The headlines are dominated lately by the outbursts of the governors of the Centre and Littoral Regions who have signed two decrees banning undeclared public meetings and public demonstrations and the intervention of the Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr. Atanga Nji who in a fax message addressed to the administrative authorities to "put in place [a] monitoring system for all activists and supporters [of the said] political party", reminding them that "it is understood that unauthorized demonstrations remain prohibited" and that they must proceed to the arrest, detention and administrative custody of offenders who exceed the said prohibitions.

While in the first case the prohibition by the governors of unauthorised meetings and demonstrations is highly questionable, in the second case the intention of the Minister of Territorial Administration to restrict the freedom of public meetings and demonstrations is evident when he speaks of unauthorised demonstrations even though they are placed under the regime of declarations.

Some people who defend the spirit and the letter of the Message-Fax of the Minister of Territorial Administration invoke the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states in Article 21 that "The right of peaceful assembly is guaranteed. The exercise of this right shall be subject only to such restrictions as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, or for the protection of public health or morals or of the freedoms of others". In an attempt to swallow the view that even conventions provide a framework for public meetings and demonstrations that are not free in absolute terms.

PRESS RELEASE

The governor of the Littoral region has just taken a decision to ban all undeclared public meetings and demonstrations in the Littoral region.

This freedom-destroying, anti-democratic and unconstitutional decision betrays in reality the extreme agitation that has irreversibly seized the Yaounde regime and its regional outgrowths on the eve of the Grand Soir.

Mr. Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua had better adopt the Preamble of the Constitution as well as the laws of December 1990 on public liberties which enshrine the right to demonstrate.

From 23 August to 13 September 2020 the local section of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), a Cameroonian political party led by Chairman John Fru Ndi, organised for the third time a football holiday championship called "Ngoulemakong SDF Holiday Championship". The town of Ngoulemakong is a commune in Cameroon of about 20,000 inhabitants located in the department of Mvila, in the South Region. SDFCAMEROON.ORG had the privilege of asking 3 questions to President Félix Gildas Mbida Belinga.

SDFCAMEROON.ORG : Good Morning Mr. Felix Gildas MBIDA BELINGA, thank you for granting this interview to sdfcameroon.org. You are the President of the SDF Electoral District of Ngoulemakong. You are organizing from August 23 to September 13, 2020 the 3rd edition of the SDF Holiday Championship of Ngoulemakong. Could you briefly present this sporting activity? Are things going as planned after the first 10 days?

Félix Gildas Mbida Belinga (FGMB) : Hello Mr Oumarou, thank you for your interest in our championship. You forgot to mention that I am also a member of the National Executive Committee of the SDF. The SDf is doing very well in Ngoulemakong despite the intimidation of the regime in place.

I can tell you that the championship is going well at the moment. I can tell you that before organizing this championship, we made sure that we are in compliance with the legal regulations. Why ? Because we were able to obtain an authorization from the delegate of physical and sports activities of our district, we obtained a receipt of declaration of activities signed by the administrative authority which is the sous-préfet. So we are fully complying with the legal rules.

What are our motivations? Our motivations are to attract all the young people from the region to join the SDF, to set up committees in the 58 villages that constitute our district. In order to do this, we have to be present on the ground, we have to organize events that can attract young people; I must tell you here that doing politics in the opposition is very complicated...Young people are intimidated, if you visit the field you don't see young people, but when you organize an event that can attract them, you see them coming. Right now more than 500 young people from all the villages are gathered together to see, watch the different matches are on the fields. So here are some of our motivations.

The deteriorating socio-political and institutional situation currently prevailing in Cameroon is, and remains, a major concern for the Social Democratic Front (SDF). Finding a comprehensive and acceptable solution to the series of crises shaking the country remains the party's top priority.

There is visible agitation within the government in favour of holding regional elections as one of the possible solutions to the devolution of power in the context of the decentralization process, which is a clear failure. For 24 years, the government has been unable to deploy this system, simply because it refuses to activate the minimum requirements. Decentralization fails to meet our current challenges, which are constantly evolving on a daily basis. Any action taken by the regime to forcefully implement this now obsolete system is an act of bad faith and can only aggravate an already complicated situation.

Since its creation, the position of the SDF on federalism has been unequivocal.