Cameroon: Bandits Make Life un pleasurable for populace

Population resort to jungle justice and other precautionary measures There has been growing rate of insecurity in Cameroon and particularly on major cities, of recent. The number of cases of assaults, burglary and rape in the towns increase by day. Men of the underworld assault people at any hour of the day and their targets are mostly women and foreigners targeting objects like cell phones and other electronic gadgets, jewelries and above all cash. Most of the cases of assaults take place in taxis since some of the bandits collaborate with taxi drivers. Consequently around taking a cab during the day especially in the county’s capital of Yaounde, and Douala, the economic capital has become as terrifying as doing so late at night, making life un pleasurable to many people. Furthermore bandits also attack people in their homes making some families to find it difficult to have a good rest at night for fear that thieves could break into their homes. Since the thieves have continued to render life unsafe for many people, the populations on their part have resorted to jungle justice and other precautionary measures to curb the situation. In some areas the people have created vigilante groups who keep guard around houses when people are asleep. This is the case with Bomaka quarter, in Buea. Like in Bomaka, the groups are found in Major towns in the country. They begin work from 10pm to 5am. Any body found walking freely around the area during such hours is stopped and questioned by members of the vigilante group. Without convincing answers or valid identification documents, the group can take or suspects an individual for a thief. In a case were the group apprehends suspected criminals they either hand out punishment to them or hand them to the forces of law and order. However the people say they prefer jungle justice owing to the fact that very often thieves bribed security forces to set them free soon after the population arrests them. “Police have made jungle justice an alternative”, says Teneng Lucas. “If you have never been attacked by bandits, you will not know the meaning of jungle justice. Jungle justice in itself is not good, but the police have made it the only alternative to justice because you may take a thief to the police station but just after he leaves, he starts threatening you for taking him there. He even tells you how he connived with the police. So the only thing is that when you catch a thief use jungle justice to eliminate him at once” Teneng agues further. Though some would disagree, there are many people who think in the same line like Teneng. Consequently jungle justice which is usually that scene of an angry crowd which takes laws into their hands is common in the Country today. It is usually a chaotic scene once individuals are alerted of the presence of a thief in an area. People come from different directions armed with stones, battens and other dangerous objects just to torture and take life out of the bandit. In some cases they burn the suspected alive. Recently in Douala, a young man was beaten to death for stealing a lady’s cell phone while in Yaounde, two bandits were burnt alive for breaking into a shop. In Bafussam, in the western province of Cameroon, some young men were almost lynched by an angry mob, but for the timely intervention of the forces of law and order. Most often you find Police trying to rescue people from an irate mob threatening to take life out of suspected bandits. But the bad side of jungle justice is that innocent people can be victims. However the question is whether jungle justice is the answer. Although crude, Mbua John says, “It serves a useful purpose in discouraging criminality because the police have failed” adding “a thief is not a friend”. Since Law enforcement officers have proved that they cannot really help the population in this light Mbua, intimated “the population should eliminate thieves when they are caught red handed” while expressing regret that “the people are greatly in danger as they are at the mercy of armed rubbers” Mbua blamed government for the high rate of insecurity in the country owing to the fact that some of the bandits operate in collaboration with some security officials who give them their uniforms and arm munitions to facilitate their operations. On the other hand Ngong Roland sees it differently. “No, jungle justice is completely against humanity”, he emphasized. That beside anything else, one must think of God’s law: thou shall not kill. To him the law of God did not give any excuses or whatever reasons that man may create to kill.

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti