By Ndi Eugene Ndi
The 2024 legislative year has opened in Yaounde with the National Assembly vehemently condemning the February 11 bomb explosion that killed a student and injured dozens of other people in Nkambe, in the Donga Mantung division of the volatile North West region.
Speaking at the opening plenary of the first ordinary session of the year in Yaounde on Tuesday March 5, Hon Laurentine Koa Mfegue, eldest Member and head of the Provisional Bureau of the National Assembly, condemned what she described as “atrocious crime” committed by “separatist terrorists”.
She said that by targeting the youths in the middle of the celebration of Youth Day, the perpetrators touched a segment of the population that is so dear to the fatherland.
“These bloodthirsty terrorists couldn’t think of anything better than to disrupt the peace and quietness, the festivities and the solemnity of the day, by shooting at the young people parading in the festival square,” Hon Koa Mfegue said.
The eldest Member of Parliament further said that the timing of the attack points to its seriousness, which she said, must stop.
“On behalf of all the Members of Parliament gathered here today, I say no! Once again, enough is enough!”, The doyen of the National Assembly went on: “shooting children, in such circumstances is inhuman, unacceptable and absolutely criminal”.
Hon Koa Mfegue also extended the sincere condolences of the entire National Assembly to the parents of the young Cherish Lemnyuy, a Form Four student who lost her life in the attack. The entire National Assembly and government – which was invited to the opening ceremony – then observed a minute of silence to honour her memory and that of Hon Ali Mamouda, CPDM MP for the Benue West constituency in the North region who died in India on January 17 following an illness.
The National Assembly has become the latest institution to condemn the Nkambe Youth Day attack that sparked widespread anger both locally and internationally.
However, critics of the ruling CPDM party-dominated lawmaking institution have described the House’s belated move as a lip service given that it is one in many that have occurred within the context of the armed conflict in the country which the House has never put on its agenda since the onset of the socio-political crisis in late 2016.
