Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo has launched a scathing critique of the country’s judicial process, describing the current political and legal environment as a “scripted performance” designed to maintain the illusion of democracy under President Paul Biya’s rule.
In a compelling column published amid rising tensions surrounding the October 2025 presidential election, Bekolo questioned the legitimacy of ongoing appeals to the Constitutional Council by disqualified opposition candidates, including Maurice Kamto.
“The recourse to justice in Paul Biya’s Cameroon resembles a play whose actors already know the final words: ‘inadmissible’ or ‘incompetent’,” Bekolo wrote.
He argued that the carefully choreographed legal process—complete with televised hearings and emotional courtroom speeches—serves only to create a façade of legality in a system where outcomes are pre-determined.
“The illusion of procedure, the hearings sometimes broadcast on television, the impassioned arguments—all this makes up a spectacle intended to maintain the appearance of a rule of law. But behind the scenes, the tricks are crude,” he said.
Bekolo pointed directly to the Constitutional Court’s president, Clement Atangana, as emblematic of the system’s bias. “The Constitutional Court itself, through its president, is not immune to suspicions of allegiance to the CPDM: composed of former regime loyalists, it has never, in practice, invalidated an electoral process or sanctioned obvious fraud.”
His critique echoes mounting frustration from political leaders. Kah Walla, head of the Cameroon People’s Party, slammed Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration, for occupying what she called an irreconcilable dual role: “How can a so-called referee also be a player?” she asked, accusing him of actively shaping both the game and the opposition.
Bekolo argued that the rejection of Kamto’s candidacy was less a judicial misstep and more a “strategic operation disguised as a legal procedure.”
He warned that excessive legalism now risks becoming a “form of soft capitulation,” offering the appearance of resistance while the system remains locked. “Aggressive legalism then becomes not a solution, but a trap, a carefully maintained impasse to channel anger into labyrinths with no exit.”
In his view, the path forward for Cameroon’s opposition must go beyond institutional engagement. “The opposition not only needs to exist within institutions; it must exist against them, as long as they remain the instruments of a cynical power,” Bekolo concluded.
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