Charisma is a temporal political asset serving a strategy which in itself is temporal. Riding on the crest of political gains acquired between 1992 and 1997, the Social Democratic Front (S.D.F.) and its Chairman have clearly never evaluated the scope of gains made in the mid 90’s nor really identified how the S.D.F. achieved those gains. If not, why does the S.D.F. not encourage Cameroonians to participate in voter registration when the party’s clout depends on massive voter registration in the mid 90’s ? I identify two reasons which reveal the mindset of John Fru Ndi.
Firstly, incompetence. Fru Ndi is yet to adopt nor is capable of understanding the internal dynamics of a democratic party. Failure in politics is a sign of ageing. Absolute failure is a clarion for change. Politically, we do not fail because we have aged; but we age and become irredeemably “old” because we fail. This translates as the politicians’ inability to propose novel ideas and solutions, or when he becomes the raison d'être for reform. President Abdoulaye Wade, though aged 81 is “younger” than Thabo Mbeki (16yrs younger) because the latter could not propose solutions to South Africa’s problems. In Cameroon, disagreeing with Paul Biya is no longer enough! You need to propose actionable solutions. Fru Ndi is Chairman and Presidential candidate of the S.D.F. since 1990. He has never won an election in which he is a candidate. Statistically, it is the highest failure rate: 100%. Therefore, along with the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement(C.P.D.M.) and an incompetent Supreme Court, Fru Ndi shares the responsibility for Cameroon being subjected to the Biya regime till date.
Secondly, Fru Ndi has no notion that equal opportunity is the underlying principle in democracy. Dictators are made of same stuff. A dictator often thinks his god-given mandate excludes all other contemporaries from decision-making. “Me or nobody” is the familiar statement. Fru Ndi and cronies think only he may be presidential candidate. As such they create ideal conditions for the exclusion of S.D.F. sympathizers from the voting process. If Fru Ndi genuinely believes there can be another candidate (apart from himself), he will have no problem encouraging S.D.F. sympathizers to register and vote. A bad strategy is better than no strategy at all. Fru Ndi must take a stand about voter registration. Nonetheless, Fru Ndi will maintain ambiguity between not calling a boycott and not calling for voter registration till it is too late to choose any. Thereafter, he’ll fake “democratic re-awakening” by losing to another candidate at S.D.F. primaries. But the candidate will campaign in vain, since there may be no S.D.F. sympathizers registered to vote.
Like Yasser Arafat in his last days, Fru Ndi clings to a potential charisma which serves only his personal political survival. Arafat never attempted to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israel from Palestinian controlled territories for two reasons: had he done so, and Hamas refused to oblige it would have proven he lacks complete control over Gaza. On the other hand, if he did, and Hamas complied, then Arafat assumes responsibility for Kassam rockets targeting Israeli frontline settlements. The political survivor confuses his destiny with that of the people he leads. Fru Ndi realizing that he lacks the mettle to dislodge Biya regime, has resorted to ultimate survival tactics. If S.D.F. sympathizers register and vote, he’ll still lose, so he prefers blaming the score on non-voter registration.
This situation raises a question that plagues African multiparty politics in general. What is the profile of a potential head of state? A bigot? An egotist? An illiterate incompetent? A monolingual demagogue? An Industrialist? An enlightened despot? No rule applies across-the-board. But there is a huge difference between putting oneself at the service of politics, and putting politics at the service of oneself. Fru Ndi fails both ways. He cannot win and his time is up!
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