The Global Forum for the Defence of the Less Privileged has recently paid an instrumental visit to the Buea central prison in outreach to fight for the rights of detainees and to help the less privileged get justice.
The Buea Central prison has become overcrowded like others around the country and the inmates leave under very horrible conditions. It also encompasses quite a great number of youths with ugly stories of how they got behind bars and haven’t had the opportunity to appear in court to give their own side of what they were accused of.
Mr. Akoh Baudouin Ngah, the Executive Director of GFDLP, and his entourage offered gifts of food items, toiletries, clothing, and others to the inmates. He also took time to listen to some prisoners and also counsel them.
‘‘We would look for ways to have legal representatives who will safeguard the interest of the less privileged and guarantee that justice is served to all’’ he said.
“I didn’t steal anything. I am not a child who takes what does not belong to me……I work to get what I need and that is why I was working at a construction site to pay my fees and that of my sister” Anou Vincent, an 18-year-old boy narrates his story, accused of theft but is not told of the item he had stolen.
Most of the criminal cases have to do with theft, murder, rape, consumption, and sale of marijuana amongst others. Quite terrifying is the fact that most of them are either orphans, kids from broken homes, street children, Housekeepers, and others.
Another 60-year-old lady tells a story of how an attempt to defend herself from her husband mistakenly caused his demise during one of his episodes of battering.
Other juveniles accused of theft, and violence accepted to have committed the crimes they were accused of but pleaded with the executive director of the GFDLP Mr. Akoh Baudouin to facilitate their release in order for them to become better persons in society.
Worth noting is that GFDLP is a Non-Governmental Human Rights organization advocating for the rights of the voiceless and the less privileged in our society. Owing to this objective, he promised on behalf of his organization to assist those who have been in detention for more than 8 months with a couple of lawyers in the southwest region to help them get justice.
He also promised to address the youths’ problem by organizing programs in partnership with the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom to help prevent youths from engaging in crime and other radical activities.
