When the rule of law and constitutionalism become a mirage : an analysis of constitutionalism and the rule of law in post-independent Cameroon against post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

The thesis examines the colonial era in Cameroon with the view to determining whether or not there has been a shift from colonial ideologies or jurisprudential transformation in the new democratic dispensation. Constitutional transformation in South Africa is used as a desirable transformative paradigm against which constitutional transformation is measured in post-independence Cameroon. I contend that participation and empowerment of the South African citizenry through the constitution-making process which endowed the citizenry with the power to constrain and restrain government action through the constitution provides a desirable paradigm for constitutional transformation. Cameroon s constitution-making process was elite-driven, participation reduced to the colonial government and Cameroonian citizenry side-lined, thereby facilitating the continuity of the colonial ideology to be captured in the independence and post-independence Cameroonian constitutions. Since independence there has been no substantive change in the content of the constitution of 1960 which was then replicated in the 1961, and 1972 constitutions. Conclusively, the legacy of colonialism is still apparent in the present 1996 constitution. This colonial ideology continuity into the current democratic dispensation has inspired disregard for the rule of law and constitutionalism. The thesis concedes that South Africa has not been transformed fully as yet. Violations such as those in Marikana, Nkandlagate and refusal by President Zuma s lawyers to hand over the ?spy tapes to the court can only suggest that South Africa is still undergoing transformation. However, I have pointed out that in just twenty one years SA has made significant constitutional transformation Cameroon has not made despite its fifty five years as a democracy. The thesis ends by making recommendations for constitutional transformation in post-independence Cameroon relying on the SA model to provide for the entrenchment of a bill of rights in the Cameroonian constitution, the Constitutional Council be empowered with the power of judicial review and constitutionalization of specialised institutions amongst others.