SDF rejects bill revising Penal Code

The Social Democratic Front, SDF, Parliamentary Group has objected to the adoption of bill No. 989/PJL/AN relating to a new Penal Code for the country on grounds that consultations leading to the preparation of the Bill were not broad-based.

“We submit that this bill be withdrawn for further and broad-based consultation on all its provisions before re-tabling it to Parliament for full scrutiny.” Banadzem Joseph Lukong, SDF Parliamentary Group Leader raised the preliminary objection during a plenary session, Wednesday June 22.

According to the SDF MPs, the content of the Bill would have been subjected to profound scrutiny; section by section, with the view of eliminating all useless anachronisms which stems from the country’s two colonial backgrounds.

“Moreover, provisions of the code which were drafted on the background of a Federal System bore different meanings in the two Federated States as the courts tended to interpret them having regard to their colonial heritage,” the group posited.

“We observed that so much was not treated in committee and that ought to be modified, rephrased and even suppressed. Bring in plenary, we are certain that we would not be given that possibility to duel on these many other provisions that were not the subject of discussion in the committee,” the SDF Parliamentary Group Noted.

Going by the SDF MPs, many professional bodies in the likes of association of doctors, architects, lawyers and engineers, who to some degree are often criminally liable in carrying out their profession, were not consulted.

“The associations of journalists and other media practitioners cannot digest the fact that criminal aspects of our press law have not been mention of; talk less of the fact that in many countries these offences that often send journalists to prison in our country had long been decriminalized,” the MPs cited as an instance.

They however said it was necessary for the Penal Code to be revised considering that significant developments have taken place in the country ever since they code was put in place. But the MPs insisted there should be broad-based consultation while certain lapses in the code are corrected.

In the meantime, the Alliance of Progressive Forces, APF, has called on “Members of Parliament who are supposed to represent and defend the general interest and the rights of citizens to demonstrate patriotism by returning to the executive the draft bill for review and consultations so as to provide the people of Cameroon with a coherent and relevant Penal Code, that takes into account the interests of each and everyone.”

In a communiqué sent to our newsroom, Tuesday, June 21, Alice Sadio, National President of APF, commended the executive for respecting African moral and ethical values by maintaining the criminalization of homosexuality, but noted that it is unfortunate that various aspects of the bill contradict the democratic principle of consultation of various stakeholders.

By press time, the fate of the Penal Code Bill was yet to be decided by parliamentarians, majority of whom are of the ruling CPDM party and often referred to by constituents as “rubber stamps.”