Bamenda: Common Law Lawyers Take To The Streets

The protest of November 8, 2016, was to demand the respect of the bi-jural and bi-cultural nature of Cameroon.

Street demonstrations, protest messages and tear gas by security officers summed up the protest by Common Law Lawyers in Bamenda on November 8, 2016. The day was early to break for the lawyers who assembled in the premises of the North West Court of Appeal. The over 500 lawyers were both from the North West and South West Regions. They thereafter marched from the Court of Appeal through Commercial Avenue to T Junction, then Food Market and back to the City Chemist Roundabout.

Their leader, Barrister Harmony Bobga, said they were peacefully marching to raise awareness on their plight that has allegedly been ignored by the government. Placards carried by the lawyers featured messages like “Stop injustice against Anglophone Cameroonians,” “Leave our Common Law alone; we love it, we cherish it,” “Stop the blatant disregard of the Constitution,” “Don’t destroy our Anglo-Saxon universities of Buea and Bamenda. They are nurseries of Common Law lawyers.” Other messages were, “Our demands are genuine and in the interest of all, “Remove Francophone Magistrates who do not know the Common Law System from Common Law Jurisdictions,” etc.

Barrister Harmony Bobga saluted the gentlemanly attitude of security forces who accompanied the protes...