Yaoundé City Council to pay for illegal demolition

The Supreme Court has ordered Yaoundé City Council to pay FCFA 188,880,000 damages to a Cameroonian born US citizen, Mary Abeck epouse Taminang, for illegally demolishing her house in Yaounde in 2007. The court awarded the damages in a judgment the President of the Administrative Bench, Justice Clement Atangana, delivered on July 23, in Yaounde.

The judgment confirms an earlier decision taken after the First Instance Hearing of the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court on September 17, 2011. By virtue of that ruling, the US citizen was awarded FCFA 188,880,000 damages, but the Counsel for Mary Abeck Akwa, Barrister Fombad Mujem, went on appeal saying the amount the court awarded for damages was too small.


He stated in his appeal that justice could only be seen to have been done to his client if the court ordered the Yaounde City Council to pay FCFA 1,688,880,000 to her. The Yaounde City Council supported by the State Counsel also went on appeal, urging the court to reduce the amount awarded by the lower court, saying it was too much.


After both parties presented their submissions, the matter was listed for hearing at the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court on July 23. Neither the Yaounde City Council nor its Counsel was present when the matter was called up that day.


The court decided to go ahead, given that there was no justification for the absence. When the Counsel for Mary Abeck was given the floor, he dismissed the averments of the State Counsel and the City Council as being grossly illogical and unfounded.


He successfully convinced the court in a rousing submission that left onlookers spellbound for 30 minutes. The court then ordered the Yaounde City Council to pay the US citizen FCFA 188,880,000 damages. The court exonerated the State of Cameroon from the case, leaving the City Council to shoulder the burden of its recklessness alone, since it has a separate juristic personality with financial autonomy.

While reacting to the judgment, Barrister Fombad told journalists that he was partially satisfied because he expected the court to award a higher amount of money in order to fully compensate her client. He said the important message of the ruling is that the law is no respecter of persons in Cameroon. In the same vein, Mary Abeck said the Supreme Court of Cameroon has proven that nobody, no matter how powerful he is, is above the law.


Genesis The Supreme Court decision brought to a definite conclusion an undulating saga that dates back to May 10, 2007, when the Yaounde City Council demolished the house the US citizen was constructing at the Quartier Golf neighbourhood in Yaounde. Virtually taking the law into its hands, the Council demolished the building after it had issued a permit for construction.


According to Council officials, the demolition was predicated on claims that the house was being constructed on a marshy area. But, when the US citizen, questioned why she was offered a permit on the said land, officials of the City Council went behind and issued a counter order, prohibiting any construction on the site and back-dated it.


Mary Abeck’s lawyers later approached the Yaounde City Council officials for an out-of-court settlement of the matter, but they were snubbed. That is what pushed them to seek for justice at the Supreme Court. Barrister Mujem Fombad had urged the Administrative Bench of the Court to order the Council to pay her client FCFA 1,688,880,000 for damages, arguing that it is a trite principle in law that for the breach of contract, the quantum of damages is to be paid to the victim.


He said that if the building were not demolished, it would have been fetching her client FCFA 5 million a month. Despite his submission, the court awarded only FCFA 188,880,000 damages to his client. Since it is the final judgment, the Government Delegate to the Yaounde City Council, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna and his collaborators are expected to pay the damages to Mary Abeck.