Some 50 practicing lawyers in the North West region have been educated on how to assist the population and clients to access justice in the Regional Administrative Courts (RAC). The creation of the RAC in 2012 at regional level was a milestone in access to justice in general and access to justice in administrative matters in particular in Cameroon.
Since independence, administrative matters fall within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court at first instance and appellate level. It is on record that during the last parliamentary and municipal elections most complaints of political parties were rejected or thrown away due to the lack of proper compilation and non-respect of procedures to forward compliant amongst others. As such, before Regional Administrative Courts go fully operational, the population in general and lawyers in particular must understand certain key aspects of the court which is now closer to the people and stands as another institution that will reinforce the respect of human rights in Cameroon.
Against this backdrop, the Research Centre for Peace Human Rights and Development (REPERID) with sponsorship from the European Union's Project on Access to Justice, PAJ, programme organised a two-day workshop for lawyers which was to enhance the understanding of knowledge technicalities and procedures in access to Regional Administrative Courts and administrative court practice in order to ensure greatest service delivery to the population. It was also to make best use of the presence of administrative courts at regional level especially for the rural population to use it properly.
For the president of the North West RAC, Mbah Acha Rose, it was high time lawyers get first-hand information on how to treat matters in RAC. She said for two days, the lawyers were able to understand the different steps in administrative litigations, time limits, hearing and procedural technicalities and appeals, amongst others, which to her, most of the lawyers had very little knowledge on. For Justice Mbuagbaw Peter, coordinator of REPERID, the workshop will go a long way to improve on the knowledge of lawyers in the region.
