Lawyers becoming helpless in Cameroon – Barrister Tamfu Richard laments at justice system

By Tata Mbunwe

Human rights lawyer, Barrister Tamfu Richard, has said lawyers in Cameroon are becoming powerless in advocating for the rule of law in the country, because the justice system is loosing its ability to render justice.

He made the comment in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday, April 13.

“A lawyer is becoming helpless in Cameroon with this kind of justice system,” the human rights advocate regretted.

The remark was alluding to the incommunicado detention of a university student, Akua Jires, who has been denied access to Barrister Tamfu, his lawyer.

The legal mind said the military colonel investigating the case violated Cameroonian law by questioning his client without a lawyer and then denying them access to each other.

“Mboh Jeres Akua, who is since the 15th of March 2023 detained incommunicado, has been denied access to his Lawyer, thereby, violating his right to a counsel during police investigations. The consequences is an absolute nullity of the whole police report,” Barrister Tamfu wrote.

Jires, the postgraduate student of the University of Buea, has spent 30 days in incommunicado detention after he and his roommate, Ngule Linus, were arrested from their hostel in Buea on March 15.

Ngule, unfortunately, died in custody hours after the arrest.

His family has asked authorities to release his body for burial, with human rights lawyers demanding that an autopsy be conducted to determine the cause of his death.

Linus and Jires have been accused of working with Ambazonia separatists to carryout explosions in Buea.

Their families dismissed the allegations as false during a press conference in Yaounde last week.

Mimi Mefo Info