AN OPEN LETTER TO MADAME THE PRESIDENT OF THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL, AHEAD OF THE JUDGEMENT ON THE MANCHO BIBIXY CASE.
by Mbiydzenyuy David WANTANGWA, Bamenda.
Madam President,
Peace and Good! For
a few weeks now, the court over which you preside has begun handing down
sentences to those considered by the state to have been guilty of some
accusations. Needless, to tell you that those sentences as well as the
procedures that led to those sentences have simply been classified in international
community as farcical and ridiculous, a thing which has proven beyond measure
that the Cameroon justice system is one of the most manipulated, most
politicized, most inconsistent and most laughable systems in Africa. Some
critics have seen that it is principally being held hostage by the president of
the republic and the justice minister who are high-handedly meddling in the fair
justice process in Cameroon. Presumably, you are found in a precarious
situation where you are just simply a manipulative tool in the hands of a
whimsical and insane dictatorship that seeks at all cost to render itself
immune to the responsibility they bear in the maneuvers of true justice, the
rule of law and respect of human rights. You are supposed to be aware that the
series of trials over which you have presided, have seriously debased the dignity
of the justice system in Cameroon and further rendered the country extremely notorious
for eroding the rule of law. In fact, the African Bar Association, described it
as using “fascist and gestapo” methods in handling the situation.
In a few days,
you are expected to hand down another sentence in an extremely sensitive and
internationally preoccupying case, concerning an activist (Mancho Bibixy) whose
genuine concern for the welfare of the people and the amelioration of living
conditions in his hometown has been publicly demonstrated and proven. Already,
the underlying tenets of that judgement have proven themselves to be in complete
contradiction to the logic of justice and therefore insanely to the enterprise
or business of the common respect for human rights, right reason and the rule
of law. Therefore, another laughable law on terrorism which pretends to have
rendered him guilty of terrorism is what is indeed preoccupying in your assessment
of the matter, which is regarded not only as totally foolish on the
international scene as the assumptions and conclusions of your court massively lack
the essential ingredients of terrorism – a veritable mockery of the very
international and national instruments to which Cameroon has subscribed and
which are supposed to be the guiding principles of justice and the rule of law.
It is not possible to comprehend how one can be cleared of any violence and
other necessary ingredients that breed terrorism and instead of leading to a logical
conclusion that he is THEREFORE NOT GUILTY, your court dares to go ahead to
dangerously declare that he is guilty of terrorism. It is only an insane mind
that can blackmail an honorable man who stood for the common good of his people
as a terrorist. What a shock! It should have dawned unto you by now, that the terrorism
laws in Cameroon were skillfully manipulated and formulated to protect the powerful
and give them the leeway to trample on the defenseless. This is what makes the
military tribunal over which you preside more of a ridiculous instrument in the
administration of justice, having overstepped its bounds to insist on abandoning
its real responsibilities and point of focus, to waste precious time resources
of the fatherland on vain, staged trials, politicized and twisted procedures on
civilians, to deliver the most outrageous judgements, unmerited sentences, on
people on whom unjustified labels have been falsely placed.
As a slave of a
dictatorial and murderous system, and as a hostage of a whimsical dictator, we
are aware that you have no option than to obey those who dictate the sentences
to you in the hope that they prevail on the people. Therefore, your conscience
and your personal impressions and awareness of the innocence of those civilians
brought before you do not count before the powers that be. However, be aware,
that the particular sentence you will hand out on the 8th of May
2018 on a particular individual, Mancho Bibixy, a man who is far from being a
terrorist, a label unknown to anyone until your military tribunal embarrassingly
placed it on him, will make or mar the struggle for any genuine peace in
Cameroon and we are not too sure if you are going to enjoy the escalation of
the situation that will be caused by what we suspect is the sentence for
terrorism in Cameroon. Since the government of Cameroon and its ministers have
demonstrated not only their incompetence to handle any project of peace and
genuine dialogue but prefer to go ahead to adopt “fascist and gestapo” methods
of causing unnecessary stir in the Central African sub region, we want to challenge
you. Could you be the only person in that scheme who could stand up for
outright justice and sanity in Cameroon? Is it possible that you can break away
from your masters and deliver what the people whose mandate they are supposed
to have, desire? Is it possible that you could make history in an attempt to restore
true justice and respect for human rights in the midst of selfish and greedy
politicians whose influence is overbearing on you? It is absolutely dangerous
for you personally and the credibility of the courts over which you preside,
needless to talk of its effects if you are not an accomplice to it.
The ball, as they
say, is in your court but we know that the sentence is being carefully worked
out in a politically manipulated system that does not respect human rights and
has no regard for human life. We are aware that, if it were within your
personal capacities you would not do what you are about to do, because you, as
a mother, will not be such a wicked devil as to falsely impute on a son what he
has not done in order to kill him and please a greedy insane dictator who has
no real interest for peace. Maybe you were able to caution the system and use
your high office to the best of your abilities to respect justice and human
rights. However, there is an account to be rendered to history which is more
precious that the account you may be keen to render to a dying, murderous,
insane dictator.
The world is
keenly watching out for you on the 8th of May 2018. Will you make
history strangely or continue to mar it in the usual slanted manner in which
these procedures have gone for the past months? That would be a rare occasion
indeed. The fate and twist of events in the coming days largely depend on this
case and on you; the future peace process, if you seek any, depends on this
case. So, we would implore you, judge wisely and again, take the courage to
judge wisely.
We are not
expecting you to become an anglophone, neither are we expecting from you to see
them as enemies, but we expect you to see that the reason for which a country is
emptying thousands of its citizens into prison before looking for accusations
to levy on them is a clear pointer to the failed justice system in Cameroon. We
expect you to be a rare champion of human rights, we expect you to respect God
your Creator and then human life. We expect you to admit sincerely that those
who have seen the systematic marginalization of the citizens who are being
charged with fake crimes is a crime against humanity being committed by the
Government of the Republic of Cameroon. We expect in a rare hope, that you
could afford to be a solution to the failed justice system of Cameroon, if at
all you are not an accomplice to the misery that is being raked to the thousands
of families that are presently being devastated by your decisions for a few
weeks now and causing directly and indirectly more suffering to them. You bear
direct responsibility for the sentences you hand out to them; you bear direct
responsibility for the misery being caused to their families and communities
because of those sentences; you take direct responsibility for the effects
caused to the peace and future of the Cameroons; you bear direct responsibility
and will be held accountable for the deteriorating situation of the Cameroons.
Madam President,
if you love the people of the Cameroons; if you love the future of the
Cameroons; if you love the youth of those countries; if the love of peace,
justice, human dignity and the inalienable rights and freedoms are anything
admirable to you; if you love credibility and if you yearn for the restoration of
the justice system; could you dare to take the rare courage, discard the raging
and overbearing demands of uncouth and greedy politicians that have ruined and
frustrated the future of the youth of that country, AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE! All
we ask of you is to MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Sincerely yours,
Mbiydzenyuy David WANTANGWA
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