CPDM barons fail to intimidate judge

The President of the Donga-Mantung High Court in Nkambe, Justice Dieudonne Nfonsam Mbepson, is being intimidated by CPDM barons over a court matter they are trying to turn political.

The issue is a case pitching a certain David Chifu, a retired Police Officer and a Councillor of the CPDM-run Nkambe Council versus the People of Cameroon. According to the matter, David Chifu was accused of assault sometime in September, 2013, when a quarrel erupted between the ruling CPDM and the SDF party militants in Wat Village in Nkambe Central Subdivision, over who should mount the soap box for campaign at the market square first.

The bickering degenerated into a scuffle where Chifu reportedly turned Mary Awudu, wife to Hon. Cyprian Awudu Mbaya, MP for Nkambe and Questor in the National Assembly, into a punching bag. He is reported to have left the over 52-year-old woman with wounds on her face.

Mary Awudu then sought legal redress. Chifu is said to have been counselled to reconcile with her but he did not heed the advice. In December 2013, the matter went before the President of the Nkambe High Court, Justice Mbepson. The Justice reportedly tried in vain to handle the matter in chambers as the accused snubbed his invitations.

In early January 2014, the matter moved to open court but continued to suffer several adjournments as Chifu did not appear before the court. In some of the instances, only his Lawyer would appear in court and explain away his absence. Since he did not appear in court even once, the Court considered it as contempt of court and issued a bench warrant for him to be arraigned and brought before the court to answer his charges.

In collaboration with the Police authorities in Bamenda, Chifu, who is a Lecturer in a Bamenda University, was picked up from one of his lecture halls and ferried to Nkambe and was remanded in the Nkambe Prison to await trial. Upon learning that their Councillor was detained, CPDM barons in the Division rushed to secure bail for him.

Justice Mbepson is said to have refused the bail on the grounds that the accused undermined the court and proved so recalcitrant. Since the matter was to be heard in a week’s time, he insisted that Chifu be brought to court from the awaiting trial facility. It is alleged that the Justice was tempted with thick envelops but he stood his grounds.

Consequently, some CPDM barons opted to politicise the matter. They named the Justice an “opposition Judge” who was doing everything to humiliate them. Some are said to have threatened him with transfer and other nasty sanctions from his hierarchy. During a court hearing last week, Justice Mbepson strongly warned the politicians to take politics out of his court. He told them he was aware of all the calumnies against him but that he was above such cheap talk.

He insinuated that he left somewhere before coming to Nkambe and would leave Nkambe for another place; and so threatening him with a transfer was like child’s play. He reminded them that Chifu flaunted the law and must be treated accordingly. “Both the complainant and the accused are Cameroonians and deserve justice. No one is above the law, even I, the presiding Judge,” he told them.

Nevertheless, he granted bail, but transferred the matter to ‘Court Two’ for the proceedings to continue before a different Judge because, he said, since they already had a bias mind against him, whatever justice he applied in the matter would not be considered just. The matter was later adjourned to May 28, 2014.

Political watchers have blamed CPDM barons in Donga-Mantung for always using the party to threaten others who do not think like them. Others say, from the recent court incident, they continue to portray the party as a hide-out for criminals.