A political rally intended to galvanize support for the ruling CPDM party has backfired, forcing a prominent senator and traditional ruler into a public apology after he declared that workers who received their long-overdue salaries but fail to vote for the ruling party are “thieves.”
The controversy has its roots in Limbe on Tuesday, where Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, during a working visit to the South West Region, officially launched the payment of salary arrears to workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC). The workers had endured over two years of unpaid wages, making the disbursement a moment of significant relief.
The very next day, Wednesday, October 8, the political machinery moved to Kumba. A major CPDM rally, featuring the Prime Minister as the star campaigner, sought to capitalize on the goodwill generated by the salary payments.
It was after this rally, in a post-event interview, that Senator Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko, the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaw tribe in Kumba and a prominent CPDM stalwart, made the provocative statement. The traditional leader issued a stark ultimatum linking the state’s payment of owed salaries to electoral support.
“Let me be clear,” he declared. “Any CDC worker who receives this payment and then goes to the polls on October 12 and does not vote for the CPDM, that person is a thief.”
The remark, captured on video and widely shared on social media, ignited an immediate firestorm of criticism. Many Cameroonians condemned it as overtly coercive, oppressive, and a blatant violation of the principles of democratic choice.
“How can a father, a Fon who is supposed to be for all his people, say such a thing?” asked one CDC worker who spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “They held our salaries for two years. Paying us what we are owed is not a gift; it is our right. Now they want to use it to buy our votes and call us thieves if we refuse? It is an insult.”
Public pressure mounted throughout Thursday, with civil society groups and opposition parties decrying the comment as an act of intimidation that exposed the ruling party’s tactics. The senator, who benefits directly from the government, was accused of abandoning his neutral, patriarchal role for crass partisan politics.
Faced with the escalating backlash, Senator Nfon Mukete IV was forced into a dramatic climbdown. In a statement released late Thursday titled “Clarification and Reaffirmation of Democratic Values,” the traditional ruler sought to clear the air.
“It has come to my attention that a recent statement I made… has caused confusion, concern, and offense among members of the public,” the statement began, striking a contrite tone.
He acknowledged the constitutional right of every citizen “to vote according to their conscience, free from coercion or intimidation,” and stated that his earlier words “were unfortunate and do not reflect the spirit of unity, dignity, and democratic values that I have always sought to uphold.”
While maintaining that his intention was “to encourage civic participation,” he conceded that “the phrasing and tone of my remarks were inappropriate, and for that, I offer my sincere apologies.”
The incident has cast a harsh spotlight on the high-stakes pressure of the ongoing presidential campaign. For many observers, the swift sequence of events—payment in Limbe on Tuesday, rally in Kumba on Wednesday, and the subsequent controversial statement—reveals a calculated strategy that went awry.
“The initial threat revealed the true nature of the transaction: vote-buying under the guise of settling debts,” noted a political analyst in Buea. “The apology is not born of regret but of panic—a recognition that the public saw the mask slip. They know the people are not fooled.”
As Cameroonians prepare to head to the polls this Sunday, the episode in Kumba serves as a potent reminder that even in the face of pressure, the demand for dignity and the right to a free vote can force even the most powerful to take a step back.
