Dakolé Daïssala

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Dakole Daïssala (born April 15, 1943[1][2]) is a Cameroonian politician and the President of the Movement for the Defense of the Republic (MDR) political party.[1][3]

Daïssala is a Kirdi[4] and was born in Goundye (Kaélé) in the Far North Province of Cameroon.[1][2] In 1967, he became first deputy prefect in Ngaoundéré; subsequently, he was Deputy Director of General Administration at the Ministry of Finance from 1969 to 1970 and Director of Transport from 1970 to 1973. He served as Deputy Director-General of the Cameroon Urban Transport Authority (Société de Transports Urbains du Cameroun, SOTUC) from 1973 to 1975, and then as Director-General of SOTUC from 1975 until 1984.[1]

Daïssala was arrested following the failed April 1984 coup attempt against President Paul Biya.[4] After spending seven years in prison[5][6][7] without ever being tried or even charged,[6] he was released in 1991.[5][6] He wrote a book about his experience in prison called Libre derrière les barreaux (Free Behind Bars).[7]

Once released, he founded the Movement for the Defense of the Republic (MDR),[5] an opposition party.[6] The MDR won six seats in the National Assembly in the March 1992 parliamentary election[8][9] (all of them in the Far North Province[9]) and afterwards it allied with the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC); the two parties thus constituted a parliamentary majority with 94 out of 180 seats.[8][9] Daïssala was appointed to the government as Minister of State for Posts and Telecommunications,[10][11] along with four other members of the MDR,[12] on April 9, 1992.[11]

He remained Minister of State for Posts and Telecommunications until he left the government on December 7, 1997[11] to serve as a deputy in the National Assembly.[13] He was elected from the Mayo-Kani South constituency in Far North Province and was the MDR's only deputy in the National Assembly at the time,[14] serving from 1997 to 2002.[1][2] In May 1998, he was barred from leaving the country[15][16] to travel to France for a private visit and his passport was withdrawn.[15] He described this as a violation of human rights.[16] He was subsequently said to have regained his passport and was able to travel again.[15]

Daïssala supported Biya in the October 2004 presidential election,[17] and subsequently, after seven years out of the government, he was appointed Minister of Transport in the government named on December 8, 2004.[11][17] The MDR failed to win any National Assembly seats in the July 2007 parliamentary election,[3] and Daïssala, who stood as a candidate, was defeated in Mayo-Kani South constituency;[18] the MDR list there lost with 48.67% of the vote against 51.33% for the RDPC.[19] Although Daïssala said that he was willing to stay in the government regardless,[3] he was excluded from it in the cabinet reshuffle of September 7, 2007. In addition to the dwindling of the MDR's support, another factor in Daïssala's dismissal was thought to be his lackluster response to the crash of Kenya Airways Flight 507 at Douala in May 2007;[3][20] he had been criticized for inactivity following the crash and failing to visit the crash site.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Fiche sur les nouveaux minitres", camerounlink.net, December 10, 2004 (French).
  2. ^ a b c Page on Daïssala at Ministry of Communications website, accessed October 24, 2007 (French).
  3. ^ a b c d Kini Nsom and Nformi Sonde Kinsai, "Cameroon: Despite Cabinet Reshuffle Northerners Still Gun for Inoni's Job", The Post, Buea (allAfrica.com), September 13, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Piet Konings, "The Post-Colonial State and Economic and Political Reforms in Cameroon", Liberalization in the Developing World (1996), ed. Alex E. Fernández Jilberto and André Mommen, Routledge, page 260.
  5. ^ a b c Jean-Pascal Daloz and Patrick Quantin, Transitions démocratiques africaines: dynamiques et contraintes (1990-1994) (1997), Karthala Editions, pages 119–120 (French).
  6. ^ a b c d George B. N. Ayittey, Africa in Chaos (1999), Palgrave Macmillan, page 174.
  7. ^ a b c Brice R. Mbodiam, "Dakolé Daïssala: Le ministre… crash sur Kenya Airways", Mutations (Cameroon-info.net), May 11, 2007 (French).
  8. ^ a b Victor Julius Ngoh, "Biya and the Transition to Democracy", The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya (2004), ed. John Mukum Mbaku and Joseph Takougang, page 444.
  9. ^ a b c Joseph Takougang, "Cameroon: Biya and Incremental Reform", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, page 171.
  10. ^ Joseph Takougang, "Cameroon: Biya and Incremental Reform", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, page 171.
  11. ^ a b c d Page on Daïssala at Cameroonian government website (French).
  12. ^ Alan John Day, Political Parties of the World, fifth edition (2002), page 82.
  13. ^ "Dakole Daïssala, l’homosexualité, la corruption, ce que je pense !", Cameroon Online, March 16, 2006 (French).
  14. ^ 1997 election results.
  15. ^ a b c "U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 1998 - Cameroon", UNHCR.org.
  16. ^ a b "Cameroon: Dropped ministers banned from leaving country", Radio France Internationale (nl.newsbank.com), May 23, 1997.
  17. ^ a b "Au – delà des slogans sur la prévention et la sécurisation routière", Le Messager, Journal N° 1775, December 14, 2004 (French).
  18. ^ Jackson Njiké, "Légitimité: Ces ministres qui se sont frottés aux urnes", Repères (Cameroon-info.net), July 25, 2007 (French).
  19. ^ "Legislatives 2007: Les résultats de la Cour suprême", Mutations (Cameroon-info.net), August 13, 2007 (French).
  20. ^ "Les surprises du chef", Jeuneafrique.com, September 16, 2007 (French).