Cameroon: Lawyers prepare for National election

The heat is on within the Cameroon Bar Council as the countdown narrows for elections this weekend. And so ahead of the 8 November poll, it was only normal that eyebrows rise as observers questioned the sincerity behind the inauguration and equipping Monday of a lawyers’ hall at the Ndokoti Court of First Instance by the incumbent Bar President, Charles Tchoungang.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Contenders for the post who wished not to be named said it was inferable that the outgoing bâtonnier and his acolytes tacitly yet deliberately used the event to garner support ahead of the elections. They said it was unfair for the ceremony to be scheduled in the midst of campaigns and less than a week to the election of the association’s 15-member steering body.

But Charles Tchoungang rubbished all such claims. “Rehabilitation works here started seven months ago and ended two weeks ago. Besides, these computers, photocopiers, printers and scanners arrived at the Douala port two months ago and were delayed by the clearance process. This ceremony was initially planned to hold two months ago and there is no reason to think that it is a campaign strategy,” he stated, noting the act will be misconstrued by his detractors.
The fully-equipped lawyers’ hall, Tchoungang said, will enable law practitioners revise and fine-tune their arguments ahead of court hearings. He said the venture fell within the framework of ongoing strides by the council to improve the working conditions of members nationwide. But he warned users against transforming the structure into a law trade centre.

He said the modern age information and communications technology material endowment was made available thanks to an existing partnership between Bar and the International Francophonie Organization. The hall, also furnished with a refreshment booth will be managed by Barrister Irene Ntetmen of the Cabinet Ntetmen, and will be open to lawyers, magistrates and all other legal practitioners even from elsewhere around the country, Tchoungang said.
The incumbent Tchoungang, who spent most of last week canvassing for votes as far off from Douala as Bamenda, etc, regretted that detractors were always on the lookout for pretexts to belittle laudable strides. “I was elected by lawyers to improve upon their working conditions.

When we organized an international conference for lawyers two years ago, no one said it was campaign. When we created a website for the Bar, created a numerical professional card, negotiated and obtained 600 million FCFA from the EU to enable 200 lawyers to work in better conditions, or acquired a 3000-metre-squared plot in Yaounde to build our headquarters; no one said we were campaigning. So why now?” he argued.
It has been hinted that several candidatures will be tabled at the elections Saturday. A host of members of the council have been circulating tracts in attempts to lobby support for their candidatures into the 15-member steering body from which the president will be eventually selected.