Cases Of Indiscipline : Political Parties Take Corrective Measures

The Ad hoc Disciplinary Committee of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) is meeting in Yaounde since Monday, August 24, 2020 to rule on 87 cases of indiscipline. The committee will wrap off work on August 30, 2020 with verdicts passed on party members and officials who violated decisions of hierarchy during the twin legislative and municipal council elections of February 9, 2020, specifically the instructions designating the candidates for the posts of mayors. Anti-party slogans and statements over the media equally fall under the charges for which the summoned members are facing the disciplinary committee.
The handling of cases of indiscipline by the ruling CPDM is just a tip of the iceberg on the functioning of political parties in the country as each member must abide by the rules and regulations.  
A political party such as the Social Democratic Front (SDF) has gone on records in Cameroon’s political history as one in which indiscipline is not tolerated even if it concerns the top brass of the party. The famous Article 8 (2) of the SDF constitution that concerns sanctions on violators of party texts and instructions is known by almost every keen political observer in the country since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1990. There has been cases of outright dismissals from the party, while many sanctioned officials have also resigned.
In many situations, sanctions against cases of indiscipline in many political parties have fractionalised and further weakened them. The National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) suffered this in the 1990s. The Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) and SDF have suffered from fragmentation due to cases of indiscipline. Some key officials who fail to succumb to the decisions of hierarchy have withdrawn from the parties and created their own political parties whose main opponents are the mother parties.
Each political party has its own internal mechanisms of handling cases of indiscipline. Some of the decisions are made public through press briefings, p...