The future of the Cameroon Bar Association

No one dares doubt the established reputation of a Bar Association anywhere, firstly, as a civil society organization, whose parameters are limitless in the defense of justice, the rights and freedom of the society it stands to serve.

So, if it so happens, that in the next few days the Cameroon’s lawyers are to choose those to run their organisation, and storm is visiting them, it is simply a reminder that the sky is still blue, and enough opportunity for them to consolidate and look forward to greater achievements.

We in this newspaper strongly believe that enough is not yet enough. There is still much to be done now, in order to regain the dwindling glory of the Cameroon Bar of the early nineties, where the Bar Association demonstrated its will in tackling very controversial, if not delicate issues of society, especially in the brusque period of transition from a monolithic political set up to a pluralistic level ground.

Needless to recall what happened, since it has all become history. But it would be pertinent to mention the count-down from Maitre Yondo Black, through Ben Muna to Maitre….These are men who led the Bar at this crucial period and made the clock of the Bar tick, sending strong messages to the regime in place.

But this ticking seemed to have simply ended somewhere under Barrister Eta Besong and the current Bar Council president, Barrister Sama Francis. From our sitting positions, we see so much in the horizon that can revitalize the Cameroon Bar Association and push itself back to fame.

Our democratization experiment must be seen to be complemented by a constant intervention of the Bar, in pushing the experiment forward towards the right direction, by responding to any government actions or decisions that tend to curtail the rights and freedoms of the citizens. It cannot afford to give away its status as an important civil society organization.

The Bar Association has every right to focus its search light on sensitive areas as the deplorable prison conditions in our prisons in a bid to defend every right that a citizen deserves, and this obviously include the right to undergo a correction process rather than an absolute punitive experience while in jail.

That the Bar and its selection of its leaders should be turned into a generation contest between the young and the old is an unfortunate development.

All we know is that the Bar Council is overdue certain reforms, one of which is the two-year term renewable. We believe that while this may sound pleasant to those who believe in change, in its practical terms, it has its own disadvantages, in that it does not give the incumbent enough time to realize any plan or program he or she might have put in place.

That the incumbent can seek another mandate only whets the appetite of those sitting on the wings to show their faces in the sunshine. We would suggest a longer mandate renewable only once.

Secondly, the present composition of the Council with barely fifteen members is grossly inadequate compared to the growing population of lawyers.

It would, however, be unfair for us to look only at the negative side, without appreciating those areas in which performance has been good. In one of our editorials late last year, we did appreciate the Bar Council for the huge success it recorded in the last Bar council exams.

We also made complementary mention of the Council’s efforts so far towards the establishment of a law school. These are issues that boost the image of the Cameroon Bar but which image gets dented in the face of unnecessary wrangling and inadequacies.