Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Mimi Mefo Info
Published on 2024-02-20 04:18:58
While Cameroonian citizens wishing to expatriate to certain countries such as Canada still enjoy their freedom to come and go, the police seem to want to limit their exit from the country, warns Henry Maitre Kouokam, a lawyer at the Cameroonian bar. According to the lawyer, “by becoming a civil servant or state agent, the citizen has not alienated his freedom to come and go. By engaging through a work contract, it is not said, much less written, that the resignation must be written. The legislator interprets the absence of the worker. The exit permit required for travelers, with the exception of certain high-ranking state officials and men in uniform, is a violation of the recognized freedom to come and go for every individual,” explains the man in the black robe.
He also states, “Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: ‘2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.’ By demanding documents for internship, resignation, and other paperwork, the State proclaims its inefficiency in controlling the workforce and curbing the absences of civil servants and state agents. The act that prohibits leaving the country poses a problem on several levels. The author, his authority to issue a law applicable from its publication, and the silence of the competent authority,” he adds.
According to the lawyer, “the state agent who prevents a citizen from leaving the country exposes himself to prosecution for assault and may be held personally responsible for pecuniary penalties,” and specifies that “obedience to an illegal order does not absolve the agent of his personal responsibility.”
If this clarification by the lawyer has been made, it is because in a recent memo, the commissioner of Douala International Airport has criticized a worrying situation prevailing at the airport border.
According to the commissioner, Cameroonian citizens, particularly civil servants, state agents, and contractual executives, are soliciting illegal travel networks present at the health service, ADC, DGRE, ST, offering substantial sums of money to facilitate their departure to other destinations.
The memo, entitled “Reminder regarding acts of compromise against morality, ethics, and probity at the Douala International Airport border,” highlights the need to fight against this practice which threatens to deplete the Cameroonian civil service of some of its most qualified members.
The commissioner calls for firm action against these acts, emphasizing that primary and secondary school teachers and the medical profession are particularly involved, although other professions are also sporadically affected.
The police commissioner warns that anyone caught in the act of facilitating these unethical, improper, and immoral maneuvers within the Cameroonian civil service will be subject to the country’s legal arsenal. An invitation to vigilance is also addressed to the Filing Service, tasked with closely monitoring these illegal activities and putting an end to them.
This move has been widely criticized and has sparked anger among internet users.
Albert Atangana
Read the original article(French) on Mimi Mefo Info
