* Says he has never been its member!
In a previously
exclusive interview with The Recorder, Hon.Justice Ayah Paul, whose services
were highly solicited by the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) that is
fighting for the independence of Southern Cameroons, chose not to answer
questions about the pressure group, preferring to address such in a subsequent
interview. In the following interview with Recorder Editor
Christopher Ambe, Hon Justice Ayah, now Advocate-General at the
Supreme Court of Cameroon clears public doubts about his link with the SCNC. He
says that although he has been insistent and consistent that, there is no legal
document on the British Southern Cameroons having ever joined the Republic of
Cameroon, he has never been an SCNC member, as purported. The Magistrate of
Exceptional Class, in this interview, castigates the SCNC for its lack of the
sense of direction and leadership. Hon.Ayah also talks about his new job.
 |
| Hon.Justice Ayah Paul /Photo Credit:Ayah Paul |
Excerpts:
Honouble Justice
Ayah, before serving as two-term MP, you had put in a total of 24 years in the
judiciary: you were on the bench for 20 years and only four years in the Legal
Department. Now you are back in the Legal Department-this time at the highest
level, the Supreme Court, as Advocate-General. Professionally, how do you feel
just a few weeks in your new office after your swearing-in? What is the job of an advocate-general?
Ayah:
Some 37 years ago, I took the oath of the legal profession to do justice to all
manner of people without fear or favour. After twelve years of recess during
which I served as a member of parliament, I have now returned to my profession
to continue to do justice to all manner of people in keeping with my oath. Just
that my jurisdiction now is essentially appellate. That means that my new duty
is to appreciate the judgments of the lower courts. In other words, cases will
come to us essentially on appeal. To elaborate a little, when a judgment is
given by a court for the first time, a party dissatisfied with the judgment may
appeal to the Court of Appeal having jurisdiction. If that party or some other
party to that same case is dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of
Appeal, the party so dissatisfied would appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court comprises the Bench and
the Office of the Attorney General, (what we call Procureur General’s Chambers
in Cameroun at the level of the Supreme Court). The main duty of the Office of
the Attorney General is to file submissions in the Supreme Court, stating
whether the two lower courts have applied the law properly or not. An “advocate
general” is a deputy of the Attorney General. He does file submissions in the
court on cases assigned to him by the attorney general just as it has been
explained. He then argues in defense of his submissions during oral arguments
in open court or in camera (i.e. when sessions of the court are not public).
How do I feel? It is to me business as
usual, having served in the legal department for four years previously. Yet is
my jurisdiction far more extensive as it now covers the entire national
territory. In other words, the burden may be much more onerous; much more
challenging.
Whatever the situation, you are not
without knowing that everything on earth grows up to God. One cannot help
feeling a certain sense of fulfillment when one is appointed to the highest
court of the land; let alone when, as in my case, the appointment is preceded
by promotion. You may have learnt that, about half a year ago, I moved up to
index 1.400 which is the highest index point in the country’s public service.
Even the highest cold-blooded introvert would not remain indifferent to such a
rare development. Therefore can I never ever thank God enough!
In our last
interview, you did not want to comment on the widely-circulated allegation that
you were elected new SCNC chairman; whether you accepted the post or not. I
hope you would like to comment on the subject now to put the records straight.
To begin
with, are you an SCNC member? Why do you think SCNC supporters are desperate
that you become their leader?
Ayah:
On December 31, 2009, the President of the Republic of Cameroun, in his
traditional end-of-year speech, was emphatic that the only documents deposited
in the secretariat of the United Nations on the independence of Cameroun are
those relative to January 1, 1960. That was the position I had had the courage
to hold publicly. The most authoritative voice of the country making such a
public pronouncement in the name of the people for international consumption
was a happy convergence of assertions between us; and a logical booster to me!
Courageously reading everything into Article 102(2) of the UN Charter, which
provides that, should the boundaries of a member state at independence
subsequently change, the change should be evidenced in writing and the relevant
document(s) deposited in the UN secretariat, I saw before me a road free of
speed brakes. I was insistent and consistent that there is no legal document on
the British Southern Cameroons having ever joined the Republic of Cameroun; and
that “reunification” was consequently a fiction”. My reasoned opinion was
published in a variety of media, and that apparently endeared me to a
considerable number of Southern Cameroonians.
When my tour in the National Assembly
came to the end, delegations upon delegations of Southern Cameroonians
approached me physically, by mail, by telephone calls and/or by resolutions,
entreating me to take over the leadership of Southern Cameroonians. This
included accepting the position of the National Chairman of SCNC; acceding to
the position of the national head of a coalition of the various groups the
international community had been urging the government of Cameroun to dialogue
with; and taking the position of the person endorsed by several smaller groups
of the Southern Cameroons’ external elite to speak in their name.
My reluctance or, perhaps, hesitation to
take a public stance hinged on three main points. In the first place, SCNC was
in far too many factions: at least five at the material time. I insisted that
SCNC should first keep its house in order. The counter argument was that my
leadership would automatically generate order consequent upon a large
following. But then, the teething issue was how to bring the various factions
together to give birth to the leadership. “I never can tell people I am your
leader”, I kept harping. “People should tell me you are our leader”. And there
did I rest my case.
The second issue was that I was not yet
a formal member of SCNC as I had not registered. Nor am I a formal member even
now. As I made this point abundantly clear in my public pronouncements, many
were those who contended that SCNC was not a political party, and so
registration was not a legal requirement. While I was being encouraged almost
worldwide to lead Southern Cameroonians, persons with sordid interest took to
the press, claiming I wanted to enter a storey building through the window.
Just imagine the contradiction: whereas many persons were virtually begging me
to take up leadership, a tiny few claimed I was using unorthodox means to
accede to leadership!
Also did sectarian publications take the
central stage – warning that “another South-westerner” would only become the
next national chairman of SCNC over the dead bodies of “north-westerners.” A certain Nwachan Thomas even unilaterally
purported to [have] appointed himself “One of the Three National Chairmen of
SCNC”. He fraudulently went ahead and wrote to a number of international bodies
in that fictitious capacity, shamefully impervious to ridicule.
Thirdly, SCNC was not solidly on the
ground. Some of the several so-called national chairmen were only busy grabbing
money from wherever and from whomsoever upon fraudulent political
misrepresentations. (I prefer not to elaborate on that for the moment)... But
not without standing on the one serious issue, namely, the Chia factor: the
so-called UN State of Cameroon. Nothing has ever been as destructive to the
Southern Cameroons’ unity of purpose as Chia’s fictitious doctrine that, by a
unique departure from the usual, a territory has exceptionally been ceded to an
individual without any UN debates, let alone a resolution of the UN Security
Council!
It is of course elementary knowledge that
the UN takes decisions only by way of public debates ending in resolutions? How
come that a good many educated Southern Cameroonians have been dragged into
some dream land on the total fallacy that Southern Cameroons has been handed
over to some individual by a secret decision of the UN Secretary General? What
seriously speaking is the value of the pieces of paper the ignorant masses have
been deceived to buy in the name of UN State of Cameroon’s identity cards?
Where do they use them, and for what purposes?
It is perhaps a matter of gullibility
stemming from enduring frustrations. But the overall effect of such
machinations is that many are Southern Cameroonians who have been turned away
from crusading for dialogue as ordained or recommended by the international
community. These misguided fellow-countrymen are ignorantly glorifying in the
hopeless expectation of imaginary UN intervention in a hypothetical distant
tomorrow. All that only does lead to the contemptuous gloating of the present
dispensation over our ineptitude or ineffectiveness! You would agree with me
that few reasonable persons would go headlong into such disgusting cacophony.
Caution was therefore of the utmost essence.
Aside from these proximate events was the
distant but telling story of Southern Sudan! They had fought solidly together
against the common enemy, only to turn their weapons against each other before
the dust over their common victory had settled .The question then was: if we
are already on one another’s throat even before the elephant has been killed,
was it worthwhile going hunting? Very like fighting for victory with intent to
destroy the victory!
When therefore SCNC was said to have
elected me in Kumba, there was absolute need for introspection before ever
coming out with a public pronouncement on my position. My stance had to be the
issue of my own sovereign and unadulterated volition after careful
contemplation. Within days, however, some empty vessels had resorted to hollow
virulent disparaging attacks... I just do hope they have come back to their
right senses by now !
Some SCNC
supporters think-and strongly too, that by accepting the appointment as
Advocate-General at the Supreme Court, you are now qualified to be called a traitor.
What is your take on this?
Ayah:
I know the portion of deciderata that advises us to listen to others, “even the
dull and the ignorant; they too have their story”. But overlook not the
preceding caveat that “as much as possible WITHOUT SURRENDER...” When,
therefore, the dull and the ignorant force themselves into the dazzling
limelight that blinds their vision instead, we would be failing in our duty of
love of neighbour to gratify their pomposity. I took oath to do justice to all
manner of people... I alone reserve the right to call off that oath at the time
I will appoint in complete sovereignty. I refuse to accommodate being led by
the blind and the ignorant in a domain where I can lay some modest claim to a
reasonable degree of masterly expertise. The only day I shall betray my resolve
to do justice to all manner of people is the day the devil may influence me to
voluntarily contradict that oath prematurely.
As of now, my integrity has not and
cannot be shaken by hungry, idle and envious cowards in the marketplace who
recklessly call on others to sacrifice for them always. Nor by beggars at
foreign international airports who have volunteered into neo-slavery from
cowardice! Much less by those who unabashedly take cover in hideouts during the
day only to vent their frustrations under cover of darkness in senseless and
ineffectual internet war.
You may wish to see with me that it was
right of some Southern Cameroonian senior citizen to state that SCNC stands for
Southern Cameroons National COWARDS. Of all the self-proclaimed saintly judges,
tell me anyone you know that can courageously only pronounce the name Southern
Cameroons in public. It all boils down to the one truth that the grape is not
sour just because the hare had struggled unsuccessfully to pick it. Ayah
remains as tall as ever, perhaps even taller today! My courage is relatively
unparalleled, all from my unfettered and singular volition. That volition shall
never lean on the indistinctive voices of some cowardly criminal mobs.
You have
often argued that what the SCNC is fighting for is true in law and history. Do
you still hold that opinion now that you are at the Supreme Court?
Ayah: The law does
not fall into desuetude. I have told you in strong and direct terms that the President
of the Republic himself has declared that there is no document in the
secretariat of the UN on “reunification”. Nor are you unaware that Mr.
President did set up a panel of Camerounese intellectuals to probe the
situation, and that the panel came out with the conclusion that there is no
document showing that there ever has been “reunification”. I was not a member
of the panel. But they came to the same conclusion like me. The panel and I are
simply emphasizing a notorious legal exactitude that does not suffer any
assertion to the contrary.
The Supreme Court, you say? But that is
the apex of justice! It is from there that the cerebral legal fountain should
profusely eject soothing rills down the slopes to quench the thirst for
justice. It is a platform not only to wash clean legal filth from the lower
courts, but a pedestal where justice has to be dispensed in colossal abundance.
Hon.Justice
Ayah, now that you are at the Supreme Court, if you were given an SCNC matter
to prosecute, how would react?
Ayah: The question is
too general, and unclear. If you mean a case against SCNC activities, I would
tell whoever has ears to hear that international law prevails over domestic
law. With an international ruling in favour of SCNC as against Cameroun; and
with international calls for dialogue between the two parties, domestic law
must be held in abeyance. To put it in the other official language:
l’international tient en état le national... I would otherwise decline
jurisdiction.
Let me add this bit: dialogue is the
taproot of peace. The wise readily avail themselves of dialogue in order to
spare the community the destruction of property and human lives. The resources
saved in consequence are used to build today for tomorrow. The foolish and the
proud precipitously plunge their communities into conflict, destroying property
and human lives. At the end of hostilities, they borrow to rebuild yesterday
today.
And forget not that every instance of
hostilities necessarily ends up at the table for dialogue. What can be wiser
than going straight for dialogue and preventing destruction and the waste of
resources? Those crusading for dialogue are peace-builders and therefore the
children of God. They deserve our support and encouragement.
Can you
confirm the allegation that you are senior in rank to the new Procureur-General
of the Republic, yet you are one of his assistants whereas professional
seniority is supposed to be taken seriously in the judicial corps when
appointments are concerned?
Ayah: So much has
been published about that situation that I prefer that others talk about it
than the interested party that I am.
Are there
some other doubts in the mind of the public that you want to use this medium to
clear?
Ayah: We never know
what is on others’ minds. Even the devil doesn’t. If the devil knew, the devil
would not begin by tempting you. Like Christ, the devil would simply tell you:
Get up and follow him. But the devil does tempt you because he/she cannot read
your mind. Some eminent English judge succinctly put it this way: “It is common
knowledge that the thought of man shall not be tried; for even the devil knoweth
not the thought of man.” So let them ask
and I will give them the proper answers!
NB:This Exclusive Interview was First Published in The RECORDER Newspaper,
Cameroon, of April 1, 2015 as lead story)
1 comment:
Good initiative, searching questions and tough answers.
Post a Comment