SDF members attending a pre-anniversary debate have been told to decentralize power which has concentrated in the hands of its Chairman, John Fru Ndi for long.

The debate took place as one of the activities leading up to the 25th-anniversary celebrations of the party. The debate had as theme: Opposition Parties in Africa, Challenges and Perspectives.

In his evaluation of the SDF, 25 years after, Dr Richard Ndi, one of the speakers was frank to state that in all the years of the existence of the SDF, power has been largely concentrated in the hands of John Fru Ndi, its National Chairman.

Dr Ndi said the constitution of the SDF is such that Fru Ndi heads all the major organs of the party. “John Fru Ndi is the head of the National Executive Committee, NEC, head of the National Advisory Council, NAC, head of the National Investiture Committee, NIC, and he chairs the National Convention of the party,” Dr Ndi Noted.

He advised that it is time the party sits back, examine itself, and reflect to see how the top can devolve some of its powers to other people within the party.

“Too much centralization of power in the hands of one man is largely responsible for the dissenting voices within the party, and this has caused some people to leave the party,” Dr Ndi stressed. He advocated for the institution of specific term limits, so as to bar the way for some people to stay too long in power.

Dr Ndi said internal democracy within the party leaves much to be desired. He buttressed the point with the fact that the electorate may decide on a candidate to run for a position at general elections in the country, but the investiture committee can decide otherwise, as has been the case on several occasions in the recent past.

Dr Ndi was also very critical of the fact that for 25 years, the SDF has no national secretariat of its own. “The question of the absence of a national secretariat for the party is at variance with the party’s status as the chief opposition party in Cameroon,” Dr Ndi noted.

He said the fact that every major meeting of the SDF holds at Fru Ndi’s residence, does not speak well of the party as one that is working towards taking over power in Cameroon. “The SDF cannot continue to depend on the largesse of its National Chairman, for the past 25 years, to hold major meetings at his residence,” he said.

Another speaker at the debate was John Mbah Akuro, veteran Journalist and Publisher of The Times Journal, a weekly newspaper. Akuro castigated the SDF for not being able to institute a strong communication unit in the past 25 years. He said for 25 years, the party cannot boast of a vibrant newspaper or a radio station as its propaganda tool. “Tiny communication budgets produce tiny results,” Akuro noted.

The anniversary proper on May 26 saw the participation of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM, represented by Jean Kuete, Secretary General of the party’s Central Committee.

Other political parties in attendance were the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, and the Union of the Populations of Cameroon, UPC. Some socialist parties from Germany, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, amongst others were also represented.

In his key note address, Fru Ndi, reiterated his usual demand for government to create a truly independent and credible institution to manage elections in Cameroon. He also called for a clear separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary arms of government.

Before the festivities ended, the SDF handed a check in the sum of FCFA 13.1 million as the party’s contribution to support Cameroonian and Chadian defence forces fighting against Boko Haram.

As part of the anniversary, there was a book launch at Ayaba Hotel, Bamenda, titled « The Struggle for Democracy and Good Governance, 1990 – 2015, The Untold Story. » The book which contains 15 chapters with 332 pages, chronicles the story of the SDF’s cause from beginning.