Bello Bouba Maigari
Encyclopedia
Bello Bouba Maigari is a Cameroon
ian politician. He was Prime Minister of Cameroon
from 6 November 1982 to 22 August 1983 and has been the National President of the National Union for Democracy and Progress
(UNDP) since January 1992. Although he was a key opposition leader for much of the 1990s, he has participated in the government since December 1997; he was Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development from 1997 to 2004, Minister of State for Post and Telecommunications from 2004 to 2009, and since 2009 he has been Minister of State for Transport.
of Cameroon. From 1972 to 1975, Bello Bouba was Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. He was appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency on June 30, 1975, serving in that position until January 1982 (with the rank of Minister from November 11, 1980). In the government named on January 7, 1982, he became Minister of State for the Economy and the Plan; later, when President Ahmadou Ahidjo
resigned in November 1982, Bello Bouba was named Prime Minister under the new President, Paul Biya
. Biya was said to have appointed Bello Bouba at the behest of Ahidjo; many thought that Ahidjo intended for Bello Bouba — a Muslim from the north, like himself, and unlike Biya — to be his ultimate successor and that Biya was intended to serve as essentially a caretaker president in the meantime. Ahidjo and Biya soon came into conflict with one another, however. Ahidjo went into exile, and on August 22, 1983, Biya publicly accused Ahidjo of plotting a coup; on the same occasion, he announced his dismissal of Bello Bouba as Prime Minister, replacing him with Luc Ayang
.
Ahidjo was tried in absentia for the 1983 coup plot and was sentenced to death by a tribunal on February 28, 1984; on that occasion, the tribunal proposed that others, including Bello Bouba, should also be placed on trial. However, Biya halted the legal proceedings against them. Bello Bouba went into exile in Nigeria
following the failed April 1984 coup attempt against Biya.
Bello Bouba announced the formation of a new party, the National Union for Democracy and Progress in Cameroon (UNDPC), in Paris
on May 25, 1990. After the party was legalized (as the UNDP) in March 1991, he returned to Cameroon on August 17, 1991. At the UNDP congress held in Garoua
on January 4–5, 1992, Bello Bouba became President of the UNDP, ousting the party's previous leader, Samuel Eboua. He was elected to the National Assembly
in the March 1992 parliamentary election
as a Deputy from Benoué.
Although a five-year residency requirement initially prevented Bello Bouba from running for President later in 1992, this was changed to one year; the change has been attributed to the desire of the French government to have Bello Bouba participate in the election. Bello Bouba placed third in the election, held on October 11, 1992, behind Biya and Social Democratic Front (SDF) candidate John Fru Ndi
, receiving 19.22% of the vote. In two provinces, Adamawa Province
and North Province, he won majorities: 64.04% in Adamawa Province and 50.42% in North Province. He and Fru Ndi disputed the official results which proclaimed Biya the winner and they unsuccessfully sought to have the election annulled by the Supreme Court due to alleged fraud. Biya appointed two UNDP leaders, Hamadou Moustapha
and Issa Tchiroma
, to the government in November 1992, apparently in an attempt to divide and weaken the UNDP. Bello Bouba strongly opposed the appointments, but despite their indiscipline the two were not immediately expelled from the party.
After Moustapha and Tchiroma again accepted positions in the government as part of a July 1994 cabinet reshuffle, Bello Bouba said on July 23, 1994 that this would mean the end of their membership in the UNDP. Subsequently, while visiting Maroua on July 30, 1994, Moustapha's car was attacked by people throwing stones at it. As a result, the car went off the road, with one person being killed and a number of others being injured. 28 UNDP members were arrested for the attack. The UNDP denied responsibility and blamed the government for the attack, saying that it was used as a pretext for a crackdown on the UNDP. Bello Bouba and the other UNDP deputies initiated a boycott of the National Assembly on November 8, 1994, in order to press for the release of the arrested UNDP militants; they ended their boycott a few weeks later, however.
Moustapha and Tchiroma challenged their removal from the party, but they were ultimately expelled by the UNDP Central Committee in January 1995. Following their expulsion, Moustapha and Tchiroma established their own "authentic" faction of the UNDP, rejecting Bello Bouba's leadership. This faction then became the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP), a new party featuring a slight alteration of the UNDP's name. Despite their creation of a new party, Moustapha and Tchiroma still legally contested Bello Bouba's leadership of the UNDP.
Although Bello Bouba was re-elected to the National Assembly in the May 1997 parliamentary election
, the UNDP performed poorly, losing many of its seats. The UNDP then participated in the opposition boycott of the October 1997 presidential election
; according to Bello Bouba, "there is absolutely no political will on the part of the ruling party to move towards peaceful development ... there is no universal suffrage in a country in which half of the voters are prevented from exercising their right to vote." Following the election, in which Biya faced no serious competition, Bello Bouba accepted an appointment to the government as Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development in December 1997. In taking the post, despite his strong opposition to Biya beforehand, he said that Biya wanted to include opposition leaders in the government, although he acknowledged that it appeared that Biya was doing so in hopes of isolating Fru Ndi.
In the 2002 parliamentary election
, Bello Bouba was again a UNDP candidate in Benoué West constituency, but this time he was defeated. The UNDP won only one seat in that election, and Bello Bouba described it as a "farce", alleging that low voter registration was used to rig the election in favor of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement
(RDPC); some party members, however, reportedly attributed the UNDP's poor performance to disapproval of Bello Bouba's cooperation with the RDPC in the government. Some party members wanted him to leave the government after the 2002 election and for the UNDP to join the broader opposition, but he chose to remain, despite dissent within the party. He supported Biya, the incumbent president, in the October 2004 presidential election
; he said that, although parties are created to win power, it is not necessary for them to participate in every election, and that the UNDP supported Biya for the sake of continued peace and economic growth. In the government named on December 8, 2004, he was moved from his position as Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development to that of Minister of State for Post and Telecommunications.
Bello Bouba was re-elected as UNDP President at a party congress in Bertoua
on January 20–21, 2007. Speaking on February 14, 2009, Bello Bouba defended his party's participation in the government, saying that its participation gave it the opportunity to directly work for the benefit of the country in a way that would not be possible if it merely criticized the government from the outside.
In mid-May 2009, it was announced that Bello Bouba would stand as the UNDP candidate in the 2011 presidential election
. Bello Bouba's ministerial portfolio was altered on June 30, 2009, when he was appointed as Minister of State for Transport. As a presidential candidate, Bello Bouba—who had a limited base of support that was largely confined to the north—was considered to have no serious chance of winning the 2011 election. It was thought that he would continue supporting President Biya, who was expected to stand for another term, and wanted to remain in the government.
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
ian politician. He was Prime Minister of Cameroon
Prime Minister of Cameroon
Under the current constitution of Cameroon, the Prime Minister of Cameroon is a relatively powerless executive. While the Prime Minister is officially appointed to be the head of government, the President retains most of the executive power and can fire the Prime Minister at will.-History:The...
from 6 November 1982 to 22 August 1983 and has been the National President of the National Union for Democracy and Progress
National Union for Democracy and Progress (Cameroon)
The National Union for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Cameroon, drawing its main support from the north of the country. It was established as an opposition party in the early 1990s and won the second largest number of seats in the 1992 parliamentary election...
(UNDP) since January 1992. Although he was a key opposition leader for much of the 1990s, he has participated in the government since December 1997; he was Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development from 1997 to 2004, Minister of State for Post and Telecommunications from 2004 to 2009, and since 2009 he has been Minister of State for Transport.
Biography
Bello Bouba was born in Baschéo, in Benoué Department in the North ProvinceNorth Province (Cameroon)
The North Region makes up 66,090 km² of the northern half of The Republic of Cameroon. Neighbouring territories include the Far North Region to the north, the Adamawa Region to the south, Nigeria to the west, Chad to the east, and Central African Republic to the southeast...
of Cameroon. From 1972 to 1975, Bello Bouba was Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. He was appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency on June 30, 1975, serving in that position until January 1982 (with the rank of Minister from November 11, 1980). In the government named on January 7, 1982, he became Minister of State for the Economy and the Plan; later, when President Ahmadou Ahidjo
Ahmadou Ahidjo
Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo was the first President of Cameroon from 1960 until 1982.-Early life:Ahidjo was born in Garoua, a major river port along the Benue River in northern Cameroun, which was at the time a French mandate territory...
resigned in November 1982, Bello Bouba was named Prime Minister under the new President, Paul Biya
Paul Biya
Paul Biya is a Cameroonian politician who has been the President of Cameroon since 6 November 1982. A native of Cameroon's south, Biya rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime...
. Biya was said to have appointed Bello Bouba at the behest of Ahidjo; many thought that Ahidjo intended for Bello Bouba — a Muslim from the north, like himself, and unlike Biya — to be his ultimate successor and that Biya was intended to serve as essentially a caretaker president in the meantime. Ahidjo and Biya soon came into conflict with one another, however. Ahidjo went into exile, and on August 22, 1983, Biya publicly accused Ahidjo of plotting a coup; on the same occasion, he announced his dismissal of Bello Bouba as Prime Minister, replacing him with Luc Ayang
Luc Ayang
Luc Ayang is a Cameroonian politician who served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1983 to 1984. He has been President of the Economic and Social Council of Cameroon since 1984.-Biography:...
.
Ahidjo was tried in absentia for the 1983 coup plot and was sentenced to death by a tribunal on February 28, 1984; on that occasion, the tribunal proposed that others, including Bello Bouba, should also be placed on trial. However, Biya halted the legal proceedings against them. Bello Bouba went into exile in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
following the failed April 1984 coup attempt against Biya.
Bello Bouba announced the formation of a new party, the National Union for Democracy and Progress in Cameroon (UNDPC), in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on May 25, 1990. After the party was legalized (as the UNDP) in March 1991, he returned to Cameroon on August 17, 1991. At the UNDP congress held in Garoua
Garoua
Garoua is the capital of the North Province of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. The city had 235,996 inhabitants at the 2005 Census, and is an important river port.- Overview :...
on January 4–5, 1992, Bello Bouba became President of the UNDP, ousting the party's previous leader, Samuel Eboua. He was elected to the National Assembly
National Assembly of Cameroon
The National Assembly is the parliament of Cameroon. It has 180 members, elected for five-year terms in 49 single and multi-seat constituencies....
in the March 1992 parliamentary election
Cameroonian parliamentary election, 1992
Parliamentary elections were held in Cameroon on 1 March 1992. They were first multi-party elections for the National Assembly since 1964, although they were boycotted by the Social Democratic Front and the Cameroon Democratic Union. The result was a victory for the ruling Cameroon People's...
as a Deputy from Benoué.
Although a five-year residency requirement initially prevented Bello Bouba from running for President later in 1992, this was changed to one year; the change has been attributed to the desire of the French government to have Bello Bouba participate in the election. Bello Bouba placed third in the election, held on October 11, 1992, behind Biya and Social Democratic Front (SDF) candidate John Fru Ndi
John Fru Ndi
Ni John Fru Ndi is the founder and leader of Cameroon's Social Democratic Front .Fru Ndi was born in Baba II, near Bamenda in the Northwest Province of Cameroon. The title of Ni, a marker of respect, was given to him when he was born...
, receiving 19.22% of the vote. In two provinces, Adamawa Province
Adamawa Province
The Adamawa Region is a constituent region of the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the Centre and East regions to the south, the Northwest and West regions to the southwest, Nigeria to the west, the Central African Republic to the east, and the North Region to the north.This mountainous area...
and North Province, he won majorities: 64.04% in Adamawa Province and 50.42% in North Province. He and Fru Ndi disputed the official results which proclaimed Biya the winner and they unsuccessfully sought to have the election annulled by the Supreme Court due to alleged fraud. Biya appointed two UNDP leaders, Hamadou Moustapha
Hamadou Moustapha
Hamadou Moustapha is a Cameroonian politician, currently serving as Minister in Charge of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon. He served in the government from 1975 to 1983, again from 1992 to 1997, and he has held his current position at the Presidency since December 2004...
and Issa Tchiroma
Issa Tchiroma
Issa Tchiroma Bakary is a Cameroonian politician who served in the government of Cameroon as Minister of Transport from 1992 to 1996 and has been Minister of Communication since 2009...
, to the government in November 1992, apparently in an attempt to divide and weaken the UNDP. Bello Bouba strongly opposed the appointments, but despite their indiscipline the two were not immediately expelled from the party.
After Moustapha and Tchiroma again accepted positions in the government as part of a July 1994 cabinet reshuffle, Bello Bouba said on July 23, 1994 that this would mean the end of their membership in the UNDP. Subsequently, while visiting Maroua on July 30, 1994, Moustapha's car was attacked by people throwing stones at it. As a result, the car went off the road, with one person being killed and a number of others being injured. 28 UNDP members were arrested for the attack. The UNDP denied responsibility and blamed the government for the attack, saying that it was used as a pretext for a crackdown on the UNDP. Bello Bouba and the other UNDP deputies initiated a boycott of the National Assembly on November 8, 1994, in order to press for the release of the arrested UNDP militants; they ended their boycott a few weeks later, however.
Moustapha and Tchiroma challenged their removal from the party, but they were ultimately expelled by the UNDP Central Committee in January 1995. Following their expulsion, Moustapha and Tchiroma established their own "authentic" faction of the UNDP, rejecting Bello Bouba's leadership. This faction then became the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP), a new party featuring a slight alteration of the UNDP's name. Despite their creation of a new party, Moustapha and Tchiroma still legally contested Bello Bouba's leadership of the UNDP.
Although Bello Bouba was re-elected to the National Assembly in the May 1997 parliamentary election
Cameroonian parliamentary election, 1997
Parliamentary elections were held in Cameroon on 17 May 1997. The result was a victory for the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, which won 116 of the 180 seats, including seven constituencies in which the result had originally been cancelled by the Supreme Court due to serious...
, the UNDP performed poorly, losing many of its seats. The UNDP then participated in the opposition boycott of the October 1997 presidential election
Cameroonian presidential election, 1997
Presidential elections were held in Cameroon on 12 October 1997. They were boycotted by the main opposition parties, the Social Democratic Front, the National Union for Democracy and Progress, and the Cameroon Democratic Union, as well as the smaller African Peoples Union. As a result incumbent...
; according to Bello Bouba, "there is absolutely no political will on the part of the ruling party to move towards peaceful development ... there is no universal suffrage in a country in which half of the voters are prevented from exercising their right to vote." Following the election, in which Biya faced no serious competition, Bello Bouba accepted an appointment to the government as Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development in December 1997. In taking the post, despite his strong opposition to Biya beforehand, he said that Biya wanted to include opposition leaders in the government, although he acknowledged that it appeared that Biya was doing so in hopes of isolating Fru Ndi.
In the 2002 parliamentary election
Cameroonian parliamentary election, 2002
Parliamentary elections were held in Cameroon on 30 June 2002. The result was a victory for the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, which won 149 of the 180 seats. In 17 constituencies the result was cancelled by the Supreme Court due to irregularities and the election re-run on 15...
, Bello Bouba was again a UNDP candidate in Benoué West constituency, but this time he was defeated. The UNDP won only one seat in that election, and Bello Bouba described it as a "farce", alleging that low voter registration was used to rig the election in favor of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement
Cameroon People's Democratic Movement
The Cameroon People's Democratic Movement is the ruling political party in Cameroon.-History:Previously known as the Cameroon National Union, which had dominated Cameroon politics since independence in 1960, it was renamed in 1985...
(RDPC); some party members, however, reportedly attributed the UNDP's poor performance to disapproval of Bello Bouba's cooperation with the RDPC in the government. Some party members wanted him to leave the government after the 2002 election and for the UNDP to join the broader opposition, but he chose to remain, despite dissent within the party. He supported Biya, the incumbent president, in the October 2004 presidential election
Cameroonian presidential election, 2004
The 2004 Cameroonian presidential election took place in Cameroon on 11 October 2004. Incumbent President Paul Biya was easily re-elected in an election which the opposition claimed had seen widespread electoral fraud.-Background:...
; he said that, although parties are created to win power, it is not necessary for them to participate in every election, and that the UNDP supported Biya for the sake of continued peace and economic growth. In the government named on December 8, 2004, he was moved from his position as Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development to that of Minister of State for Post and Telecommunications.
Bello Bouba was re-elected as UNDP President at a party congress in Bertoua
Bertoua
Bertoua is the capital of the Eastern Province of Cameroon and has a population of 88,462 . It is home to an airport and Mission Cameroon of Polish Dominican Order.-External links:*...
on January 20–21, 2007. Speaking on February 14, 2009, Bello Bouba defended his party's participation in the government, saying that its participation gave it the opportunity to directly work for the benefit of the country in a way that would not be possible if it merely criticized the government from the outside.
In mid-May 2009, it was announced that Bello Bouba would stand as the UNDP candidate in the 2011 presidential election
Cameroonian presidential election, 2011
A presidential election was held in Cameroon on 9 October 2011. President Paul Biya stood for another term; he was able to do so due to a constitutional amendment, passed in 2008, that eliminated term limits...
. Bello Bouba's ministerial portfolio was altered on June 30, 2009, when he was appointed as Minister of State for Transport. As a presidential candidate, Bello Bouba—who had a limited base of support that was largely confined to the north—was considered to have no serious chance of winning the 2011 election. It was thought that he would continue supporting President Biya, who was expected to stand for another term, and wanted to remain in the government.