Augustin Frédéric Kodock (March 1, 1933 at Cameroonian government website . – October 24, 2011) was a Cameroonian politician who was Secretary-General of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC-K faction) from 1991"Cameroon: Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (Union des populations du Cameroun, UPC), particularly its structure, membership card and the treatment of its members by government authorities", Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, May 2005. to 2011. He worked in Cameroon's state administration during the 1960s and then worked at the African Development Bank through the 1970s. After a stint as head of Cameroon Airlines in the mid-1980s, he participated in the beginnings of multiparty politics in the early 1990s, becoming Secretary-General of the UPC. Allying himself with President Paul Biya, he was appointed to the government as Minister of State for Planning and Regional Development from 1992 to 1994 and then as Minister of State for Agriculture from 1994 to 1997. Subsequently, he was again Minister of State for Agriculture from 2002 to 2004 and Minister of State for Planning from 2004 to 2007.
Background and administrative career Kodock was born at Mom village in the Makak District of Nyong-et-Kellé Department, located in the Centre Province of Cameroon, in 1933. Following independence in 1960, he became Deputy Director of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance in 1961; he was then posted in Douala for about six months as Director of External Economic Relations and subsequently was Director of Economic Orientation. He also coordinated the preparation of Cameroon's first five-year plan, and from 1963 to 1965 he served in the government as Secretary of State for Finance; he was then appointed as Director of Litigation and Studies at the Ministry of Territorial Administration in 1965. Later, he worked at the African Development Bank from 1968 to 1980 and was appointed as Technical Adviser to Cameroon's Ministry of Finance in 1982. He was President Director-General of Cameroon Airlines (CAMAIR) from May 1984 to September 1985,Andreas Mehler, Kamerun in der Ära Biya (1993), page 269 . and he participated in the founding congress of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC), held in Bamenda in 1985, as a member of its Transport Commission.Jean-Pierre Biyiti Essam, "Etre ou ne pas être du RDPC", Cameroon Tribune, January 16, 2009 .
Political career during the 1990s In 1991, Kodock was elected as Secretary-General of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) at its Nkongsamba congress, and in the March 1992 parliamentary election he was elected to the National Assembly as a UPC candidate in Nyong-et-Kelle constituency. In the National Assembly, he became President of the UPC Parliamentary Group.
President Paul Biya, who was facing strong opposition in 1992, sought to improve his position by dividing and weakening the opposition. Two weeks before the 11 October 1992 presidential election, the UPC Parliamentary Group signed an agreement to support Biya on 28 September 1992. Kodock's decision to support Biya was an important development, as it gave Biya a political boost at a crucial moment and buttressed his precarious parliamentary majority. By drawing Kodock over to his side, Biya may have also hoped to fuel factionalism within the UPC and thereby weaken the party as a political force. Ultimately, Biya narrowly won the presidential election with a plurality of the vote, according to the controversial official results;Joseph Takougang, "Cameroon: Biya and Incremental Reform", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), eds. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, pages 171–172. subsequently he appointed Kodock to the government as Minister of State for Planning and Regional Development on 27 November 1992.
As Secretary-General of the UPC, Kodock was a firm supporter of the unitary state, which was created by President Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1972; he believed that national unity, facilitated by a strong central government, was crucial to the development of Cameroon. He denounced the notion of federalism, which was favored by some Anglophone Cameroonians; in 1993, he said that "linguistic fractioning brought about by colonisation cannot determine the future course of our country. The return of Anglophone Cameroon and the unification are the greatest achievements of Cameroon since independence."The Herald, June 9–16, 1993, page 6, cited in Piet Konings and Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Negotiating an Anglophone Identity: A Study of the Politics of Recognition and Representation in Cameroon (2003), page 159. At around the same time, he filed a defamation suit against staff at two newspapers, La Nouvelle Expression and Galaxie, for reporting that an official at his ministry was embezzling money.George B. N. Ayittey, Africa in Chaos (1999), page 233. Continuing to serve in the government, he was moved to the position of Minister of State for Agriculture on July 21, 1994.
The UPC was divided by internal disagreements during the 1990s. Kodock's moderate faction, which was allied to the RDPC, emerged from the intraparty struggles as the dominant faction, although it was opposed by the party's more radical members.Milton H. Krieger and Joseph Takougang, African State and Society in the 1990s: Cameroon's Political Crossroads (2000), Westview Press, page 160. In 1996, the UPC split into different factions, one of which was led by Kodock and another by Ndeh Ntumazah.Donald F. Busky, Communism in History and Theory (2002), page 115. Kodock's faction held a congress at Makak in 1996, at which he was re-elected as secretary-general. He was also re-elected to the National Assembly from Nyong-et-Kelle constituency in the 1997 parliamentary election1997 election results. and was the only UPC candidate to win a seat. After the election, he was excluded from the government that was formed on December 7, 1997, in which a rival UPC leader, Henri Hogbé Nlend, was named Minister of Scientific Research.Edmond Kamguia, , La Nouvelle Expression, December 11, 2004 .
Return to the government On January 13, 2001, Kodock and various other party leaders participated in an unauthorized protest in Yaoundé against the National Election Observatory, believing that it would not be an impartial body. The protest was dispersed by security forces, and Kodock, along with the other party leaders, was detained for five hours."U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2001 - Cameroon", United States Department of State, March 4, 2002. According to Kodock, the Observatory's neutrality was doubtful because its members were all appointed by President Biya."Les membres de l'ONEL prêtent serment devant la cour suprême", Panapress, 26 October 2001 .
In the June 2002 parliamentary election, Kodock was again re-elected to the National Assembly from Nyong-et-Kelle constituency;2002 election results. the UPC list of three candidates in Nyong-et-Kelle received a narrow majority over the RDPC, with 50.80% of the vote. Following the election, Kodock briefly presided over the National Assembly prior to the election of its bureau due to his status as the oldest member of the National Assembly at age 69."Augustin Frédéric Kodock, Président provisoire de l'Assemblée nationale" , Cameroon-info.net, August 1, 2007 . He was then appointed as Minister of State for Agriculture in the government named on August 24, 2002, thus returning to the government after five years of absence from it. He and the UPC-K supported Biya in the October 2004 presidential election, citing Biya's accomplishments as President.Emmanuel Kendemeh, , Cameroon Tribune, October 18, 2004. After that election, he was moved to the position of Minister of State for Planning in the government named on December 8, 2004.
Speaking at a conference in Limbe on 1 September 2006, Kodock discussed the lack of economic development in Cameroon. He described a visit to South Korea; according to Kodock, South Korea and Cameroon had similar GDPs in the 1960s, but South Korea had since then made vast strides, developing a prosperous and modern economy, while Cameroon, still deeply impoverished, was no longer even remotely comparable. He stressed the importance of unity and cooperation among Cameroonians and the need for "a new spirit to build this country". Recalling that the UPC had been founded with three goals—independence, national unity, and the achievement of a high standard of living—Kodock noted that the last of those goals was still distant, while emphasizing the importance of national unity in achieving it. He also bemoaned Cameroon's reliance on imports and its failure to take advantage of its own resources, and he said that Cameroon needed to find the will to develop its economy.Francis Tim Mbom, "Cameroon Lacks The Will To Develop - Kodock", The Post, 4 September 2006.
At a workshop held to assess progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals on December 5–7, 2006, Kodock said that he saw no real hope that Cameroon could meet the goals by 2015."Le gouvernement camerounais inquiet par rapport à l'atteinte des OMD", African Press Agency, December 7, 2006 . He was re-elected as Secretary-General of the UPC-Kodock faction at a congress on December 30–31, 2006; he also gained stronger powers at the congress.Roland Tsapi, "partis politiques: Ils s'éternisent au pouvoir" , Le Messager, January 26, 2007 .
Political activities after 2006 Kodock ran again as a UPC candidate for re-election to the National Assembly in the July 2007 parliamentary election,"More than 1200 candidates vie for 180 MP seats in Cameroon", African Press Agency, June 1, 2007."Deux ministres camerounais candidats aux législatives", African Press Agency, July 15, 2007 . saying that he believed it was important that a minister in the government obtain popular legitimacy through election to a parliamentary seat. However, Kodock was defeated according to initial results. He filed a request for the election in his district, Nyong-et-Kelle (which he described as his party's "natural stronghold"), to be cancelled, alleging fraud on the part of RDPC candidates.Aimé-Francis Amougou, "Cameroun: Aujourd'hui, dernier délai de recours", Cameroon Tribune, July 26, 2007 . In August, the Supreme Court accordingly cancelled the election in Nyong-et-Kelle, giving Kodock another opportunity to win the seat when the election was held again."Cameroun: Augustin Frédéric Kodock - Il sacoche au serpent", Le Quotidien Mutations, August 10, 2007 .