After ban on convention: Security forces lay siege on Kamto’s residence, MRC headquarters.

The security position in place for days followed a decision of the Divisional Officer, DO, of Yaounde IV banning an extraordinary convention of the party which had been planned for Saturday, November 29. 

The convention had been scheduled to ease the re-election Prof Kamto as leader of the MRC. Kamto resigned from the MRC in the build up to the October 12, 2025, presidential election and joined the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy, MANIDEM. Yet his quest to run in the election under the said party failed.

The administration banned the convention citing threats to public peace and order. Two days to the abortive gathering, MRC officials raised an alarm of an unusual presence of security forces around Kamto’s compound.

The disposition is said to have been intensified on Saturday with reports indicating that the uniformed officers around the home of the former minister were still in place. Kamto, we gathered, could not leave his house to the convention venue on Saturday.

In addition to Kamto’s home, the MRC headquarters in Odza remained under lock and key with officers restricting access. 

After failing to hold the convention, pockets of MRC supporters are reported to have been spotted in certain spots in Yaounde chanting and accusing the regime in place of trying to frustrate the party.

Some of the supporters are said to have lamented that the regime labels the MRC as a ‘small party’ but is always jittery about its activities.

In a release on November 29, the MRC decried the heightened security presence around Kamto’s home labelling the development as “political intimidation”. 

The party had also argued that the moves are contrary to the provisions of the country’s constitution, inviting the civil society and international community to condemn the act.

“They are accusing us of fabricating Tchiroma”

In an exchange with journalists Saturday, November 29 outside the besieged MRC headquarters, Albert Dzongang, Special Adviser to Prof Kamto, said the MRC is being punished for supporting Tchiroma in the October 12 presidential election.

He decaled among other things declared that: “I approached the authorities at the highest level to find out what we are being accused of. I was told…straight in the eye, that we were the ones who created Tchiroma”. 

He insisted that the party only asked Cameroonians to vote any candidate of their choice that could bring change except Paul Biya.

Dzongang said the MRC is not surprised with what he termed “flattering harassment”. He said in democracy, it is only in Cameroon that the winner doesn’t spare the loser. 

He added that: “…I think what is happening here is instructive, and it shows that those in power are nervous. I would like to stick to simple logic: our convention is banned on the grounds that a former MRC member allegedly told the police that he was going to cause trouble”.

Context

At the heart of the latest clash between the MRC, Prof Kamto and the administration on one hand is Dr Okala Ebude, who until recently was the deputy treasurer of the party. 

He was expelled from the MRC by the party’s national directorate under circumstances that have provoked varied reaction.

The DO of Yaounde IV wrote in the decision banning the convention that Dr Okala had petitioned the MRC meeting, threatening that the unknown could happen if the convention went ahead. 

The Guardian Post gathered that Dr Okala was believed to have been among those who were pushing for the search of a new leader for the MRC other than Kamto.

Dr Okala is said to have argued on grounds that the party’s statutes requires that for anyone to run for the office of its top job, he/she must have militated for at least three uninterrupted years. 

The same statutes are also said to have reserved the position of MRC national president to founding members of the party.

Kamto’s brief resignation to seek for a presidential election participation on the ticket of MANIDEM is what has left the MRC divided. 

Dr Okala and those reasoning along the same line are said to have argued that Kamto’s brief resignation from the party already eliminates him from standing as candidate at the now banned convention.

Kamto had announced during a presser in Yaounde on July 19 this year that he resigned from the MRC and submitted his resignation letter to the party officials on June 25, 2025. 

He dumped MANIDEM in September this year after the constitutional council rejected his bid to contest the presidential election.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3643 of Tuesday December 02, 2025