By Ignatius Nji
Common lawyers in the
North West Region after being denied access to hold a pressing meeting at the
court premises to address the issue of submission in French in the Courts of
Anglophone Regions, the learned men of the law sought access at the Presbyterian
Church hall Ntamulung on Monday 9 2015. The meeting convened by the President
of North West Lawyers’ association NOWELA, Barrister Fon Robert Nso and
resolved to stand their grounds and ensure that the language of submissions in
Courts in the North West and South West has been in English and shall remain in
English. This strange phenomenon as introduced by the Attorney General of the
North West His Lordship Abah Ngoh saying the country is bilingual warranting
any of the two languages to be used.
According to NOWELA
President this meeting was in respond to a second semester meeting that was
held at the legal department with resolutions to have any sitting Magistrate
decide on which language to use in court for submission and prosecution. It is
on this light that Common Law lawyers shall not see that happen in any where in
the Courts given that the Bi-jurial nature of the country be respected. The
Lawyers are said to have put strategies to make sure that the language in the
court rooms in the North West and South West remains English because of our
past. Barrister Fon Robert Nso narrated
that the Attorney General had told them (common Lawyers) that they should not
thinking about the colonial past and forge ahead because this was a new dawn.
The learned barrister rather see the new dawn in interpreting the law properly
and that the constitution of Cameroon gives them the latitude to consider the
fact whether actually the union of the French speaking Cameroon and the English
speaking Cameroon is legally justified. As narrated by a Senior Advocate
Barrister Amazi Anthony, that it should
be recalled that in 1985 Mr. Andre Ngongang Wayi, the minister of
Justice at the time made same utterances on French language use in Bamenda and
was sacked from government while still on his way to Buea to assert the same
stance. On a personal opinion Barrister
Fon Robert Nso holds that the union is not legally justified. To him, one can
not put nothing on nothing and expect something and that the foundation of this
country is not strong enough to hold this union. Beginning Tuesday March 10
Lawyers are going to be vigilant going by the President’s words, any submission
in French would meet with resistance be it from the Attorney General or any
other magistrate.
To Barrister Henry Kemende
representing the Bar Council in the North West Region, he says the issue is a
real problem and most be address at a Bar Council meeting soonest for a part
can not be in pains and is look low upon. He reiterated that bilingualism is a
fact which does not in any where denying the rights of monolinguals.
Submissions in Courts of the North West and South West have always been in
English given that 90% of the population are English orientated and understands
nothing spoken in French. The introduction of this notion of submissions in
French is a dangerous move to punish people who are not bilingual and what has
been hampering growth in the country has been the false impression that one
understands the other when they speak in either of the languages.
Another level headed man
of letters Barrister Benjamin Suh Fuh took this reporter memory lane tracing
the root cause of all this problem of language use. He said it all started in
Versailles in 1919 when the partition of Africa had rose it peak and France was
already in Chad, Central Africa and Gabon and Britain was in Nigeria with part
of Cameroonians. Coming back together meant to different judicial and language
cultures. The common law and the Civil law system came to function
independently of the other and which can not be harmonized in anyway. To him if
the Germans were our colonial masters, the country won’t have had the problem
of bilingualism. He went further to question even the referendum at the time
saying those championing at the time used blanket terms to declare that the two
had voted to come together. To him the population of the Southern Cameroonians
was not known so come that they could determine the choice of the people at the
polls when not everybody had been contacted. He challenged the powers that be
to bring forth that result and prove whether it ties with the population of
southern Cameroonians at the time or better still conduct another referendum
today on the same subject and get the true reflection of the people. If this
issue of the use of French language in Court during submissions should be
reverse or would be considered as tacit plans hatched long ago to assimilate
the Common Law system.
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