The Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, has urged President Paul Biya to help free Cameroonians held in foreign prisons.

Fru Ndi was reacting to media reports that many Cameroonians in Kuwait and Lebanon are subjected to inhumane treatment, while others are held in prisons for refusing to be treated like slaves.

Speaking during the last SDF National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Bamenda, Fru Ndi called on Biya to take all necessary measures to protect Cameroonians abroad and release those held in captivity.

The SDF Chair expressed embarrassment that, since the media, especially the CRTV flagship programme, Cameroon Calling, broke the news, the Biya Government has not reacted by assuring the youths that the Government is taking measures to have them brought back home.

Considering the fact that other countries suffering the same fate are already repatriating their citizens from this modern form of slavery, the SDF Chieftain said he was astonished that Biya and his cabinet Ministers were going about their State businesses unperturbed, while certain Cameroonians in the Diaspora were being subjected to untold maltreatment.

“Mindful of the critical situation of Cameroonians living in some countries, we condemn the laxity of the Biya regime with regards to the critical situation of our compatriots abroad, notably victims of xenophobia in South Africa and the alarming number of Cameroonian girls subjected to slavery in the Middle East and call on him to cause the release of these girls.”

During the meeting, the NEC members adopted reports received from the Regional Chairpersons of their respective zones and reports of the various Committees that were charged with the organisation of the 25th anniversary of the party.

Senator Tsomelou was equally empowered to validate 28 wards identified by the first Vice National Chairman in Douala I and re-organise the rest of the wards in the Littoral Region. The results of the SDF Electoral District conferences held in Yaounde II, III, IV, VI and VII were endorsed together with the court case against the Kumbo Electoral District to be handled by the Legal Department.

The SDF stressed on laying down procedures following the recent Prime Ministerial decree authorising Sub-divisional Councils to take over the control of markets in urban towns and invited “all Sub-divisional and City Councils to take immediate ownership of this decree.”

The National Executive Committee frowned at attempts by some authorities namely SDOs and Government Delegates who are trying to resist the implementation of this decree. NEC members expressed their readiness to sanction any authority found guilty of delaying or stalling the provisions of the Prime Ministerial decree, which aims at improving the living conditions of the local population.

The continuous extortion of money from Cameroonians by police and gendarmes was condemned, especially with the poor state of roads in the country.