Editorial

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer.  We call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit. An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused.  A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence.  A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility.  It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world.  This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon.  There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court.  Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.  With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption.  True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat.  Recently Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic and former personal physician of the President benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.  The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa   to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration.  Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in other to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people of Cameroon and not that of the President.  To the extent that the Special Criminal Court functions at the pleasure of the President, it fails to meet this threshold.  The justice rendered in the court cannot be said to be free and fair nor independent.  Because the court serves the political interests of the President, it is institutionally unjust and thus an affront to the tenets of justice and fundamental fairness.  Cameroon needs to confront the scourge of institutional corruption, the abuse of public trust, the arrogance of power and the impunity of misrule.  The Special Criminal Court as presently constituted is the wrong institution to confront these systemic crimes.

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

02.Mar.2015

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Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer.  We call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit. An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused.  A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence.  A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility.  It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world.  This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon.  There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court.  Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.  With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption.  True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat.  Recently Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic and former personal physician of the President benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.  The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa   to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration.  Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in other to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people of Cameroon and not that of the President.  To the extent that the Special Criminal Court functions at the pleasure of the President, it fails to meet this threshold.  The justice rendered in the court cannot be said to be free and fair nor independent.  Because the court serves the political interests of the President, it is institutionally unjust and thus an affront to the tenets of justice and fundamental fairness.  Cameroon needs to confront the scourge of institutional corruption, the abuse of public trust, the arrogance of power and the impunity of misrule.  The Special Criminal Court as presently constituted is the wrong institution to confront these systemic crimes.

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

02.Mar.2015

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Minority groups are always vulnerable everywhere they are in the world. This is because of the possible persecution they face from the majority. The most common ones that we often hear are race, religion and tribes. Cameroon Concord things that if activists and human rights campaigners fail to do more for the Albinos, an entire community in Africa will be wiped out. This is the sad story of albinos in Africa. According to experts, albinos or albinism occurs when one of the several genetic defects makes the body unable to produce or distribute melanin (a natural substance that gives color to your hair, skin, and iris of the eye). This health defect therefore makes the person skin white with pink hair and iris color, as well as vision problems. It is said defect may be passed down through families. From this small health education, we can see that science has provided an empirical evidence to refute any mythology about albinos. It is a purely health problem. 

But people in many parts of Africa hold a different view of this category of people. In some parts of Africa, kids are told never to greet an albino in the morning which if I violate, will bring them bad luck throughout the day.These conspiracy mysteries about albinos are false but are still being upheld in some African societies. However, the previous believe that albinos belong to the evil world has dramatically been reversed. It has moved from bad to worse. If you want fame, influence, power or money, just get the body parts of albino to a witchdoctor and you get what you want. African witchdoctors have made albinos living in the continent very vulnerable. There is a mad rush for them. Whereas some are kidnapped and later killed, others are hunted for like bush meat. Some are cruelly hacked to death with machete and those who are lucky enough to survive these ordeals live a miserable life. 

Tanzania is said to have the largest population of albinos in Africa. Birth records show that albinos represent one in every 1429 births, a much higher rate than in any other nation in Africa. And it is here that they are persecuted than any other place. In the last three years, over 70 albinos have been killed in Tanzania but only ten convictions have been made. In other parts of Africa, a total of 136 killings and 211 attacks across 25 countries have been reported since 2010. In Burundi, 33 killings have been reported and 29 cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In West Africa where, cases have been recorded in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana; while there have also been attacks in southern countries like South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

The first person to bring this horrendous crime to the attention of various governments in Africa was the Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas. In an undercover work he undertook in Tanzania, he exposed how the killings of Albinos have become like the drug trade in South America and Mexico. How they are hunted and traded like commodities. But since his exposé, little is being done by the governments in Africa to ensure that Albinos are safe to go about their daily routines like everyone else on the continent. The point we of Cameroon Concord are making here is that Albinos are human beings. It is no fault of theirs that they are born that way. Hence, they have the right to live just like any of us. And that is why we are calling on international human rights campaigners to put pressure on African governments to ensure the safety of this community.

 

 

 

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

27.Feb.2015

Hits: 1608

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Minority groups are always vulnerable everywhere they are in the world. This is because of the possible persecution they face from the majority. The most common ones that we often hear are race, religion and tribes. Cameroon Concord things that if activists and human rights campaigners fail to do more for the Albinos, an entire community in Africa will be wiped out. This is the sad story of albinos in Africa. According to experts, albinos or albinism occurs when one of the several genetic defects makes the body unable to produce or distribute melanin (a natural substance that gives color to your hair, skin, and iris of the eye). This health defect therefore makes the person skin white with pink hair and iris color, as well as vision problems. It is said defect may be passed down through families. From this small health education, we can see that science has provided an empirical evidence to refute any mythology about albinos. It is a purely health problem. 

But people in many parts of Africa hold a different view of this category of people. In some parts of Africa, kids are told never to greet an albino in the morning which if I violate, will bring them bad luck throughout the day.These conspiracy mysteries about albinos are false but are still being upheld in some African societies. However, the previous believe that albinos belong to the evil world has dramatically been reversed. It has moved from bad to worse. If you want fame, influence, power or money, just get the body parts of albino to a witchdoctor and you get what you want. African witchdoctors have made albinos living in the continent very vulnerable. There is a mad rush for them. Whereas some are kidnapped and later killed, others are hunted for like bush meat. Some are cruelly hacked to death with machete and those who are lucky enough to survive these ordeals live a miserable life. 

Tanzania is said to have the largest population of albinos in Africa. Birth records show that albinos represent one in every 1429 births, a much higher rate than in any other nation in Africa. And it is here that they are persecuted than any other place. In the last three years, over 70 albinos have been killed in Tanzania but only ten convictions have been made. In other parts of Africa, a total of 136 killings and 211 attacks across 25 countries have been reported since 2010. In Burundi, 33 killings have been reported and 29 cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In West Africa where, cases have been recorded in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana; while there have also been attacks in southern countries like South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

The first person to bring this horrendous crime to the attention of various governments in Africa was the Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas. In an undercover work he undertook in Tanzania, he exposed how the killings of Albinos have become like the drug trade in South America and Mexico. How they are hunted and traded like commodities. But since his exposé, little is being done by the governments in Africa to ensure that Albinos are safe to go about their daily routines like everyone else on the continent. The point we of Cameroon Concord are making here is that Albinos are human beings. It is no fault of theirs that they are born that way. Hence, they have the right to live just like any of us. And that is why we are calling on international human rights campaigners to put pressure on African governments to ensure the safety of this community.

 

 

 

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

27.Feb.2015

Hits: 1703

Write comment (0 Comments)

Minority groups are always vulnerable everywhere they are in the world. This is because of the possible persecution they face from the majority. The most common ones that we often hear are race, religion and tribes. Cameroon Concord things that if activists and human rights campaigners fail to do more for the Albinos, an entire community in Africa will be wiped out. This is the sad story of albinos in Africa. According to experts, albinos or albinism occurs when one of the several genetic defects makes the body unable to produce or distribute melanin (a natural substance that gives color to your hair, skin, and iris of the eye). This health defect therefore makes the person skin white with pink hair and iris color, as well as vision problems. It is said defect may be passed down through families. From this small health education, we can see that science has provided an empirical evidence to refute any mythology about albinos. It is a purely health problem. 

But people in many parts of Africa hold a different view of this category of people. In some parts of Africa, kids are told never to greet an albino in the morning which if I violate, will bring them bad luck throughout the day.These conspiracy mysteries about albinos are false but are still being upheld in some African societies. However, the previous believe that albinos belong to the evil world has dramatically been reversed. It has moved from bad to worse. If you want fame, influence, power or money, just get the body parts of albino to a witchdoctor and you get what you want. African witchdoctors have made albinos living in the continent very vulnerable. There is a mad rush for them. Whereas some are kidnapped and later killed, others are hunted for like bush meat. Some are cruelly hacked to death with machete and those who are lucky enough to survive these ordeals live a miserable life. 

Tanzania is said to have the largest population of albinos in Africa. Birth records show that albinos represent one in every 1429 births, a much higher rate than in any other nation in Africa. And it is here that they are persecuted than any other place. In the last three years, over 70 albinos have been killed in Tanzania but only ten convictions have been made. In other parts of Africa, a total of 136 killings and 211 attacks across 25 countries have been reported since 2010. In Burundi, 33 killings have been reported and 29 cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In West Africa where, cases have been recorded in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana; while there have also been attacks in southern countries like South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

The first person to bring this horrendous crime to the attention of various governments in Africa was the Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas. In an undercover work he undertook in Tanzania, he exposed how the killings of Albinos have become like the drug trade in South America and Mexico. How they are hunted and traded like commodities. But since his exposé, little is being done by the governments in Africa to ensure that Albinos are safe to go about their daily routines like everyone else on the continent. The point we of Cameroon Concord are making here is that Albinos are human beings. It is no fault of theirs that they are born that way. Hence, they have the right to live just like any of us. And that is why we are calling on international human rights campaigners to put pressure on African governments to ensure the safety of this community.

 

 

 

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

27.Feb.2015

Hits: 1370

Write comment (0 Comments)

Minority groups are always vulnerable everywhere they are in the world. This is because of the possible persecution they face from the majority. The most common ones that we often hear are race, religion and tribes. Cameroon Concord things that if activists and human rights campaigners fail to do more for the Albinos, an entire community in Africa will be wiped out. This is the sad story of albinos in Africa. According to experts, albinos or albinism occurs when one of the several genetic defects makes the body unable to produce or distribute melanin (a natural substance that gives color to your hair, skin, and iris of the eye). This health defect therefore makes the person skin white with pink hair and iris color, as well as vision problems. It is said defect may be passed down through families. From this small health education, we can see that science has provided an empirical evidence to refute any mythology about albinos. It is a purely health problem. 

But people in many parts of Africa hold a different view of this category of people. In some parts of Africa, kids are told never to greet an albino in the morning which if I violate, will bring them bad luck throughout the day.These conspiracy mysteries about albinos are false but are still being upheld in some African societies. However, the previous believe that albinos belong to the evil world has dramatically been reversed. It has moved from bad to worse. If you want fame, influence, power or money, just get the body parts of albino to a witchdoctor and you get what you want. African witchdoctors have made albinos living in the continent very vulnerable. There is a mad rush for them. Whereas some are kidnapped and later killed, others are hunted for like bush meat. Some are cruelly hacked to death with machete and those who are lucky enough to survive these ordeals live a miserable life. 

Tanzania is said to have the largest population of albinos in Africa. Birth records show that albinos represent one in every 1429 births, a much higher rate than in any other nation in Africa. And it is here that they are persecuted than any other place. In the last three years, over 70 albinos have been killed in Tanzania but only ten convictions have been made. In other parts of Africa, a total of 136 killings and 211 attacks across 25 countries have been reported since 2010. In Burundi, 33 killings have been reported and 29 cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In West Africa where, cases have been recorded in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana; while there have also been attacks in southern countries like South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

The first person to bring this horrendous crime to the attention of various governments in Africa was the Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas. In an undercover work he undertook in Tanzania, he exposed how the killings of Albinos have become like the drug trade in South America and Mexico. How they are hunted and traded like commodities. But since his exposé, little is being done by the governments in Africa to ensure that Albinos are safe to go about their daily routines like everyone else on the continent. The point we of Cameroon Concord are making here is that Albinos are human beings. It is no fault of theirs that they are born that way. Hence, they have the right to live just like any of us. And that is why we are calling on international human rights campaigners to put pressure on African governments to ensure the safety of this community.

 

 

 

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

27.Feb.2015

Hits: 1922

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