- A legacy of controversy trails the erudite constitutionalist and Constitutional Council member, who died in Bordeau, France aged 79
- I was one of those who saw his sense of objectivity at a very close range and benefitted from it – Victor Julius Ngoh
- Professor Joseph Owona was a brilliant jurist and talented constitutionalist – Maurice Kamto
- Owona woefully failed the one test that would have proven his brilliance – Ntemfac Ofege
By Doh James Sonkey and Norbert Wasso Binde
The death of renowned Public Law Professor and Biya’s ally, Joseph Owona has been made public. The former Minister, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic and member of the Constitutional Council died last January 6, 2024 in Bordeau, France following an illness.
Cameroon has lost a great figure, a constitutionalist who occupied several posts in the government for many years.
Born on January 25, 1945 at Akom in the Ocean Division of the South Region, Prof Joseph Owona attended Primary, Secondary and University in Cameroon before leaving for France. He returned in 1972 after an excellent academic study in the Paris University of Sorbonne. In 1977, he became the first Cameroonian Professor in Public Law and Political Science which opened him a lecturer career in Cameroon.
Prof Joseph Owona became Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and was later appointed Secretary General at the Presidency.
Owona served as right-hand man to the 91-year-old President Biya during the early days of multi-party politics. He would later serve as Minister of Health, Minister of Youth and Sports and President of FIFA’s Normalization Committee of the Cameroon Football Federation and retained a keen interest in the International Relations Institute (IRIC) in Yaoundé.
In the early 90s, he made a mockery of Cameroon researchers accusing them of not producing any results. Sometimes referred to as a Biya favourite, Professor Joseph Owona began his rise through politics deep inside the secretariat of the ruling CPDM Central Committee.
He was a controversial figure described by many as the “minister who brought problems to Biya while others said he brought solutions”.
Others said he was “at the heart of the Biya’s government promoting tribalism and nepotism. As Secretary General at the presidency, he was widely criticised for suggesting that no Bamileke could be head of state”. He later withdrew his remarks after a firm rebuke from Etoudi but was removed from his role.
That was not the only incendiary phrase he was accredited with. During the famous large, grand debat to review the 1972 constitution, he was made the chairman and vehemently rejected the federalist constitution proposed by the trio of late Barrister Sam Ekongtang Elad, Prof. Anyangwe and Dr. Simon Munzu who were mandated by the All Anglophone Conference, AAC I and II. He followed up his rejection with a counter saying “If the English speakers insist on federalism, Betis will secede”
Some have asked if the late Professor was the representative or spokesperson for Betis? Or did he simply have this feeling of belonging to the community of those who believe they own Cameroon?
Various Positions Occupied in government by Professor Joseph Owona
1985-1987: Minister Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic
1987-1988: Deputy Secretary General of the Government at the Presidency of the Republic with the rank of minister.
1988-1990: Minister of the civil service
1990-1992: Minister of Higher Education
1992-1994: Secretary General to the Presidency of the Republic
1992-1994: Chairman of the board of directors of SNH (Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures)
1995: Responsible for interim management of the general management of SNH and the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline project
1996-1997: Minister delegate to the presidency of the republic in charge of higher state control.
1997-2000: Minister of Sports.
2000-2004: Minister of National Education
Since 2006: Chairman of the Board of Directors of the debt recovery company of Cameroon (S.R.C).
Since 2006: Founder and president of J.O International Consulting SARL
*President of the FECAFOOT Normalisation Committee
Since April 15, 2020 until his death: Member of the Constitutional Council of Cameroon.
A Personal Encounter with Prof. Joseph Owona As Chancellor of the University of Yaounde, 1983 – Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh
As a young Assistant lecturer in 1983, I admired his intellectual ability, simplicity and the praises his students heaped on him as an excellent teacher.
I was one of those who saw his sense of objectivity at a very close range and benefitted from it.
As I have been telling some of my close colleagues and friends, Prof. Joseph Owona accepted to recruit me to teach in the history department, University of Yaounde, when some of the lecturers in the department (and most of them taught me as an undergraduate student) did not want me to be recruited on the grounds that I stammer. And they mounted a strong campaign against my recruitment. The few Anglophone lecturers in the Department fought hard for a favourable recommendation both at the Department and Faculty Boards but they did not succeed.
I was invited to the recruitment board chaired by the Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Owona and I conversed with the members for about 30 minutes. The conversation had nothing to do with history; and, it had nothing to do with my academic qualifications.
It was afterwards that I was made to understand that the members wanted to ascertain if I could not teach. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and a Prof. in the History Department also stammered.
At the meeting, based on the minutes, PV, and what some of the members of the recruitment board later revealed, some of the members, including the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, said they did not find anything wrong with me and asked those against my recruitment what was really the problem.
It should be noted that I had returned from the US in 1982 with a PhD in History at the age of 28 years! Several of those who had taught me still had only their Doctorat de Troisième (MA). During the deliberation at the recruitment board, those who were opposed to my recruitment finally agreed that I could be recruited as a part-time lecturer (“vacataire”).
Prof. Owona, the Chancellor and chair of the recruitment board then asked them if as a part- time lecturer I shall not stutter. They could not answer and that is how Victor Julius Ngoh was recruited as a permanent assistant lecturer in the History Department in 1983, thanks to Prof. Joseph Owona (I had never known him nor did I know the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Dongmo). The rest is now history.
That was the man, Prof. Joseph Owona.
Professor Joseph OWONA was a brilliant jurist and talented constitutionalist – Prof. Maurice Kamto
I learned with great emotion of the death of Professor Joseph OWONA, which occurred on the evening of January 6, 2024. First of all, I send my saddened condolences and the expression of my deep compassion to his bereaved family. Professor Joseph OWONA was a brilliant jurist and talented constitutionalist. In this matter he was a fascinating teacher for me: it is because of – or thanks to – him that the trajectory of my legal studies at the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences of the University of Yaoundé was diverted towards public law which opened the doors to teaching for me, while my initial plan was to study private law to become a lawyer. How many compatriots know that several of us among the graduates of 1979 were able to take the entrance exam for IRIC, without the sponsorship of a Minister, a Member of Parliament or a senior official of the single party at the time, as it was a requirement at that time, thanks to the sole personal decision of Professor OWONA who was then the Director of this prestigious diplomatic academy?
Professor Joseph OWONA had a real intellectual affection for me which undoubtedly suffered in the Cameroonian political environment, but which I have the weakness to believe had remained deep within him, especially since I had an almost filial respect for him. A theoretician of constitutional law, he knew the history of institutions and political ideas very well and knew that the building of nations often goes through upheavals, even furies, before reaching the plains of concord; that the survival of democracy requires a system of government where intelligent legal and institutional arrangements make it possible to limit power to contain the natural inclination towards its excesses. This is what he tried to translate in his version of the preliminary draft Constitution of the 1990s which, if it had been followed, would perhaps have spared us many excesses; because he proposed, among other things, a presidential mandate renewable only once, the possibility of independent candidacy, and a two-round presidential election.
We can regret that our political environment does not often allow our most talented minds to put the full extent of their knowledge at the service of the homeland. On the public stage, behind the postures and disagreements, even noisy ones, there are human beings who esteem each other, respect each other for what they are, capable of making or rebuilding the bridges that some would like to be irreparably broken, in order to build together something beautiful, strong, bigger than us: Cameroon, our common home. May the soul of Professor Joseph OWANA rest in peace!
(Our loose translation)
I keep wondering on what the claim that Owona was “a brilliant scholar” is based. The dream of any brilliant or semi-brilliant constitutional law scholar would be the chance to influence the writing of an actual constitution. Not only was Owona able to do this, he and his supporters have for years claimed that he wrote Cameroon’s current constitution practically singlehandedly. If you admire that constitution, then you must consider Owona a brilliant scholar! Otherwise, what is this plaudit based on?
Owona’s much vaunted reputation as a brilliant constitutional law scholar’ reminds me of a young man in my village who was reputed to have ‘one bone’ in his arm and could not be beaten by anybody. This claim was never tested as the young man and his friends spread this story everywhere, supported by made up stories about fights he had won, thus discouraging any men who might have tried to fight him. This reputation persisted until the young man started beating up on a young woman who had just come to village from the coast for Christmas holidays. The girl had never heard of his fearsome reputation and when she rejected his advances and he attacked her, she defended herself. In the event, she beat the young man so badly he was crying in the village square ‘like a girl’.
Owona woefully failed the one test that would have proven his brilliance: authorship of a shameful Cameroon constitution
With all due respect, Owona has been one shining light at the top of the hill. In jurisprudence his brilliance is unquestionable. However, as I said earlier his brilliant legal mind did not make him a good politician. The current constitution if you very well remember was written in response to political unrest and the rise of the SDF. He wrote the constitution to serve his masters political ambitions. He was a partisan of the ruling party. Cameroon today is still functioning as a country with one political party.