Yvonne-Léopoldine Akoa: The no-nonsense Judge

A judge with the Mfoundi High Court and Vice President of the Yaounde Military Tribunal, Mrs. Justice Léopoldine Akoa says she is a fulfilled professional today.

Her life is simply the case of a dream come true. She had always wanted to be a magistrate and today, she is. This was thanks to her determination and the support of her father, a retired senior Court Registrar and above all, her husband, Mr. Justice Philippe Camille Akoa, the General Manager of the Special Council Support Fund, FEICOM.

Mrs. Justice Yvonne-Léopoldine Akoa, 51, is today a judge with the Mfoundi High Court, Yaounde and Vice President of the Yaounde Military Tribunal. “It is never right for a female judge to mix up her professional and family duties to the point of being unavailable for work.

If she must succeed in her career, she must get people to assist her at home. It is important to give priority to your job, while not abandoning the family,” cautions the woman who has over the years developed the reputation of a no-nonsense judge.

In order not to give the impression of being another “lazy, non-caring female worker,” Justice Léopoldine Akoa gets to work at 6.45 am and does not leave before 6 pm. “Female magistrates need to be firm and available for work on time. This strengthens their reputation as people who care about the plight of litigants, detainees and lawyers,” she notes.

Mrs. Akoa however warns of the difficult nature of the magistracy career: “Many female judges are vulnerable to divorce because their husbands don’t understand their difficult role.” Nevertheless, she will encourage her children and any young person to take up magistracy, describing it as “a noble profession that those who join it must love.”

After undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Law at the then University of Yaounde, Yvonne-Léopoldine Akoa finally secured admission into the National School for Administration and Magistracy, ENAM in Yaounde, in 1989, after failing the entrance examination a year earlier. Since six years, she has been judge with the Mfoundi High Court.

Married to her childhood friend and senior colleague, Mr. Justice Philippe Camille Akoa, the two have been together for 31 years today. She is mother of four.