Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, was Wednesday evening, rushed back to the University of Yaounde Teaching Hospital, CHU barely two weeks after he was discharged from the same hospital.
In a telephone conversation with The Journal Wednesday, at about 6pm, Professor Ndiva Kofele Kale, lead counsel for the jailed minister said in a crestfallen tone that “the situation is very bad” and declined to elaborate on it.
According to our sources, the former MINATD boss was accompanied to the hospital by a mixed squadron of security operatives led by a gendarmerie captain.
The former minister’s fast deteriorating health condition is now becoming a real cause for concern to the authorities especially following the death of another minister prisoner, Catherine Abena, former Secretary of State for Secondary Education, in prison.
Her death was severely criticized by rights groups. If Marafa suffers a similar fate, apparently the reactions would not only be widespread but could be more intense and damaging to the Biya’s regime.
It should be recalled that following intense international lobby by his Lead Counsel, Ndiva Kale, some governments, especially the US, have now classified Marafa as a political prisoner in contrast to his original conviction as a criminal convict.
Ndiva Kale confirmed had confirmed our earlier report that the former minister first got sick on Monday, June 30 and was rushed to CHU.
“Marafa has been suffering from numerous ailments, including cardio-vascular problems and eyes issues,” he said then. These illnesses, he continued, “have been aggravated by horrific prison conditions to the point where the former minister may lose his eyesight.”
On the care being administered to Marafa at the hospital, Prof Kale stated that so far the care is acceptable and added that he had to make sure the cardiologist is a sound one.
He also observed that the Director of the hospital has been making rounds in the hospital to make sure everything is in order.
Kale praised the doctors and nurses at the hospital and said they are putting in their best in a very degraded working environment. He decried the appalling conditions in the hospital that is supposed to be the flagship medical establishment in the country, saying that the whole place smells due to lack of water.
On the safety and security of Marafa, Kale said he and the family have stepped up vigilance around the minister to make sure nothing happens to him, especially as his long-time private secretary, Mme Soppo died mysteriously a few months back.
He, however, won’t say what specifically has been put in place for Marafa’s security.
Similarly, when quizzed on the results of his legal and diplomatic actions he has engaged on to get his client released, he said all they have to do has been done, that right now they keep their fingers crossed.
Marafa Yaya was slammed a 25-year jail term alongside Yves Michel Fotso and others in the early hours of Saturday, September 22, 2012 over charges of embezzlement involving the BBJ-2 presidential jet.
