There was great surprise when Cameroon’s electoral commission announced the 12 candidates for the October 12 presidential election. For the third time in Cameroon’s political history, one of the contenders running for the highest office in the country is a woman.
The fact that Tomaino Hermine Patricia Ndam Njoya was even allowed to run is remarkable, given that the initial list comprised over 80 candidates in Cameroon. Kah Walla, who made history as Cameroon’s first female presidential candidate in 2011, did not succeed in defeating President Paul Biya. Neither did Esther Dang, who also ran in 2011.
But this time, the chances of a future female president are looking better than ever. This is not only because Africa has more female politicians, ministers and presidents.
With the adoption of the first Women’s Convention in 2021, more than 81 women’s organizations nationwide have gained influence that would have been unthinkable in previous elections.
In this Central African country, equality before the law prevails. Women make up over half of the population. But standing alongside 11 male presidential candidates is still a rarity.
The mayor with presidential ambition
Tomaino Ndam Njoya is not new to active politics. She is the mayor of Foumban and chairwoman of the Democratic Union for Cameroon (UDC).
The 56-year-old politician’s election campaign slogan is: “Freedom. Justice. Progress.”
Cameroon is at a “crossroads,” Ndam Njoya told DW. “It is clearly a matter of the sovereign people leading the Republic of Cameroon, which has been weakened and threatened by long-term chaotic governance, into a new era that we all deserve,” she added.
She is not fazed by the fact that few people believe she stands a chance. She intends to fight until election day. Traveling across the country, campaigning on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, she is using all channels to draw attention to herself.
In doing so, she has to put up with some disparaging remarks. Her male competitors refer to her as “the wife of her late husband.” The fact is that in 2021, she took over the chairmanship of the UDC from her deceased husband, Adamou Ndam Njoya, a prominent opposition figure, who was Cameroon’s Minister of Education in the late 1970s and also served as mayor of Foumban for many years. Adamou Ndam Njoya ran for president in 1992, 2004 and 2011, but he lost to Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for four decades. The 92-year-old president is seeking an eighth term in office.
Courting votes in the diaspora
Ndam Njoya has set herself ambitious goals. In the run-up to the elections, she visited the diaspora in Germany, Italy and France to encourage them to vote. Unlike the Cameroonian diaspora in France, the Cameroonian community in Germany largely supports Biya’s CPDM party.
To convince them to support her candidacy, Ndam Njoya met with Joy Alemazung, the Cameroonian-born mayor of the German municipality of Heubach, Cameroonian-born SPD member of parliament Steven Kommogne, and other Cameroonians.
But that wasn’t her only European stop. In September, she spoke about the urgency of peace and solidarity at the annual meeting of the World Brotherhood in Rome. Pope Leo was present during her speech.
Shortly afterwards, in Gabon, she outlined her ideas for better neighborly relations on both sides of the Cameroonian conflict. The Anglophone crisis in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions has been raging since 2016. In addition, Cameroon has also been a target of Islamist insurgency, particularly on its northern border.
As a member of parliament, she was a member of the Forum of Women in Africa and Spain for a Better World and a member of the African Parliamentary Union.
The fact that, despite her extensive contacts, she has chosen not to pursue an international career but to fight for the future of her country has also earned her the goodwill of other opposition politicians.
Endorsements from former presidential candidates
A dozen former presidential candidates who failed in their bid in July have thrown their support behind her.
Among them is Shewa David Damuel, an entrepreneur nominated by the Patriotic Movement for a New Cameroon (MPCN) and a former member of the Social Democratic Party (SDF). “The opposition must work together,” he told DW. “Cameroon is at a crossroads. The opposition is divided; it is weak, so we must stand behind Ndam Njoya.”
Just like Tanzania, Liberia, Malawi and Namibia, Cameroon could also join the growing number of African countries led by women.
And Ndam Njoya has big plans. She wants to fulfill her husband’s goals of uniting Cameroon as a federal state and end the Anglophone crisis. She also wants to combat youth unemployment and improve conditions for investment.
Her candidacy has also attracted attention in Germany because she advocates a rotation principle when it comes to the restitution of looted cultural assets. Ndam Njoya is convinced that Cameroonian cultural property and its colonial history must remain accessible to German museum visitors.
Unlike the sultan of the traditional Bamoun kingdom, who wants to bring back the throne of Foumban, which has been kept in Berlin since 1907, to the sultan’s new museum, Ndam Njoya is fighting to ensure that the rare cultural artefact becomes a property of the people.
This article was originally written in German
