The Arrest & Humiliation of Marafa: Biya’s Profound Political Misjudgment

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai*

The arrest and public humiliation of Chief Ephraim Inoni, a former prime minister, and three former Secretary Generals at the Presidency - Titus Edzoa, Atangana Mebara and Marafa – was misguided and irredeemably wrong as it raises fundamental questions about the President’s judgment and character.

The divergence of views about the open letters from jail by former Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Marafa Hamidou Yaya following his arrest on corruption and embezzlement charges is understandable. In three different letters, Marafa, in unapologetic, somewhat languid statements of regret and self-vindication took Cameroonians behind the scenes of the high walls of Unity Palace; maintaining his innocence, and disagreement with the President as he dared to tell truth to power.

In context and in substance, Marafa’s revelations are indeed significant because of his status as one of the closest collaborators to the President; in fact the de facto vice-president so to speak! When people like Marafa speak, the whole nation is forced to listen. In this light, Marafa’s utterances are instructive both as a former Secretary General at the Presidency with the power of proxy of the President’s signature, and as former Minister of State in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.

There has been no official statement contradicting the widely publicized reports of the transfer of Marafa and two other detainees -Yves-Michel Fotso and Abah Abah – from Kondengui to solitary confinement at the national gendarmerie headquarters (SED). The government’s resolve to get on top of the Albatross scandal and the fight against corruption is understandable; but the transfer of Marafa from Kondengui to SED could be seen as an act of desperation, or worse still, a product of bad advice. It is a potentially dangerous decision that otherwise invites suspicion, nay confirmation, of ulterior political motivations in the case. But what purpose does transferring Marafa to SED serve?

Presumably, the need to uphold fairness and justice, as well as protect the sanctity of the judiciary and its processes, should inform due process and the respect of human rights. In the circumstance, it will be a travesty of the judicial system to discountenance the publicly held view that the transfer of Marafa to solitary confinement is a belated attempt to silence him. The government should avoid the appearance of having special interest in keeping Marafa in jail, particularly as Marafa is known to have openly discussed his presidential ambitions with the US ambassador, according to leaked US embassy cables by the whistle-blower website, Wikileaks.

In any event, Marafa’s arrest and detention was not within the reckoning of Section 218 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 218(1) recognizes remand in custody as an exceptional measure to be taken only: (a) to preserve evidence (presumably for a forthcoming trial); (b) to maintain public order; (c) to protect life and property; or (d) to ensure the appearance of an accused before an Examining Magistrate, having established that the accused constituted a flight risk. It stretches credulity for anyone to argue that these conditions apply to Marafa and the other high profile detainees.

It was Lenin that advocated, in language worthy of Machiavelli, that one must embrace one’s enemy so as to easier suffocate him. Marafa flew a kite into the new electoral code stressing that the new dispensation cannot guarantee free and fair elections. No reasonable person can disagree with this. Marafa’s critics accuse him of stolid rigidity and an unfeeling disposition. His admirers say that he is an epitome of discipline and probably the only man who can truly govern the country after Biya. Against the background of both views, Marafa runs a great risk as a presidential contender when he portrays himself as just another politician. This cannot be his intention. And whatever views about him, this nation still needs people like Marafa. But to truly speak truth to power as they must, they should first rise above partisan postures, portray statesmanship yet remain dignified and undaunted by criticisms.

Since his letters were published, some have defended his right to free speech whilst others have accused him of megalomania and betrayal of the sacrosanct principle of reserve. People like Jacques Fame Ndongo who look at Marafa’s letters in terms of party politics completely miss the point. What is at stake is the nature and direction of the country. Is it not common knowledge that Cameroonians are tired of rogue politicians imposing themselves on the people; and is it not also true that Cameroon has never had any credible elections since independence? Cameroonians are not happy and a listening government, regardless, should heed their cries for change. Fame Ndongo should be reminded that a slave who laughs at the corpse of another fellow slave being cast into a shallow grave will go the same way when his own day comes.

Marafa and the other high profile detainees are not at all alone. It is a notorious fact the Biya regime is rotten with galloping corruption. Several top officials have been jailed for corruption and embezzlement. Their tragedy signals the tragedy of leadership at all levels in Cameroon. It is a sad reflection of mindless acquisitiveness and equally mindless conspicuous consumption of the country’s ruling elite. This explains why a Minister with all the privileges legitimately available to him; steal to buy in foreign lands, houses he hardly lives in, and expensive cars he hardly uses. How else to explain that a married man; a Minister keeps, nay flaunts, a mistress on whom he publicly lavishes stolen wealth and even assigns her a conspicuous role in his plundering business.

The problem is that collectively, Cameroonians are yet to evolve a system grounded on meritocracy and excellence. The result is that the nation is beset by problems of tribalism, ethnic-inspired clientelism, bad governance, rampant corruption, insensitive and selfish leadership, a useless bunch of money-eating hand-clappers called Parliamentarians, an emasculated judiciary, a prostrate military, an insipid gang of belly politicians and a failure by people in power to address the problems of poverty. As if these were not enough, the ambiguity over presidential succession has been added to our arsenal of national uncertainty. The CPDM party remains a loose amalgam of contending impulses and special interests revolving around Paul Biya; the day Biya leaves, the whole pernicious enterprise of state capture by our vampire elite will unravel. Cameroon is a disaster waiting to happen and those in authority ought to listen.

Nevertheless, Marafa as a former close collaborator of the Head of State and presidential contender ought to be guarded in his public statements realizing that he has a responsibility to defend the system that hurled him into pre-eminence and which he once served with undivided loyalty. His reference to private discussions he had with the President and other issues unrelated to his arrest was totally uncalled for and definitely unpresidential.

However, it still stands to logic that the arrest and public humiliation of Ephraim Inoni, a former prime minister, and three former Secretary Generals at the Presidency - Titus Edzoa, Atangana Mebara and Marafa – was misguided and irredeemably wrong. Not only did it shred their hard-won reputations and impugned their integrity; it brought opprobrium upon the high public offices they once occupied, and by extrapolation, the entire nation. The macabre spectacle of obliging a former prime minister to strip in front of female prison guards like a petty criminal was cheap publicity informed by sheer public relations and all level headed Cameroonians ought to feel a sense of shame and outrage by such contrived humiliation of people who once incarnated state authority and state institutions.

In this instance, these absurd arrests of former top public officials on corruption and embezzlement charges, raises fundamental questions about the President’s judgment and character. The message must therefore be conveyed to Paul Biya in whatever language he understands that it is unacceptable and even less than honorable for him as Head of State and President of the Republic to sanction the public humiliation of his former close collaborators; distinguished individuals in their own right who have served this country; all in the name of an anti-corruption hysteria, which Biya himself, more than any other Cameroonian exemplifies with the utmost rapacity

*Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a public intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Central Africa with Freedom House, he is a consultant and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com.