George Ngwane

Searching for Common Ground in Nepal

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Political engineering is as contentious as defining and adapting democracy in conptemporary society. Both processes can by omission or commission polarize the very society they seek to build. The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is therefore no exception.

Our field work as Rotary Peace Fellows to Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal for close to ten days (14th -22nd March) was about identifying conflicts and making contributions to solutions already crafted and initiated by local actors in search of common ground on the field. Kathmandu being the political capital of Nepal, and Pokhara being the eco-tourism live wire of Nepal were by design our main epicenters of conflict and peace discussions.  

The Iceberg of Opposition Politics in Cameroon (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Shortcomings of the Opposition
It is generally argued that the playing field in Cameroon does not militate in favour of Opposition parties winning elections. With no genuine independent/neutral persons within an Independent Electoral Commission (be it National Elections Observatory or Elections Cameroon), and with a contentious new electoral code adopted by a CPDM majority parliament in March 2012, the elections have been reduced to a two horse race between the CPDM and its French translation- RDPC.

In effect according to Dr. Tangie Fonchingong, there are a lot of exogenous factors that deprive the Opposition from starting the election race on the same block as the ruling party- disenfranchisement, nonchalant international community, low civic participation, rigging, sterile political debates occasioned by the trading of accusations of illegitimacy between the ruling party and the Opposition parties etc.

The Iceberg of Opposition Politics in Cameroon (Part 1)

 Mwalimu George Ngwane*

The resignation of Dr. Elizabeth Tamanjong as Secetary General of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) on 12th February 2015 is not a novelty in the DNA of Opposition party politics in Cameroon. And that is where the problem lies.  The resignation risks especially as she is the third Secetary General to resign since the party was founded on 26th May 1990 to be interpreted through the myopic lenses of a déjà vu, nuanced with spatial conversations of conscience or conviction buying or blighted by the current social media rebuttal of real or imaginary ruling party destruction intentions of the SDF. 

2013 Local Government & Parliamentary Elections in Cameroon: Business as Usual?

 By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Being a Discussion paper presented at the Buea Town Hall meeting, Cameroon.

   Voter turnout in elections

-Parliamentary

1992: 60%

 1997: 54.6%

2002: NA

2007: NA

-Presidential

1992: 71.9%

 1997: 81.4%

 2004: 82.2%

Why is there decrease in voter turnout in local elections and increase in Presidential elections?

Anatomy of the Dominant Party System in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane*

Entry
When the majority of African people went up in arms against one party rule in Africa in the early 90s, it was to expand democratic space and provide alternative voices that would impact on a sustainable democratic development.  That hunger for change was orchestrated against the backdrop of a lethargic mono-party culture whose fossilized dictatorial architecture had metamorphosed into one man high handed rule even if in some cases it bred positive economic growth. To avoid the pendulum of power from oscillating between civilian anarchy and military tyranny, a new dispensation was jettisoned to allow for popular access to power and equitable distribution of the country’s resources.

Election-related Conflicts in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Conflicts during elections, especially at the Presidential level in Africa, have become a special trademark. 
 

Because of the centralized systems of governance where power, perks and prestige are accumulated at the helm of state, conflicts may occur before, during and after elections depending on the content and context against which they are held.

Prodemocracy Movements and Affirmative Action Diplomacy in 2008

Mwalimu George Ngwane

Alexis de Tocqueville attributed the success of democracy to an unusual national propensity for civic engagement.  Recent empirical research in a wide range of contexts has confirmed that the norms and networks of civic engagement (now rebaptised “social capital”) can improve education, diminish poverty, inhibit crime, boost economic performance, foster better government and even reduce mortality rates.  Conversely, deficiencies in social capital contribute to a wide range of social, economic, and political ills.

One of the most important groups in the social capital or pro-democracy movement, according to Claude Ake, is the activist elements in civil society, which include the human rights lobby, minority rights groups, movements for the empowerment and participation of marginalized groups such as women and youth, students and labour the Church and the media.

The Opposition and their Performance of Electoral Power in Cameroon (1992 – 2007)

By George Ngwane

Introduction
The return to multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990 was met with reluctance and resistance by the regime. Triggered by the events of 26th May 1990, that led to the defiant launching of an Opposition party (Social Democratic Front – SDF), multipartyism and eventually Opposition parties became institutionalized following the Law of Association of 19th December 1990 (Law No. 90/056).

In spite of this reform to accommodate multipartyism, the main kernel of democratic transition to put enabling structures in place evaded the political establishment in Cameroon.

Youths and Democracy in Africa

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

This article originally appeared as a three-part serial essay in Eden Newspaper (February 7th,13th and 15th, 2007)

Part :  A Biographic Data of Youth Governance

Preamble
Language experts, psychologists and political observers would want to give the word ‘youth’ an elastic definition of. ‘Youth is a state of mind’. It is indeed such a blanket definition that has motivated political Methuselahs to stay in power in Africa even after their political menopause.

A memorandum on Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon

Submitted bythe Committee for the Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon

• "So far party – centered elections have only favoured an old generation that has monopolized the political arena in Cameroon. Independent candidature would therefore provide the young generation with the opportunity of bringing a new vision and fresh agenda to the body-politic of our country. Indeed Independent candidature is now regarded as an antidote to gerontocratic politics and a rite of passage to generational democracy."