Delly Singah Challenges Atanga Nji: ‘What Is the State Doing?’ as Femicide Cases Rise in Cameroon

Cameroonian philanthropist and social media influencer Delly Singah has challenged Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji and the government to move beyond public condemnations of femicide and establish concrete systems capable of protecting people before domestic violence ends in death.

In a strongly worded open letter addressed to Atanga Nji, Singah said Cameroon can no longer afford to respond to the killing of women with speeches, social media outrage and condolences after each death.

“Another woman is gone, another family is grieving, another life has been cut short and once again, Cameroon is having the same conversation,” she wrote.

Singah cited reports indicating that at least 33 women had already been killed in suspected femicide cases earlier this year, noting that figures subsequently discussed before Parliament were even higher.

“This is OUT OF ORDER!” she wrote. “The statistics keep climbing while our response remains speeches, outrage, social-media hashtags and condolences after every death.”

‘What is the State doing?’

The central question in Singah’s letter is directed not at individual men or women, but at the institutions responsible for protecting citizens.

“Honourable Minister, my bigger question is this: WHAT IS THE STATE DOING?” she asked.

Her intervention follows recent public comments attributed to Atanga Nji in which he reminded men that their duty was to protect their wives and partners, not kill them.

Singah acknowledged the minister’s intervention but argued that statements telling men not to kill women do little for someone already living under a credible threat of violence.

“At this stage, simply telling men ‘do not kill your wives’ is not enough,” she said.

Instead, she wants the national conversation to move from appeals for good behaviour to questions about prevention.

“What concrete mechanisms has the State put in place to make it harder for another woman or man to be killed?” she asked.

Her criticism comes against the backdrop of wider concerns about Cameroon’s response to domestic violence. In a June 2026 report, Human Rights Watch said Cameroon has no specific law treating domestic violence as a distinct crime and no comprehensive national policy or guidelines on domestic violence. The organisation also criticised weaknesses in protection services, policing and access to justice for survivors.

Singah calls for domestic violence law, shelters and restraining orders

Singah laid out a series of proposals which she believes could prevent threats and abuse from escalating into murder.

She called for a comprehensive law specifically addressing domestic and gender-based violence, covering not only physical and sexual violence but also psychological, verbal and economic abuse.

She also wants Cameroon to introduce emergency protection and restraining orders that can be obtained quickly when someone faces credible threats from a spouse, partner or former partner.

A woman who reports that her partner has threatened to kill her, Singah argued, should not simply be sent back to the same home.

“We need emergency protection mechanisms so that a woman who reports that her husband, boyfriend or former partner has threatened to kill her does not have to return home and sleep beside the person she fears,” she wrote.

Human Rights Watch has similarly recommended that Cameroon adopt comprehensive domestic violence legislation providing for protection, exclusion and restraining orders.

Singah is also demanding properly funded shelters and safe houses across the country, specialised domestic-violence units within the police and gendarmerie, a national emergency hotline and officers specifically trained to handle reports of abuse.

“A woman reporting repeated death threats should not be told, ‘Go home and settle it with your husband,’” she said.

Human Rights Watch reported earlier this year that women who sought help from authorities sometimes described being encouraged to reconcile with alleged abusers, blamed for the violence or left fearful of retaliation. The organisation says Cameroon opened its first One-Stop Centre for survivors of violence in Yaoundé in 2025 but argues that survivor services remain inadequate.

‘We cannot solve what we refuse to properly count’

Singah also wants the government to establish mandatory risk assessments when threats to life are reported.

She said previous assaults, stalking, possession of weapons, repeated death threats and violations of boundaries should automatically trigger intervention by authorities.

She called for faster prosecutions and visible consequences for perpetrators, arguing that deterrence depends partly on people knowing violence will produce consequences.

Another major demand is reliable national data on femicide and domestic violence.

“We need national data on femicide and domestic violence that is regularly published. We cannot solve what we refuse to properly count,” Singah said.

That concern is also reflected in independent assessments. Human Rights Watch says Cameroon lacks a comprehensive and coordinated system for collecting and disaggregating gender-based violence data, making the true extent of domestic violence and femicide difficult to establish.

‘Men must control their hands. Women must control their mouths’

Singah also cautioned against turning the current crisis into what she described as a gender war.

Referring to Atanga Nji’s reported comment that God gave women mouths to defend themselves, she argued that society must be careful not to legitimise one form of abuse while condemning another.

“If we establish that a woman’s mouth is a weapon God gave her to deploy whenever she feels provoked, threatened or offended, should a physically stronger man then argue that his fists are the weapons nature gave him? Certainly not,” she wrote.

“The message should be much clearer: Everybody must control themselves. Men must control their hands. Women must control their mouths.”

Singah said verbal and psychological abuse should not be dismissed simply because it leaves no visible injury.

“Words can destroy,” she wrote, adding that humiliation, threats and psychological torment can cause wounds “that cannot be photographed.”

But she insisted that when abuse escalates into murder, the state has responsibilities that cannot be transferred to couples, families or communities.

“This is bigger than men versus women,” she said. “When abuse graduates into murder, the State has a responsibility that goes far beyond issuing statements of condemnation.”

‘What happens before the next woman is killed?’

Singah concluded her letter with a series of questions she believes authorities must be able to answer before another death occurs.

“What happens BEFORE the next woman is killed? Who does she call? Where does she run? Who protects her?” she asked.

“What happens to the man who threatens her life? How quickly can authorities intervene? Where can she sleep that night with her children?”

For Singah, those questions are more important than expressions of sympathy once a victim has already died.

“One woman killed is one too many,” she said, describing the situation as “a national emergency demanding policy, prevention, protection and prosecution.”

She ended with a direct appeal to Atanga Nji and the government:

“Thank you for speaking, but please, let the Government go beyond telling men not to kill women. Because the next woman does not need a beautiful statement after she dies.

“She needs a system that keeps her alive.”

The intervention comes after a particularly disturbing stretch in which nine women were reported killed within just eight days in Cameroon, several of them in suspected cases of intimate-partner or domestic violence. The rapid succession of deaths triggered widespread anger, renewed calls for stronger protection of women and intensified scrutiny of the state’s response, with campaigners arguing that repeated condolences and public statements are no substitute for laws, emergency protection mechanisms and institutions capable of intervening before threats escalate into killings.

Human Rights Watch says Cameroon has failed to meet a long-standing commitment to substantially reduce gender-based violence and has urged authorities to enact comprehensive legislation, reform discriminatory family laws and build a coordinated national system for protecting survivors.

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