Building a Global Conscience

We write to draw your attention to our petition to the Bar Council dated June 14, 2004, published on page 6 of the Eden Newspaper of July 2 - 4, 2007, and to the declaration of the Bar Council Representative for Meme Division, Barrister Nicholas Fonkeng, in the same article that the “Bar status” provides that “to lodge a complaint against any member (of the Bar)” one must pay FCFA 25.000 for a file to be opened.

We frown at this declaration and would like the Bar Council to clarify if it is stated, and where, that complaints against lawyers to the Bar Council are registered with FCFA 25.000. If the answer to the above is in the affirmative, we would also like the Council to answer the following:

1.      What is the purpose of the FCFA 25.000 and how does the client recover the money?

2.      Is the obligatory fee consistent with the provisions of Section 24(1) of Law No. 90/059 of 19 December 1990 to organize practice at the Bar; that disputes between lawyers and their clients “shall, by mere petition, be brought before the President of the Bar Council”?

3.      Where do victims who cannot afford FCFA 25.000 take their own complaints against lawyers for malpractices?

4.      Is payment of a requisite amount for complaints to the Council not prohibitive and discriminatory against indigent victims, and in violation of their constitutional and human rights as guaranteed in the preamble of the Cameroon constitution, Articles 7 & 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all duly ratified by the Cameroon State party?

Sir, we firmly believe that the requirement of a mandatory fee to seek redress for wrongs on individual rights by members of the Bar, in itself, violates the rights of the individual to equality before the law and to equal protection by the law, and do beseech you to either declare it non-existent, or to take speedy measures to nullify it.

We are also resolutely convinced that laws are made for the protection of the weak, and that the spirit of the obligatory payment for complaints protects the rich, deny justice to the poor and push them to contemplate unorthodox, and possibly, violent means of getting redress for abuse of their rights by lawyers.

Sir, we are therefore praying you to answer the above questions and to make a statement to clarify public opinion on this issue, while promising our usual deep respect for your office and person.

Global Conscience Initiative has characterized the arrest and detention of the Kumba Electoral District Chair of the Social Democratic Front, SDF party, as arbitrary and a gross violation of the constitutional and human rights of Mr. Asapngu Ferdinand. Global Conscience Chief Executive said the arrest of the SDF leader by the Meme administration on Election Day was a deliberate ploy to preempt SDF militants from defending their ballots, which the administration and forces of law and order refused to protect, and thus allowed the CPDM to have a field day in rigging the elections to their advantage.

The Global Conscience Chief said Mr. Asapngu was arrested at about 5.30 p.m. on July 22, by the Commissioner of the Central Police station and detained in the office of the SDO for Meme until 11.00 p.m. before whisked to the police station where he was interrogated for hours and then detained in an office. He said by 10.00 a.m. the following day when he visited the District Chair in the police station, no charges had been proffered against him, and the state counsel had no knowledge of the detention of the political boss.

The GCI CEO said the Commissioner of police “acting on the orders of the Senior Administrator for Meme without any recourse to the laws defining his duties and responsibilities made himself vulnerable to an action against his person”. Mr. Samba has therefore urged the SDF District Chair to bring an action against the Commissioner.

About the polls, Global Conscience Chief Executive said the elections in Kumba were an “absolute charade, a disgrace to elections and a categorical abuse of the democratic rights of citizens to select their representatives”.

Mr. Samba Churchill said violence, intimidations and threats characterized the elections, while some voters voted more than once. He said polling agents of some parties were beaten and chased away in some polling stations, while some others were openly intimidated. He regretted that some militants of some political parties were arrested with multiple voters’ cards, while polling agents admitted that some voters voted without National Identification papers.

In conclusion, Mr. Samba said the elections in Kumba I, II & III should be annulled and reconducted with all the necessary guarantees of fairness and transparency if the government truly has the interest of denizens of Kumba at heart. He has also called for the prosecution of fraudsters and all others arrested for electoral malpractices under existing laws as a deterrent to militants who are interested in electoral cheating.

“It is regrettable to notice that the administration of Meme and Kumba has an interest in the irregularities that characterized the polls. Their actions clearly facilitated rigging in favour of one of the political parties. The Kumba DO, Kouam David, also needs to tell the people of Kumba in particular, and Cameroonians in general, how individuals came into possession of multiple voters’ cards that they used fraudulently”, the CEO challenged.

People Against Injustice (PAIN) Gambia, and Global Conscience Initiative (GCI) Cameroon, have filed a joint complaint to the African Commission on human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) against the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the latter’s refusal to respect a Federal Court ruling asking her to table the case of the Southern Cameroons before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The African Commission has acknowledged receipt of the complaint in a letter referenced ACHPR/LPROT/COMM/345/NIG/IN stating that the complaint has been registered as “Communication 345/2007” and “will be brought before the African Commission during its 42^nd Ordinary Session scheduled to hold in November 2007, in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), for a decision on seizure”.

Global Conscience Chief Executive Officer, Samba Churchill, who signed the complaint on behalf of GCI, said Nigeria was doing grave injustice to the people of the Southern Cameroons, by flouting the decision of her own Federal High Court ordering her to table the Southern Cameroons case at the ICJ and the UN General Assembly.

“Nigeria is a state of law”, Mr. Samba said. “She is also a signatory of the African Charter, and has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and other international treaties guaranteeing and protecting the right to self determination of all peoples.

About 12 Southern Cameroonians had, on February 14, 2002, seized the Federal Court of Nigeria to determine whether Nigeria is not under any legal duty to place before the ICJ and the UN General Assembly, the claim of the peoples of the Southern Cameroons to self determination and their declaration of independence.

The Federal Court quashed a preliminary objection raised by Counsel for the Attorney General of Nigeria and ruled, inter alia, that the Federal High Court of Abuja had jurisdiction to entertain the claim of the Southern Cameroons.

The parties, in the course of the hearing, decided to use the Alternative Dispute Resolution route to amicable settle the claim, and agreed amongst others that the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall institute a case before the ICJ, the UN and other international organisations for the determination of the statehood of the peoples of the Southern Cameroons.

On March 5, 2002, the Federal high Court of Abuja, with R.N. Ukeje as Chief Judge and Benson Asogwa as Registrar, made an Enrollment Order and scheduled that Nigeria shall table the Southern Cameroons claim to self determination and independence before the ICJ, the UN and any other international organisations that are competent to hear and determine the claims.

PAIN and GCI frown that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has not challenged the decision of the Court but has “failed, neglected or refused” to carry out the orders of the Court.

The complainants hold that Nigeria, by ignoring the Abuja High HCourt Order, has violated Articles 19, 20(1), (2) and (3) of the African Charter, and thus failed to assist the peoples of the Southern Cameroons in their struggle to liberate themselves from domination, tyranny, subjugation, exploitation, segregation, enslavement, torture and agony, and enslavement.

The complainants, bringing the matter to the African Commission, are praying the Commission to hold the Federal Republic of Nigeria in breach of Articles of the African Charter; to urge Nigeria to fulfill its obligations under Article 20(3) in favour of the Southern Cameroons; to direct Nigeria to comply with the orders of the Federal High Court of Abuja contained in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2002; and “any other such order(s) or such further orders as the Commission may deem fit and proper in the circumstance”.

The plaintiffs maintain that all local remedies have been exhausted as the matter have been settled by the Federal High Court of Abuja, whose decision remains unchallenged.

PAIN is a Gambian-based NGO having observer status with the African Commission, while Global Conscience Initiative is a Cameroon-based independent peace-building organisation. The Complaint is signed by Shaka Ceesay (Director of PAIN) and Samba Churchill (Chief Executive Officer of GCI).