By Gbenga Abulude
Camerounian President Paul Biya who has held on to power for 38 years has announced the country will hold its first regional elections this year.
The regional elections include two western regions, in the middle of an uprising by the anglophone minority.
The indirect elections holding on December 6 in the 10 regions of the country, will put in place councils which the 1996 constitution made provisions for in a move towards decentralisation.
The regions will elect 90 councillors, who will have limited powers on local issues. Twenty of them will be representatives of traditional chieftains.
These councils will also be elected in the two western regions where a nearly three-year-old insurgency has left 3,000 persons dead.
The two restive anglophone regions are home to a large minority of English speakers in a country where French-speaking citizens are the overwhelming majority, a product of the legacy of the decolonisation of western Africa by France and Britain more than six decades ago.
The years of resentment at perceived discrimination against anglophones led to the declaration on October 1, 2017, of the self-described Republic of Ambazonia in the two regions, which triggered a crackdown by the authorities.
Biya, who is 87 years, has been in power for nearly four decades and has promised these two regions a special status in a bid to quell the unrest.
Opposition leader, Mr John Fru Ndi, has said he will boycott the election unless there is a ceasefire first in the English-speaking regions.
