Prior to its enactment and subsequent promulgation into law, it would have appeared, many Anglophone Cameroonians were lured and or ensnared into believing, said adjective piece of legislation, called, Criminal Procedure Code (hereinafter referred to as the Code) was Common Law predicated. Supportive of liberal values, I take injustice, human rights violations or abuses personal and would have sought to get things right through a continuous critiquing of the defects contained in said Code.
Said Code is minded to make mention of proof as opposed to evidence, the former, suggests therefore and one may be inclined to deduce that, evidence may be obtained by any measure and means possible, such tacit insinuation of violation leaves a large scope for corruption as it suggest that proof can be fabricated, withheld, overlooked, trivialized, with little or no regard to both authenticity and veracity. Likewise, prescription as opposed to statutes of limitation, charge as opposed to indictment in criminal proceedings in the High Court, seals said Code, to name a few.
Furthermore, Presumption of innocence as contained in its section 8, is cocktailed and or overwhelmed by the application of section 336 ( reason why ‘ Our Activists’; DRs AGBOR BALLA, FONTEM & CO. could not be released on bail pending hearing and determination of their case) , where an accused could be tried, convicted and sentenced in absentia of prosecution witnesses.
Nauseating to note, is the Code’s quietness pertaining to Prerogative Writs, such as, Certiorari, Prohibition and Mandamus. Said Writs, are of very high constitutional importance within the Common Law compasses, and they play a fundamental role in administrative/magisterial law and would have sorted out the red lines between the Common Law and Civil Law systems. How then could we have talked of ‘one and indivisible’? It would have appeared, ‘One and indivisible’ as discoursed today is mere rhetoric.
It would have appeared, likewise, our learned drafters did undermine Common Law values, such as, the aforecited and amongst others. We are of the considered opinion that, such act of indifference, as construed or understood by us was thoughtful/deliberate and would have led to the present legal unrests or discontents in Cameroon today. Supportive of such conviction or opinion, is the President of the Republic’s instructions to create a Common Law Division at the Supreme Court. Why a Common Law Division now?
An exquisite and fabulous piece of procedural or adjective law is that void of inadequacies. The inadequacies of said Code, did, equally propel the assaults and humiliation inflicted on a majority of unarmed Southern Cameroonians, and specifically unarmed Lawyers of Common Law extraction in Buea and Bamenda between the 8th and 10th of October 2016 respectively, by armed security operatives. Said Lawyers did cry for amends relating to said inadequacies but their cries were defied with unprecedented excessive force from security operatives in violation of the Constitution and Cameroon’s International Treaty Commitments.
Conclusively, the president of the Republic’s instructions as stated herein above has proved the Lawyers exquisitely correct. Consequently a presidential clemency becomes necessary to free our detained and exiled Activists, pending a total revision of said Code to meet up with the overt challenges. God bless Cameroon.
BY: Barrister ATOH WALTER M. TCHEMI
MEMBER: HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF THE CAMEROON BAR ASSOCIATION
LEGAL CRITIC, RESEARCHER AND AUTHOR of ‘LGBT Rights are Human Rights’ (Let’s Repeal Our Anti-gay Laws) ISBN: 978-3-330-32004-8, EAN: 9783330320048: Book Language: English, Published on: 2017-05-23, Editor: kvasraudze_lap, copies could be obtained @ morebooks.de)
FOUNDER AND HEAD of THE TIME LAW FIRM, KUMBA
C.E.O: PRO BONO GROUP.
TEL: (00237) 77 62 73 08
atoh@thetimelawfirm.com
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