Politics

MTN, Nexttel, Orange and CAMTEL are the major mobile operators in Cameroon.

Tchiroma’s communiqué discloses that President Paul Biya has ordered the Minister of Post and Telecommunications to authorize mobile operators to restore the internet in Southern Cameroons.

According to the communiqué, government has realized that calm has returned in the Anglophone regions of the nation.

This move comes just three days to the start of the All University Games in Bamenda, chief town of the North West Region.

Issa Tchiroma urges the people of Southern Cameroons to remain vigilant, adding that the government retains the right bring order when and where necessary.

The two English-speaking regions of Cameroon have gone without the internet for over three months now.

Previously, the Minister Communication, Issa Tchirama had attributed the blackout to the government’s legitimate right to make peace and order reign.

The government of La Republique had accused the people of Southern Cameroons of using the internet to spread fabricated stories on social media meant to destabilize the nation.

The people of Southern Cameroon have been on strike since November 2016 against what they term their marginalization by La Republique, the dominant part of Cameroon speaking essentially French.

Schools have been inactive since the start of the strike.

Even during the blackout, the people of Southern Cameroons did stop spreading information meant to steer the strike towards their main objective. Ghost towns continue to paralyze socio-economic activities in Southern Cameroons. Children have still not gone back to school; the rest of the world has still being posted on the latest update of the  plight of the people.

The strike that began with a protest by lawyers has witnessed violent manifestations from the people, accompanied by a tough crackdown from the powers that be.

The internet blackout has caused massive economic losses to companies from La Republique. Express Union, Express Exchange and other large businesses had to go  extra mile to provide their usual services to customers. This entailed long and boring procedures in sending and withdrawing money, for these financial structures.

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Tasha Seidou

20.Apr.2017

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The Supreme Court has in a ruling destroyed the hopes of detained Supreme Court Advocate General, Justice Paul Ayah Abine, of gaining justice after the appeal court rejected his appeal.

The Advocate General at the Centre Court of Appeal said Ayah’s lawyers knocked on the wrong door.

“If one has a problem and knocks at the wrong door, it will be the wrong person inside and that person’s problem would not be solved,” she said.

Ayah’s hopes flew out of the window when the presiding judge, Justice Mbonkeu, ruled in favour of the Advocate General for the State party.

Thus, Ayah’s hope to be freed from illegal detention was once more dashed.

The lawyers, however, took exception to the Advocate General’s submission. They said they filed their application in tandem with section 274 of the CPC.

They argued that since Ayah was arrested and detained at the Gendarmerie Headquarters in Yaounde on January 21, he has not been charged with any crime.

While stating their case, defence counsels Barristers Christopher Ndong, Luc Kisob and John Mbufor, said their action was predicated on Article 274 of the Criminal Procedure Code, CPC, which states that “the appeal shall be made by way of unstamped application in four copies and addressed to the President of the Inquiry Control Chambers.”

According to the defence counsels, Ayah’s arrest ran counter to article 119(4) of the CPC, which provides that ”except in cases of felonies or misdemeanors committed flagrante delicto (caught red-handed), remand in police custody should not be ordered on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays.”

The lawyers said those who arrested Ayah violated the law because they virtually kidnapped him on January 21, 2017, which was a Saturday.

Ayah’s lawyers called the court’s attention to section 629 of pact 10 of the CPC which borders on privilege proceedings.

The section provides that “where a judicial or legal officer is likely to be charged with committing an offence, the competent Procureur General shall request the President of the Supreme Court to appoint an investigating magistrate as well as three other magistrates of a grade at least equal to that of the magistrate incriminated. And they shall, if necessary, hear and determine the matter at first instance.”

The lawyers said those who arrested Ayah flagrantly violated the law and urged the court to thrash the matter using section three of the CPC.

The provision reads as follows: ”The sanction against the infringement of any rule of the Criminal Procedure shall be an absolute nullity.”

According to Barrister Christopher Ndong, they learned for the first time from the State Counsel at the Mfoundi High Court that their client was arrested on charges of terrorism, secession and rebellion against the State.

Ayah’s lawyers decided to file an appeal to the Supreme Court after the Centre Court of Appeal in Yaounde maintained its rejection of the habeas corpus application they filed at the Mfoundi High Court recently.

The Appeal Court rejected the plea on claims that the defence lawyers addressed their appeal to the President of the Inquiry Control Chambers.

After listening to the submissions of the defence lawyers, the Advocate General at the Centre Court of Appeal said the counsels used the law correctly and presented their arguments very well.

She said their problem was at the level of the admissibility of the application. She said they did not address the application to the President of the court.

The Appeal Court ruling is a logical continuation of the Mfoundi High Court decision of last March when the defence lawyers filed a habeas corpus application, asking for the immediate release of their client.

Some magistrates, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Post that they are shocked and devastated by the barbaric manner in which the State is treating a super scale magistrate of the Supreme Court. Observers are looking up to the Supreme Court to see how Ayah’s colleagues would treat one of theirs when the case is finally entertained.

Meanwhile, Ayah has been facing failing health in detention.

Cameroonpostline

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Rita Akana

20.Apr.2017

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Following the summons of the leaders of the Catholic Church early this week, the Okada boys from the two main towns of the North West region, Bamenda and Kumbo are strongly mobilizing to storm the premises of the Bamenda Court of First Instance on Friday April 21 2017. 

According to one of the Bike riders, they cannot sit back while their church leaders are being dragged to court and accused of crimes they did not commit.

“What have our church leaders done to be taken to court?” asks the bike rider. “They were instead the ones praying for this struggle to be resolved peacefully. Because of this summons, we are planning to visit the premises of the court of first instance tomorrow in our numbers to witness it ourselves”.

While pundits fear that the plan of the Okada boys to go out on April 21 may be deadly, others say there are no two ways to address the issue; they say the boys need to show massive support in their parade to up station.

However many have warned against violent protests given the heavy presence of the military in the city of Bamenda. 

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Rita Akana

20.Apr.2017

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The Anglophone Teachers/Lawyers strike that started sometime in November 2016 and later deteriorated to civil disobedience within the Anglophone community in Cameroon, is again witnessing another phase; this time the government has turned directly to fight against the church. Some say this is a battle gone wrong and are asking whether anyone, including the government can fight against God.

After the summons issued by the Bamenda Court of First Instance to Fathers, Sisters and Principals of catholic schools in the Bamenda early this week, the High Court of Buea has proceeded to issue a summons the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon; the Right Reverend Fonki Samuel. 

Christian Critics say the government’s special advisers have gotten it all wrong this time. “Nobody can win the church including the government of Cameroon. The church Alias “The Body of Christ” is a no go area. If the government of Cameroon has decided to wage war against the church, then it should be prepared to fight against God Himself” says a Christian critic.

Rumours also have it that early this week, the Head of the Baptist church in Cameroon was also summoned in Bamenda to answer charges yet to be unveiled.

However, many protesters are happy that the church will finally fully join them in the struggle.

“Victory will be ours now that the church will formally and physically join in the struggle. Who can dare fight against God?” asks a happy protester.

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Rita Akana

20.Apr.2017

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Following the church summons to the catholic, Baptists and Presbyterian churches this week, sources say Bamenda residents have vowed to increase the number of ghost town days per week.

Asangama Michael Bunwi, trader in Bamenda says they are ready to multiply the number of ghost living in the city. 

“The government has now touched the tail of a snake. We are planning to multiply the number of ghosts in this city to make sure that nothing that is organized by the government goes on well. This government has gone too far with its nonsense and this is the time to stop it” says angry Michael.

Muluh Markson, a catholic Christian of Ntarikon neighbourhood says they are right behind their church leaders and warns the government to be ready to accommodate the wrath of God.

Markson says “we are behind our Fathers, Sisters and Principals. We are praying ceaselessly to our God to lead them through these times. The government should also be ready to accommodate the anger of the Most High God”.

Pundits see the recent moves taken by the government through their many devices as worsening the situation of the crisis and slowly pushing the country to a more delicate position. 

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Mbi James

19.Apr.2017

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At least four persons were killed in Cameroon on Wednesday morning, including a gendarme officer, after a Boko Haram suicide bomber attacked the locality of Kolofata not far from the Nigerian border. The attacker was among the four persons killed by his blast.

Cameroonian newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel, said the attacker wrapped his deadly bomb in a mattress and placed it on the back of his bicycle.

He then pretended to be moving the mattress from one point to another when the bomb went off killing him, a gendarme (military police) named Moundjang Jérôme, and two other persons who were going to grind some grains, the newspaper said.

“The death toll for now is four dead, including one gendarme (military police),” said Cameroonian newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel. 

In another developing story, one person was killed and three girls abducted yesterday night in Mbereche, not far from Limani (Mayo-Sava) still in the same northern region of Cameroon.Locals and authorities blame the attack and abduction on Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has wreaked havoc in Cameroon since 2014, killing about two thousand people in over 500 suicide bombings and gun attacks and displacing hundreds of thousands. 

Weeks ago, the terrorists the Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari once described as the “godless, mindless” militants threatened in a video to behead Cameroonian President, Paul Biya.

Mr. Biya, who has been in power for 35 years has never visited Cameroon’s far north and the terrorists may have wanted to cash into pent up anger already rising against a leader who spends months at his intercontinental hotel in Europe while his country is on fire.

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Simon Ateba

19.Apr.2017

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