A draft bill to this effect was examined in the Constitutional Laws Committee.
The Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso yesterday December 1, 2014 defended in the Constitutional Laws Committee of the National Assembly with Vice Chairperson, Hon Mbiam Emmanuel, another draft bill on security but this time around on the Suppression of Acts of Terrorism. The bill comes to add to those defended in plenary a week ago seeking to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the African Union Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism.
The new bill falls within the framework of the domestication of counter-terrorism measures adopted at international level. The draft bill prescribes capital punishment, which is death penalty, for whoever commits a terrorist acts alone, as an accomplice or an accessory. The bill penalises whoever engages in terrorism financing, recruitment, money laundering, or supports or acclaims terrorists activities.
The draft bill provides sanctions to people who threaten to commit an act likely to cause death, endanger physical integrity, cause bodily injury or material damage, destroy natural resources, the environment or cultural heritage with intended to intimidate the public, provoke a situation of terror or force the victim, the government and or a national or international organisation to carry out or refrain from carrying out an act, or adopt or renounce private security
Another hot debate in the Constitutional Laws Committee yesterday was on the draft bill to amend and supplement some previsions of the Law No 97/21 of September 1997 relating to Private Security Companies. The bill seeks to modify sections 7 and 17 of the above-mentioned law on the need for Private Security Companies to gain approval before going operational without which sanctions ranging from imprisonment and the payment of fines are meted.
The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Jules Doret Ndongo told the press after defending the draft bill that nine Private Security Companies are duly approved in Cameroon. Some 32 others are operating without authorisation while more are functioning clandestinely.
