Political Parties : Carpet Crossing Commonplace

Political parties by their definition and activities, are essential institutions of democracy. Thus, they contribute to the growth of the democratic process of a nation and by competing in elections, political parties give citizens the choice of choosing officials that will govern them over a given period. Cameroon, going by the most recent statistics, has 328 registered political parties who have different political ideologies. The political context of the nation allows for freedom of association, giving individuals the freewill of belonging to any political party of their choice and changing the party should their initial reasons for joining the movement are no longer guaranteed. 
Cameroon has over the years and in recent times witnessed the crossing of carpets by political figures. For one reason or the other, these individuals resign from a political party and either join another political movement or create one in which they are leaders. The cases are abounding with the most recent being that of Abdoulkadiri Djailani, who in July 2022, left the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) for the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM). Some other examples include Jean-Jacques Ekindi who was initially of CPDM, resigned and created his own political party known as the Progressive Movement (MP) and later resigned to join his initial political party, Edith Kah Walla who left the Social Democratic Front (SDF) for the Cameroon’s People’s Party (CPP), Paul Ayah Abine, from CPDM to the People’s Action Party (PAP), Cyrille Sam Mbaka, from Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU) to the Alliance of Progressive Forces, Denis Emilien Atangana, from the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) to the Liberal Alliance Party  (PAL) and now, Cameroon Democratic Front (FDC), and Saidou Maidadi, who left the SDF for NUDP. 
Differences in political ideologies, the search for visibility, concretising political ambitions and abandoning a party duri...