Cameroon: End of Impunity

21 novembre 2007

The recent violent incidents in Abong Mbang and Kumba are still fresh in our minds. Young people lost their lives during protests that followed prolonged power cuts. In both cases, State institutions were attacked. Buildings were destroyed. Properties burnt.

A few weeks ago, parts of the Maturité Bilingual College in Douala was burnt down and the college proprietor beaten to near unconsciousness by the local population and the students of the school. The violence followed a mysterious incident in the school during which 30 students fell in a trance.

In effect, over the past couple of months, the people of several localities in the country have taken the law into their hands. Jungle justice has been the order of the day. The spiral of irresponsible behaviour and violence continued this week in Kousseri. The population took on customs, burning their office and private homes following the death of a smuggler believed to be caused by a customs officer. At press time, most of the custom officers had deserted their homes for fear of being lynched by the irate population.

The situation is disturbing. A statement by the Minister of State for Territorial Administration on "the fight against recurrence of disturbance of public peace, irresponsible behaviour and misuse of public property" presented at the cabinet meeting last Tuesday blamed the recurrent violence on the lack of a genuine legal culture and the long economic crisis experienced by the country with its ensuring impact on the social fabric. Whatever be the motive for this outburst of emotions, it is troubling.

No one can condone the destruction of houses and property, no matter to whom it belongs. The anger is even more when what is destroyed is a collective good; the people's property. It is tantamount to waste! The money that would eventually be used to rebuild the structure could have been invested for another project.

Perpetrators of these act used to go unpunished. Most of the vandals hid in the mob. The destruction was everybody's problem and nobody's responsibility. But things will never be the same again! The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Ephraim Inoni, has given instructions that all those who raze public property should be systematically persecuted before the law courts.

This, however, does not mean that the population cannot ask for better services or a better living condition. In effect, protesting is not wrong in itself. It all has to do with the manner in which the complaint is presented. Any protest whose principal aim is to destroy is wrong. Remonstrations should be well organised and orderly.

But why must we always wait for things to degenerate? Why can't we be proactive? Most of the trouble in the country has been caused by power failure and other banal events. All the incidents could have been avoided had the situations been properly managed! Rather than wait for the population to take to the streets before their requests are solved, efforts should be made to nib strike actions in the bud. Everybody will be happy. In this way, social peace will be preserve, peace which we all cherish so much.

Tche Irene Morikang