Has justice in Cameroon recovered from eye problems?
By Wilson Musa
There is this adage that says, justice is blind. According to definition, Justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause. rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice. the moral principle determining just conduct.
In the context of this piece, we look at justice in the angle of rightfulness or lawfulness. In Cameroon, this kind of justice has been selected in recent past. Justice has lost its value as those who are appointed and elected to uphold the rule of the law, have turned to sell justice in exchange for money, friendship ties, relationships and village attachment.
The release of former Water and Energy Minister, Basile Antangana Kouna on Friday July 29, 2022 has given more weight to the above assertion.
According to a judge at the Special Criminal Tribunal, the man arrested in March 2018 for embezzlement of state funds, has restituted what he stole from the state.
But this freedom did not come as a simple judicial decision. In December 2021, the Minister Delegate, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh wrote a letter to Justice Minister, Laurent Esso, asking him to free Mr Kouna.
In July 2022, the same person wrote another letter requesting the immediate drop of all charges against Mr Kouna, claiming the instructions were from President Paul Biya.
Has Justice started seeing in Cameroon
An anti corruption personality , one time Presidential candidate, Barrister Akere Muna has taken to his Twitter account to deplore the state of justice in Cameroon. He opines that he is not against the release of people but is more concerned about those still in jail.
Those still in jail and whose crimes are far lesser than embezzling billions of state money like Basile Antangana, are not able to be freed.
Zacheus Forjindam of the Shipyard, Ahmadou Vamoulke of the Cameroon Radio Television, Marafa Ahmidou Yaya, former Interior Minister and a host of others.
Political prisoners whose only crimes were to take part in a protest against election holdup.
Anglophone activists and leaders locked up since 2016 when the armed conflict broke out, are still languishing in jail while the Republic celebrates thieves and embezlers.
Should everyone accused of embezzlement start a refund to get their freedom?
The release of Basile Antangana Kouna is an example of patronage and trading in influence. These are corruption indexes.
The Corruption Perceptions Index (2021) by Transparency International ranked Cameroon 144 out of 180 countries (where a higher ranking means more perceived corruption).
