Government Current Measures Cannot Bear Fruit: They Are Dilatory Tactic- Akere Muna

Barr. Akere T. Muna

On the matter of Common Law Magistrates and Judges: 

I have read that a Common Law section has been opened at the School of Magistracy and that exams will be scheduled. It is good that concrete solutions are being proposed, but we can and should go further than that. The above action will take at least four years to start producing results. The law does already provide us with a solution that that will produce almost immediate results and cause us to start conforming not only to the Common Law training but also to the Common law culture and tradition: Section 14 of Decree No. 2004/080 from the 13th of April 2004, lays down a procedure for lawyers and other categories of trained jurists to be integrated in to the Magistracy at different grades depending on their years of experience. This is the Common Law tradition.

Some lawyers with revered experience and with reputations for moral rectitude could be selected to become judges. Not only would this provide an almost immediate solution, but also, it would be applying the Common Law tradition whereby a large number of members of the judiciary are recruited from the private Bar. To date only one person seems to have benefited from this tradition. That is the late Chief SML Endeley who started out as a Barrister before becoming the Chief Justice of West Cameroon. A reminder of this fact was the strong showing of the Bar at his historic funeral in Buea.

In a country where there is a total lack of trust towards a government that is long on promises and short on delivery, there are many who do not see any of the proposed measures bearing fruit anytime soon. Instead, they are viewed as yet another ruse – another dilatory tactic. Decentralization is contained in the 1996 Constitution, and over twenty years later, the Regions yet have to elect a President. A measure that was promoted as the equivalent of a federation in 1996 has since 2004 been watered down to a structure in which elected officials are under the control of political appointees. Even in that watered down form, 13 years after, nothing has happened. I am afraid that in the present climate, any attempt at decentralization under the current legal framework will not address any of the substantial issues that are now being raised.

On the Matter of the Lost Academic Year: 

If all the measures outlined above implemented, to show the government’s good faith in addressing the issues at hand, further steps can then be taken to address the interrupted school year. Specifically, intensive courses could be offered over the long vacation, along with a special second session of all the exams that have been disrupted. The start of the next academic year may even be slightly delayed, but we would have gone a long way in making amends. I hear there is an African proverb which says “when an adult falls, he stand up looks back; and when a child falls, he stands up looks forward”. The way to peace, dialogue and unity cannot be paved by the arrogant use of power and retributive justice. Even after 27 years of suffering, Mandela harnessed the wrath of a downtrodden people, who had witnessed the subjugation and murder of their own by an imperious few on the basis of race. In this present juncture the powers that be, have to decide on which side of history they choose to take their place.

I will conclude with a few lines on the commission of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism. The biggest problem with policy nowadays is enforcement. Given this fact, anytime an institution is created with only advisory prerogatives, we might as well forget about the capacity of such an institution to be a tool to assist in the resolution of pressing issues. the committee will have to provide advice, which can be accepted or rejected. Even if such advice is acquiesced, it must be followed by policy development, which in turn would need to be implemented effectively. If we are taking over 21 years, and still counting, to implement settled constitutional provisions, we are kidding ourselves when we point to this commission as a solution to any of the current issues. If you add to this equation, the nature of its mandate, then we might just begin to understand the nature of the farce.

The time wasted weaving this web of division in which we unfortunately find ourselves distracts us from other seething issues that must be considered with the same amount of urgency.

First amongst these is the problems of the management of landed property in our country. The preamble of our constitution affirms "The state shall ensure the protection  of minorities and shall preserve the rights of indigenous populations in accordance with the law"; we should remember that according to article 65 of the same constitution, the preamble is part of the constitution.

The opacity in which the mining of minerals is managed in the Eastern Region of Cameroon in total absence of any discernable governance principles is saddening.  the consequence of this on the lives of the "indigenous population" will come to haunt us. The management of Lands in Kribi is not accompanied by any policy that is aimed at protecting the indigenous populations. The management of the returned land in Fako from the CDC to the rightful indigenous population is fraught with all manner of mismanagement. In the Extreme North a war is raging on perpetrated by a group of terrorists and bandits attempting to pass for religious fanatics. All international assessments have concluded that, the dire economic situation of the population has exposed them and they have fallen prey to the enticements and threats from these charlatans  who unsuccessfully try to hide under the cover of a respectable religion.

As we tread forward, we must be ignited again by the spirit of a time when our country was poised for true greatness and distinction, not in spite of our differences, but precisely because of them. A time when the synthesis of Anglophone and Francophone cultures meant that we would be able to draw on the best of both parts. A time when we were convinced that we would be more competitive on a global stage because we could do business in the world's major languages. A time when we knew that, even through our music, we would be able to appeal to many more. To borrow words from one of our founding fathers, Um Nyobe (also at a time when Cameroon was at crossroads), the first step in moving Cameroon forward is by actively combating tribalism, and creating a system that is based on the best each of us have to offer. It is time for better governance that is in tune with the ideas and solutions proposed by those who love this country, and not one that seeks to silence the voices that disagree with the status quo. It is never too late to do the right thing.

In Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", he makes a savvy use of proverbs from the Igbo people. One that comes to mind is: "the lizard that jumped from the high Iroko tree to the ground said, he would praise himself if no one else did". Like the lizard, some are marching all over the country, monopolizing the public media in self-praise, while everyone else watches in complete stupefaction. They see that the center can no longer hold because things are falling apart. However, it is not to late to change our course.

Barrister Akere T.Muna