NW lawyers accuse magistrates of being "dishonest"

The Association of North West lawyers (NOWELA) have decried the practice of extortion by most Magistrates within the region, our source revealed.

The group has thus written a strongly worded petition bearing 6 major grievances to the President of the Bamenda Appeal Court to be forwarded to Yaoundé.

The legal practitioners complained that the Magistrates charged exorbitant sums of money from both plaintiff and respondent for a team to embark on surveys pertaining to land disputes and other small issues.

NOWELA stated that some Magistrates in Bamenda would request both parties to pay as much as 150,000 FCFA each to survey a dispute that is within Bamenda.

The lawyers are worried over the fact that at times, the Magistrates demand millions of FCFA just to move out of their courtyard. This according to the North West advocates is a 'locust fee' and extortion of poor farmers or cattlemen who simply seek justice.

The Lawyers also protested against judges who preferred to use the French language to intimidate disputing parties who can barely utter a word in French.

The Common law observed that the language of communications in North West courts should be English which is not only a constitutional right but a minority right in Cameroon which in any case is a bilingual country.

It has been noted that for a long time, there have been recurrent arguments in courts around the North West region between Francophone judges and Anglophone lawyers on which language is superior.

Francophone judges have claimed that they can only handle cases using the French language which they are proficient in.

It is hence vital to include in this report that, during court sessions in Francophone regions, presiding Anglophone judges do not use the English language.