AYAH Paul ABINE, Supreme Court of Cameroon.
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| AYAH Paul ABINE |
It is now a notorious fact that the
Camerounese senate refuses every year to defend their budget before the
national assembly on the pretext that they are the upper chamber of the House.
Unbelievable misconduct by persons said to be HONOURABLE!
Cameroun
is truly at precarious cross-roads today! Just a timid whirlwind and it could
be plunged into the abyss of fatal chaos. Delicately sustained only by a flimsy
legal string; and having traversed sporadic inroads through to wanton comportment
of riddance, it is as if the present generations have arrogated to themselves
the right to be final…
Cameroun,
without doubt, has never been the bedrock of the rule of law. But things have
dangerously degenerated into the point where even the judiciary appears to be
on the verge of declaring themselves irrelevant! That is of course only a
logical queue-up, subsequent to the shameless breaking of the law by the very
law-makers: the senate trampling underfoot with hollow majesty the country’s constitution
– the fundamental law of the land…
But
who can bring their minds to this outrageous conduct of the so-high? As if they
have reversed their much-talked-about “the truth and the good example (coming)
from the top”! Dumping the constitution in the waste basket in manner most
irresponsible!
Could
someone simplify it for the comprehension of our “honourable senators” that
justice begets peace; and that justice is being amenable to the law, or
compulsion to be amenable to the law? Could some learned person inform the
senators that, by the constitution in force, the national assembly has
exclusive jurisdiction to enact the finance law? May I pray some jurist to
teach our senators that their immunity shall be lifted some day for them to
face trial for embezzlement: spending public funds without proper appropriation
by the national assembly?
Let
it be known that the constitution took cognizance that the senate does not
enjoy the full mandate of the people since some senators are appointed. That is
why the passing of the appropriation Bill is within the exclusive jurisdiction
of the national assembly. It is an exception to the general rule that
parliament legislates (the two chambers). Such exclusiveness is attired in the
rule couched in borrowed legal jargon that “generalibusspecialibus non
derogant”.
One
can state with some reasonable degree of confidence that it is in superfluity
that, after the national assembly has enacted the finance law, the enactment is
still sent to the senate for reading. This is inconsistent with the
constitution which is unambiguous that the senate does not have concurrent
jurisdiction in the enactment of the finance law.
It
goes without saying then that, by failing to defend their appropriation before
the national assembly, the senate has no approved budget as required by the
constitution, and, therefore, spending what has not been enacted by the
national assembly as per the constitution amounts to the felony of
misappropriation... Let the wheel of fortune continue to turn!
It
shall stop turning some day, perhaps not so far off!
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