It is with immense sadness that I learned of the death, during the night of Sunday, 8 August 2021, of my friend and brother Christian PENDA EKOKA, President of ACT-AGIR, who was an ally of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement during the October 2018 presidential election. My pain is all the more profound because after the crazy rumour of the night of August 6 to 7 which reported his death, I had been relieved to learn from his family that he was indeed alive.
The message he sent me later, in reaction to the one I had addressed to him, had given me hope that he was recovering.
The death of Christian PENDA EKOKA at this very moment is a hard blow to the liberation struggle of our people and to the National Resistance that he actively contributed to build, at the price of heavy sacrifices. I am thinking in particular of the nine months of detention spent together in the jails of the Yaoundé regime, following the peaceful White Marches of 26 January 2019, organized to protest against the 2018 electoral hold-up, the fratricidal war ravaging the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, and the prevarication of resources dedicated to the organization of the 2019 AFCON by our country.
In the absurd adversity created and maintained by the regime in place in Cameroon, Mr. Christian PENDA EKOKA has successfully led the unprecedented humanitarian operation, Survie-Cameroon Survival Initiative (SCSI), which has been deployed throughout the national territory to assist the Cameroonian population abandoned to themselves in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this very painful circumstance, where words cannot express what we feel, I bow to the memory of this humanist patriot, brilliant economist, who have walked with me in the fight for the rebirth of Cameroon and the advent of a strong Nation, a fraternal society where, he liked to repeat, “Birth is not a destiny”. The best tribute we can pay to Mr. Christian PENDA EKOKA is undoubtedly to continue this common work without respite. For, as I have always said, we must not bequeath to future generations the struggles of our time.
I would like to present to his wife, his children, grandchildren and his extended family, who have suffered so much, my very sincere condolences, to which I add those of my wife, as well as the expression of our deepest sympathy.
I would like to take this opportunity to express to them the condolences of all the militants and sympathizers of the CRM.
Dear Christian, dear friend and brother, may your soul rest in peace.
Yaoundé, 09 August 2021
Maurice KAMTO
The National President
