Anicet Ekane’s father, feared and formidable, bore the impressive name of Ekan’a Mbongo n’a Ndongo. Former chief accountant of the Compagnie Soudanaise, he had built his own personal empire: an estate in Bonadibong-Akwa (Douala), another near the bridge over the Mungo River, and a third in Bomono. A polygamist, he left behind an impressive number of descendants: 22 children—as many daughters as sons. Today, only five pairs remain.
It is into this legacy that Ekane Anicet, a UPEC member born on April 17, 1951, in Douala, was born. In January 1971, in Bafoussam, he witnessed an event that would forever mark his political consciousness: the execution of Ernest Ouandié, an iconic figure in the anti-colonial struggle and the last active leader of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC).
He continued his secondary education at Lycée Joss, then at Collège Alfred Saker, before joining Collège Saint-Pierre in Lille, France. There, he studied economics and administration at the University of Lille 1 and ESCAE.
As a UPC activist, he began with the inevitable: a spell in prison, Ahidjo style. Later, he created a political movement based on the founding myth of the UPC, before joining forces with Maurice Kamto, whom he led to the gates of the presidency—in the hope of liberating a people who had been suffering for more than 70 years. At least.
But why Kamto?
“MANIDEM, faithful to its nationalist heritage rooted in the ideals of the UPC, has given this careful consideration: we are endorsing Professor Maurice Kamto as our candidate for the 2025 presidential election.
We are not just a political party. We are the heirs to an ideal: that of Ruben Um Nyobè, Félix-Roland Moumié, Ernest Ouandié, and so many others who sacrificed their lives so that Cameroonians could be free, dignified, and sovereign. “
“Imperialism no longer bears the features of the white colonizer. It has changed its face: it is now our own elites—black colonizers, servile agents of a system that betrays the ideal of our founding fathers every day. A system that is locked down, resistant to change, and stifles any desire for change. “
And again, why him?
“Because Cameroon deserves a new lease on life. To deny this would be an insult to the truth. The country is going through one of the darkest periods in its contemporary history: endemic corruption, large-scale embezzlement (Glencore, Covid-Gate, CANGATE…), entire regions plunged into chaos (NOSO, Extreme North), public services in ruins, citizens sharing water with animals, devastated hospitals, deadly roads, and an invisible president who has never visited victims during major national tragedies (Ngouaché, Eséka, Meyo-Centre, Ngarbuh, Sam, Ebolowa, Efoulan…). “
“We do not agree with everything the MRC stands for. But we know the difference between a political opponent and an enemy of the people. The real opponent is this regime, not those who, like us, aspire to a free Cameroon. “
“Professor Kamto is not a comfortable choice, he is a choice of historical responsibility. Seven years after being the main challenger to power, he remains the figure who most embodies the hope for change. His voice is the one the regime fears the most. Why? Because Kamto’s destiny has crossed that of a people ready to fight for their dignity. “
“By endorsing him, we are not claiming to be a dominant electoral force. We are making a strong political statement. A signal: power belongs to the people, not to a regime on its last legs. We do not want to impose Kamto, we want to give the people the opportunity to remove another, who has clung on for too long without ever being held accountable. “
The man who speaks thus has nothing to prove. Since the 1990s and the Yondo affair, Ekane Anicet, a tireless activist, has endured everything: raids, arbitrary detentions, beatings… and humiliation.
He knows the prisons of Douala, Yaoundé, Yokadouma, and Edéa. During a notorious crackdown, he received 200 lashes at the gendarmerie in the port of Douala. Father Samuel Eboua received 250.
The executioner confided: “The trick is to strike until the first blisters appear on the skin of the buttocks.”
The victims waited silently for their ordeal to end, at the mercy of the “technicians” of pain. On another occasion, after a demonstration, two men came to his home to arrest him, without a warrant. “I have a second-degree black belt in Aikido,” he told them. “I can throw you all the way down to the ground floor.” But an officer managed to calm him down. He was taken to the BMM and thrown into a cell infested with cockroaches. On the fourth day, he was taken for questioning.
An officer enters. The police officer greets him:
“This is the famous Ekane from the Yondo case. Do you know how to greet someone in chains?”
With a quick turn, the officer slaps him hard across the face. Clean and crisp.
Ekane Anicet, alias Mot’a Bato, has 40 years of activism behind him, and just as many years of repression. Father of three boys and a girl. Still standing. Tomorrow? It remains uncertain. After being unfairly excluded from the list of candidates, gendarmes—familiar with his office—come to “talk to him.” Without a warrant. Again.
But he replied:
“Does a body still fear the hearse?”
President Sam Mbaka, alerted, rushed over. And what happened next? As Maurice Kamto said: “Nothing is over until it’s over.”
Édouard Kingue
