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| Barrister Ngoulla Arlette Fotso 2015 Bar Elections Hopeful in CAMEROON |
Time for a
Lady to Head the Bar is NOW!
Stage Set For Maitre Ngoulla Arlette
Fotso to be Elected into the Cameroon Bar & Presidency
*Stakes
& Challenges Highly in her Favor
*As 3\4
Lawyers in the Republic & International Community Backs her Candidature
-To Enhance
Democracy, Sustain Gender & Reform the Bar
-To
Reanimate the Bar to be more Functional & Realistic in all her Operations
-To Make the
Bar more Authoritative, Transparent, flexible & Free of Corruption
-To ENSURE a
Smooth Practice and Promote Social Dialogue & Interactions in the Bar
-Plant, Rigorous
Check Mechanism that are Automatic & Suits the Trend of Legal Evolution in
the World
-Carry out
Pronounce & Feasible Actions for the Welfare of the Corps
-To
Restructure & Put UP a More Credible Bar
*And above
all Revolutionize the System & Instill the Fear of the Lord in the Practice
Are the countless wishes and aspirations of Lawyers all over
the Republic of Cameroon as they, each in their respective camps canvas for
support and votes from able practitioners ahead of the grand National Assembly
of Lawyers Scheduled to take place in Yaounde on the 31st of January 2015 at the
Red Cross Building.
As the “D Day” approaches the stakes, challenges and
encounters are high for the (60) sixty runners up who will be gunning the (15)
places in the Bar Council and the one person who will eventually assume the
function of the Bar President elected by fifteen Bar Council members all
disposed with legibility to stand the Presidential election.
It must be noted that amongst challengers in an encounter,
with precision the Bar Council Election and the race for the Presidency there
are challengers with exceptional gifts, skills, qualities and abilities. Some chosen, other designed and designated by
God!
So far, Cameroonians most especially Lawyers who have been
observant and curious about what has been happening for the last months within
the circumferences of the Legal corps will admit that the race up to the
Council and the Presidency is a tough one this time around as all contestants
are “Heavy weights” which means non of them are in the race to joke.
Fractionalization is always part of the game which is what
has rocked campaigns all this while, well interpreted by contestants as the
demonstration of the real democratic strength of the game. You have the Maitre
Ngoulla Arlette Camps which is leading in action, impact, campaign and awareness,
very set and ready to take up the Presidency of the Bar. The Sama Franci’s
camps which is barely struggling to survive with a “team leader without a team”
as described by most Lawyers from the North West Region, not very optimistic
but hopeful. The Maitre Ngnie Kamga Jackson’s camps full of authority and
imposing ideas backed by Barrister Etta Besong, leans on the fact that, once
Sectary General of the Bar, he may obviously be President and there is also the
Maitre Tchakounte fraction new in the attempt but still very determined
irrespective of all the exhibitions and demonstration of power by his rivals.
These are already sure candidates\members for the Bar Council
even before elections and are making their intentions and interest for the
Presidency known afore hand.
As the race is on with rigorous campaigns taking the lead,
the Legal Family in Cameroon is yet to have a cold head on the leading, the
heading and the driving force behind each candidate and the strategies why not
jokers or magic they will each use to
make their entrance into the Bar or be elected president.
The tides dough still very much unpredicted, has much to ride
home about as it also has so much to tell with glaring circumstances which will
not deny any right thinking mind the privilege of concluding afore hand that
the finals of the race rest in the hands of Maitre Ngoulla Arlette Fotso and
Barrister Sama Francis Asaga or Maitre Kamga Jackson who certainly may see
their demise before a female challenger who is already supported there by
gender, bilingual, a Francophone by extension, is secondly a woman of
integrity, substance and is disposed of all the qualities needed to head the
Presidency of the Cameroon Bar Council and thirdly is God’s Chosen Choice.
At this juncture, what is certainly clear is that a lady the
“Magret Tasha” of the Legal Corps Maitre Ngoulla Arlette Fotso will take up the
leadership of the Bar as President and an Anglophone will take up the
chairmanship of the Council’s general Assembly as was the reversed case in the
Sama’s era. That person certainly, from the look of things, may possibly be
Barrister Kenmende Henry of Posterity chamber Bamenda whose entrance in the Bar
Council is certainly not doubted and is known renown in the corps since former
President Etta Besong whom all eyes were looking after has decided to place his
total and unreserved support to Maitre Kamga Jackson with growing
unpopularity.
From all indications, the way forward starts and end in the
hands of the “Iron Lady” Maitre Ngoulla Arlette Fotso who has proven beyond
every reasonable doubt that it is not by chance that she entered the race but
by grace and favor from the most high God she has always been serviceable to
who has never failed her and will work it out for her miraculously.
Maitre Ngoulla Arlette Fotso the Magret Tasha of the Legal
Profession
Her coming with all the compatriots who are her followers
brings rains of favor and grace to practitioners of the Law. Her presence in
the race grieves many a people as she comes at the appointed time much needed
by Cameroonian for the effective presence of the Bar to be felt in Cameroon
concerning their stands with regards burning and pertinent issues concerning
the state and Lawyers in particular.
Barrister Ngoulla Arlette Fotso from the Littoral, holds a Master’s in Business Law, is the lone
female that has braved the odds to show up her head to enhance gender and decry
female rights marginalization in the corps at the same time wanting to make and
create history by becoming the first ever female\woman Bar President.
Very determined and optimistic and pragmatic, she has hopes
of restructuring the Bar, cleaning up the profession based on ethics, enhance
continues training of Lawyers, implementation of an annual budgetary system,
establishment of a social security system, creation of a client common fund
account, publication of the decree of application on the fees, computerization
of the electoral system and the increase in the amount of professional fees
etc.
As a unifying factor the Coming of Ngoulla Arlette Fotso is
and will certainly be the don of a new day in the Legal field. The “future is
bright with her since we have seen some degree of sincerity in her; she is
frank, motherly and caring. Unlike the men who are singing those their songs,
past experience has proven them not to be very reliable. With her presence in
the race I think time has come for Lawyers to also taste the other side of the
coin” said a prominent voice amongst Lawyers.
She can also count and bank on a free, transparent and fair
election that may end up catapulting her if Senior Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle
is finally put at the head of the election management committee come the 31st of this January 2015.
Sixty Contestants this analyst initially mentioned will by
vying for fifteen places, I must emphasis, with eight candidates who are
already sure of their entrance into the Bar Council, Presidency, Chairmanship
of the Council and the sectary General.
Barrister Ben Suh Fuh, Maitre Dieudonne Takam, Maitre Njualem
Charlse, Barrister Mboke Divine, Maitre Enow Benjamin, Barrister. Mbah Eric
Mbah, Maitre Anthony Nongzih, Barrister Fojou etc are potential and probable
Bar Council members. They are all renowned names in the corps and have left
their respective marks on the sand of our time in the Legal Profession and will
richly gain the votes of fellow colleagues.
To further buttress and support the cacus and the bases of
our analysis this Reporter invite you to go through the below resume of Maitre
Ngolla Arlette Fotso.
*Manifestos; Maitre Ngolla Arlette Fotso “Together for a
Strong Order, Ensemble nous agirons pour un Barreau Fort”
PROSPOSED ACTIONS BY THE CANDIDATE
*EFFICENT, TRANSPARENT AND ECONOMIC ORDER.
-Efficiency in action against lawyers
-Effective consideration on issues of general interest and
collaborative solutions.
-Immediate measures for colleagues in difficulty.
-Efficiency in shares in respect of the society and the
administration.
-Bar interventions on issues of concern to citizens
-Regular suggestions to the administration on decisions on
general interest.
-Transparency in property management.
-Faithful reports on revenue and expenditure.
-Management sober funds to cover the expenses useful and
indispensable
*DEVELOPMENT OF A CODE OF ETHICS
A set of rules governing the behavior of the lawyer in the
exercise of his profession, will be proposed and subject to the approval of the
General Assembly.
-TRAINING OF LAWYERS.
-Trimestral organization of seminars in the major regions.
-Mandatory training conferences every Saturday for those
concerned.
-Regular and public debates on the issues of law.
-THE ANNUAL BUDGET PREPARATION.
Effective implementation and lawless on article 48(1) of law
No 90/059
of 19 December 1990 and articles 6 and 37 of the internal rules.
-PLACEMENT OF A SOCIAL PROTECTION SYTEM.
-Adoption of the statutes of social insurance in the major
regions to determine the financial aid to be granted to the confreres in
difficulty and in cases of termination of activities.
-Subscription of an insurance policy for illness and death.
-EFFECTIVE CREATION OF CARPA.
-Opening a simple account in which customers would pay the
amounts due to lawyers.
-Opening of sub-accounts for each lawyer.
-PUBLICATION OF THE DECREE ON APPLICATION FEES.
-Lobbying in parliament and at the presidency of the republic
for the decree provided for in article 23 of law no 90/059 of 19 December
1990.
-Interventions on the topic in the media.
-Transmission to the competent authorities of the draft
decree prepared by the council of the order after notice lawyers.
*MONOPOLY.-Transmission to the parliament and the presidency
of the republic of revision proposals and projects under article 3 of law no 90/059. Mandatory of
lawyer to the Supreme Court, administrative tribunals and before all courts of
criminal and commercial matters.
-Regular interventions on the subject in the media.
-Letters stimulus every six months to the competent
authorities.
*IMPROVING RELATIONS WITH JUDICIAL POLICE OFFICIERS,
MAGISTRATES AND CLERKS.
-Biannual working sessions with officials of these bodies.
-Written denunciations of violations of the law.
*CONSULATIONS WITH THE AUTHORITIES.
-Meetings with politicians and administrative authorities to
talk about problems of the bar and the society.
-Correspondence on important issues.
*COMPUTERIZED VOTE.
-Before June 2015, tenders for the computerization of voting
system.
-November 2015, effective implementation of the system.
*CONTRIBUTIONS.
-Adoption of the annual contribution rates by the General
Assembly according to article 48 of law no 90/059 and 37 of the rules of procedure.
-Due date for contributions the past two years and current
year
-Counseling of older debts.
*AMOUNT OF BOARD COMMITES.
-Propose to the government revaluation of the amount of
office between 5.000frs to 15.000frs hearing in criminal matters..
-Propose to 50.000frs travel expenses.
-Table the topic for discussion.
-Contact the competent authorities every six months.
The Drama in the Race for the Bar Council &
Presidency
-Maitre Kamga Jackson & Etta Bisong’s open Romance
The open romance exhibited by Rt. Former Bar President Etta
Besong from the South West with his son Maitre Kamga from the West (Banjoun)
has sparked so far much confusion and has caused many a lawyer to be
embarrassed of his actions. To them once a president, you are held at high
esteem and should be a key adviser or actor in the game not a campaign manager
and wanting to be a cabinet member of the same Bar Council your were once its
leader. Stoning reactions have for all this while accompanied Etta Besong’s
actions making it all worst when he came to Bamenda and was amongst those who
were condemning Barrister Sama Francis openly at Dreamland restaurant on the 22th of January. What was
regarded by most Anglophone Lawyers as a scandalous blunder which should not
come from a resourced dignified figure of the English extraction. Who should
guide and backed fellow ones rather than back a Francophone Maitre Kamga who is not much loved by his own
very brothers not to talk of the way he views Anglophone Lawyers to be cheap
and not composed hear him once in his popular expressions “the law profession
is not made for the poor” if such a word can come out from somebody’s mouth who
wants to be leader, what will you expect of him when he takes up power?
Certainly marginalization!
All these mix ups and blunders are strong points playing the
match favorably in the interest of the lone female candidate maitre Ngoulla
Arlette we earlier mentioned who stands and has all the possibilities of
carrying the day on that blessed 31st of January 2015.
Over fifteen Years of Anglophone Rule, Time for a Francophone
Who is a pace setter and should be able to deliver the goods.
History holds that for the last ten years the Bar Presidency has been manned by
Anglophones, to name Maitre Senze, Barrister Akere Muna who took over from Ben
Muna, Barrister Etta Besong Junior, Nyoh Wakai and Barrister Sama Francis who
is almost ending his mandate.
Which has caused Francophnes of late to wander aloud whether
they are not also very competent enough to chieftain the Bar Presidency? 2015
obviously has come to turn the tides to the French section and most likely to a
female camp following rising trends and possibilities that are working
positively for a feminine folk to take control.
Proclamations of Candidatures for the Bar Council
-Barrister Ben Suh Fuh Founder and Principal Advocate of
Amity Chambers Bamenda on the 24th of January 2015 in an executive chart with a
cream of journalists declared his independent candidature for the Bar Council
elections looking at the open mafia exhibited by team heads, leaders and those
in camps. Salvation is personal! This reporter diagnosed. Not wanting to be
part of the mess exhibited by some of his Anglophone brothers observed the
conscience should rule and ride over all the propaganda, what the Bar Council
needs is serious hands that will work collectively for the welfare of Lawyers
and the profession not plans to take power and Lord over people instead of
serve them. “I am going into the Bar Council to Serve my fellow colleagues and
not dictate or impose or look low on them”.
As a member of the Cameroon and the Nigerian Bar Association
sworn in 1999 and 1997 respectively, if voted, i will stand strongly for the
payment of advocates fees which he had often done in the course of his
practice, enhance dialogue and understanding why not cooperation amongst
Lawyers.
If Ntumfor Nico Halle Comes in?
A most venerated international Legal icon in Cameroon cum
peace crusader already earmarked to head the election commission, it is very
obvious that the seat of the chairman or President of the Bar Council committee
watching at an Anglophone Barrister Kenmende Henry may certainly go to him if
he dare shows up. One cannot totally or completely say whether Ntumfor is not
part of the show only last minutes will tell.
And What If at the End Maitre Ngoulla does not pick the crown
Confident in her candidature and from the hand writings on
the wall many a people are of the opinion that she should not let it go by looking
for extra judicial means to question any maneuvers that may be orchestrated
during and after the 2015 Bar Council Elections. So in this line, it is very
obvious that at every end Maitre Ngoulla Arlette has a say some where and the
male challengers in the race must be very careful or else! We leave it here and
in the hands of he who know it well and can Best handle it, God!
