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Administrative
recognition for a Cameroonian Gay
12 Mar 2007-
Cameroon- In January 2005, I wrote a story about the travails of an
atypical Cameroonian asylum seeker. He was atypical because, he was/is
gay. His name: Ndiki Samuel Eleazard who is now 32. Most often, when we
write a story on somebody or any other topic with social dimension, we
do not often bring the conclusion to our readers. But this time around,
I have gone to find out what has become of Mr Ndiki, since his quest for
asylum status in
France was
rejected and he
decided to file an appeal (1).
Mr Ndiki Samuel, as I
wrote last year, was perhaps against his will, a symbol of all that is
wrong in Cameroon.
A country that has perfected fraud and discrimination against its
minorities, and the prime targets has always been the English-speaking
populations. However, the
Cameroon government’s new front in her
vicious discrimination campaigns is to focus on a minority within
minorities. This second group now facing discrimination from a
government that has ruin the economy of the country is a group that is
linguistic/regional blind.
For the new target
are a population spread across the regional and linguistic divide of
Cameroon. The worst is that, this
minority within minorities, who are subject to human rights violations
doesn’t have anywhere or any shoulder to cry on. Unlike the Anglophones,
the new minority are rejected all over the country, even within those
who claim to be democrats. No newspaper, Radio/Television or politician
can openly stand up to defend them without receiving a whack.
These groups (yes!
groups because they are diverse and multiple) that no one is able to
defend are the Gays and Lesbians of Cameroon. While homosexuality is not
natural, there is no reason or tradition that will tolerate the
continual punishment of its children, simply because of their chosen
sexually orientations. Certainly, homosexuality is not natural and it is
abhorred by all cultures and races and the bible does not support the
practise either. But the bible does not also classify homosexuality as
the supreme sin, because there are no little sins. But, God through the
bible is clearly against all sorts of sins.
In 1 Corinthian
6:9-11, the instructions of God are stated crystal clear, for it does
not single out any particular forms of sins as earlier mentioned. This
simply shows that God’s teachings are objective and fair. God and his
teachings are not choosy or have any preferences as indicated in Acts
10: 34. What God only wants is for his creatures to abide to his rules,
that are above all, salutary not to him but to us. This is a warning to
all those pretending that, they are Christians or leading Christian
flock, yet they are liars, fornicators or Gays. You are a friend or
follower of God or a friend or follower of Satan, the commander-in-chief
of this world.
You can’t be both two
things at the same time. As for those who are making a travesty of the
bible and Christian teachings, in Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, they have their
answers and consequences clearly stated. God discourages any one from
adding or removing anything found in the bible. On the other hand, we
are today living in a world that is not ruled by God or we are not in a
theocracy and we are not living in a medieval era either. That is why,
those who want to be homosexuals, should be allowed to do as they
please. But they must know that, they will answer to God about their
deeds. Furthermore, a democracy is considered one as
Cameroon claims to be, only when she
allows her citizens to lead their private lives as they choose.
Homosexuality is a
human right and it has to be respected in
Cameroon and elsewhere on the
continent. But we are all mindful, as already mentioned that, by any
stretch of interpretations, homosexuality is not and will never be a
natural sexual practise. Moreover, in
Cameroon, homosexuals do not even deserve to be
given any second look, for they are not the assertive types, manifesting
uncontrolled exuberance as those in Western Europe or in the
United States.
They just want to be left alone and I still can’t comprehend why they
are today the new whipping boys of a regime that has failed in all
areas. Concerning the administratively and newly recognised Gay
Cameroonian, it took him two long years before he could breath a sigh of
relief and this has happened at an unexpected time.
This is so because,
in France
these days, the hunt and expulsion of North and sub-Saharan Africans who
are illegal immigrants has become the national past time of some
politicians and their political parties. Some French are even made to
think, this with the aid of their soviet style media that, the economic
and all social difficulties in their country are jointly caused by two
sets of Africans, North Africans and French-speaking Muslim West
Africans, predominantly from Mali and Senegal. While they are struggling
to expel Africans currently considered as pest, their new darling and
also those of other western Europeans are: Asians, specifically
continental Chinese and Indians.
In their fantasies
and stupidity, coded with iron-steel-myopia, Asians are regarded as
angels and Africans are considered demons. They are supported in the
theory by the fact that, there exist currently two Asian economies that
are succeeding, while Africa has
nothing to show in term of economic success. History alone will rule on
who was correct in the current witch hunt of Africans in
France. Nevertheless,
France has its natural rights to do as
she feels with her policies on immigration, but she must also recall
that, it is the particular nature of her rapport with French-speaking
Africans that makes them nurse wild hallucinations about their former
motherland. The reactions of some French-speaking Africans toward
France are bewildering on occasions,
but nonetheless comprehensible.
Conversely,
English-speaking Cameroonians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Zimbabweans or
Kenyans won’t bother if Britain
drives them away from the
UK. For the rapport between colonial
master and the colonised in the English-speaking sphere is fundamentally
different with those of the French-speaking ambiguous world. Natives
from Britain’s for
colonies of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America (Belize)
don’t have adulation for
Britain but respects her and borrows
from her all what is good, such as her judicial, political, economic and
education systems.
All English-speaking
Africans demands from
Britain, her former colonial master is
respect and not chaperoning, as it is the case with French-speaking
Africans and other people who are or were under French colonial
influence. That said: June 30th 2006 will remain an indelible
mark in the mind of Mr Ndiki, for it was on that day that, the Appeals
Commission on asylum matters overturned the earlier decision of OFPRA
(2). Mr. Ndiki submitted his application for asylum in January 2004 and
in August of the same year after an interview, his application was
rejected under the grounds that, he could not proof his homosexual
orientations and could not also demonstrate with established proves
that, being Gay in Cameroon was synonymous to committing suicide.
But the immigration
law in France
gives 30 days for any asylum seeker not satisfy with any negative
rulings, to file in an appeal at the Appeals Commission of the same
agency. Ndiki had to use this legal opening, but hired Mr Olivier Chemin,
a lawyer and specialist on immigration matters, who was the one who
filed an appeal within the above stipulated period.
During this period,
Ndiki had to contact Gay groups such as ARDHIS(3) who were more than
ready to help back his case at the Appeals Commission. And on the 9th
of June 2006, the Appeals Commission of OFPRA, after examining the
validity of the appeal submitted by Ndiki’s lawyer, decided to invite
them for their first and final hearings/pleadings.
Lawyer Chemin, armed
with all reports on the treatment of Gays and other minorities in
Cameroon, plus the backings of French
gay groups, masterfully defended Ndiki. In concluding his pleading
before the judge and other state representatives at the Commission, the
lawyer reminded them that, Ndiki was not the first African who would be
granted asylum status based on the fact that, his sexual orientations
presented a danger to his life in his native country. He added that, he
has defended the case of another African, who was an Algerian and the
ruling was positive and he expects the same for Mr. Ndiki because, all
over the African continent, being Gay is synonymous to constituting
yourself to be a game to be shot at.
And 21 days later, a
revolution from a service known for its administrative delays, came the
rulings that were posted on the wall of one of the offices of the
Appeals Commission. When Ndiki went there like a student who has written
an exam visits a result’s centre, he discovered with joy that, he has
now been recognised as a bona fide refugee. What was your reaction? I
asked. “I said God is great”. He replied me with tears running down his
face. Then he continued: “we are never sure of the outcome such things”.
After coming back to
his real self, he became philosophical and when thus: when an objective
is set, one has to follow its natural course and remain focused. What
happened in your head when you saw your name on the wall? I asked again.
He replied: I had to look at it twice, to be rock sure that it was
really my names, after that, I reached for my mobile phone, and made
phone calls to my lawyer, the head of ARDHIS and to all those who were
helpful when I was in my period of administrative limbo.
Ndiki is right to be
happy, for when you are in Europe and
is an asylum seeker, no one wants to help you. Even those who are
willing to help you are discouraged by some few wicked ones. An asylum
seeker is considered a pest by many in Europe.
But now that he is administratively legal, it is a new life that, he has
started and that is equally challenging. But since he believes in God
and he has seen God operate a miracle, he will certainly overcome the
hurdles or withstands any challenges, while bearing in mind that, he has
the name of Samuel, a nonnegotiable faithful servant of God.
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