The assurances were given on Tuesday 17 October 2023 during a press conference at the party’s regional headquarters in Yaoundé Olézoa.

The Social Democratic Front says the party is 90% ready for the congress to be held on 27 and 28 October at the Yaounde multipurpose complex. These are the words of the party’s general secretary, Adeline Lord Djomgang, and the president of the congress organising committee, Donatus Njong. At a press conference, the two reassured national and international opinion. The congress will take place in a week’s time.

The congress will bring together 2,400 delegates from the party’s constituencies. As it is elective, the delegates will elect the party’s new national leader. Three candidates have been shortlisted for the post: Joshua Osih from the Littoral, Goddon Zama from the South West and Shewa Jestel from the North West are the three contenders, according to the list of candidates released yesterday by the National Investiture Commission. They have each paid a deposit of CFAF 7 million to succeed the founding president, Ni John Fru Ndi, who died on 12 June 2023.

There are three candidates for the post of first vice-president. Njong Donatius from the North-West, Senator Mochiggle Vanigansen from the Centre and Paul Haman from Adamaoua are all vying to take over from the MP Joshua Osih, the current first vice-president and interim national president. Langsi Abel is the only candidate for the post of national treasurer. The list, signed on 5 October, includes all the candidates selected for the 50 posts to be filled on the national executive committee.

The meetings on 27 and 28 October will be held in a spirit of unity and a call for the revitalisation of the Libra Party. The party was the leading opposition party in Cameroon from the 1990s until 2018. The slogan ‘Together transformed and more determined’ will guide the work ahead. They could take place without the participation or presence of the G27+, the thirty or so activists and leaders who were expelled from the party a few months ago.