SDF Caretaker Committee is succeeding in its mission-Barrister Ajuoh.

The Social Democratic Front, SDF, in the Fundong Electoral District is today being managed by a caretaker committee of seven members that was put in place on March 7, 2014. The decision to put in place a caretaker committee headed by Barrister HonoreAjuohNgam to complete the mandate of the district executive at the time, was provoked by the defeat of the party in the 2013 council elections.

Wrangling between officials within the party, coupled with blackmail, backbiting and even witch hunting made the SDF in Fundong to pay dearly as the election results went in favour of the ruling CPDM party. Added to this was the non investiture of Hon. James Ntam as parliamentary candidate who was sacrificed for Hon. NjongNjongEvaristus.

 Party militants went wild and even chased away chairman Ni John FruNdi when he came to explain why it was Hon. Njong and not Ntam that was invested as parliamentary candidate.

In the face of all these crisis, some party militants promised they were going to sanction the SDF during the twin elections. While some backed out of the party, others simply voted for the CPDM but maintained their militancy in the SDF.

Militants cried foul and accused the district team of working for self rather than party and requested they should be replaced if the party must regain lost ground. Their request was granted as a reconciliation meeting in Fundong with some officials of the party from the regional office designated by Ni John FruNdi arrived at a resolution to put in place a committee that will reconcile disgruntled militants and reconstruct the party to face future political confrontations.

After one year in office, Barrister HonoreAjuoh, chairman of the caretaker committee tells the success story of the caretaker committee in the following interview.

Boyo Eye. You were given the mandate to reconcile militants and reconstruct the SDF in Fundong. To what extend has this mission been achieved?

To throw some light on what we have done this far, I want to say that we have succeeded to revive the morale of the militants which had dropped significantly after we lost the election. More so, a lot of sensitisation and education of our militants is being carried out. We are also drawing their attention on the need to remain steadfast because we are engaged in struggle which has to continue. Internal conflicts have been mitigated and we are working towards eradicating factional politics within the SDF. The fact that we are not running the Fundong council does not mean that we should go to sleep. You are aware that we are celebrating our silver jubilee this on the 24^th of May this year and so we need to remain focus and mobilise our militants for this event and many others.

Boyo Eye. We understand that not all the militants were in favour of a caretaker committee being put in place, how challenging has the task been?

 Well you know the SDF is a big family and in such a family it is not easy to speak with one voice but from my assessment and judging from our activities, I can say that the militants of the SDF in their vast majority endorsed the caretaker and are strongly behind the team in place and are giving the members full support until the time that a new district executive will be elected to man the affairs of the party. I therefore want to seize this opportunity to thank the militants immensely for their support and their usual traditional practice of ensuring that our party activities go on very well.

Boyo Eye. If elections were announced today what will be the fate of the SDF in Fundong?

From my assessment I can say that our militants are alive and very enthusiastic. The process of reconstruction continues and we are continuously working to bring back all our militants but for now I cannot immediately tell you whether if elections were organised today the SDF will win or not. But for sure I think that someday we are going to regain the Fundong council.

Boyo Eye. The SDF has been perceived to be a party for the elderly people especially women thereby giving the impression that many young people do not share your vision?

I don’t agree with that. To say that elderly people make up bulk of our militants, yes but to share that young people do not share the vision of the SDF, that is not true the SDF was launched by youths in 1990 and you recall that six of them died in the process. However within the last twelve months we have been sensitising the youths to militate with the party and a huge number have been responding to our call. The youths have to know that this party was launch to secure a bright future for them.

Boyo Eye.Elections Cameroon is currently carrying on the revision of electoral registers and we have the impression that political parties in Boyo have abandoned ELECAM to itself. What has been the contribution of your party to this exercise?I believe like any smart politician that elections are won and lost during voter registration. At the level of the SDF we held a conference on the 31^st of January and adopted our plan of action in a 12 points resolutions one of which we agreed to mobilise our militants to register and the message is already going on in the communities and our party wards for militants to know that registration is going on and will end on August 31^st, 2015. So we are carrying on a lot of education but you know when elections are not so close, the element of registration is not given so much attention. But we are doing everything to ensure that our militants register and get ready to vote in upcoming elections. You know the SDF has vowed never to lose elections in Fundong.

Boyo Eye. You preach transparency within the SDF but we know that your party lost the 2013 municipal elections in Fundong partly because those who manage the council were at one point found wanting, if you are coming back what you think will change?Well any keen observer will understand that the mere fact that the SDF in Fundong put in place a caretaker committee shows that the party means business. The putting in place of this committee was like a new beginning, so I can tell you we started from scratch. We are rebranding our party, correcting all the shortcomings of the past and strengthening our strong area to ensure we don’t lose any elections in Fundong again.

Boyo Eye. The mandate of the caretaker committee will soon expire, what is in the pipeline? We are going out to reorganise our wards as from the 20^th of March. The exercise will last for a month after which the new district executive will be elected to run the party for the next three years till 2018. For now we have our party anniversary coming up in May and we are also preparing towards that. My appeal to militants is that they should support the activities of the party.