A competitive examination for the special recruitment of 30 pupil magistrates of English expression into the Magistracy and Court Registry Division of the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) is inundated with non-Anglophone names.
This exam will be conducted from July 27 to July 28 in Bamenda, Buea, Douala, and Garoua. Of the 206 registered candidates, one was disqualified for not having an authentic diploma.
According to MMI’s observations, the exam was intended exclusively for individuals originating from the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. The Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, which is organizing the exams, stated they are for pupil magistrates of English expression.
However, MMI identified several names on the list originating from Sangmelima, Yaoundé, Douala, and Bafoussam. Upon further investigation, MMI discovered that these individuals have roots and current residencies outside the Northwest and Southwest Regions. Their social media posts are entirely in French, indicating their primary language.
Some of these candidates have English expressions solely because they attended secondary schools in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. Of the 205 candidates in this special recruitment exam, only 30 will be selected across judicial, administrative, and audit sections.
“Duly registered candidates are requested to consult the provisional list of those authorized to sit this examination at the Regional Delegations of the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reform or the website of the ministry,” said the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms.
The Minister did not specify whether successful candidates would be assigned to work on the common law bench. One of the issues that drove Common Law Lawyers to protest in 2016 was the government’s deployment of magistrates in the Northwest and Southwest Regions who neither understood English nor the Common Law judicial tradition. They demanded the government redeploy magistrates and judges proficient in English.
However, based on the Minister’s list for the magistrates’ recruitment, the individuals identified by MMI likely speak English but are not from the Southwest and Northwest Regions.
