Augustin Frédéric Kodock (March 1, 1933[1] – October 24, 2011) was a Cameroonian politician who was Secretary-General of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC-K faction) from 1991[2] to 2011.
Kodock was born at Mom village in the Makak District of Nyong-et-Kellé Department, located in the Centre Province of Cameroon, in 1933.
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.
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;[5] subsequently he appointed Kodock to the government as Minister of State for Planning and Regional Development on 27 November 1992.
[1] 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.
"[6] 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.
[10] 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.
[11] 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.
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.
[25] It was believed that Kodock was excluded from the government because his support had fallen to such a level that it was no longer politically useful to include him; his age may have also been a factor (he was then 74 years old).
He criticized the country's leaders for allegedly enriching themselves at the expense of the general population and failing to make productive use of money made available through debt cancellation.
[33] On the same occasion, he stressed the need for political dialogue and said that patriots should mobilize and work for the improvement of living standards in Cameroon.