The bill No 2094/PJL/P submitted this Thursday at the National Assembly to institute the post of Vice President, seeks to ensure continuity at the Helm of the state in case of any eventuality.
The bill allows for the Vice President of the Republic to complete the mandate of the President incase of resignation, death or permanent incapacitation.
The bill was communicated to Parliament at the start of the Congress of parliament this Thursday,l and has sparked a lot of excitement on social media with people already guessing who may be appointed and those who cannot.
While in other countries and advanced democracies, the Vice President is a running mate to the President, the proposed bill says the Vice president will be appointed and his mandate will not exceed the term of the President which is 7 years renewable.
Above all the excitement, the constitution puts Cameroon as a decentralized unitary state. Cameroon is a nation-state founded on the reunification of the former La Republique du Cameroun and the former British Southern Cameroons lmao October 1, 1961. This gives Cameroon the place as a bilingual and bijural system.
Taking into cognizance the fact that former British Southern Cameroons is the smallest in terms of surface area and population and drawing inspiration from the Federal constitution, the proposed amendment instituing the post of Vice president, does not outrightly state that if the President is Francophone, the Vice president will be an anglophone.
This piece of legislation comes exactly 10 years since the rise of anglophone sentiments, calling for better representation and balanced development. The current piece of legislation that is not outrightly clear on who can be Vice President, further shrinks the anglophone representation and their wish to one day be the managers of the state. After all, from 1961 to 2026, is it not time enough former those of the minority to have a mantle of leadership?
The members of Parliament must copy from the Cameroon Baptist Convention, who recently amended its constitution to give room for the minority to lead the church.
Democracy can be termed as injustice if representation does not truly represent the minority. The electoral college votes from the United States should at least teach us a lesson.
If the United States of America is far, can we not copy from the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon on power alternation?
If the appointed Vice President is still a francophone, then anglophones would have been relegated to a distant 5th on the protocol of the state. The Senate President, Francophone. National Assembly President, Francophone, before the President and Vice.
President Biya said in 1990 that he wants to be remembered as the one who brought democracy to Cameroon. Should he not be remembered as the one who ensured that even in democracy, there is power alternation?
The Observer, therefore, wishes to call on members of Parliament to make hay while the sun shines. This piece of legislation in its form and nature does not protect or represent anglophones. It should not be a gift if an anglophone is appointed. It should be a law.
The Observer
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