Stand-off with Fako Lawyers

Tiko DO boycotts court hearing  
-Case adjourned to August 6
By Ajongakou Santos in Buea
The dust is yet to settle on the legal saga pitting the Tiko Divisional Officer and some 200 hundred lawyers of the Fako Lawyers Association FAKLA.
    Fako lawyers have vowed that justice must take its course following the failure of the Tiko Divisional Officer to appear in court last Thursday, July 23 to answer charges related to what they called the D.O’s violation of the rights of two of their colleagues.
    According to FAKLA President-Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, the absence of the D.O in court shows the level of disdain and disrespect he has for the judiciary of the country. His absence, he emphasised was sad given that the over 40 FAKLA lawyers who were present in court were ready to see the D.O accept justice and admit he was wrong some two months ago, to have locked a fellow barrister in his own office.
    When asked if the lawyers were satisfied with the judge handling the case, Barrister Enow Agbor Benjamin, the lead counsel for the plaintiff said they were neither afraid of any judge nor of seeing justice taking its right course. “If at the end we are not satisfied with the verdict of the case, we could still take the case to other avenues,’ he said.
    The absence of the D.O at the Buea High Court seemed a great embarrassment to his office and a stain likewise to the image of the state of Cameroon to have little or no interest on the judiciary; a thing that has made the Fako Lawyers angrier and more determined to see the case to the end.

    The lawyers revealed that they were asking the court to interpret the laws of the nation and to determine whether or not, what the D.O did violated the rights of the victim, or open the D.O and his agents to being liable for any damages that may accrue, or for any legal suits that may ensue. 
    However, besides the D.O, there are two police officers and also the state of Cameroon that have as responsibility to protect and respect the human rights of a citizen. Given the violation of the lawyer’s rights, the entire Bar Association, FAKLA in particular have vowed not to see anything undone with the case.
    In a normal process, the Divisional Officer for Tiko was fined CFA Francs 150.000 to assuage the feelings of the lawyers and the expenses that have been incurred in the whole process. While promising to collect the fine before the next hearing, the Fako Lawyers insist that failure of him to pay, they will seize his property. 
    Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned for Thursday, August 6, 2015 at the same Buea High Court.
    It should be recalled that two months ago, Fako lawyers stormed the office of the Tiko Divisional Officer demanding his apology for violating the human rights of their colleague, Barrister Ashu Samuel Besong, whom the DO had locked up in the lawyer’s own office, on 18 May 2015, on grounds that, the lawyer kept his office open when the “keep Tiko clean” campaign was underway.
    After staying for several hours inside his office with his secretary and colleague-Barrister Eric Fosack, Barrister Samuel Besong told The Median that it was thanks to his colleagues that he was released of the oppression at 12:24pm.
    The lawyers who had abandoned their various chambers and clients that faithful day just to demand the D.O’s apology seemed frustrated when the D.O, Patrick Che Ngwashi refused to express regret for what he had done.
    Their unhappiness and determination to see justice prevail is what moved them from the D.O’s office to the Tiko Court where Barrister Agbor Balla promised that FAKLA shall commence legal action against the D.O. Barrister Agbor Balla said that Fako Lawyers will work with the Cameroon Bar Association and the Bar Council to see that the D.O’s violation of Barrister Samuel Besong’s right be addressed in court. 
    “Never again will he do such a thing”-Barrister Balla said.
    Fako lawyers have insisted, the office of a lawyer is inviolable, given that there are certain procedures that must be followed before such action, as the D.O’s is taken.
    The overzealous action of the Tiko D.O that has earned him such doom is no strange issue to the lawyers given that it is not the first time such violation was carried out by the same D.O and nothing was done to him, reason why they demanded his apology. Two years ago, the late Barrister Bonou was also locked up in his Mutengene office and nothing ever happened to the DO. 
    This raises the question as to whether the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are separate powers in Cameroon or the Legislature and Judiciary are subordinate to the executive?
    By seeking legal redress, Fako lawyer have sent warning signals to all and sundry, especially the D.O, Police Officers, Gendarmes, the president of the Court of Appeal and Attorney General that whoever tramples on the right of lawyers, will be made to face the law.