In Cameroon, elected mayors have taken the lead in Yaoundé and Douala

Monument of the reunification of Cameroon, in Yaoundé. Wikimedia / Z.NGNOGUE

Text by: RFI Follow

Exit the government delegates appointed at the head of major Cameroonian cities and now places elected mayors. This is the case for Yaoundé and Douala, among others, whose very first mayors took office on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 March. This at the end of electoral processes particularly supervised by the CPDM, the ruling party from which they come.

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With our correspondent in Cameroon, Polycarpe Essomba

Luc Messi Atangana in Yaoundé and Victor Roger Mbassa Ndine in Douala, these are the names of the first two elected mayors of the two largest cities in Cameroon.

Historic turning point

Their advent marks a historic turning point in the administration of Cameroonian cities known as " special regimes ", which until then have been under the authority of government delegates appointed by the President of the Republic.

This is, in any case, the intention of the new law recently adopted on the management of decentralized local authorities .

Put to the test of the facts, the Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (CPDM) , from which these personalities come, did everything to replace the presidential decree used so far in Yaoundé as in Douala. The ruling party, the majority in the executives of these two big cities, literally dictated the choice of these new idylls.

A formality

Thus, the choice of Luc Messi Atangana as mayor of Yaoundé was only a formality: the party's instructions were followed to the letter.

In Douala, on the other hand, parturition was more difficult. Opponents of Victor Roger Mbassa Ndine, mostly from the CPDM, also animated an internal sling there which forced a postponement of the poll for 24 hours. But in the end, the will of the CPDM central committee ended up prevailing in the name of party discipline.

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  • Cameroon
  • Paul Biya

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