- 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.
