Bar Council questions timing, motive of reintroducing Vice President post.

According to the Cameroon Bar Association, the amendment of Article 66 was acclaimed for its goal to combat corruption and illicit enrichment, but hitherto subjected to a text of application, as amended renders it directly enforceable.

On behalf of the Bar, he reiterated that the office of the Vice President is not alien or inconsistent with principles of good governance. 

He expressed reservation about the mode of designation into the said office, insisting that it raises fierce concerns.

Given that the amendment makes clear that the Vice President shall be appointed by the President, who can sack and appoint another person as Vice President, he stated that it undermines the principle of the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage.

This, the Bar Association said, erodes the democratic legitimacy upon which the Presidential office was founded and undermines the very essence of Article 64 of the Constitution.

The release added that the functions attributed to the office of the Vice President, as outlined in the amendment, appear largely peripheral. 

The arrangement, Barrister Mbah noted, puts to question the raison d´etre of reintroducing the office of the Vice President.

In terms of financial burden, the Bar Association pointed out that after citing financial constraints to table a bill to empower the Head of State to extend the mandate of municipal councillors, one is tempted to question the timeliness of the creation of office of the Vice President while maintaining the post of Prime Minister.

The Bar Association recalled that the 2019 Major National Dialogue resolved, among other things, the granting of a Special Status to the English-speaking Regions, in recognition of their specificities.

Such fundamental recognition and its attendant attributes, the Bar said, can only be effectively safeguarded through Constitutional entrenchment.

The release added that similarly, Law Number 2017/014 of 12 July 2017, to amend and supplement some provisions of Law Number 2006/16 of 29 December 2006, to lay down the organisation and functioning of the Supreme Court, particularly its Article 8 (new) establishing a Common Law Division within the Supreme Court, constitutes an interim measure.

Barrister Mbah said it was adopted in lieu of the creation of a Common Law Bench, which is the preserve of Constitutional reform.

Since the amendment was silent on many other pressing national issues, the statement said it fell short. The Bar Association reminded Members of Parliament, MPs, on the importance of the separation of powers.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3752 of Monday April 06, 2026