Protecting Common Law:

Anglophone lawyers revise strategy

By Ajongakou Santos in Buea

Common law lawyers pose for a snapshot

Nine months after Common Law Lawyers met in Bamenda on 9 May 2015 and drafted the famous ‘Ultimatum’ calling on the Biya regime to put a stop to all efforts and policies aimed at eroding the Common Law in Cameroon, the lawyers have met again this time in the Southwest capital Buea to evaluate the grounds covered. 

                Over 200 Common Law Lawyers converged last Saturday, February 13, 2016 at Chariot Hotel Buea with objective to map out fresh strategies that will attract urgent attention from the government.

                Co-chaired by erstwhile Bar General Assembly president, Barrister Abunaw Gilbert Enow and Barrister Yah Sinze, the Cameroon Common Law Lawyers’ conclave had in attendance among others two former Bartoniers: Barristers Bernard AchuoMuna and Eta BisongJr; the Procureur General of the South West region, members of the Fako Lawyers Association, Manyu Lawyers Association, Meme Lawyers Association, North West Lawyers Association (NOWELA), Common Law lawyers from Yaounde, Douala and other parts of the country.

                Welcoming his peers in Buea, FAKLA president Barrister Nkongho Felix AgborBalla, who doubled as the president of the local organizing committee for the meeting noted that “the Common Law is the cradle of our fore-fathers”. He said there was need to address the regrettable situation whereby the Common Law is now becoming “an endangered species”.

                Barrister AgborBalla hammered on the point that the Buea come together was the appropriate forum to further address the bi-jural and bilingual nature of the law in Cameroon, and also look at ways of protecting the Common Law from extinction.

                It should be noted that the Buea confab was convened as a follow up to the Bamenda general conference of May 2015, which came up with a powerful memorandum that was tabled to government calling on the latter to look into some objective hindrances to the smooth practice of their learned profession by lawyers especially in the two Anglophone regions.

                However, it emerged that the government had not responded to the Bamenda ultimatum as at the date of the holding of the Buea meeting. The government turned a blind eye to the common law lawyers’ memo simply because it was not appropriately channeled to the authorities in Yaounde, we learned.

                The Bar Council President to whom the lawyers handed the memo for onward transmission to Yaounde, failed to do so.

                Reason why the Procureur General (PG) of the South West Region, Emile Essombe, while declaring the conference open promised to take the “Buea II Declaration” to the Minister of Justice and also submit it to other high quarters in Yaounde.

                After over four hours of deliberations and discussions characterized by heated debates, the Common Law Lawyers settled on the conclusion that the government of Cameroon had given a deaf ear to the problems they raised in Bamenda. They therefore resolved amongst other things to set up a council of Barristers from both the North West and South West Regions to in the next three months come up with a roadmap for the proper implementation of the 9 May 2015 Bamenda Declaration.

                It came out clear after the meeting that, acting like one man, the common law lawyers are bent on forcing government to llook into their worries and especially stop the systematic and gradual erosion of the common law in Cameroon.

                Former Bar Council president, Barrister Bernard Muna was clear on this point. Hear him: “We may have been remotely controlled by money, position, privilege; we have stayed in bondage for too long. We all are hungry for a new day. The freedom of justice provided by the Common Law System is all we need. Only this can set us free from the bondage we have been in for this long.  When one does a wrong thing for long, he/she is tempted to accept the wrong things as true. We need the freedom that the Common Law of the South West and North West Regions deserve. The Common Law is Superior to the Civil Law System because it evolves along with society”.

                The Buea II Declaration therefore came to add weight to the Bamenda Declaration, in which, Anglophone Lawyers and Common Law Lawyers demand the reinstatement and total respect of the Common Law, and a possible return to a Federal Republic.

REACTIONS

We will not disappoint our people

                The Buea II Declaration shows that we are moving forward; there is no turning back. We said in Bamenda that we will meet again after a reasonable time, and we have met. You saw the number of lawyers present, their enthusiasm to see that issues that concern the Common Law and issues that affect the average English Speaking Cameroonian are addressed. The presence of former Bar Council Presidents, Barristers Bernard AchuoMuna and Eta Bisong Jr. and the former president of the General Assembly, Barrister Abunaw Gilbert Enow was telling of the seriousness of the issues raised. We did an in-depth analysis and the resolutions committee worked tirelessly at night to come up with the final draft that was unanimously adopted. We recalled the Bamenda Declaration and the failure of the government to find solutions through dialogue and address the issues we raised. We have created a Common Law Council that will pilot the affairs of the Common Law Lawyers Conference for the next one year. We are in for a directed leadership, we are in to achieve all our aims and the population can count on us. They will not be disappointed.

-Barrister Nkongho Felix AgborBalla, FAKLA President

We must set our people free from bondage

                The Common Law is completely different from the Civil Law System. The Common Law system has no Civil Code. It dwells on the custom and rights in each area. The Civil Law System is codified. We want a Law that is dynamic, that which changes with the times, with the customs. We need not go the parliament to change the Civil Code. We are also not happy with a system that wants to codify all rights. All srights are not codified. We are hoping that those who are in power will be able to see what can be done to see that these freedoms are protected. But if it is not, another generation may come up with a different solution. The freedom of justice provided by the Common Law System is all we need. Only it can set us free from the bondage we have been in for this long.

Barrister Bernard Muna, former Bartonier

The gov’t should look into the issues raised

                The Conference was impressive, there was a good turnout. We made good resolutions. It is for the government to strictly look at the issues and dialogue with us. We have been reaped of certain practices. We are saying that part of our culture, the procedures and systems of the Common Law must be respected. This time, the resolution council is taking it directly to the government and not through any other means. Last time, the problem was the fact that the Bar Council President who was charged to hand the Bamenda Declaration to the government, failed to do so. We are hoping for the best this time.”

-Barrister Kameni John, FAKLA

We must correct the injustices

                Common Law Lawyers of Cameroon have decided to Chart a new way forward. There are many problems that we have, one of them being the erosion of the Common Law in Cameroon, secondly, the problems related to the status of where we are now. We think all these must be corrected. A new impetus has been brought to focus at the conference here because, a council has been surfaced. This did not happen in Bamenda. It’s a great innovation that the Council has been charged to work from now and give a report in three months, and after one year, summon a meeting to give a final report. That will be done because that council is headed by me. This time, it’s going to be much rapid.

-BarristerEtaBisong Jr, Former Bartonier