By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo
The Chair of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM party, Prof. Maurice Kamto, has promised to continue battling till the objective of his party’s fight is attained, after he was freed from a 78-day house arrest on Tuesday, December 8..
The heavily armed police officers stationed at his home since September 22, left on December 8.
According to a communiqué published on December 8 signed by Government spokesman, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, the effective holding of Regional Elections and the prevailing calm in the country prompted the Government to decide to ease measures taken to foil the ‘insurgency’ launched by CRM party on September 22.
The communique further stated that, despite the easing of these measures, legal proceedings initiated against the perpetrators and the organisers of the ‘insurgency’ will continue.
Going by the Government, several persons arrested in relation to the CRM protest to oust Biya have already been released. The Minister stated that others will be released as the legal proceedings unfold. Sadi maintained that this would be done depending on their degree of involvement and the threat they pose to society.
However, competent judicial and administrative authorities have been examining the situation of the CRM leader, according to Government, and related developments will be communicated to the public in due course.
Talking to the press shortly after the police cauldron left his residence, Prof. Maurice Kamto said it was a disgraceful act to see what has happened. The Professor stated that, instead of detaining him at home and having whole units to watch over him, they should have rather taken him to prison to save money. He added that, though he has been released, his resistance will continue until the CRM achieves its objective.
Kamto averred that, if not for the police, gendarmes, army and the administration used to suppress Cameroonians, the CPDM party cannot, under any circumstance, get up to 20 percent of votes in an election, when the CRM is participating.
In the meantime, hundreds of supporters, as well as well-wishers of CRM party, gathered at Kamto’s home after his close to three months of house arrest.
The Secretary-General of the party, Barrister Christopher Ndong, said: “We will make this Government know that there should be a meaningful and true democracy. CRM should be free to hold meetings, manifestations and associate with other political parties, create coalitions. The electoral system should be revised and then an Electoral Code adopted, which will be suitable for everybody,” he remarked.
Prof. Maurice Kamto was put under house arrest on September 22 when the party announced a peaceful match to oust President Paul Biya from power.
The party, in a press conference, had called on Cameroonians to peacefully march on September 22. The party said they were protesting against any elections called without a solution to the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country.
They had also indicated that for elections to hold; there must be a consensual reform on the current electoral system.
Few days to the planned march, the Government banned all gatherings of the CRM party, but, on September 22, some militants braved the odds and carried out the planned protest. They were met by a brutal crackdown. CRM Chair, Prof. Kamto, was blocked in his house while some party bigwigs were arrested.
Pressure from the United Nations through some of its Human Rights Experts and other organisations urging the Government of Cameroon to release the main opposition leader and others arrested during countrywide peaceful demonstrations of September 22, fell on deaf ears.
