The Board Chairman of Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, Dr Fonkam Azu’u has described the voter registration situation in the North West Region that now stands at over 142,000 newly registered and over 270,000 from old lists as ‘satisfactory’ while acknowledging that the situation could be better. He was speaking in Bamenda recently after sizing up voter registration activities in Mezam and Momo Divisions recently.

The visiting ELECAM Chairman announced a regional tour during which he will visit all divisional structures and some council areas with problems. Dr Fonkam Azu’u also saluted the concern of the United States government to improve the electoral process in Cameroon, disclosing that the US Ambassador to Cameroon paid him a courtesy call on May 18 to find out the level of registration of voters for this year’s presidential elections. He said it was during the visit that the Ambassador indicated the willingness of his government to train Cameroon’s civil society organisations to the tune of about FCFCA 800 million to improve registration of voters, follow up and protect votes cast.

He however stressed that the role of political stakeholders and the civil society is to sensitise, while ELECAM takes charge of the registration. It was against this backdrop that he said registration is personal. He challenged political parties that claim to register people to stop doing so because registration and distribution of electoral cards is the job of ELECAM field staff or the commission. Dr. Fonkam Azu’u advised doubting Thomas’s “to judge ELECAM on the things we do and not on what is expected or on what they think we should do.” As at May 25, 2011, Boyo Division had 12,023 newly registered and 32,629 on old lists; Bui, 28,600 (new) and 59,688 (old), Donga Mantung 19,616 (new) and 80,858 (old), Menchum 12,511 (new) and 16,614 (old), Mezam 44,509 (new) and 40,781 (old), Momo 10,051 (new) and 21,867 (old) and Ngoketunjia 15,397 (new) and 18,178 (old).