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| Ayah Paul |
-The super-scaled magistrate who doubles as
Advocate-General of the Supreme Court has pointed out that the decree creating
the NCC is inferior to the law regulating the press in Cameroon by virtue of
the hierarchy of legal norms; any person questioning this is simply being
ignoramus
The press in
Cameroun is regulated by the 1990 law on social communication. Section 17 (1)
(new) of the law provides, inter alia, that, where the conduct of a news media
is contrary to public order and good morals, the minister in charge of
territorial administration may suspend the said media. I have not been
privileged to find any other provision of that law providing that some other
body has concurrent jurisdiction with the minister in question.
The last but two sections of the
law, (Section 88), did create a national communication council, specifying that
the organization and functioning of the said council would be laid down by an
executive order. A decree subsequently issued, defining the jurisdiction of the
National Communication Council.
Without any necessity to go into
the substance of the decree, it should be pointed out that, in the hierarchy of
laws, a law in the technical sense takes precedence over an executive order. In
the event of conflict between the two, the law of course prevails. One may be bold enough to say, without any fear
of contradiction whatsoever, that that is the incontrovertible position of the
law.
It stands to reason, ipso facto,
that the jurisdiction of the National Communication Council as spelt out by a
decree crumbles in the face of the unambiguous legal provision granting to the
minister in charge of territorial administration exclusive jurisdiction over
the suspension of news media. The council would have had concurrent
jurisdiction with the minister, ratione materiae, only and only if another law
had granted the National Communication Council jurisdiction to suspend news
media… A decree taken in the furtherance of a law may only hopelessly purport
to fly on the same plane with the law; or dastardly venture to contradict it.
As it is, the suspension of
Afrique Media, as of other news media before it, was inconsistent with the law
in force; and is, therefore, illegal, if need there is to emphasize in
superfluity. Any member of the National Communication Council snarling and/or
smarting from the urge of vendetta may simply be ignoramus.
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