Marafa rushed back to hospital!

- His condition is very critical and we are really afraid - Lawyer

Marafa

Cameroon Headlines, Yaounde, July 23 – Former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Marafa Hamidou Yaya was rushed back to the University of Yaounde I Medical School Teaching Hospital, CHU yesterday evening, Wednesday July 23 barely two weeks after he was discharged from the same hospital.

In a telephone chat with The Journal

at about 6pm on Wednesday, July 23, Professor Ndiva Kofele Kale told The Journal, in a very grievous tone that “the situation is very bad” but that he could not say anything further.

According to our sources the former MINATD boss was accompanied to the hospital by a mixed squadron of security operatives led by a gendarmerie captain.

The former minister’s fast deteriorating health condition is now becoming a real cause for concern to the authorities especially following the death of another minister, Catherine Abena, former Secretary of State for Secondary Education, who died some months ago while in prison. Her death was not taken kindly to by her kinsmen and women. If Marafa suffers a similar fate, apparently the reactions would not only be widespread but could be more intense and a huge blow to the country’s image.

It should be recalled following the intense international lobbying of his Lead Counsel, Professor Ndiva Kofele, some governments especially that the US are now considering Marafa as a political prisoner and not a criminal law convict, a stance the imminent professor has maintained all along. 

Lead Defence Counsel of the former MINATD boss, Professor Ndiva Kofee Kale confirmed the report that the former minister violently took ill on Monday, June 30 and was rushed to CHU

Speaking to The Journal when Marafa crashed again on Monday. June 30, 2014, the legal guru said “Marafa has been suffering from numerous ailments including cardio-vascular problems, eyes etc”. These illnesses, he continued, “have been aggravated by horrific prison conditions to the point where the former minister’s may lose his eyesight”.

On the care being administered to Marafa at the hospital, Prof Kale intimated that so far the care is acceptable and added that he had to make sure the cardiologist is a sound one. He also noted that the Director of the hospital has been passing around to make sure everything is in order. Professor Kale praised the doctors and nurses at the hospital who are putting in their best in a very degraded working environment. He decried the appalling conditions in the hospital considered a flagship medical establishment in the country noting that the whole place smells due to lack of water.

On the safety and security of Marafa, Professor Kale who has mounted a three-pronged strategy to get his client released said he and the family have stepped up vigilance to make sure nothing happens to the former minister especially as his long-time private secretary, Mme Soppo died mysteriously a few months back. On what has been put in place Prof. Kale declined to comment further.

Similarly when quizzed on the results of his legal and diplomatic actions he has engaged to get his client released, he said all has been done and their fingers have been kept crossed.

Marafa Hamidou Yaya was slammed a 25-year jail term alongside Yves Michel Fotso and others in the early hours of Saturday, September 22, 2012 over charges of embezzlement involving the BBJ-2 presidential jet.