No pressure needed

The Presidential clemency granted to Barrister Yen Eyoum Lydienne Annette, wife of Frenchman, Loyse, on Monday, July 4, 2016, has attracted much debate as to the reasons.

No matter the nature of the discussions, the facts of the case are that she was arrested in January 2010 and detained at the Kondengui Central Prison on alleged embezzlement of public funds.

She was detained alongside others like Polycarpe Abah Abah, and Henri Engoulou, over her role in recovering State funds from the liquidation of the National Produce Marketing Board worth over FCFA Three Billion. Only part of the amount got into State coffers and the rest became an object for legal entanglements.

Another controversy that her arrest has generated over the years has been her French links, which made many to argue that Barrister Lydienne Yen Eyoum ought not to have been incarcerated in Cameroon, as if such connections gave her immunity and leverage for impunity.

Her 25-year jail term handed by the Yaounde Special Criminal Court in September 2014 and later confirmed by the Supreme Court, was criticised by Eyoum's supporters as incorrect and the impression given that foreign pressure had to wade in and force the Head of State to release her.

Even worse, those who complained against what they saw as miscarriage of justice in Cameroon failed to say in what ways her actions were justified. When French journalists asked the question to the Head of State last year during the visit of President Fraçois Hallande to Cameroon, President Paul Biya made it clear that Cameroon is a State governed by the rule of law and he only had to allow justice to take its course. He however, promised to see if his Constitutional prerogatives could allow him to free her.

In addition, the law requires that Barrister Yen Eyoum Lydienne Annette, a Cameroonian citizen who had issues with the Cameroon justice system, should write to the Head of State if she wanted any form of clemency. That she did and the Head of State, having examined the legal implications, decided to exercise his Constitutional right last Monday by freeing her and not on as a result of external pressure.

The fight against graft in Cameroon has been ongoing over the years and each time an incident comes up, people curiously behave as if embezzlement in the country concerned only others and not them or their loved ones. Even the question of external pressure which some have consistently evoked with glee has not excluded mismanagement of public funds.

Clearly, one of the parties in the case was acquitted by the same jurisdiction that condemned Barrister Lydienne Eyoum, meaning therefore that there was a matter in court which underwent due legal process.

That therefore explains why the Head of State could only act within the ambits of the Constitution of Cameroon, rather than taking matching orders.