Defence minister dismisses four soldiers for paying military honours to traditional ruler.

The minister’s decision to terminate the contract of the four student soldiers is contained in a correspondence he signed June 10, 2024. 

The minister explained that they have been dismissed from the defence forces by termination of enlistment contracts for “notorious misconduct.”

As per the correspondence, a copy of which The Guardian Post stumbled on, the four students non-commissioned soldiers have been fired from the military, for going against principles and rules to pay military honours to a traditional ruler on December 23, 2023. 

The minister said the decision is backed by Law N°80/12 of 14/07/1980, on the general statutes of the military and Decree N°2007/199 of 07/07/2007, on general discipline regulations in the defence force. 

As per the minister’s decision, the four concerned soldiers are; Njinchout Abana El Jamil, Njiawouo Isaac Chancelier, Fifen Ousseni and Nchouwet Patrice Legrand. 

Minister Beti Assomo urged his concerned collaborators to take appropriate measures to inform the concerned of their dismissal. 

Promise made, promise kept

Minister Beti Assomo, it should be recalled, had while receiving 2024 New Year wishes from military and civilian personnel of the ministry, insisted that there must be more discipline within all compartments of the armed forces across the country. 

This, he had said, was needed for personnel to be able to meet the numerous challenges at hand and effectively contain them.

Discipline, Minister Beti Assomo had reiterated, is not a “cliché or a slogan but the main strength of the armed forces”. 

“This is why, while I congratulate the High Command on its firmness in monitoring the discipline of the men under its authority in 2023. I ask it to be even more demanding and uncompromising in this area in 2024,” he had stated.

He had also urged all defence and security forces to, in all circumstances and in all places, strive to earn the trust of citizens, especially those who have not violated any law. 

He had also said acts of indiscipline will be monitored more closely in 2024, and those found wanting duly punished.

Sanctions, he had insisted, “will apply to those who, in defiance of military regulations, perform acts or make remarks that smack of identitarian withdrawal or allegiance to personalities other than those provided for in military regulations, all acts of deviance or defiance that could cast doubt on their loyalty to the institutions of the Republic and those who embody them”.

 Still on that occasion, he had also tasked military commanders at all levels to adhere to the prescriptions and clear reminders of his Ministerial Circulars N° 239299 and 239300/CM/MINDEF/01, of December 29, 2023, respectively on certain principles and rules relating to military statutes, and on principles and rules relating to military honours to be paid to certain civilian authorities. 

Minister Beti Assomo had warned that: “Any form of gratuitous harassment and abuse of power or authority, must be dealt with in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Defence Forces General Disciplinary Regulations”

He had equally used the opportunity to draw the attention of the defence and security forces of all the sanctions awaiting indiscipline personnel. Such indiscipline, he had said, if tolerated, “will flout the hierarchical rules of career management, be a breeding ground for favouritism, complacency, indiscipline and frustration for disciplined and deserving personnel”.

Revisiting probable cause

Even though Minister Beti Assomo, in his correspondence, did not mention the name of the traditional ruler the now dismissed military officers are said to have paid military honours to, amateur videos had surfaced on December 23, 2023, of persons identified as soldiers paying military honours to the Sultan of the Bamouns.

The incident had sparked widespread debates within administrative and security circles. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3141 of Friday June 14, 2024