ARROGANT CONTEMPT

The containment of bestiality in the man is apprehension of the consequences of wrongful conduct. That is what provoked and promoted the development of the reasoning faculty ending up with peaceful community life. The reverse would have been anarchy with “the survival of the fittest” as the unique crude law governing interactions.

By Hon. Ayah Paul Abine

Man has come a long way to discard such ferocious uncertainties of life. Over the ages, positive refinements have added up to consensual social contracts culminating in democracy.

Convinced that it is erroneous to take refuge behind such grotesque propaganda as “advanced democracy” to cut off additives preservative of that fountain of peace, I argued recently in all good faith that granting immunity that places a citizen above the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, could liberate the bestiality in the human being. That particular person could well be reasonable enough to impose self-restraint. But the case may not be true of his successor or even his entourage, especially where the person does not exercise strict oversight. That appears to be the situation with the Cameroonian society of today.

We never can overemphasize that justice is the ultimate guarantor of peace. That palpably explains why the Bible insists that justice will be the final act in the winnowing of mankind on Doomsday. One should not, therefore, hesitate to regret in absolute terms that Cameroonians, claiming to have the confidence of the President of the Republic, are trampling the law underfoot to the extent of showing arrogant contempt even for the decisions of the highest court of the land that the Supreme Court is.

The case in point is the Minister of Culture - Ama Tutu Muna. Her disregard for the Supreme Court’s judgment declaring illegal the “company” she wants to impose on Cameroonian musicians in replacement of the existing legal body is a mark of absolute lawlessness. And the silence of the President of the Republic over her arrogant contempt of court only does bolster her foolhardiness. One must wonder aloud what respect that Minister has even for her late father. If she takes cognizance that her late father was for years the head of the body that enacts laws in Cameroon, and yet she treats with contempt her late father’s works, then of course she is showing contempt even for her father. Nothing can be more dishonourable!

One may not be totally surprised, though. The modern trend on the African Continent is that those in power have placed themselves above the law. In the result, even where legal process has been followed and persons below them have worn elections, the pragmatic outcome has been power-sharing, whereby the winners have accepted positions on the lower rungs of the ladder of power, holding overturned hats for the collection of crumbs from the high tables. Even as “an island of peace”, our country has not been spared by the storm of contempt for the law this time around. Who argues to the contrary?

Is it not in line with the growing trend that Papillon has pleaded the case for the amalgamation of the minister’s “company” which the Supreme Court has declared illegal and the legally existing body? And is his stance not consistent with the Green Tree Agreement? If a judgment of a United Nations’ court can be set aside in favour of an agreement between the parties, and yet that has attracted overwhelming international approbation, how much less the judgment of a local court! And have the power-that-be in Cameroon not told the citizenry time without number that the truth and the good example come from above? Why waste time then arguing the case for the outlandish principle that court judgments are binding on all, and are therefore automatically enforceable?

So forward ever, Madam Minister! After all, Supreme Court c’est quoi?.. But wait a moment! Here is some food for thought for you: will all your children, if any you have, be as powerful as you are so as to dispense with the courts and the law, and yet live in peace? You may wish to accept that that is the guiding principle for parents who love their children, and posterity at large, Madam!