Civil society protests demonstration prohibition

A civil society organisation, Dynamique Citoyenne, organised a demonstration in front of the office of the Divisional Officer for the Yaounde III Subdivision recently to protest against the violation of the rights of expression by Government.

The organisation, led by a renowned civil society leader, Jean Marc Bikoko, took advantage of the International Human Rights Day to protest the indiscriminate bans the administration slams on demonstrations in the country, especially in Yaounde. During the protest march that took place from 10.00 to 11.00 am, demonstrators carried placards that condemned the violation of the rights of citizens to freely demonstrate in their country.

Addressing a press conference in prelude to the protest march on December 9, Jean Marc Bikoko said the right to public demonstration is stipulated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cameroon in a signatory. He said the right to public demonstration is provided for by Law No 90/55 of December 19, 1990. He said Article 6 of the law compels the organisers of any public demonstration to make a declaration prior to the event at the office of the Subdivisional Officer, DO, of the area.

The civil society leader also cited Article 8 of the Law, saying once the DO receives a declaration for a demonstration, he is compelled to issue a receipt immediately. The Law further provides that if the DO deems that the demonstration will disrupt public peace and order, he has the right to change the venue or the itinerary of the event. According to the Law, the DO has the right to ban a demonstration if he deems it dangerous for public peace and order.

If the organiser feels that the ban is unjust, he can table a complaint before the President of the High Court of the area, who will have a time frame of eight days to hear the matter.

Bikoko regretted that DOs are taking pleasure in banning public demonstrations, even when there is nothing at stake. He said when the public servants union organised a peaceful demonstration in front of the National Assembly in 2007 calling on an increase in salaries; administrators banned it and brought in gendarmes to disperse the protesters. The same situation, he went on, took place on November 11, 2010 during which seven trade unionists were arrested and charged with organising an illegal demonstration.

They were tried in court for 15 months and later acquitted. The court never found them guilty of the charges, but the DO had confiscated their right to demonstrate.

It is worth noting that the kind of rallies that are always allowed to take place in the streets of Yaounde are CPDM rallies tailored to issue motions of support to the President of the Republic.

A few years back, officials of the Citizens Association for the Defence of Collective Interest, ACDIC, were arrested for protesting against the embezzlement of public funds in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

They organised the protest march after a study revealed that for every FCFA 100 allocated to Rural Development, only FCFA 5 finally went to the farmer. This means that some unscrupulous officials of the Ministry lined their pockets with FCFA 95 through various acts of corruption. The study also revealed that a number of tractors donated by a friendly country to boost maize production through common initiative groups were shared among Government officials.

CONAC corroborated the embezzlement scam, but the court went ahead and slammed suspended sentences on the civil society activists for disrupting public order. The issue of embezzlement of public funds was quietly concealed and relegated to the back burner.

Officials of the Dynamique Citoyen who organised last Wednesday’s protest march also took advantage of the International Day for the Fight against Corruption on December 9, to call on managers of public funds to declare their assets.

They want the President of the Republic to show the example by declaring his assets as provided for by Article 66 of the Constitution. They hold that the undue delay by public officials in declaring their assets has eroded the credibility of the anti-corruption fight, known as the “Sparrow Hawk Operation” which is now being viewed as a mere ploy for the settlement of political scores.