Cameroon: Anglophone Lawyers to embark on a sit-down strike from Tuesday October 11 to Thursday October 14

Lawyes from the English speaking section of Cameroon will embark on a sit-down strike from Tuesday October 11 to Thursday October 14 in protest of government’s repeated disregard for their complaints about the erosion of the Common Law sub-system in Cameroon. They note that the strike can only be called off if President Biya meets their demands.

Anglophone lawyers association leaders in a letter to the Cameroonian leader, notified him of the planned strike and solicited him to heed their demands. The strike alert is signed by Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla, President of the Fako Lawyers’ Association, FAKLA,  Philip Awutah Atubah, President of the Meme Lawyers’ Association, MELA, Harmony Bobga-Mbuton, President of the North West Lawyers’ Association, NOWELA, Emilien Ngangjoh Sopseh, President of the Manyu awyers’ Association, MALA.The lawyers note in the letter that it has been over two years since they served the Biya government. They say they have yet to receive even an acknowledgment.
Government contempt.

They complain in the letter that on February 13, 2016 they held a second conference over the non-respect of their demands in the Bamenda Conference resolutions, but government still did not budge. So too, according to them, was government indifferent when some lawyers attempted to “exercise the constitutional right of freedom of expression through the medium of Press Conference and were stifled with administrative bans and Police harassment."

One of the requests is for Biya to set up an Ad Hoc Commission to respond to the lawyers Resolutions of May 9, 2015 and the Buea Declaration of February 13, 2016 regarding the erosion of the Common Law in #Cameroon. They demand President Biya should hold an emergency session of the Higher Judicial Council and re-deploy all Civil Law magistrates from the two Common Law jurisdictions of North West and South West Regions.
Reunification agreements restoration

They request President Biya redeploy all Common Law magistrates from the civil law jurisdictions to the two Common Law jurisdictions of North West and South West Regions.The lawyers also called on all members of the Cameroon Bar Association to support them in what they call a “constructive strike action” for a better rule of law in Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the lawyers had filed a memo to government and diplomatic representatives of foreign countries Yaounde in May 2015. The memo contained the Bamenda resolutions. The resolutions, were a six-month ultimatum for Biya to facilitate Cameroon’s return to the federal system as obtained before 1972, protect the Common Law sub-system, respect the bi-jural system, protect the Anglo-Saxon educational system in the South West and North West regions.

Meanwhile the SCNC is collecting 2 million signatures for the United Nations to grant independence to former British Southern Cameroons -- the former British trust territory had been administered as part of former French Cameroon for 55 years, following a controversial unification agreement of 1961. The SCNC says the Francophone party has failed to respect the agreement.

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