groups claiming the independence of the North West and South West regions. This crisis has already killed more than 3,000 people, nearly 1,000,000 internally and cross-border displaced people deprived nearly 600,000 children of their education and destroyed the social and economic life of these two regions.The Reform Movement calls for the demilitarization of the North West and South West regions, for an unconditional cease-fire, for the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and for the return of the displaced people.The Reform Movement is proposing a peace plan based on a local referendum on self-determination for the populations of the North West and South West regions.He recalls the fact that it is up to the populations of the former Southern Cameroons in this case to speak freely and calmly about the will to keep sharing one Cameroonian Nation with their fellow French speaking countrymen. In a broad sense, Reform movement calls for National Union in response to the threats which seriously weaken our country. It urges all our countrymen to feel concerned by the crisis in NOSO and particularly asks the populations of the eight other regions to get involved in the resolution of this conflict which seriously threatens national unity. Finally, the Political Bureau renewed its confidence and reaffirmed its loyalty and steadfast support to the Chairman of the Party. The Chairman of the party declared the working session of the RM Political Bureau meeting closed, in an ambience not only pleasant but also supportive, while wishing a safe trip back home to all the members of the Political Bureau.                                                                             The General Secretary