MESSAGE FROM THE COMMON LAW BAR ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN

Gentlemen, we started climbing the ladder for purpose beyond fixing exclusively the conditions of our practice. Right from our May 9, 2015 inaugural Conference Resolutions we insisted on a constitutional assurance of the sustainability of a grant of all our demands.

Today none of our demands have been met in due and proper form, worse still, our request for a constitutional foundation that recognizes and protects our chosen by way of inheritance and adoption has at bet been brutally snobbed.

We went to Buea on February 13, 2016 facing a serious threat to be our focus but we weathered the storm with the passage of time following the Common Law Council becoming moribund. Early October 2016, you all rallied behind a decision taken by the four Presidents of the constituent Associations of Common and made remarkable strides that ignited first the Teachers and then other professions and trades to join us in our finally blossomed quest for national be identity over and above mere temporal cultural rights ornamentals. Even though the emergent Consortium had be us in leadership we quickly reminded ourselves that it is only when we are standing that we can truly and effectively lift others who are down and looking up to us.

Inspired by this stock taking, we returned to ourselves to sharpen our focus in Kumba on January 13, 2017. That was quite be a hieght we attained because on that occasion following the announcement of the creation of our own Bar independent of the Cameroon Bar pending a decision on the petition I had filed on our behalf before the constitutional council of the Cameroon Republic demanding proof of legality of the union claim which has permitted the Yaounde Government to continue to occupy our nation Al territory without conforming with UN Resolution 1608(XV).

When our leadership was dispersed by arrest, incarceration and covertly enforced exile. All our Associations were banned. We were reduced from status of cats to mice in captivity. In the face of all these developments our efforts continued to receive soaring recognition beyond the territory despite the insensitivity of the Yaoundé Government and their be friends in the international community.

Notwithstanding, we have been gaining ground with our cause in remarkable ways. This explains why I took the liberty if leadership and announced in March 2017 the upgrade be of the Common Law Bar to the Southern Cameroons Bar in strict compliance with our rights under UN Resolution 1608(XV).

I have also created a Non-Profit outfit (Southern Cameroons Bar Foundation) that will be employed to mobilize support for the redevelopment of our profession and place it on solid ground to be a watch dog for justice in a restored Southern Cameroons.

I will be back to answer the question whether to be in Mamfe on September 23, 2017 for what purpose and what means by which to achieve that purpose?

Harmony Bobga Mbuton -President of the Southern Cameroons Bar."