Tchiroma denies claims of Anglophone deaths in Kondengui
By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUND
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Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon Joseph Mbah Ndam who is Member of Parliament for the leading opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF party has revealed that at least 10 persons die every day in the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaoundé. He made the shocking revelation last March 1, 2017 during an interview over the BBC World service for Africa and to Equinoxe Television channel.
Weeping over the fate of Anglophones who are arrested on daily basis and ferried to the already overcrowded prison in Yaoundé, Hon Joseph Mbah Ndam said “I visited the prison yesterday and returned from there very sadden when I talked to those who have been arrested and detained there. I discovered that most of them were sleeping on the ground. Some (Anglophones) who got wounded in the process of arrest are not being treated and the prison is overcrowded.”
He told the BBC and Equinoxe Tv that “In fact they told me there is an epidemic in the place and they are dying averagely 10 every week and when I tried to find out what the authorities are doing to amend the situation and after speaking with the prison superintendent, I discovered that he himself is helpless and is instead counting on goodwill gestures.”
The SDF MP and Barrister at law lamented that “it is quite unfortunate for us Cameroonians to have the kind of government we have today that takes decisions that are deplorable. I wonder why people are arrested in Anglophone Cameroon and transferred to Yaoundé where detention facilities are not even enough. We need to put party discipline aside and solve this situation for what is happening concerns all Cameroonians.”
In a counter reaction over the BBC, Government Spokesman, Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary of Communication vehemently refuted the allegation “It is a slanderous description of Cameroon and that has nothing to do with the Cameroon we are living in.”
While making reference to those arrested in Anglophone Cameroon, Minister Issa Tchiroma said, “their rights are being protected; they have a right to receive their Lawyers, they have the right to receive their families, this description does not concern Cameroon at all.”
The Minister stressed that there are no such weekly deaths as claimed by the SDF Member of Parliament.