The homecoming of opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, from Paris, France, where he held a mega political rally last week, has sent cold shivers down the spine of the Biya Government, which deployed state security forces to prevent his meeting with supporters in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.
Armed police officers surrounded Kamto’s residence in Douala on Friday night, shortly after his arrival at 11.00pm. They blocked him from leaving the premises on Sunday, June 8, technically placing him under a house arrest and preventing his meeting with thousands of supporters who had flocked to the area in the morning to meet him.
The Douala headquarters of his party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, was also surrounded and supporters, who could not meet Kamto at his residence, were forced to camp in the area despite the police barricading the road with their bodies.
A few days to his arrival, local authorities in Douala suspended motorbike circulation in parts of the city, including the area where Kamto was going to lodge and Deido, where his party’s headquarters is based.
Authorities reportedly hinged the unwritten decision on the need to protect public peace but critics say it was a calculated move to prevent Kamto’s supporters from massively turning out to welcome him.
The opposition leader returned from France on Saturday night after pulling thousands at a political rally in France the previous week. Some government officials tried to downplay the rally, which, however, was much publicised on local media.
In a video televised on Sunday at his Douala residence where he was confined by the police, Kamto strongly condemned what he viewed as a regime witch-hunt against him and his supporters.
He said the Littoral Governor, Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, sent emissaries to his residence on Sunday, asking him to leave Douala for Yaounde without meeting with his waiting supporters.
Governor Diboua’s envoys reportedly said these were official instructions from Yaounde. However, Kamto said he is defying the order, as he argued that he has done nothing warranting his expulsion from Douala. He said it was illegal to expel him from Douala. He claimed to have duly notified local officials in Douala about his return from France, his planned meeting with supporters in Douala on Sunday and his subsequent travel to Yaounde.
“We were completely transparent and wanted this to be done in a republican manner, with their support and supervision, because we are deeply committed to peace in our country,” Kamto said in the video.
“But since this morning, and probably since last night, the place where I am has been … was completely blocked by the law enforcement forces just as I was about to leave to meet you at the headquarters of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement in Douala. It was revealed not only that there had been reinforcement of law enforcement officers around the building where I stay, but also that it was impossible to access the headquarters of our party in Douala. This is behavior that we have difficulty understanding because, clearly, it is not a matter of maintaining order,” he added.
The fresh tension created around Prof Maurice Kamto and his party by the Biya regime, which has been in power for over 42 years, comes barely four months to the Presidential election.
Kamto, a former high-ranking official in the Biya government, has sworn to contest against the 92-year-old in October, amid speculations about his party’s ineligibility.
Despite boycotting the 2020 Parliamentary and Municipal elections, Kamto’s popularity has remained visible. He came second, after President Paul Biya, in the 2018 elections which he claimed were rigged to keep the long-serving leader in power.
He later suffered 78 days of house arrest and several of his supporters were jailed after he called for a mass protest against the government.
Over the past year, the government has been accused of persecuting the opposition, including by using Divisional Officers to ban opposition rallies, particularly those organised by Maurice Kamto’s CRM party.
But the CRM leader has remained defiant. He has urged his supporters to remain peaceful and hopeful as they continue pushing for a regime change in the country.
“I tell my compatriots to remain calm and not to be afraid. We have always advocated change in peace and through humanity. We have never changed our fundamental options of friendship, but when you provoke, all the time, a people, we should not be surprised when at some point the people get angry with us. We say to the Cameroonian people: be proud and worthy of your country. Be proud and be worthy of being Cameroonian citizens. Stay confident. I told you that change will take place in 2025 in Cameroon thanks to and by you,” he said.
By Hope Nda
