Day: July 4, 2023

Tensions are still high in cities across France following the police-involved killing of 17-year-old Nahel Mezouk, shot on Tuesday, June 27. The unarmed teenager of Algerian descent, was gunned at a police stop.

While the French police is being accused of racism and unfair treatment of persons in marginalized communities, the violence exercised by both sides for a week now, has been criticized.

Paris Saint Germain striker, Kylian Mbappe, reacted to the destruction of property and looting, saying “violence does not resolve anything, especially when it turns against those expressing it, their families and close ones” he tweeted.

Through the post, the footballer expressed the pain he felt, sympathizing with the family of the deceased, while condemning violence.

“It is your property that you are destroying, your quarters, your towns, your leisure facilities” the 2022 World Cup Golden Boot winner lamented. “The living together that we are attached to is in danger and it is our responsibility to preserve it” he reechoed.

“Violence needs to be stopped to give way to mourning, dialogue and reconstruction.”

Over 45,000 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed across various cities in France in the past days to crackdown on protesters. The use of force by the French police has been condemned by various rights groups.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

In 2008, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, who once said, ‘he wants to be remembered for bringing democracy to Cameroon’, changed the constitution that remove the presidential term limit from two terms, seven years each, to seven years, infinitive terms.

Despite protests that started one month after the amendment of the constitution, Paul Biya remained unbothered and instead used security operatives to kill, injure and arrest several protesters.

The 2008 food riot was also sparked by political instability and anger over the revision of the constitution. Paul Biya will later win the 2011 presidential elections and that of 2018.

In reality, the president was not supposed to seek another mandate after 2011 but he chose to pass by his majority-dominated parliamentarians to make himself a ‘life president’.

Contrary to Paul Biya, is Senegal’s Macky Sall who announced on Monday, July 3, 2023, that he will not seek a third mandate in the February 25, 2024 polls.

In 2016, Senegalese voted in a referendum to adopt a revision of the 2001 constitution that limited the term from 7 to 5 years.

Macky Sall had enjoyed a seven-year mandate before seeing his second reduced to five. However, the presidential majority selected him as their next candidate for 2024 citing that after the revision of the constitution, Macky Sall has served only one term in the new status, thus he has another chance to serve five years.

Article 27 of the 2016 constitution stated that “The term of office of the President of the Republic shall be five years. No one may serve more than two consecutive terms.”

During his live speech on his official Facebook account, Macky Sall acknowledged that there are still arguments for him to seek another mandate.

But he shall not be doing so because he intends to keep the legacies left behind by his predecessors who in all efforts to maintain democratic principles, respected the law and the people.

Even though opinions hold that Macky Sall was frightened by weeks of protests that erupted after the sentencing of an opposition figure, Sonko, and that an announcement of a third mandate would have thrown the country into chaos, Sall remains selfish in his style and send a strong message to those African leaders like Paul Biya of Cameroon, who wants to remain president for life, irrespective of their environmental context.

The Sall example has made Senegal remain the beacon of democracy in 14 Francophone African countries.

However, protesters are demanding that the courts should reverse a two-year sentence on opposition Ousmane Sonko, his alleged role in corrupting the minds of the youths.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Angry commercial motorcycle riders took to the streets this July 3, 2023 to protest the death of one of theirs which they believe was caused by constant police harassment.

The group mounted several road blocks making it impossible for vehicles to circulate for several hours. The previous night, a commercial rider whose name CNA got as Hassan, died after struggling to get away from the Police. According to several sources, Hassan was transporting a woman on his motorcycle when he was stopped by the Police for what was supposed to be a regular control. Hassan however chose to flee to Carrefour Mvondo with the passenger onboard. In a moment of panic, the passenger decided to jump off the moving motorcycle causing Hassan to lose balance and hit a woman who was standing by the roadside.

Both women were injured but Hassan who was not so lucky, lost his life. Informed of the incident the following morning, Hassan’s angered colleagues marched with his corpse to the regional delegation of the judiciary police in protest and destroyed city property all the way there.

Deployed Police and Gendarmerie elements used tear gas to disperse the mob and calm returned to the city in the late hours of the afternoon.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice has expressed worry about ‘unjustified’ commentary by some individuals and personalities on pending criminal cases before the courts.

‘The Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has observed with serious concern the increased tendency for various persons, including members of the legal profession of considerable standing, to run extremely prejudicial commentary on cases pending before the courts, ‘ it said.

A statement issued by Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, and shared with the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday, said some pending criminal cases had been the subject of’ unwarranted’ public commentary, including the Republic vrs. James Gyakye-Quayson, Republic vrs. Dr Stephen Opuni and 2 Others and the Republic vrs. Cassiel Ato Forson and 2 Others.

It said whilst respecting the freedom of all persons in Ghana to comment on any matter, including cases pending in court, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice noted that much of the recent commentary on many of the so-called high-profile criminal cases transgressed permissible limits of free speech.

The statement said the commentaries unduly interfered with the work of State Prosecutors performing their constitutional function of prosecuting crime in Ghana and tended to put unnecessary pressure on the courts.

The Office of the Attorney-General thus reminded Ghanaians of the principle of the equality of all persons before the law enshrined in article 17(1) of the Constitution.

It said no person living in Ghana, citizen or non-citizen, was above the laws of Ghana or immune from an application of same.

It said the Attorney-General’s constitutional responsibility for the ‘initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences’ implied a duty to prosecute a crime committed in Ghana, after proper investigations had been conducted, irrespective of the political, race, colour, ethnic, religion, economic or social status of the culprit.

‘State Attorneys assisting the Attorney-General in the performance of this hallowed constitutional mandate, operate under extreme pressure and are exposed to severe risks.

‘They have the right to prosecute cases freely in a court of law just as private legal practitioners enjoy a right to defend their clients, free from abuse and attacks on their character,’ the statement said.

It said the decision to prefer a charge against an accused person was not made on the basis of a person’s political status, social or economic standing but on the strength of evidence subject to the scrutiny of the courts.

It noted that an acquittal of a person by the courts did not imply malice on the part of the Republic in the filing of a charge.

The statement said the perception that a crime committed by a person of high political standing in society should not be prosecuted was dangerous for society and must not be countenanced.

It said some of the comments were orchestrated to pervert the course of justice and/or prejudice the fair hearing and determination of the cases.

‘The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, in the discharge of his duty to protect the administration of justice from abuse, hereby entreats the public to permit the streams of justice to flow freely and uncontaminated by undue comments and pressure on the courts,’ the statement said.

‘The Attorney-General finally cautions that no immunity is conferred by a person’s position in Parliament, the Judiciary, Traditional Authority, the Bar, or any official position from the consequences of an interference in the administration of justice or an attempt to overreach a judgment to be delivered by the court in any matter.

‘We must respect due process,’ the statement emphasised.

Source: Ghana News Agency