Cameroon: Time for Government to put Kamto under house arrest?
The Leader of the MRC political party, Professor Maurice Kamto is keeping Yaounde on it’s toes. The renown Lawyer and former Minister in the Biya’s government is consolidating support for a planned protest on September 22nd 2020 which he says has as main objective or should I say sole prerogative to topple the President of […]
The Leader of the MRC political party, Professor Maurice Kamto is keeping Yaounde on its toes. The renown Lawyer and former Minister in the Biya’s government are consolidating support for a planned protest on September 22nd 2020 which he says has the main objective or should I say sole prerogative to topple the President of the Republic. Kamto is basing his argument on the Anglophone crisis and bad electoral laws despite contesting in the 2018 Presidential elections with the above conditions in a similar state as today.
Despite warnings from the country’s Territorial affairs Minister about the protest, the opposition figure has continued with his plans unabated and every passing day, the coalition is growing-at least on paper. On September 9th 2020, Center Regional Governor Paul Bea issued a communique banning public demonstrations and unlawful gatherings until further notice. His counterpart of Littoral Region, Samual Diboua issued a similar ban two days later as government visibly scrambles to prevent any demonstrations in the Coronavirus era. There have been arrests in Douala, soldiers stationed in strategic locations and SDOs deployed to preach peace in some areas.
Legal experts say Kamto is on the wrong side of the law, citing the intention behind his protest and the need to get the necessary authorization from the government as the law requires. But if Kamto is about breaking the law or is breaking the law with his call for insurrection, why is he still roaming free, receiving opposition leaders and members of civil society while Cameroonians’ lives are in danger. Many are of the opinion that it’s time the opposition leader who was released through a Presidential pardon in October 2019 be re-arrested or at least be kept under house arrest to keep the state safe.
