Ben Muna fires, GnieKamga hits back
The lead defence counsel in the case
pitting Nkongho Felix Balla, Dr. Fontem, ManchoBibixy and 74 others against the
state of Cameroon, Senior Barrister BenardAchoMuna, has accused the Bar
President, Jackson GnieKamga of being a double-edged sword in his manoevres to
convince striking Anglophone lawyers to go back to the courts. He said Gnie
Kanga was playing two conflicting roles that is, at once pretending to defend
Balla in court and saying nothing to ensure his release. Reacting to Muna’s
outburst, the Bar President fired back, saying the Bar never mandated Muna to
lead the defence of their colleague, AgborBalla, and so Muna should mind his
public utterances about the Bar President.
By Akwi Mavis Annoh in Yaounde
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| Former Bartonnier and Balla’s lead counsel, Ben Muna |
The Cameroon Bar is Council is now divided
as to whether Anglophone lawyers should return to the courts on 2 May 2017 or
continue with their sit-in strike until government satisfies all their demands.
Barely
days after the President of the Cameroon Bar, Barrister Jackson GnieKamga,
issued a release stating that after due consultation with a conclave of senior
advocates of the NW and SW, the striking Anglophone lawyers have accepted to
adorn their wigs and gowns once again and resume duty as from 2 May 2017, the
lead counsel for Barrister AgborBalla, Senior Barrister Ben Muna (himself a
former Bar President), organized a press briefing in Yaounde during which he
faulted the Bar President for trying to play a double game.
“We
distance ourselves from the steps taken by the President of the Bar Council
within the framework of the unrepresentative entity styled the “Conclave” as
outlined in a press release issued by him on 9 April 2017 without prior
consultation with the detainees and the team of defence lawyers; hereby clearly
state that neither they nor the detained persons whom they defend are bound by
any promise given or commitment made by the Bar President,” stated a press
release read by Ben Muna at the press briefing.
The
release continued: “We observe with regret that in his release of 9 April 2017
the president of the Bar neither requested the release from custody of lawyers
in detention nor raised the issue of lawyers in exile or whose freedom of
movement is restricted.”
Muna
regretted in his release that the Bartonnier did not consult the team of
defence lawyers in the Balla case to get their opinion before issuing his
release. He said granting amnesty to the detained lawyers and others on exile
is the only way the government can appease the striking lawyers and cause them
to go back to the courts.
Reacting
to Muna’s outing, the Bar President through his secretary, Philippe Memong,
said “any action that seeks to compromise the powers of the Bar President, no
matter where it is coming from, constitutes a violation of the organic law and
the internal rules of the Bar Association, and should be considered as such.”
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| Incumbent Bartonnier, Jackson NgnieKamga |
Referring
to Muna and the other lawyers who sat at the press briefing as “dissidents”,
the Memong noted that the Bartonnier is supreme in all matters pertaining to
the Bar, and he and he alone is mandated to intercede for and/or represent the
Bar.
With
this altercation between former Bartonnier Ben Muna and incumbent
BartonnierGnieKamga, it becomes difficult to say for sure whether Anglophone
lawyers will return to the courts on 2 May 2017.
Meanwhile,
a council of wise men of the Bar was convened for 21 April 2017, at the Bar
headquarters in Yaounde to look into the matter. Unfortunately we could not get
information on the outcome of the meeting at press time yesterday.
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