Success of D’la GA Is Victory for Cameroon Lawyers
– Ntumfor Nico Halle,
former President Bar Gen. Assembly
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| Ntumfor Nico Halle |
Senior Advocate of the Cameroon Bar, Ntumfor Barrister Nico
Halle, who served as president of the General Assembly (GA) of the lawyers’
association for four years, (January 2015 to 24 November 2018), has said that he
used his stewardship to uplift the Bar and improve its image, apart from giving
value-added to the Presidency of the Bar GA. Nico Halle at once noted that he
could do better if the presidency of the GA had a budget to finance its
activities. He regrets for not being able to organize a common dinner and/or
gala for the lawyers, during their two-day EGA in Douala, on 24 November, which
EGA saw the election of new members into the Bar Council, apart from the
election of the President of the GA and the Bar Council, Bartonnier. Nico Halle
made these and other remarks, during a telephone chat with The Median’s Editor,
Ayukogem Steven Ojong, shortly after the Douala EGA. The EGA saw the election
of Barrister Morfaw Evaristus as President of the Bar GA, and Barrister Charles
Tchakounte Patie as President of the Bar Council (Bartonnier), apart from the
15 members of the Bar Council. The following are excerpts of the very revealing
interview. Read on…
##Ntumfor
Barrister Nico Halle, You have just come to the end of your mandate as the
president of the General Assembly (GA) of the Cameroon Bar Association. You
organized an elective General Assembly (EGA) of the Bar which many have
hastened to describe as hugely successful. What are your immediate impressions?
-I hasten
to say my impressions are high, impressive and optimistic. I give all the glory
to God almighty that I invoked to come in and cover these elections. I asked
the lord to come and help me to mobilize the lawyers of the nation. And I must
thank him because the mobilization was total; it was huge; unprecedented. I
also take this opportunity to congratulate my learned colleagues of the Bar who
marked their presence and even those who sent proxies. Cameroonian lawyers are
a wonderful people and I am very proud to have been their servant for four
years. I promised them that I will serve them with loyalty and truth and that
at the end of my mandate I will present them a balance sheet of my stewardship,
which I did. I thank them for their support. They were my masters and I their
servant. Steve, I must acknowledge here that the EGA was ground-breaking. There
were no incidents. There was harmony; everybody was so happy to have been part
of the process to put in place a new team to take over the management of the Bar
association. Yet, I must mention that for all through the four years I spent
not one penny that came from the Bar coffers, not one Franc. For all the trips
I made to Yaounde and throughout the country, most often with my driver, I
spent no penny of the Bar’s money. If I have to put all the bills together–
hotel, fuel, feeding, lodging etc, it would not be less than fifty million cfa
francs. But it was my own way of sacrificing and giving back what the lord has
given me. And I am very sure that my colleagues the lawyers are aware of the
sacrifices I made to the extent that if I had asked for a second mandate I
think I would have had no match especially considering the avalanche of calls
that I have received asking me to stay on. Lawyers are a learned people: you
cannot manipulate or encapsulate them. If you can manage lawyers successfully
then you can manage any other group of persons. I had a wonderful and cordial
relationship with all of my colleagues, even if there were a few cases of
betrayal. But I consider these cases as occupational hazards that should happen
in life. I want to particularly thank my predecessor, Barrister Tang Emmanuel
who stood by me, unconditionally and unimpeachably. I have also promised the same support to my
successor, Barrister Morfaw Evaristus. I think that should be the spirit.
##Ntumfor,
reports from Douala hold that the elections were very successful and
transparent. What did you do to ensure transparency?
-Dur ing the elections that brought the outgoing
Bartonnier, Jackson Ngnie Kamga and myself, to office, I noticed that there
were numerous cases of fraud and all sorts of malpractices. So, I took a
personal vow that this should not repeat itself when I will organize the next
EGA. That was why when I convened the EGA for 24 November 2018 I told my
colleagues that no fraud or electoral malpractices would be tolerated. I told
them that as lawyers we must show the good example in terms of transparency and
respect for the laws of our association. I said this believing that lawyers
should be the ones to lead, while all others follow them. That was how I
decided that we must institute and implement a one ballot system during our
voting process. It is true that some colleagues were opposed to this, but I
stood my grounds because I had to assume my responsibilities as the president
of the Bar GA. So the one ballot system helped tremendously to check fraud.
Then we were very strict with the validation of the proxies that some
colleagues brought in. Because of this strictness many proxies were rejected
and you could see them piled up there in the hall. So people did not have their
way this time to vote three, four, five times like was the case before now.
Then the transparent ballot boxes we used also prevented any stuffing of the
boxes before and after the voting process. Also, i warned the members of the
electoral committee that any of them that was seen or even suspected of
campaigning or trying to collude with any candidate, would automatically be
removed from the committee. I asked all the lawyers to be vigilant about this
and to denounce any cases of suspected fraud or collusion. All these measures
helped to block the fraudsters, some of whom could not conceal their
frustration and embarrassment. I must say that I have been congratulated by a
huge majority of lawyers for this transparency which has only helped to
brighten the image of the Bar, apart from ensuring the legitimacy of those
elected. I cannot count the number of calls that I have received congratulating
me for the success of the EGA. You realize that when I took over as president
of the GA, I pledged that I was going to sanitize the Bar. And that was why
even before the EGA, I went round preaching morality, dignity and integrity to
lawyers. I told my colleagues that a lawyer who has no morality, dignity and
integrity is not fit to be called a lawyer. It is my hope that other
institutions of the state can follow the good example of the Bar Association
and also adopt the one ballot system in elections.
##Part
of the success of the EGA was because Anglophone lawyers attended in huge
numbers. One would have expected them to stay away given that the Bar did not
show the expected solidarity with them during the difficult period they had
with the government sometime ago. So what did you tell your Anglophone brothers
and sisters to get them come in these huge numbers?
-I did
nothing special; I think that my credibility played the magic. My brothers know
that I am a man of unimpeachable integrity and so they believe in me. But I must
point out emphatically here that the Bar Association is not a political party
neither is the Bar a pressure group. The Bar is a professional association. So
why would members of a professional association refuse to attend the GA of
their association? How can they bring change in their association if they stay
away from its general meetings? So it was incumbent on the Anglophone lawyers
just like their Francophone colleagues to come and be part of history. Yet, it
should be stated that attending a GA is not mandatory; it is optional. Members
attend out of their own volition. The choice to attend is personal and there
are no sanctions for members who fail to attend. As the President of the GA my
prerogative is to convene the GA. Whether members came or they did not come was
not my pre-occupation. But I must admit that the EGA at Castel Hall, Douala,
was ground-breaking and historic. The quality of the deliberations and
especially the quality of members that came was impressive. Almost all the
former Bartonniers and former GA Presidents were present: Yondo Black, Monthe,
Ben Muna, Charles Tchungang, Eta Bisong Jr., Francis Sama, Hypolite Meli,
Abunaw, Job, Tang Emmanuel and many more; just about all the prominent lawyers
in the country were there. In fact, it was a high-profile event that we had at
Castel Hall in Douala. I think the Anglophone lawyers only exercised their
democratic right by attending the EGA. It is the role of the Bar to uphold
democracy and the rule of law in society. And I think that it dawned on the
Anglophone lawyers, and rightly so, that, by attending the EGA in their numbers
they can step up their chances of finding a solution to the problems that they
raised; problems which i must admit are national, institutional and
constitutional in character. I cease this opportunity to thank the Anglophone
lawyers and all the members of the Bar for coming.
##There
was dancing and rejoicing in the hall following the proclamation of the result
of the Bar Council Election. In your opinion, was the rejoicing in celebration
of the victory of Charles Tchakounte Patie or in celebration of the ouster of
Jackson Ngnie Kamga?
--I
think the lawyers were dancing not in celebration of victory for whosoever, but
rather in celebration of victory for the Bar; victory for their noble
profession. And this has been the spirit even at past EGAs. It had nothing to
do with who was elected or who was not elected. I have always said that we
should stand for strong institutions and not strong personalities. People
should come and go, but institutions must remain. People shouldn’t think they
must be the only ones to lead. We are about 4000 lawyers at the Bar, and each
of these lawyers has a legitimate right to be the Bar President. And that was
why I said to myself that I should not do more than one term. I trained to be
lawyer and not to be president of the GA of lawyers. There is just no reason
for anyone to try to eternalize themselves in office. Before the Bar GA, I have
been in the CMF, in NOWEFU, in ONEL etc. And in all these institutions I made
sure I left when the time was right. I am in other structures and I don’t plan
to be there forever.
