Editorial

Five years after the UN Committee on Human rights in Geneva, Switzerland recommended that the Cameroon government among other things, pay compensation to former political prisoner Dr Ebenezer Akwanga, it has failed to respect the decision of the UN body.

The Cameroon Government, a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, violated the covenant when it arrested, tortured and imprisoned Akwanga and dozens of other English speaking activists in 1999.

According to Kevin Laue of the London based Human rights Charity Redress, and Defence Counsel for Akwanga in Geneva Cameroon has done very little, or nothing to abide by the obligations. 

"What we tried a few years ago to get things moving but there is a deadlock. We wrote directly to the government of Cameroon and the President and other state officials copying the Human Rights Committee. In order to get some kind of dialogue going, we said that we thought it was reasonable to claim 3 million US dollars (some 1.5 Billion FCFA) and that we were quite willing to discuss this further to resolve the compensation case," Laue said.

Defense lawyers for the Cameroon government have since insisted Ebenezer Akwanga, who has a warrant for his arrest back in Cameroon, returns to the country before any kind of negotiations can take place. Dr Akwanga himself is not amused by the long wait to get compensation considering that other victims who also won cases against the government at the Geneva Human Rights Committee, have since been compensated. “I never asked them to torture me. I am saying that if the state of Cameroon does not pay me now, they are going to pay tomorrow or after tomorrow so there is no way they are going to escape out of it. If the state thinks that it is good to keep torturing people and taking tax payers money to compensate them, so be it,” he stated. In October 1999, Ebenezer Akwanga and dozens of other Southern Cameroon activists were sentenced to long prison terms by the Military tribunal in Yaounde for subversion and armed insurrection, a charge they denied.

kwanga received a 20 year jail term but escaped from Kondengui prison 7 years later. He was tortured and almost lost his while in prison. Most of his prison comrades died in detention. In 2006, Akwanga was granted refugee status in the USA.

In 2008, he contacted London based human rights organisation, Redress that fights for the rights of state tortured victims. The case was taken to the UN Human Rights Committee that ruled in Akwanga's favour in 2011. In Communications no 1813/2008, the UN Committee ruled inter alia that “…the state party (Cameroon government) is under an obligation to provide the author (Ebenezer Akwanga) with an effective remedy , which should include a review of his conviction with the guarantees enshrined in the covenant, an investigation of the alleged events and prosecution of the persons responsible as well as adequate reparation, including compensation.”

Almost 20 years after he was first arrested for “state subversion”, Dr Akwanga is still suffering from the intense torture while in the hands of security officials.

His wife Agnes Akwanga confessed that he still suffers from nightmare’s, can go for long periods without sleep and is now partially sighted because of the harsh prison light he was subjected to periodically. He was half paralysed in prison and sometimes loses his balance. Redress defense Counsel Kevin Laue says some kind of compensation will gravely reduce the sense of injustice he suffers from. “ If he can get a measure of justice which is what we are seeking for him, that will help a great deal.

It always helps when torture victims get some compensation and acknowledgement from the government. If they get some accountability and some of the people who did wrong and are brought to account, all of this helps because it will make people feel they have not just been tortured and forgotten about,” he said.
 
 "Southern Cameroonians should not give up the struggle to gain their freedom and independence," Dr Akwanga insisted.
 The Cameroon Government is expected to begin the process of redress by paying Dr Akwanga some compensation as the UN Human Rights Committee recommended.

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Solomon Amabo

08.Aug.2016

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This is what Cameroon Tribune carries on front page in its today's August 4th, 2016 edition. Inclusing picture below.

Part of the article reads... " According to
the motion of thanks read by Martin Steve Zang Ambassa, a student of the Yaounde Higher Teachers’ Training College, the students pledged to stand by all actions initiated by President Paul Biya .... They reaffirmed their unconditional support to the Head of State, Commander in Chief of armed forces. " end of quote. 

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Solomon Amabo

04.Aug.2016

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This month, the African Union launched a new passport that would enable all Africans to travel across all countries in the "dark continent" as some dubious scholars had earlier described. And after following debates clouding the "laudable move," as I would describe, from every logical and empirical standpoint, African should be proud about this and unite around it. I will explain.

The AU is modeled on the EU, a relatively successful regional economic bloc. Its change of name from OAU came shortly after former Libyan leader and African statesman, Muammar Gaddafi, initiated a resolution in Sirte, Libya, that called for the establishment of AU, reinforce Africa's peace and security strategies, create African Economic Communities (AECs), and speed up the cancellation of Africa's debts.

Basically, this is one of the best structural governance approaches. It suffices that Africa, irrespective of its bad leaders, regroup into smaller Regional Economic Communities (RECs) based on linguistic, cultural and geography ties; manage trade, political and security issues at a regional level first; and later on merge those pillars to form a "United States of Africa" by 2034. Let me digress a little here. Cameroon dubiously sets its growth and emergence in 2035, probably because Africa would have seen significant progress by 2035. That will be for another write-up anyway.

So far, the progress across Africa has been very impressive with regional pillars like the Southern African Development Community (SADC) being the most successful among the eight pillars that include Cameroon's Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). CEMAC is only a subgroup of ECCAS. Other pillars like Nigeria's ECOWAS already rolled out passports for its regional member states. ECCAS did same. Africa is building up stronger and faster than no one ever predicted or could explain.

In fact, IMF and ADB note that sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world, with the Ivory Coast being "Africa's fastest growing economy," citing to the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook. Take a look at the five biggest emerging economies in the world, one -- South Africa, is in Africa. In terms of population, Africa has over a billion with most of them being youths. Business opportunities are flooding the continent as ICT opportunities expand into the "darker regions." Every country in the world sees Africa as a hotbed of trade relations.

Neoclassical realist, Fareed Zakaria, described a rare situation about Africa in his book "The Post-American World." He notes that on one hand there is a robust economy, but on the other, the political leaders are not at all impressive. In summary, marriage between bad leadership and a robust economy beats imagination. And with the new crop of thinkers, scholars, activists, and leaders across the continent, any leader sitting in the West would predict that a revenge against the West could be imminent if Africa quickly gains uncontrolled economic power.

The battle for Benghazi was not because Gaddaffi ignited chaos, as the Western media reported. It was simply because the drive and vision for Africa by Mr. Gaddaffi was a "threat" to Western interests, particularly France. France has reportedly wrecked havoc across the continent from North to West and Center. Where France passes, underdevelopment follows.

And with fearless leaders like Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, Omar Bashir, etc., it is rational to think that no Western leader would want them around their paths. To deal away with them here is the Western strategy: demonize and vilify them with Western media propaganda; sabotage their visits; slap sanctions on their economies so that citizens feel the pinch and rally against them; sponsor Civil Society Organizations to hit hard on them irrationally; use military intervention; use the ICC.

Let me pick on the ICC, a contemporary sword of Damocles. At now, 122 countries have signed and ratified the ICC’s Rome Statute, the ICC notes. "The United States, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Israel, and Turkey have not ratified it and thus are not under the jurisdiction of the court." Around one-third of its member states are in Africa. Interestingly, there are more than 8000 case files lying at the ICC, that have been either referred to the ICC by member states themselves or have been reported by pressure groups. But all the indicted alleged criminals are from Africa. Is that not selective justice at its peak?

Not only that, but they indict sit-in heads of state, and even go as far as pressuring other countries to arrest them when they come visiting. Has Tony Blair ever been indicted, despite evidence of war crimes in Iraq as revealed by the Chilcott report? No, he hasn't. So do you mean all devilish leaders are found only in Africa? I disagree.

It has always been my take that gone are those days we should be settling scores by arresting and indicting our leaders. We cannot have a burning house and we go around chasing rats. It is simple, did Nelson Mandela arrest all those Whites who were responsible for the Apartheid blunders in his country? No, he quickly rolled out peace and reconciliation. So why can't the West do same for Africa? Allow citizens to hold their leaders accountable and mind your business. Citizens are intelligent enough and can make rational decisions. The pressure our despotic leaders are now facing is hotter than even arrest. Many of them are chiseling their uncouth policies owing to citizens' demands.

And while the U.S. -- a global hegemon keeps hawking over Africa, I strongly suggest that Africans should be wise enough to see progress in their continent, and not allow Western-led interventions that will roll back their countries decades behind. Of what use is Libya today? See how North Africa has been shredded. It would take at least 50 more years for Libya to develop. The best U.S. leader for Africa would be that leader who will Mind His Business.

So far, Donald Trump thinks so. That leader who would steer clear of Africa in some way unlike Hillary Clinton who already has dirty footprints on the continent. That leader who would give Africa a chance to grow while breathing fresh air and not tear gas and bomb explosives. And if Donald Trump sends back the illegal Africans from the U.S., it would be a great thing. We need more minds to develop our continent. Ghana is what it is today because the illegal immigrants sent back from Nigeria during "Ghana Must Go," in the 1980s helped their regimes to think inclusively and look inwards.

Nonetheless, African leaders should not take advantage of the selective justice by the ICC to demand a pull out from the ICC, which I support if things remain the same. African leaders must be tried in Africa and by African courts and by Africans. If it happens in Africa, it should be debated in Africa. Our leaders must not walk away with impunity. They must be held accountable at all times by their own citizens. If Africa seeks to meet up with the six growth stages, as envisaged by the Sirte Declaration, we must unite and not disunite.

NB: For a quick look, here are the growth stages by the AU:

1. (to be completed in 1999) Creation of regional blocs in regions where such do not yet exist
2. (to be completed in 2007) Strengthening of intra-REC integration and inter-REC harmonisation
3. (to be completed in 2017) Establishing of a free trade area and customs union in each regional bloc
4. (to be completed in 2019) Establishing of a continent-wide customs union (and thus also a free trade area)
5. (to be completed in 2023) Establishing of a continent-wide African Common Market (ACM)
6. (to be completed in 2028) Establishing of a continent-wide economic and monetary union (and thus also a currency union) and Parliament

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Tapang Ivo

27.Jul.2016

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Tapang Ivo

23.Jul.2016

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Cameroon's Communication Minister and Spokesman for the New Deal Government of Paul Biya in a recent outing in Yaoundé, described imprisoned former Minister of Territorial administration and Decentralization, Marafa Hamidou YAYA,as a normal prisoner sentenced to 20 years in jail for intellectual complicity and embezzlement of public funds of about 14.5 billion FCFA.

 The Government Spokesman was reacting to allegations by the United Nations Working Group on Abitrary Detention that Marafa is a political prisoner. Thciroma, who has always been on the defensive, was once more seen in the spotlight making mouth watery declarations.

 In fact the Communication boss lambasted the results of an investigation carried out by five prominent UN appointed Jurists described by Marafa’s Counsel as Impartial and Independent Professors. It didn’t take more than a week for THCIROMA to present a defensive paper against a work that was done for six months. He was quick to say the UN Working group on Arbitrary Detention, WGAD, is not a court, not a conventional body and not even a supranational jurisdiction.

Mr TCHIROMA in his own words seems to say the Government of Cameroon did not violate any of what the Rights group has outlined ,that the rights of Marafa has been fully respected. But NO, the UN WGAD says Marafa was denied the right to fair public trial by impartial and independent judges, in clear violation of Cameroons voluntarily assumed obligations under article 10 of the United Nations declaration of Human Rights and article 14 of the international covenant on civil and political rights to fair public trial. Critics hold the response by Issa Tchiroma Bakary to the UN WGAD is similar to that which he gave to Amnesty International. Scanty, attacking. Poor in quality and heavy in quantity.

The government is giving an impression to the public that these foreign bodies hate Cameroon so much that they want to destroy it. Issa TCHIROMA attacked Amnesty International with an ill prepared counter offensive paper that only went a long way to rain insults on the Rights Group. But Both Tchiroma and Col. Badjeck of MINDEF lacked statistics in their counter report. An indication that Amnesty did their job at the back yard of the victim.

Critics have argued that Tchiroma had lame facts which proved the ill prepared nature of the Government in handling issues like this. Can the government not accept for once that they have made a mistake? Cameroon was quick to dance when Nigeria accepted the Bakassi peace agreement, what if Nigeria had refused? What if Nigeria had said same thing that the UN has no right to rule in favour of Cameroon? Cameroon joined the UN in 1960 and agreed to go by its decisions by implementing resolutions from any arm of the Institution.

My University Lecturers always told me that the Law is black and white with grey edges. We of Cameroon Concord support the government in its fight against terrorism, corruption and as a sovereign state; we think that foreign interference is out of question. But we as watchdog of the society are totally against inhumane treatment of innocent citizens with wide spread harassment by military in the Far North Region as reported by Amnesty International. People should be given fair treatment, fair trial like any free Cameroonian.

 Being the devil’s advocate will only go a long way to destroy the democratic principles preached by the government, preaching virtue and practising vice.

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Prince Nfor Hanson

21.Jul.2016

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With rumours about the ‘inhouse’fighting to succeed President Paul Biya, many Cameroonians are afraid of what becomes of the country after his reign. Going by reports, there are two camps engaged in this struggle for Cameroon after Biya. One is asking President Biya to continue ruling, by calling for early elections, while the other is asking the President not to do so. He should to step aside if peace must reign in Cameroon after him.

In the wake of the ongoing perceived or real battles to succeed President Biya, a Cameroonian USA based international business lawyer and politician, Dr David Makongo, believes that President Paul Biya can avoid bloodshed by putting in place a transitional government, now that he is still strong and retains some control, instead of running for reelection.

In a July 19 2016 statement, the man of law and politics argues that there is need for separation of powers between the executive judiciary and the legislative arms of government and most importantly for the neglected youths to be empowered.

 BIYA SHOULD  AVOID BLOODSHED IN  CAMEROON - DR DAVID MAKONGO

 

I think the youths should be given a chance to emerge now and not tomorrow. With so much natural resources and wealth underneath our earth surface, we refuse that the youths of Cameroon must continue to live in misery and poverty. With so many failed promises and false hopes, we refuse to wait again until the dawn of another false hope of emergence in 2035.

If the youth must emerge today, President Biya must abolish the discretionary tax policies responsible for corruption and for killing thousands of small and medium size enterprises.

If the youths must emerge today, President Biya must end corruption by declaring his assets and those of his Ministers and Managers, as required by the 1996 constitution.

If we must end job drought and attract meaningful foreign investment, President Biya must institute the rule of law and also abide by international court decisions that have gone against his regime.

If Cameroon must remain united, peaceful and secure in the long run, President Biya must close down his unpopular “kangaroo special criminal court” and release all political prisoners condemned by what many within the national and international community term as Biya’s “political lynching apparatus.”   

 If Cameroon must continue on the path of peace and internal security, the President must allow the lower and upper houses of parliament and the judiciary to function separately and without executive interference.

 

The President should resign now and form a transitional government that will include an equal number of representatives from Anglophone and Francophone communities; including Christians and Muslims, women and youth, from the opposition and his supporters. He must give the transition government a clear mandate with a free hand to prepare the nation for democratic, free and fair elections monitored by credible national and international observers. 

This is the only way President Biya, can assure himself of a perfect exit from the national political stage and also guarantee peace and security to prevail in Cameroon, long after his awaited departure.Only then can bloodshed that I foresee, could be avoided and for peace and prosperity to prevail in Cameroon.

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Solomon Amabo

19.Jul.2016

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