Human Rights Defender Advocates For Peace, Reconciliation In Cameroon
By Sylvester Atemnkeng
YAOUNDE,Cameroon-Wednesday July 18, 2018-6:48 PM Local Time(Cameroon News Agency)A human right defender and Barrister at Law, Michael Techoukwi Lekelefac has made a Christian call for individual commitment for peace, love and reconciliation in the service of the Cameroon’s fraternity.
The Legal Mind made the call on July 16, during a press conference at the Catholic University Centre at the Melen neighborhood in Yaoundé.
Speaking during the press conference, the seasoned Law Advocate who hails from Fontem in the South West Region called on all Cameroonians to correct the mistakes of the past and forge ahead as a one and indivisible country.
The Anglophone Crisis, according to him, is a resultant effect of the mistake made by Cameroon’s former president, President Amadou AHIDJO who unilaterally changed the National Day celebrations date from October 1 to May 20th.
“This was a grave mistake as it made the English speaking Cameroonians to feel like strangers to what we now celebrate as National Day. The original date of October 1 should be brought back to mark the day Cameroonians West of the Mungo happily rejoined their brothers East of the Mungo after years of painful separation by their colonial masters”, he said.
He equally described the 20th May celebrations today as mere idol worship during which Cameroonians blindly chant the praises of President Paul BIYA who cares very little about the plight of citizens slaughtered in the North West and South West Regions of the country.
In the midst of this oblique crisis, the human right advocate still believes that there is hope for the country to come out stronger and more united than ever before.
“If Cameroonians irrespective of their linguistic origins turn to God, have respect for human life and restrain from hate speech and pride with the full understanding that God alone gives life and no one has the right to take it away from another. He called on all to Cameroonians therefore to choose the path of peace, love and reconciliation against hatred, division and arms for barbarism”, he added.
He equally urged all the Fons and Chiefs who are taken refuge out of their home in Lebialem to return home. “Senatorial seats, Parliament and other juicy positions are not meant for traditional rulers. Their place is in the palace and I am sure things are escalating in the Lebialem due to their absence”, he explained.
As a Catholic Christian, the Barrister also prayed for the fighters in the Anglophone Regions, both military and separatists to see one another as brothers and sisters instead of seeing each other as animals only good to kill.
He ended by averting that, Mistakes are human but the evolution of every human society lies in the correction of the mistakes committed by the predecessors. We must correct the mistakes committed by our forefathers today or else, our children will inherit these same mistakes with their grave consequences.
Barrister Michael Techoukwi Lekelefac is a Cameroonian Human Rights Defender who works at the MBUFOR FONJU JOHN LAW FIRM in Yaounde and has been practicing for many years.
