Cameroon: Parliamentary Privilege, Proxies and Hate Politics

By Tazoacha Asonganyi.

Adama Modi, one of the parliamentarians of the National Assembly has openly expressed his disgust at the repeated preference of the CPDM party for Cavaye Yegui� Djbril, another MP, for the presidency of the national assembly.

History has it that in spite of his parliamentary immunity
defined by Ordinance No. 72-12 of 26 August 1972 which clearly states that Members of Parliament should not be questioned elsewhere for votes or debates in the National Assembly, he was questioned by a committee set up by the Head of State, President of the CPDM for opinions he expressed in parliament. This was nothing short of a breach of parliamentary privilege!

Further, although Chapter XIII (Articles 56-59) of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly clearlydefines the "delegation of voting rights" by a member of parliament, there has been much accusation and counter-accusation in the press about whether or not Paul Ayah, another MP left such a delegation in the assembly, which was used to vote on his behalf. The CPDM parliamentarian who voted on his behalf is most vulnerable to the line of attack opened by the press on this issue, whether she is guilty as charged or not, because it fits in with the general fraudulent character and behavior of barons of her party.

It is incredible that although the rules on the issue are very clear, she has not made any serious effort to convince us that she acted within the ambit of the rules when she voted on behalf of her colleague.To remain in a party and yet disagree with its leadership on central issues of the day is not a joke.Forcing members to vote against their convictions or drawing artificial lines to contain rebellion tocontentious issues are all familiar behavior in party politics.

In general, although a party member can speak for the party on public issues, the party cannot speak for its member on such issues! It is immoral for a party to force its member to violate his conscience or violate the national interest. Using fraud to obtain the consent of a member on an important societal issue can only be the handiwork of persons with the same morals as those daily exposed as embezzlers of public funds.

MPs are supposed to use the immense moral authority of their positions to offer leadership and inspiration?Interestingly, although article 15(2) of the constitution of Cameroon states that each member ofthe national assembly represents the entire nation; we are told that Chief Inoni (the Prime Minister)had to answer for the "negative" vote of an MP against the amendment of the constitution to give Paul Biya the latitude to rule for life! We are also told that he was not answering for it because he is the Prime Minister of the entire nation, but because he originates from the South West Province with the MP.

After all, by the constitution, you are either "autochtone" or "allog�ne"; native or stranger! One of the hallmarks of the "new deal" regime is duplicity: representing the whole nation while being native or stranger; professing "national unity" while institutionalizing divisiveness!Sometimes the expression of political opinion based on conscience can attract visceral dislike and cloud the political judgment of even one?s colleagues.

One may hate the guts of a colleague, but to extend the hatred to family, village and area of origin is a mark of the bankruptcy of politics in our country. Several weeks ago, Hon. Ayah brought the case of the ethnic conflict in Akwaya to public attention. No one seemed to listen except the press! Only recently did we learn that Manyu Chiefs met and decided to pay attention to the problem.
It is like the administrative authorities were saying that since the MP did not want their amendment to pass, they did not care what was happening in Akwaya, his place of origin.It is a good thing that the Manyu Chiefs have also drawn attention to the conflict. It is also a goodthing that Divine Ewane, NGO personnel recently highlighted the problem in a newspaper interview,although surprisingly, he failed to mention the MP even once!

We can only hope that the partisan administrative authorities will shed their hate politics, theirincredible intolerance and spite, and their insensitivity to the sufferings of citizens under their charge, and pay attention to the welfare of the people without any consideration for the political opinions of their leaders.

Cameroon :State Authority and The Rule of Law

By Tazoacha Asonganyi

All politics and the democratic processes that govern politics take place in society.
Carved out from society is a referee usually referred to as the state.Indeed, the state is the level at which all factionsin society meet. The state plays the noble role ofreferee and facilitator of political and democraticprocesses.

To play these roles well, the state should be non-partisan.Early thinkers who created the concept of the state knew that humans are not angels; that they can be both good and evil. They can usually be blinded by theirpassions and self-interests. This is why it is the duty of the state to produce laws, rules and regulations to guide the actions of both rulers andthe ruled in society.Many of such laws, rules and regulations exist inCameroon.

On paper, most of them are reasonable, but in practice they are usually ignored to the benefit of individuals or partisan groups like political parties,especially the ruling party! Most agents of the state are known to treat laws as if they are informal rules that they can obey or disobey at their discretion!
Therefore one of the main problems with the rule oflaw in Cameroon lies with people who implement laws.

In fact, it is the generalised disregard for the lawby state officials that has bred the culture of corruption that is the main challenge to governance inCameroon today.Since 20th May 2008, a drama has been played out in Menji Local Council in Lebialem Division, South WestProvince, out of the knowledge of the press thatusually highlights such events! On 20 May just beforethe start of the march past at the Menji Municipal Stadium, the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Lebialem moved to the front of the grandstand and solemnly announced that he had suspended the Mayor indefinitely on the frivolous charge of "unpatrioticattitude"!

By this he meant that the Mayor refused togive out the council vehicle at his behest, even ifthe mayor had explained that the vehicle was not ingood mechanical condition. Then the SDO proceeded tofloat the usual information peddled by over-zealous administrators to gain support for their wrong decisions, or by political misfits to put down theirpolitical rivals - that the mayor is a closet SCNC militant!

Although law no.2004/17 of 22 July 2004 on orientationof decentralisation, and law no. 2004/18 of 22 July2004 to lay down rules applicable to councils, both ofwhich are in force today, do not give such powers tothe "the representatives of the state" who is the SDO,he actually proceeded to seal the office of the Majoras a sign of the effectiveness of the suspension!

For those who may not be aware of the provisions of the new laws, section 94 of law no. 2004/18 of 22 July2004 to lay down rules applicable to councils states unequivocally that "In case of infringement of the law and regulations in force, or of serious misconduct,mayors and deputy mayors may be suspended by order ofthe Minister in charge of regional and local authorities for a maximum period of three months after hearing them or requesting them to furnish written explanations on acts for which they are accused. After such period, they shall either be rehabilitated or dismissed? by decree of the President of theRepublic;...the suspension orders and dismissal shall give reasons thereof..."

The law is therefore clear on the duties of the"representative of the state" (the SDO) and on that ofthe minister in charge of local and regional authorities. Representatives of the state wherever they may be are supposed to be symbols of facilitationand leadership, not vessels of power. In a council,power has been devolved to the mayors; they are theones supposed to get things done. It is not the dutyof the state to remove the sense of pride and personal responsibility from mayors in councils. There is no use deceiving ourselves by producing documents and making official pronouncements that assure outsiders that there is the rule of law on decentralization inCameroon, as was the case last week during the African Ministerial Conference on Decentralisation (AMCOD),while the reality is different.

For the good of society, laws are supposed to bedecisive moral arbiters. Obedience of a law should be non negotiable. The law is not secure if representatives of the state behave as if they are the law, and infringe it as they see fit.

The act of the SDO of Lebialem is nothing short of sabotage of thelaw, especially as his action was a deliberate,skilfully executed plot to stir up protest during the20 May celebrations so as to impute the disturbances on a supposed lack of patriotism of the people! His assault on the law was not for the good of society but for his personal good.It is the insecurity dictated by human nature that propelled human societies to allow their lives to be governed by the state. The state provides laws, rules and regulations to govern activities in society.

A law is therefore not something that a representative ofthe state should feel that he is doing somebody afavour by obeying it. It is unfair, unjust and disruptive of council activities if the new laws on decentralisation are not obeyed by all stakeholders. A decision to disobey the law should be considered personal and should not engage the state, at the riskof discrediting the authority of the state.

It isincumbent on the state to build trust, confidence and respect for the role of the state by regularly disciplining its representatives who show disrespect for the rule of law.

Two Cameroonian journalists molested, detained by soldiers

by Hinsley Njila

Some two Cameroonian journalists of English expression and members of the program Cameroon Calling broadcast over state radio, CRTV, Sampson Wepsi and George Kellong were recently molested and detained by Cameroonian soldiers for being critical to the regime during the program on18 May that focused on national
unity. Their detention at the gendarmerie brigade in Madagascar, Yaounde took place shortly after the said program. To sway public opinion on the main reason behind their molestation and detention, the soldiers also accused one of the journalists of bumping into
the car of the son of an army general

Recounting the story to a group of English-speaking journalists who turned out at the gendarmerie brigade in a show of solidarity, the Herald Newspaper reported that Moki Edwin Kindzeka of CRTV said Wepsi was picked up at Madagascar by two soldiers who accused him of accidentally hitting the car of a general’s son.

That the soldiers deflated the tyres of Websi’s car and took him to the gendarmerie brigade, but not before complaining that the programme he anchored that morning preached against national unity.

It was at the gendarmerie station, that Websi telephoned his colleague, George Kellong, and informed him of his plight. But unfortunately to Kellong he was received with a series of blows by the gendarmerie officer who welcomed him at the station. As if that
was not enough Kellong was bundled and forced into the cell to join his colleague.

The situation attracted other members of the Cameroon Calling crew, who rushed to the gendarmerie station where they protested loudly against the poor treatment meted out to their colleagues. They were later joined in their protest by other Anglophone journalists of the independent press.

The detained journalists were finally released through the intervention of a senior colleague Ngetiku Musi, of CRTV who mediated between them and the stubborn gendarmes and soldiers

Though fanatics of the regime like the stubborn soldiers believed the program on 18th May, was critical to the regime, many listeners say the said Cameroon Calling maintained its tradition of critical
but objective and balanced journalism.

International humanitarian law: Red Cross presses for Cameroon’s implementation

A two-day sub-regional workshop which rounded off in Yaounde yesterday sought ways of getting the conventions, most of which have been ratified, integrated into Cameroon’s legislation

By Bainkong Godlove in Yaounde

The International Red Cross Movement (IRCM) is bent on seeing that the illicit circulation and use of arms and other crimes committed against humanity are controlled by legislation. The use of arms by security forces on unarmed civilians, the unauthorised buying
and use of arms by civilians and the outright violation of the rights of children are contained in international conventions ratified by Cameroon but whose integration into the country’s legislation is
still a dream.

Speaking during the opening of a two-day workshop here Wednesday on how Cameroon can integrate the international humanitarian law into its legislation, the regional delegate of the Red Cross Movement for Central Africa, Philippe Gaillard, said the illicit
circulation and use of arms cause untold suffering to the civilian population who are most often plunged into war. He advocated the integration of the international humanitarian law into the doctrines of armed forces and the development in them of a reflex of the respect of the law. Gaillard cited the February unrest in Cameroon and other upheavals that almost brought Burkina Faso, Senegal, Gabon and Mozambique to their knees as fruit of disproportionate
use of force which, he said, threatened the security of the State and so should not be neglected by any government.

So far, Cameroon has ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on the protection of victims of armed conflicts, the 1925 protocol agreement on the use of toxic gas, the 1989 convention on children’s rights and the 1993 convention on the prohibition of the use of chemical weapons, among others. These conventions are yet to be integrated into the country’s legislation.

Philippe Gaillard said concerted efforts should be made towards making these conventions a law so that impunity could be a thing of the past and for people to go freely about their activities.

A representative of the Justice ministry, Kouam Tekam, said his ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Presidency of the Republic and the ministries of Defence and External Relations are working in synergy to integrate the international humanitarian law into Cameroon’s legal system and to ensure its application.

THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO - by Lisa Jackson

by - Hinsley Njila

HBO television channel in the US (hbo.com), in the month of April 2008 has been airing a documentary - Lisa Jackson entitled ‘the greatest silence: rape in the Congo’. I watched the entire program with disgust of course, and I’ll recommend that everyone get a chance to watch the program and witness the damaging effects of poverty and bad governance in action. Because I watched the entire program, and have lived long enough and know a lot about Africa, I have gathered a few lessons that reflect what is happening all over the continent at this moment.

Read at your own risk.

For as long as I live, I will never get over images of Africans chopping each other’s heads off (especially helpless women and children) in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Congo, Zaire etc especially for some of the most asinine reasons imaginable to even a fly that’s left to digest a lot of these corpses.

I can understand a lot of discrimination, even though to me ALL discrimination should be criminal, but that which occurs in Africa which is often between people who cannot even tear each other apart if not for the languages they speak makes you think there’s some truth in what many think about Africans as being less of REAL human beings. I have a hard time telling the difference between Ivorians, Cameroonians, Nigerians, Gabonese etc, and I was born in Africa.

As much evil as I have seen and witnessed in Africa, I doubt I’ll ever be surprised in my life as to how far Africans will go to inflict pain on each other. Parliamentarians would take bribes and completely disregard the future of their country. But I'm not surprised because history tells us Africans for money sold their own children as slaves to white people.

In the HBO documentary, the translator makes a point to say that if a society cannot protect its women and children, then it’s a jungle. In my assessment, 90% of African countries are currently worse than jungles. You look at countries like Cameroon and Sudan where investment in women and youth is not only non existent but criminal if anyone attempts, and you find it hard to be hopeful about a system that is actively destroying its very own future. Paul Biya would much rather see the youth die a slow painful death, than do anything to help them for 25+ years. Bashir in Sudan would rather buy Chinese weapons, and bribe overseas bankers to hide his money while ordering his soldriers to rape and kill women and children in Darfur than help them out.

All the problems in the documentary would NEVER happen in such grand scale if Africa boosted leaders who thought more like humans than animals. I look at the likes of Biya, Mungabe, Mumbutu, Abacha, and you can go on until you hit 92% of them and realize exactly why the future for Africa is dangerously hopeless. Paul Biya would rather stay around and embezzle billions and destroy generations of Cameroonians while exerting his military powers than give them hope by building schools and allowing for free enterprise that generates wealth and end poverty. He would rather there be violence and for thousands to die and be psychologically scarred for life by pursuing selfish, asinine goals than leave and inspire the youth to take responsibility for solving problems that he created over the years.

The only way any of the problems in Africa would make sense to me is if somehow someday, someone successfully proves that Africans have less than a normal human size brain. In so many ways, I’m really hoping for that outcome…because when I saw 4, 11 etc years old girls raped in that documentary, I knew it couldn’t have been by monkeys. I saw a woman with elephantitis raped and killed, another about 60 years old and so on. Even some wild animals that live in the jungle like Lions, Tigers etc have been known to protect abandoned young children; human or order wise. The only way you wouldn’t care as a leader of a country in the face of all these is if your brain is not able to comprehend that these things cannot be ignored, and justified. If we cannot give the youth hope, and build a society that teaches them to give back and be better human beings then we'll fail without a doubt.

On my worse day, i'll be a better president that 99% of ALL current and 98% of former African leaders, especially since I'm confident I have a normal human sized brain that is capable of rational and critical thinking.

I hope this is proof that most African countries are ruled by Apes, at least they exhibit the cognitive abilities of Apes or lesser developed animals. We have have a responsibility to leave a better society than that which we inherited, unless you're the likes of Paul Biya, their militaries and the likes. God bless us all.

The coming crisis: Only the courageous acceptance by Paul Biya of what is now obvious will avert disaster

Editorial Comment by The Herald Newspaper

Even the greatest fool in the realm now knows that both Cameroonians and their foreign partners are overwhelmingly and vehemently opposed to Paul Biya’s plans to continue in office beyond 2011. Wasn’t that the unequivocal message of last month’s strike? We of this newspaper urge the president not, in his disappointment, to let his regime continue on its path of non-achievement. But to buckle up, change course, and hire a crack team to make the very best of these last three years.

Since the last fortnight there has been continuous talk of another government change that should be due any moment. Until last month’s strike this regular exercise of Paul Biya’s supreme authority through the appointment of friends and allies seemed alright.

But no more so since the strike which now forces the president to undertake a major overhaul of both the substance and methods of his politics in order to avoid a crisis that will compromise the last years of his regime.

The lessons of last month’s strike actually oblige the president to accept, if not embrace, a change of course. It is that change that should help Biya be more realistic in determining his new team.

And, should that be the case, a true and effective government wouldn’t be a matter of appointing to please friends or removing a banana just to put another in its place. This is, unfortunately, what some of the names that have been making the rounds in Yaounde amount to.

One thing is sure. Paul Biya is presently going through the kind of soul searching he has not known since his political career. The problem gnawing him is the prospect that he might not after all continue in office after 2011. Yet that is the stark lesson that last month’s strike brought home to him; twist and turn as he likes.

What is terrible is the fact that the president now stands alone and is going through this all alone. Biya feels a devastating sense of betrayal by his own regime. This feeling is reinforced by the president’s habitual distrust of his own aides.

It seems now certain that Paul Biya knows that those who took advantage of the strike to achieve political ends were not of the opposition but of the ruling CPDM.

The president also now recognises that the strike symbolised popular rejection of his policies, not least of which is the proposed constitutional amendment.

The third and perhaps most painful lesson of the strike was the president’s discovery that disagreement with his plans is widespread within his own regime, particularly among those who benefit from his favours.

Also, the Americans are pressing Biya to live up to a promise he voluntarily made to George Bush during his visit to the White House five years ago to retire in 2011.

No doubt the noose appears to be tightening around Biya and he now feels it. The president was openly sour and accusatory when he met with the government early this month. He was so austere that many believed that the much-awaited change of government had come.

Besides the unnerving feeling of betrayal by his own assistants who would willingly take advantage of some problem to nail him, Biya is now apprehensive of a new and dangerous enemy, ie the spontaneous action of the streets, ‘people power’, as we call it in this newspaper.

It is against this new danger that the president has let loose, hardly justifiably after the recent wave of arrests, an unforgiving military operation over the striking provinces to ‘seek out and deal with’ rioters, looters, etc.

It is regrettable that Biya has become a victim of his own policies and methods. In his 25 years in office, he has not brought economic growth and prosperity to Cameroonians, the overwhelming majority of whom live in abject poverty.

The Biya regime is also disrespectful of basic social justice. Biya favours in a permanent manner some provinces against others in the distribution of public appointments and privileges.

Paul Biya’s record on democratisation and good governance is dismal. Corruption is endemic.

To compound matters, the president is still not much concerned about being decent in his relations with the wide public, his party militants or his collaborators.

Paul Biya is distant and elitist. He does not receive people. He does not travel within the country and makes little contact as such with Cameroon or Cameroonians and how they live.

The president adopts the same attitude towards members of his ruling party. Unjust selection of grassroots leaders and election candidates in recent times turned the base of the party against him and created conflict among the party’s cadres.

Biya has refused to address that situation which will continue to cause him problems such as boycott of elections and instigation to riot during the recent strike, as revealed!

With his immediate assistants, Biya maintains a studied distance and unpredictability. He is difficult to approach, leaving aides to work very often in a vacuum.

The long term damage for Biya is that aides relate to him in fear and subservience rather than in loving loyalty. When they have to express their opinions on some matter, assistants are too cautious to be useful.

What we are saying here is that all taken together Paul Biya has become a huge burden on Cameroonians and his foreign partners. The sooner he goes the better will life be for all. This is what the strike brought home to the president.

It is no more a matter of choice if the president will avoid trouble for himself. This is where we suggest that instead of leaving crestfallen; Biya can still make up for failure by courageously adopting a u-turn in policies and style.

Only then, we believe, a change of government will make sense. Then it will not be a matter of pleasing friends anymore but even going across party lines to look for capable partners who can truly change things.

Paul Biya must fight to make the best of his three years left so he does not have a zero score card after 28 years of office in peacetime.

Those familiar with English history will probably recall the short but catastrophic reign of Queen Mary Tudor (1553 – 1558) which English historians easily believe to be the worst of any English monarchy.

Mary failed in everything she set out for. Not by any means an evil person, she burnt as many as 227 heretics at the stake in less than four years, in a desperate attempt to restore Catholicism that her father Henry VIII had repudiated in quest of a male heir. In the end not even England’s relations with the Vatican did she maintain!

Mary also lost Calais, England’s only remaining symbol of international power. Then she took ill with dropsy and while she was in agony Philip of Spain, her husband, who had never really loved her, left her. It was a marriage she contracted against popular opinion. The separation also affected relations with Spain, the leading world power at the time. Failure after failure was all she knew.

When at last Mary died at the young age of 44, it was the entire realm that heaved a great sigh of relief.

Surely Cameroonians deserve more in 2011 than the English had in Marian England in 155

Cameroon detention centers overflowing with suspects

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti

Over 1600 suspects were arrested by government forces after the recent strike action which paralyzed part of the country

Police and Gendarmerie cells around the country are crammed with detainees, most of them youths arrested during the recent four – day strike action that paralyzed some parts of the country.
According to official figures from the country’s ministry of justice, a total of 1.671 people were
arrested around the country after the violent strike which claimed lives and the destruction of both
private and state properties amounting to several billion CFA. They include; 671, from littoral, 400, from the Centre, 100, from Southwest, 280, from West and 220, from the Northwest Provinces. It must be noted that these figures have not been independently confirmed.

From the number provided by the minister, only about 58 have been freed and 38 others sentenced to either a jail term or fine.

The young boys and girls, generally aged between 13 and 23, have been spending nights on corridors and halls after they were arrested for allegedly participating in the four days of rioting which rocked five out of the country’s ten provinces including; Littoral, West, Northwest, Southwest, and Centre (The nation’s capital), provinces.

Consequently the hygienic condition of the detention centres is increasingly becoming unbearable as the number of detainees largely exceed the holding capacities In some areas Gendarmes were forced to use a hall in a neighboring primary school to detain close to 200 youths.

In the meantime a few of the detained youths who were transported to the office of the prosecutors at various courts in the country for questioning recently, were released , while others have been taken to court for trial.

While at the prosecutor’s office, the youths were questioned as to whether they were paid to take part in the strike or brought in from other parts of the country. But most of them pleaded virtuousness and said they were ready to prove that in court even though many fear they might not be given fair trial given the circumstances of the strike

In effect, a host of them who were summarily sentenced last week to various jail terms and fines of hundred of thousands CFA are currently serving their jail terms at the different prisons while others are still being tried

Most of the over 1600 detainees around the country said they were rounded up by security forces in their quarters, not even near the sites of rioting. Others said they were picked up in the street as they were returning home from work while others said security forces forced their way into their homes to bring then out

Meantime, Lawyers of the Cameroon Bar Association have mobilized to guarantee that the detainees receive fair and transparent trial despite the odds. Little wonder why during one of the hearings, a battery of lawyers in Fako Division, lead by Eta-Bisong Junior, stormed
the Buea magistrates’ court, and raised an objection to attempts by the bench to charge, try and sentence same day, some of the suspects.

The lawyers learnt about the matter which the state council for Buea wanted heard that day, after the courts had risen and lawyers retired for the day. When they got wind of the matter, all of them rallied and converged on the court premises for a legal show-off.

When they expressed their desire to appear for defense, the judges reportedly appealed that the
matter be heard in chambers. But one of the Lawyers Blaise Berinyuy argued that the matter, which has been branded criminal, could not be heard in chambers but in the open court.

Then the bench went into a conclave from which it filtered that they decided that, since they were 16 out of the 40 accused youths present, each magistrate should be assigned three or four youths so as to thrash the matter fast.

“A sitting judge does not receive instructions; it is either Cameroon is a state of law as the Head of State stated the other day, or it is not,” Lawyer Julius Oben argued.

After the meeting, which held for over one and a half hours, the state Council came into the court-room and asked that the accused youths should answer their names as the court clerk called them out, so as to spilt them up into groups to be heard in different court rooms and by different judges. But the youths did not heed.

It was then the lead counsel, Eta-Bisong argued that the youths were arrested and charged with the same offence in the same jurisdiction. “When the offence is indivisible, the accused persons must be tried together,” Eta-Bisong charged.

Apparently, in anger, the State Counsel Suh ordered the youths to be remanded into custody.

“The law says the accused must be given three days to prepare his or her defense. How can they want to charge them here and now and hear the matter here and now?” Barrister Berinyuy quipped.

The Secretary General of the National Human Rights and Freedoms Commission for the South West Province, Christopher Tambe Tiku, held that: “if that is done it will ruin the reputation of the judges and the judiciary. The rule of the law must be respected.”

At the instructions of the State Counsel, the court wardens and police ordered the youths into a waiting police station wagon and it zoomed off.

“A country that prides itself as a state of law must be seen as respecting the law. The youths have a vibrant advocacy. The fight for human rights must prevail and I am going to champion that fight,” swore Eta-Bisong.

Members of the bar have revealed that they would be vigilant to see to it that the rule of law prevails

In effect, Ahmadou Ali, the country’s vice prime minister, in charge of justice, has intimated that the ongoing trial is fair and transparent. He made the statement during a press conference which took place last 6 March, 2008, at the nation’s capital of Yaounde. Though the press conference was called to enable government offer clarification on the proceedings on how the trial is being handled, the minister failed to address the issue of deaths casualty which human rights groups have estimated at over a thousand but which the country’s minister of communication puts at 24.
Like the president of the republic in a statement to all Cameroonians during the strike, Ahmadou Ali, however, believes strongly that the strikes were encouraged by individuals who are yet to be identified by the court.

Meanwhile firebrand Littoral SDF chairman and MP for Wouri East, Jean Michel Nincheau, was intercepted at the Douala international airport last Sunday by secret service. The MP, who is well known for organizing anti-government demonstrations in the economic capital of Douala, was escorted home where he has since been under permanent security surveillance.

Hon. Jean Michel Nincheau, who single-handedly mobilized his SDF party militants in Douala to
demonstrate against president Paul Biya’s life presidency project, had come under numerous sparingly disguised attacks by government ministers.

The MP who is not under arrest has the right to travel within the country.

Strike Aftermath: Lawyers Foil Plot to Sentence 40 Arrested Youths in Cameroon

By Retsim Smada
The Vanguard

A battery of lawyers in Fako Division, lead by Eta-Bisong Junior, stormed the Buea magistrates’
court, March 3, and raised an objection to attempts by the bench to charge, try and sentence same day, youths accused of taking part in the last week’s nationwide strike.

The Vanguard learnt that instructions came in from Yaounde that the youth, arrested during the nationwide strike from February 24-25, be sentenced like their counterparts in Yaounde and Douala, who faced kangaroo courts and were sentenced to two years in prison each.
It is alleged that the judges were quickly rallied to try the youths and sentence them, according to
instructions from Yaounde.

The lawyers learnt about the matter which the state council for Buea wanted heared that day, after the courts had risen and lawyers retired for the day. When they got wind of the matter, all of them rallied and converged on the court premises. When they expressed their desire to appear for defense, the judges reportedly appealed that the matter be heard in chambers. Lawyers Blaise Berinyuy argued that the matter, which has been branded criminal, could not be heard in chambers but in the open court.

Then the bench went into a conclave from which it filtered that they decided that, since they were 16 out of the 40 accused youths present, each magistrate should be assigned three or four youths so as to thrash the matter fast as allegedly instructed by Yaounde.

A sitting judge does not receive instructions; it is either Cameroon is a state of law as the Head of State stated the other day, or it is not, Lawyer Julius Oben argued.

After the meeting, which held for over one and a half hours, the state Council came into the court-room and asked that the accused youths should answer their names as the court clerk called them out, so as to spilt them up into groups to be heard in different court rooms and by different judges.

The youths did not heed. Eta-Bisong argued that the youths were arrested and charged with the same offence in the same jurisdiction. When the offence is indivisible, the accused persons must be tried together, Eta-Bisong charged. Apparently, in anger, the State Counsel Suh ordered the youths to be remanded into custody.

The law says the accused must be given three days to prepare his or her defense. How can they want to charge them here and now and hear the matter here and now? Barrister Berinyuy quipped.

The Secretary General of the National Human Rights and Freedoms Commission for the South West Province, Christopher Tambe Tiku, held that: if that is done it will ruin the reputation of the judges and the judiciary. The rule of the law must be respected. At the instructions of the State Counsel, the court wardens and police ordered the youths into a waiting police station wagon and it zoomed off. A country that prides itself as a state of law must be seen as respecting the law. The youths have a vibrant advocacy. The fight for human rights must prevail and I am going to champion that fight, swore Eta-Bisong.

Lawyers and relatives of the accused suspected that the bench might sneak back and hear the matter overnight and decided to keep vigil. No date has been fixed for the matter. Members of the
bar have revealed that they would be vigilant to see to it that the rule of law prevails.