Photo credit: Al Jazeera
The Republic of Cameroon is governed by 92-year-old Paul Biya.
The country had another election on Sunday. However, little ..if you like, describe it as less than little … has been heard about that election in which Mr Biya is also a contestant.
The traditional media and the ubiquitous social media has been quiet except for a few posts that were made some 10 hours ago about the election.
However, using ChatGPT I was able to establish some facts.
Polling has ended and vote-counting is going on.
According to Cameroon’s electoral code, the Constitutional Council must announce the official results within 15 days of the election.
Social media and traditional news seem to be relatively quiet about the country’s election results for various reasons.
1 Journalists are required to have valid press cards and must be attached to officially recognized media.
2 Several media organizations have been suspended by state regulators in the lead-up to the election. There have also been physical attacks, harassment, intimidation of publishers, journalists and media houses.
3 Government is controlling information and there have been warnings against parallel announcement of results while authorities have imposed bans or restrictions against political debates in audiovisual media during the campaign.
4 Disinformation and fear of unrest
5 Suppression/exclusion of opposition
6 Delays in official counting
It is interesting that the Swiss-based daughter of Mr Biya has campaigned against him. But the video has been deleted.
Most people expect Biya to win.
What comes to my mind is, how can we expect people to respect Africa?
