Fonkam Azu'u Cautions Political Parties on Risk of Commenting on Elecam Statistics

 Fai Cassian Ndi

Before leaving Donga Mantung Division today August 14, 2013, the President of Elections Cameroon, has declared that he is satisfied with the level of mobilization and the open mindedness of stakeholders.  Dr. Fonkam Azu’u reiterated “the necessity for everyone to withdraw the voters’ card and to vote with that card as required by law”. He called on the Press to drum the message so that all the cards are collected within record time. He emphasized that the law is very clear that people can only vote with the voters’ card and that they can only use the identity cards to identify themselves.

Harping on whether it is the responsibility of a political party to give statistics on the number of voters cards distributed, Dr. Fonkam Azu’u said that it is not the role of any political party to distribute cards and or disseminate information on the process. “It is the duty of political parties to have those statistics, we are not hiding them but it is not the role of the political party to comment because they are not their statistics” he re-echoed. He insisted that the role of the political party is to sensitize militants to collect the voters’ cards. He also announced that all the cards of the North West Region were printed and the cards will be available for distribution before August ending. It should be recalled that 82771 voters’ cards were printed and dispatched to Donga Mantung Division for distribution yet only 45.517 cards have been withdrawn.

However, Dr. Fonkam Azu’u had difficulties to resolve a case where by it is alleged that some cards were withdrawn without the owners being present. Notwithstanding, a school of thought holds that the ELECAM staff may have been tricked by some politicians while another opinion holds that voters' cards should henceforth be distributed only when all commission members being present or withdrawn by their owners. Besides, it is also aired that some smart politicians could have developed a scheme to outsmart the staff by pocketing some of the cards as allegations are rife that one man was spotted holding over 30 cards. 
It should be noted that Dr. Fonkam's regional tour is intended to encourage voters to collect their voters' cards. 

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