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Catholic bishops in Cameroon have reasserted that Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala was 'murdered'.
This message is contained in a communiqué signed on Monday 10 July by the president of the National Episcopal Conference.
On behalf of the bishops, Samuel Kleda claims that the bishops noted traces of violence on the corpse they saw and identified at the river and mortuary as that of late Bala.
This, they say, is why they declared on June 13 that the bishop had been"brutally murdered".
They further revealed that the authorities of the Catholic church has not yet received the corpse of the late servant of God as stated on July 4 in a press release about the report of the preliminary inquiries into the incident.
This statement contradicts recent report into the death altogether.
Investigators had said on July 4 that drowning was the most probable cause of the death. There was no trace of violence on the corpse, they had said.
What's happening?
This controversy puts two strong sides at odds.
Bishops are men of God, hence should 'tell the truth '.
Investigators are 'trained individuals whose impartiality and integrity should distinguish them from other people in society.'
So who is lying, and why?
Bishop Bala went missing at the beginning of last month. About three days later, he was found dead in a river.
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The President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NEC) Mgr. Samuel Kléda, says the Bishops of Cameroon still stand on their position that Mgr. Jean Marie Benoit Bala was brutally murdered.
Kleda was speaking in Yaounde, during a press conference to welcome members of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACERAC) in Yaoundé.
The Bishops of Cameroons re-echoed their stand on the Death of the Bishop of Bafia, Mgr Bala, barely four days after the Government of Cameroon, through the Attorney General of the Yaounde Appeal Court, Jean Fils Ntamack, on July 4, issued an official statement, contradicting NEC’s June 13 pronouncement that Mgr. Bala was brutally murdered.
The Yaounde Appeal Court Attorney General’s statement was based on an undisclosed autopsy report, conducted on the remains of the fallen Bishop by experts from Europe.
In his July 4 press release, Jean Fils Ntamack, had stated that “After initial examination by two teams of local medical doctors on June 2 and 22, 2017, the decision was taken to resort to international expertise through INTERPOL.
The forensic medical doctors sent by INTERPOL for that purpose, namely Professor Michael Tsokos, Director of the Berlin Institute of Forensic Medicine in Germany, and Doctor Mark Mulder, Coordinator of the Disaster Victim Identification Unit of INTERPOL, arrived Cameroon on June 29, 2017.
After close examination, they noted the absence of any traces of violence on the body of the deceased and concluded, in this light, that drowning was the most probable cause of the Bishop’s death.”
Though Ntamack said investigations to ascertain the circumstances under which the Prelate died are still on-going, his said the remains have been handed over to the National Episcopal Council for burial.
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- Rita Akana
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The mysterious passing away of the Bishop of Bafia , Jean Marie Benoit Balla, has remained a puzzle in Cameroon. Controversial declarations have taken centre stage, with suspicion hovering over the sky, especially from the public and the church.
The recent declaration of preliminary inquiries into the incident claimed that the Bishop might have drowned, as there was no 'trace of physical violence on the corpse.'
But before then catholic bishops in Cameroon had asserted in very strong terms that the bishop had been "brutally murdered".
As the investigation continues, there is a huge problem. The bishops may have to substantiate their"brutally murdered", as the Association of the Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa meets as from July 10, according to Cameroon-Info.Net, as it quotes La Nouvelle Expression.
The bishop reportedly went missing for about three days just to be spotted on the banks of River Sanaga. His car was equally found on the bridge over the river with a funny note "I'm in the water ".
The incident has been treated by some as murder while others say it's suicide.
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- Tasha Seidou
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These pilgrims are waiting for their flights back to their towns; Garoua, Ngaoundere and Douala.
Since the feast of the Ramadan ended, these Cameroonian pilgrims have been blocked in Djeddah Saudi Arabia. They are waiting for the Ethiopian Airlines which had to bring them back to their respective towns in Cameroon. Le Jour newspaper related Yesterday 7th of July that, the victims of disappointment had earlier come to the Djeddah international airport on the 6th of July only to be stranded and then look for a hotel in town where they could lay their heads.
Alhadji Hussein one of the pilgrims in this situation revealed to Le Jour that “we are still waiting for the planes reserved for our Journey to Cameroon. The Ethiopian airlines have instead decided to transport pilgrims from Qatar, considering the diplomatic conflict between the two countries”. According to Aladji Hussein, the embargo put on Qatar is affecting the pilgrims.
A diplomatic source contacted by the Cameroon Daily revealed that Saudi Arabia had to receive 3 000 000 pilgrims for this small pilgrimage (the Oumra) and around 20 000 000 for the big one (the Hadj). But it seems like the Holy city had over 12 000 000 pilgrims this time, which is more than what is required. With this number, it is not easy to handle the transportation within a short space of time, especially as an embargo has been placed on Qatar who usually played a significant role when it came to the transportation of pilgrims.
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- Pavel Joseph Nyuysuliy
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A Pastor whose name we got as Fabrice is behind bars at the Douala 3 Municipality for sexual assault on a lady. Fabrice 23 years of age was carrying out prayers at a resident when Pascaline a mother of one came in for a visit, the family invited her for prayers but she refused but the Pastor insisted and convinced her with a prophesy that she was possessed by some evil spirits.
The lady scared of this revelation succumbed to the pastor’s demand and the pastor scheduled a private prayer session with the lady in question. It was during this session that the pastor using secrete ointment on the lady’s body, touched her private part and the whole prayer session turned into drama session as Pascaline started screaming for help. The neighbors heard the screams which did not sound like those of a person under deliverance and rushed to the scene, the lady started narrating the story but Pastor Fabrice keeps insisting the story is fabricated. He said “I acknowledge having prayed for this lady but the accusations levied on me are not true”.
People have turned from traditional witch doctors to Pastors who can deliver them from spiritual attacks or illnesses instantly. The forefront of this phenomenon is the Pentecostal churches gaining grounds in our community due to the lucrative nature of the activity. Most people want to become ‘Men of God’ just become rich and by so doing tarnish the image of the real Men of God.
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- Rita Akana
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The main prosecutor at the Centre Appeal Court has issued a communiqué claiming that there is no sign of violence on the corpse. Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Balla mysteriously disappeared at the beginning of last month. Three days or so later he was found at the banks of the Sanaga River. An investigation was launched to uncover the mystery.
In the meantime,the corpse of the servant of God has been handed to the church for burial. The investigation continues, they say. In the aftermath of the incident Catholic bishops in Cameroon had made a spectacular outing during which they asserted in very strong terms that their brother had been "brutally murdered", urging the powers that be to shed more light on the situation as soon as possible.
If the investigation ends up with a note like what was obtained on Tuesday, we wonder how disastrous the bishops' declaration could be . It had equally been rumoured that there were no signs of drowning on the corpse. It was said that investigators had not found water in the lungs, suggesting that the bishop had died before finding himself in the river. Tuesday's declaration is said to emanate from examinations done by national and international doctors on the remains of the bishop.
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- Concord Newsdesk
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