By NOELA EBOB BISONG
Lawyers of Fako division have tabled a memo to the Prime Minister Head of government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, for onward transmission to the president of the Republic Paul Biya, to assist him bring a definite end to the ongoing Anglophone crisis.
The memo, signed by Benjamin ENOW AGBOR, President of Fako Lawyers Association was handed to PM Dion Ngute, during his maiden visit to the South West region last May 14, 2019 in Buea. The memo focuses on two main issues; The plight of the Common Law Lawyers, and The socio-political Crisis in Cameroon.
According to them, the Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon have over the past three decades, sent a plethora of Memoranda to government decrying the systematic and deliberate efforts to crush their system of justice.
Flashing back on the atmosphere that reigned in October 2016 when the common Law Lawyers scheduled two meetings in Bamenda (8th) and Buea (10th) October in a bid to discuss their difficulties, they went ahead to outline some of the issues that Common lawyers have been complaining about over the years, including; decrying the appointment of Notaries in Anglophone Cameroon, immediate stop to the policy of harmonization, which they maintain is a deliberate strategy to ‘frenchify’ all Anglophones, denounce the invasion of common law Courts by Civil Law Magistrates, emphasizing that “the quality of justice dispensed in our courts today, leaves much to be desired, most of our courts and legal departments are manned by French speaking civil law trained magistrates”.
The memo further expands that “In fact, as we speak, the number of French speaking civil law trained magistrates in the region surpasses the number of Common law trained magistrates in Anglophone Cameroon…we have had incidents where judgements are delivered in French in Anglophone Cameroon. There is no other word to describe this than a policy of ASSIMILATION”. In this light, they suggest that “The only way to stop this assimilation is to replace these judges and magistrates with Common law trained judges”.
Again, Fako lawyers urge government to stop the ‘Impending CODE CIVILE’, which if enacted, will complete the ‘assimilation process’.
According to the lawyers, “In the face of these difficulties, Common Law Lawyers in 2015 proposed that to ensure that our system and our people are protected and reassured, we must return to the 1961 federal structure of the country”.
They equally condemn government’s responses so far to the crisis, describing it as being peripheral, half hearted, grossly insufficient etc. However, “With your coming into government, there is hope for a new beginning”, they believe.
“A unitary decentralised state is dead and buried. Whether it will be internal or external self-determination will be the result of negotiations between the component parts of this country”, the memo further states.
As a way forward to the ongoing crisis, Fako Lawyers suggest that all prisoners of the Anglophone Crisis should be released to pave way for any frank and trust worthy negotiations, demilitarization of Anglophone Cameroon, the grant of General Amnesty to all anglophone leaders of the crisis and that the services of a mediator be solicited in line with the much awaited dialogue.