Rights lobby calls for revocation of Cameroon’s anti-free speech decree

The Cameroon government has come under pressure from the opposition and rights groups to repeal an unpopular new decree, which they say unjustifiably censors free speech in the country. 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday added its voice to the calls, saying that it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak freely in Cameroon. 

The rights watchdog urged that the now infamous Djikdent Decree, seen as banning the freedom of expression, be revoked.

“Under international human rights law, the right to free speech may be restricted only on limited grounds, such as national security, or to protect the rights of others, and, even then, restrictions must be necessary, proportionate and not discriminate,” it said in a statement.

The Djikdent Decree is a Prefectural Order dated July 16, 2024, by Emmanuel Mariel Djikdent, the Prefect and head of the Mfoundi Division, where Yaounde is situated, threatening to expel anyone from the nation’s capital for “insulting” President Paul Biya, “who embodies state institutions.”

Djikdent has defended the highly criticised decree, arguing that it was issued to “preserve public order,” but the opposition and rights groups say it severely limits freedom of expression in the country already lowly ranked on such indices.

HRW warned that the decree could be used to target government critics and violate their rights. 

“As elections approach, authorities should fully respect the freedom of expression of all Cameroonians and revoke this decree,” it said.

Cameroon’s Minister of Communication and Government Spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said in a release two days after the Prefectural Order that it was unacceptable to use irreverent or offensive language against 91-year-old Biya, who he said, “was freely and overwhelmingly elected by his fellow citizens.”

The threats from the government officials came in the wake of an avalanche of condemnation of the president’s move to extend his four-decade rule when his current mandate expires next year. 

Earlier this month, parliament approved President Biya’s request to postpone National Assembly elections, which were due in February 2025, to March 2026.

The move technically knocks out some of his potential challengers at the presidential elections, which are still scheduled to take place in 2025.

Barrister Akere Muna, a presidential aspirant who was one of nine candidates in the country's last presidential election, criticised the Prefectural Order, saying it was “deeply concerning for our country.”

He wondered how the administrator claimed to wield such power to determine offences, judge individuals, and impose bans on them from residing in Yaoundé, for an unspecified period, disregarding the constitution and international agreements.

“The situation is alarming, and it reflects a breakdown of our society's values of unity,” Muna said.

President Biya has been a serial election winner since coming into power in 1982, after the resignation of the country's first Independence president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and winning first election a decade later.

He is serving his seventh term, won in 2018, after a contested vote that sparked a wave of political repression. 

The Cameroonian leader is Africa’s second-longest serving president, after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power since 1979.

This article originally appeared on The East African.