In a press release dated May 29, 2026, the president of the Cameroon Bar Association, Mr. Mbah Éric Mbah, announced the creation of a special unit of lawyers to defend young victims free of charge, while calling on the authorities to take a « heavy hand » against the predators who are rampant from Yaoundé to Bamenda.
Mr. Mbah Éric Mbah is the current President of the Bar Association of Cameroon.
It’s a thunderbolt in a legal landscape already darkened by horror. On Friday, May 29, 2026, the head of the Cameroon Bar Association, Eric Mbah, did not mince words. In a statement marked by cold anger and unwavering determination, he spoke not merely as a lawyer, but as a sentinel outraged by the wave of child rapes shaking the country. The facts are unbearably commonplace. They bear names, ages, and neighborhoods. There is this « Mr. Materne Rameaux Abomo Ngono, » a teacher, who allegedly abused some fifteen children aged 4 to 14 in Yaoundé, in the Meyo neighborhood. There is that three-year-old girl, only three years old, a student at a school in Odza, whose bruised body sparked protests around her school on
May 28. And Douala, and Bangangté, and the Northwest where a man in his seventies thought he could buy the silence of his 14-year-old victim’s aunt with the paltry sum of 30,000 CFA francs.
But perhaps the fate of 11-year-old Divine Mbarga Atangana, found dead on March 19 after going to study at a classmate’s house, encapsulates the unfathomable depravity. According to the Bar Association, she was « likely raped and murdered by her classmate’s father, who went so far as to use his own son, also 11 years old, as a lookout. »
Faced with this macabre litany, the lawyers’ voices rise up, thunderous. « The horrifying reality is that the devil is now in the school, hiding behind the otherwise noble uniforms of teachers, » the statement asserts. In a few words, the president of the bar association sounds the alarm: the school, the last bastion of the republic for children, is becoming a hunting ground for sexual predators.
But what ignited the powder keg, what prompted the Bar Association to take up its case on behalf of the families, is what Mr. Mbah Éric Mbah describes as « the laxity that has often led to the release of these sexual predators after brief periods in police custody. » The Bar President doesn’t mince words: he « calls on all actors in the criminal justice system to maintain a firm stance and a heavy hand. » Even worse, the Bar Association denounces « so-called amicable settlements » negotiated behind closed doors at police stations between distraught parents and unscrupulous abusers. On this point, Mr. Mbah Éric Mbah is uncompromising: « The innocence, purity, and physical and moral integrity of children are virtues beyond commerce and non-negotiable. » He unequivocally warns that the Bar Association « will not hesitate to hold as accomplices any parents who would risk such utterly scandalous transactions. »
To turn words into action, a special unit has been created. Headed by Mr. Memong Philippe Olivier, it includes a rapporteur, Mr. Zangue Serges Martin, and several experienced lawyers, including Ms. Mbuyah Gladys, Ms. Tchakounte Charlotte, Ms. Nkongme Dorcas Mirette, and Mr. Njie Jude Mokom. Their mission: to contact families, ensure the legal follow-up of cases, and guarantee that no child is left alone to face the judicial system.
A phone number and WhatsApp group have been set up (654 815 610). This is a powerful signal in a country where silence, fear, and sometimes indifference have too often stifled the voices of victims. By taking the initiative, the Bar Association is making a clean break: a declaration that the legal profession no longer wants to be merely a passive witness to these « lawless devils. » It remains to be seen whether the
regular courts and the Ministry of Education will follow suit with this last-ditch effort for the children of Cameroon.
Elvis Serge NSAA
