The untold story of the leading opposition party was the subject of the book launched yesterday in Bamenda.
“SDF at 25 championing the cause of Democracy and Good Governance” is the title of the 340-page book launched to immortalise 25 years of SDF’s struggle to propel Cameroon to a bright democratic future. National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, featured in the foreword that captures the party’s journey to bring freedom, liberty and justice in Cameroon. The book encapsulates the trials, torments and tribulations of the SDF with pages that resonate with resilience and the resoluteness that have characterised the party’s 25-year journey.
Prologued by Rev. Fr. Humphrey Tatah Mbuy and published by Presprint, Limbe, the book carries an introduction by Martin Fon Yembe, which features future challenges that must be scaled and odds that must be conquered to ensure SDF’s ultimate goal to ensure that democratisation becomes a reality in Cameroon. The book carries historic documents and could be summed up as a legacy of the present generation to posterity with Chairman, Fru Ndi, convinced that sunshine now beckons.
Organised into parts and chapters; the book handles the years that SDF gathered the storm from conception to launching, from discussion group to a political party, the watershed era and traces the genesis of the party’s hunting dogs, Vanguards, Rexes and the emergence of the pioneer leaders. The path to “Civil disobedience”, the boycott of the 1992 legislative elections, attacks and justifications for boycott of the Yaounde Tripartite, the build up to the October 1992 Presidential election, the coalitions from ARS- CNS to the Union for Change and the state of emergency feature prominently in the book. Part III handles SDF’s participation in State institutions (Council, Parliament) and its role in exposing corruption in the National Assembly as well as the fight for a good electoral system. Policy Publications and human rights stories are part of the book with revelations that SDF youths have been the greatest casualties of the struggle for democracy. Documentation and Publicity Committee members of the SDF Silver Jubilee, Hon. Joseph Mbah Ndam, Martin Fon Yembe and Wache Francis told Cameroon Tribune that the book is a veritable legacy. It also carries opinions and views.
