CAMEROON (Face2FaceAfrica) The administrative court, which is found in the capital of Yaounde in the West and Central Africa State of the Republic of Cameroon, ruled that Cameroonian–born American ace musician, songwriter, composer, producer, and businessman Ndedi Eyango (pictured) has no legal status to be board chairman of the Cameroon Musical and Authors Rights Corporation (SOCAM), after Eyango pursued a corruption case against them.
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According to the court’s ruling, Ndedi Eyango, known for his stage name Prince Eyango, has double nationality, which under Cameroonian law stops him from holding any public office in the Republic.
Attorney Charles Tchougang, lead counsel for the Ministry of Arts and Culture Ama Tutu Muna, made the court’s decision known to the public at a press conference in Yaounde recently.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Eyango was based in Cameroon but later moved to the United States and obtained an American nationality.
Critics of Cameroon’s judicial system are saying that the court’s decision to stop Eyango from becoming board chairman of SOCAM is unfair since there are many top-ranking state functionaries who have double nationality status but still hold public offices in violation of the law. Therefore, Eyango should have been allowed to enjoy his civic right as well.
But Eyango has reportedly been singled out due to his targeting of corruption within SOCAM.
After Eyango was elected board chairman last November by a college of musical artists at SOCAM’S general assembly, his opponents reportedly contested his nationality status and protested against his election because he had filed a court case against the former administrations of SOCAM. An audit report he
ordered proved that funds had been embezzled from artists’ royalties.
Eyango then promised former administrations who were involved in the stealing of money from artists that they would have to face the arm of the law as evidenced with his current court case.
According to Eyango following an interview he granted to a local TV
channel, his attempted removal was occurring due to his targeting of embezzlers. In addition, Eyango said that those thieves are stealing under the cover of the minister of arts and culture and that she also feared she would be
exposed for embezzlement.
And indeed, Muna was able to invalidate Eyango’s election on the grounds of double nationality, arguing that it violated the texts of SOCAM, then she set up a normalization committee to pilot SOCAM’s activities so fresh elections were organized.
Eyango resisted the judgment by appealing the minister’s decision, which the court rejected. Instead, they passed judgment in favor of the minister.
Current President Paul Biya has promised that he will send a bill to parliament on the question of double nationality, which is still awaited with a lot of anxiety by most Cameroonians who are living abroad and have double nationality status.
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