A CHALLENGE TO DURABLE PEACE IN CAMEROON.
"THE DEATH PENALTY LAW A CURSE OR BLESSING TO PEACE"
Introduction and Context.
On Thursday evening
December 4th, 2014, the
nation of Cameroon witnessed a new level of democracy progress as the
people saw
the coming of a new or what some called an “old archaic” law. The
government
through the both houses of parliament; the house of Assembly and Senate,
voted
to implement the death penalty law, a bill tabled by the government and
titled " Bill N0 962/PJL/AN on the suppression of Acts of Terrorism" All
148 CPDM parliamentarians of the
National Assembly voted the Bill while all 86 Senators of the CPDM in
the
Senate equally voted to pass the legislation.
Article 2(1) of the law, specified
that terrorist crimes are; actions likely to cause death; to endanger or damage
the physical integrity of another or to do damage to the nation’s natural
resources environment or cultural heritage when done with the intent of:
· Intimidating
the population, provoking a situation of terror or forcing the victim, the
government and or organization, national or international to accomplish or
abstain from accomplishing any act whatsoever, to adopt or renounce a
particular position, or to act according to certain principles.
·
Disturbing
the normal functioning of public services, the provision of essential services
to the population, or creating a situation of crisis within the population.
·
Creating
a general uprising in the country
In like manner the new law imposes
punishment on anyone, whom for the same purpose as stated above,
- provides
or makes use of war materials;
- provides
or makes use of micro-organisms or any other biological agent especially
viruses, mushroom clouds or toxins;
-provides
or uses chemicals, psychotropic, radioactive or hypnotizing agents or;
-takes
hostages
And if these actions are taken against animals or plants, the
perpetrator is subject to a punishment of life imprisonment.
Battle for and against the Terrorism Law.
For what was explained as reasons for such a
law, the government said, it is an anti-terrorism law, which aims at punishing
anyone who abets, supports, sponsors or carries out acts of terrorism in the
country. As a further corroboration to the new law, the government says that
such a law is going to be a part solution to the current advanced threat of an
Islamic threat – Boko Haram, which the military is currently in tough battle
with in the northern part of the country.
The law will scare anyone who wishes
to join, abet, support and even sponsor such a terrorist movement within
Cameroon as it is currently the case in neighboring Nigeria. It is worth noting
that the group Boko Haram had claimed more than thirteen thousand (13000) human
lives in Nigeria from the period of 2009-2014, and is currently claiming tenths
and hundreds of lives in the North of Cameroon.
Reports have had it that, the
neighboring Nigeria has found great difficulty in dealing with such extremist
group because of the massive support and access to information the group has
within the interior circle of the Nigerian military and government. Reports
have had it as well that, a huge number of Army officials were indicted,
trialed and found guilty and were executed in the Nigerian Military courts.
Bearing this in mind, the government
of Cameroon therefore though it worthwhile to prevent such a situation in
Nigeria from being the case in Cameroon. As such a majority of the government,
and even opposition leaders reasoned with such a parliamentary move and greatly
supported the bill.
Enwi Francis a law
maker and member
of the Cameroon peoples’ democratic movement (CPDM) supported the law
whole-heartedly and held that the law is meant to be a powerful
deterrent to
the current insecurity in the country. He said; “If you see what Boko
Haram is doing, kidnapping Children. If you imagine your own daughter being
kidnapped and taken to another destination and you don’t know what is happening
to her. Your own wife being picked up in that way .Those are threats to the
nation, people coming into schools and start shooting children. They deserve
nothing…You can’t kill and go free.”
The passing of such a bill and the
series of arguments put forth by its proponents received serious attacks from
other opposition parties, human rights groups and the nation in General. Critics hold it that such a bill is a
device by the Biya regime to silence all oppositions and future threats to the
government, which is a serious threat to the observance of human rights bearing
in mind that from the definition of this legislation, acts of terrorism are;
threats which cause death, physical harm, material damage, intimidation of the
population, provoking fear and disturbing public peace.
The speaker of the Cameroon National Assembly
even sounded it so clear by saying; “the draft law provides the ultimate
penalty who personally or in complicity or under coercion commits a terrorist
act”
Minister Laurent Esso of the Justice
Ministry re-iterated and re-affirms the government’s commitment into seeing the
law a reality. He said “Cameroon will never be complicit to those whose
only agenda is to cause mayhem and destabilize the normal functioning of the
state”
The government went further to liken
the new law to the US Patriot Act which was enacted after the September 11th
2001 attacks and declared all criticisms false allegations. The new law is therefore needed to
meet Cameroon’s obligation under international agreements to which Cameroon is
a party.
Meanwhile government’s spokes man
Issa Tchiroma Bakary insisted that the law was necessary to meet Cameroon’s
anti-terrorism obligations as a member of the Economic community of central
African States (CEMAC)
The government in a further bid to
get more sympathy and appreciation to the new law , brought in the issue of
costs which the country is suffering as a result of the Boko Haram attacks and
current level of national insecurity. From these costs, they remain bent on
seeing the implementation of this law.
Since the
declaration of President
Paul Biya, Francoise Hollande of France and other heads of state in a
meeting
held in France on May 17 2014, Cameroon had deployed thousands of troops
and
still plans to send more in the North of Cameroon to help fight the
violent
extremists. This followed a declaration from the Minister of Defence
Edgard
Alain Meben Ngo’o and the Delegate General for National Security Martin
Mbarga
Nguele, announcing the recruitment of some 20000 defense and security
officers
in the next 2 years to help tighten the fight against the group.All
these costs money. Revenue from tourism and Custom has dropped from 50
to 10 percent since the beginning of the terror. The government
lamented.
From this law, it therefore implies
that, anyone found guilty in any manner in abuse of the following
characteristics of terrorism acts, shall be charged, found guilty and killed.
The place and position of Human rights in Cameroon, freedom of speech and other
fundamental freedoms might have been completely lacerated from the surface of
the Cameroonian jurisprudence.
The international treaties and
conventions, charters and constitution of Cameroon which permit such freedom of
speech might therefore have been placed in a fixed. This new law kills the spirit and the right
to protest even peaceful protest, the rights to debate the rights to form
associations, unions and even pressure groups. It is because of the definition
of the law which has prompted many advocates to stand against it.
Prof. Maurice Kamto, one time
Minister Delegate of the government and current president of the Cameroon’s
Renaissance Movement (MRC) came out boldly in a declaration and said “…this text seems obviously to be his
response to popular uprisings that have led to the fall of regimes in several
African countries and in particular Burkina Faso”
Meanwhile a key pillar of the Social
Democratic Front and member of the House of Assembly Hon Joseph Banadzem,
posited that; the government could use this new law to suppress dissent and
control the media since at the moment the new law shall oblige journalists to
submit their news articles to the government for scrutiny before giving them
back for publication. The MP added that the new law shall intensify tension,
fear and will force the administration to criminalize opponents of the regime
at will. He cautioned that the nation may be led to chaos if the president
signed such a bill into law.Such a law is a serious threat to peace
durable peace in Cameroon.
Hon. Forbi Nchinda of the SDF, held
it that, such a law was outdated and was coming at a time when every nation on
earth is in the process of killing the death penalty law. He said this. “The
whole world is moving from the death penalty rule. Now they are using the death
penalty for people who are accused of terrorism. That is unacceptable the world
over. Even in Cameroon, I don’t think for the past 20 years, anybody has been
executed because the tendency has been to move away from the death penalty”.
The view of Honorable Forbi welcomed
appraisals because according to reports from Amnesty International, there have
not been any executions in Cameroon since 1997. However, critics still doubt
and question the validity of such a claim by Amnesty International as; many
political prisoners have disappeared in thin air over the years. Equally, Cameroon
has always had a long standing history of squelching all oppositions to the
regime.
In 2013, Transparency International
cited Cameroon for using the criminal justice system to harass and silence political
critics and currently a huge number of former Ministers, Director Generals ,
Mayors, General Managers of State corporations and Institutions of Cameroon are
spending time in the Kondengui Political Prison in Central Yaoundé and New Bell Prison in Douala.
Kah Walla, the sole opposition
political party leader in Cameroon equally Came out tall and criticized the
said law. According to Walla, the new law “…Is manifestly against the
fundamental liberties and rights of the Cameroonian people…In the guise of
fighting terrorism, the government’s real intent is to stifle political
dissent. The government is taking us back to the worst days of most barbaric
dictatorship”.
Other human rights groups like the
International freedom of the press advocacy group Reporters without Boundaries
equally condemned the law and called on Paul Biya to reject the law because it
has provisions that would have disastrous impact on freedom of information if
implemented in a heavy-handed manner.
Ni John Fru Ndi, also made a bold
statement that : “ This bill is
out to terrorize the people and kill their freedoms…Cameroonians must resist
and say No to this other maneuver…We will fight this law by every means.”
Before the Bill was even passed, Hon.
Aboubakar Siroma, a member of the leading opposition party the Social
Democratic Front (SDF), dismissed all the points corroborating such a law and
made it clear that a death penalty law is worse than the act of terrorism
itself. He said “It is unthinkable that some people want to implement
such an archaic law. We have been living with terrorist attacks but it is
unimaginable that the government is considering enacting such a law which is
more dangerous than terrorism. They should respect the constitution of this
country”
Before the law could even see the
light of the day, other human rights advocates have said that the aims of such
a law do not reflect the law in place. They argue that, such a deadly law is
meant just to settle political scores between those who oppose the Biya regime.
In this same light, Ndi Richard
Tantoh of the Ecumenical Service for Peace, Non Governmental Organization
declared that: “From every indication, the liberty of individuals to
express their frustration with government actions will be reprimanded with a
heavy hand and accusing people of crimes against the state”.
Meanwhile in December 3, the
president of public service workers trade Union Jean Mark Bikoko, made a strongly worded statement
when he said “…The war is a veritable declaration of war against the
people…the anti terrorism law has provoked the ire of civil societies and we
will protest on December 10th on World’s International Human Rights’
Day”
Some critics equally see this law as
a reaction or responds to what happened in Burkina Faso, where the citizens
protested against a Bill which was out to extend the term of office of the
President Blaise Campaore. They took to the street and demanded the step-down
of Blaise Campaore who did as was forced to. Blaise Campaore succeeded Thomas
Sankara who was killed after a coup and has been President of Burkina Faso until
he was asked to step down Last year 2014.His stepping down from power created awareness
in the minds of many Cameroonians who were anxiously waiting for the turn of Cameroon.
A vibrant Youth Leader and National President
of the UNDP party said this in further collaboration to the Burkina Faso cause.
He said this; “Off course it is clear. The people of Burkina Faso stood
against their leader and they said they don’t want Blaise Campore because he
wants to change the constitution and stay in power… and they succeeded. So our
own leader who has been in power for 32 years wants to make sure that such a
thing never happens in his country and this is a psychological way to
discourage people from going to the streets.”
The Media raised wild to equally
condemn this new law. They see is as another maneuver to intensify the torture
and prosecution of journalists in Cameroon. Prominent of them, Ben Collins
Nyuyberiwo, was quick in saying that, the new terrorism law is a tool to
intimidate government critics. He said” I don’t think they are handling
terrorism in this aspect. For example, they are talking about Boko Haram. Boko
Haram is not a Cameroonian issue. I think they should be targeting foreigners
who want to infiltrate our system and destabilize Cameroon and not journalists.
I think I have nothing to do with this aspect. They have to do their job. They
have to report, they have to inform the citizens.
Eugene Ngalim, a member of the
Cameroon Human Rights Commission in Yaoundé echoed a similar voice. “The
law is a dangerous law for the citizens of this country. This law could be used
against those who oppose the regime; you know it is stopping freedom of
expression, liberty….”
Notwithstanding the comments above,
other people have had this to say about the new law.
Mathieu Guy Elle a resident of Yaoundé, said this “We
can say it is a good thing to fight terrorism but I think that the law should
not be talking of killing people, they should instead keep them alive so that
they can help in the investigations”
A prominent figure George Arrey of
the Cameroon media had this to say “Cameroon is returning to capital
punishment due to the gravity of the terrorist threat…When you see how those
guys act, you will think of a way of counteracting them”.
Analysis:
What Cameroonians
should know at this point is that, the law meant to fight Boko Haram and
terrorism, is in fact an act of terror to Cameroon itself. The law is a
danger to Cameroon and could be a time bomb to Cameroon's contemporary
jurisprudence. This law imposes several problems into the Cameroonian society. The law violates and
tramples on what has been classified by the Cameroon constitution,
internationally
ratified treaties and charters to which Cameroon is a signatory to in
the guise
to classify the acts which it terms terrorist acts.
It has completely
infringed the the basic human rights of all Cameroonians. The
implications of this law
threatens durable and sustainable peace in Cameroon in the effect that,
all apparatus
of demonstration whether dialogue, media or peaceful protests, have been
completely
banned. It therefore implies that, any citizen or groups of citizens in
Cameroon
who wishes to cause any strike or even a usual and normal protest should
endeavor
to dig his grave, buy his coffin and write his will before doing so. The
implications
of this archaic law further demonstrates that the regime in place shall
live in
perpetuity as no person or groups of persons
or political party shall ever again dare the machinery of state.
The anti-terrorism law is the cause of
the intensity of Boko Haram activities in the northern part of the country. This
evident with the Video released by the Boko Haram Leader Aboubakar Shekau on January
5th 2015 saying … “ Paul Biya... If you do not stop that your evil plot…you
will taste what has befallen Nigeria…” . It is now nearly a concluded fact that,
neither peaceful nor violent transition shall again be thought of existing
in Cameroon. What Cameroonians need for change is Divine Intervention.
God Bless my people.
Such bright spell must be sustainable
and consolidated to lead to economic emergence. At any rate, our youth
will continue to reap its benefits.
