Cameroonian political opposition and activists are urging for the release for Junior Ngombé who was detained on the 24th of July. Ngombé is at the moment detained in the cells of the State Secretariat for Defense in Yaoundé. Another event was the detention of an activist after the publication of a video on social networks in which he expressed his attitude towards the actions of the authorities against another activist.
The video that Ngombé created and that received widespread popularity was aimed at directly confronting the Cameroonian government. He encouraged the authorities to look at the dissidents and opposition for the improvement of governance. ’Hey authorities we are not your opponents, we are your subjects, the Cameroonian electorate,’ he said. This was so due to the arrest of Cameroonian activist Steve Akam in Gabon then repatriated to Yaoundéné.
Soon after the spread of his video, Ngombé was arrested in his native town of Douala known in Cameroon. His detention elicited lots of frowns from several groups. Cameroon’s best bass guitarist Richard Bona also condemned the action wondering what led the police to arrest Ngombé. What made them afraid?, wondered Bona looking at the old women ‘Young ones are you afraid?’
Amongst political reactions, we had from Maurice Kamto, President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC). Still in a press release dated Friday July 26th, Kamto called on President Paul Biya to order for Ngombé’s release. We do not need such a society, Kamto said passionately: ‘There is an urgent need to halt this creeping drift’.
In this case, Junior Ngombé’s arrest elucidates another problem of lack of tolerance to dissent by the government. Civil society and political opposition persist in appealing to political culture based on the necessity for respect of the diversity of opinions as the precondition of the country’s progress. The protest for Ngombé’s release is not only for the man but it is the cry of freedom of speech in Cameroon.