By Joe Dinga Pefok
A Paris Magistrate Court, June 21, sentenced Barrister Charles Tchoungang, the new President of the Cameroon Bar Council, to a one-year imprisonment term.
Yolande Ambiana, Tchoungang's divorced wife, and a former presenter at CRTV (Television), Yaounde, now based in France, had sued him for abandoning her.
Tchoungang:Plans to Appeal court judgement
lAmbiana, whose mother is French claimed Tchoungang had stopped giving her financial assistance.The court in its judgment did not order Tchoungang to make any financial payment to the former wife, rather it slammed a one-year jail term on the barrister.
Tchoungang neither appeared in court during the trial, nor did he send anyone to represent him.The Post gathered that it was not the first time Tchoungang had been sued by his divorced wife in a French court.
Early last year, Ambiana dragged her then husband to a high court in Paris to ask for divorce, and also that she be given custody of their three children, who had all along been with Tchoungang since she left the country seven years ago.
She also asked for a specific sum of money to be given her every month by Tchoungang to enable her take care of the children.But with Tchoungang having refused to travel to Paris for the case on the argument that he was based in Cameroon, where the marriage took place, the Paris high court passed judgment in favour Ambiana.
Tchoungang then filed an appeal through a representative in the Paris Appeal Court. The Appeal Court in its judgment, granted Ambiana's request for divorce, but ruled that a court in France did not have the competence to handle issues on alimony concerning the former couple.
The court advised the former couple to take the issue to a Cameroonian Court.But Ambiana recently sued her former husband at a magistrate court in Paris, complaining that he had abandoned her without financial assistance.
Tchoungang again declined to travel to Paris for the case, arguing that the appeal court had passed judgment last year declaring that any other matter between them should be taken to a Cameroonian court.
Besides, Tchoungang is reported to have found it inadmissible that a woman should sue for divorce, obtain it, and still expect her former husband, who is taking care of their children all alone, to give her financial assistance.
Tchoungang To Appeal
It was not immediately possible for The Post to get in touch with Tchoungang. However, one of his close associates, Barrister Julius Achu, said Tchoungang would appeal the decision.
Achu said Paris being such a big place, the magistrate court that entertained the case might not have known that a higher court had already discharged the matter. He said the appeal court would likely overrule the magistrate court judgment.
Sabotage Suspected
Asked why Tchoungang's wife went to live in France, Barrister Achu said seven years ago, Ambiana was sick and Tchoungang sent her to France for medical treatment. He said Tchoungang spent millions of francs CFA on Ambiana, but was embarrassed when she failed to return to Cameroon after her treatment.
Upon her departure, Ambiana and Tchoungang were living with their three children who were below 10 years. Also, there was the job at CRTV, which the lady had left on a sick leave, with the understanding that she would return to it.
Achu said when Tchoungang insisted that Ambiana returns to Cameroon, she instead went to court to ask for divorce. He said they suspect that Tchoungang's detractors at the recent elections for the Bar Council President were trying to exploit the problem with his former wife, to sully his image.
Achu also said he had learnt that some of the detractors are behind a tract that is said to be circulating in some areas in the country, announcing what it claims to be the court judgment against Tchoungang in Paris, and even alleging that there is an international warrant that has been issued by the French court for his arrest.
Describing the allegations as spurious, Achu said Tchoungang's detractors are so dishonest, mean and dull that they can afford to fabricate lies.He sees the tracts as a "vicious intention to sabotage the image of the new Bar Council President by attempting to make him look irresponsible in the eyes of the public."
It is not new for wives/Husbands to travel abroad and abandon their beloved partners in Cameroon/africa. Tchoungang just have a cool head and take it easy. Some of us are frustrated with the system in place in such a way that even with a meaningful job, we find no pleasure living in that very destructive environment called La republique du cameroun.
Posted by: Rexon | Tuesday, 04 July 2006 at 04:43 AM
Ambiana is bringing Hollywood to Cameroon. Now that her husband has been made bar council President and she knows he is making more CFA, she wants a share of it. I guess the unemployment rate in "Mbenge bakala" is taking tool on her too. Sorry my sister!
Posted by: King EL | Tuesday, 04 July 2006 at 12:38 PM
Yolande Ambiana is a scumback who came to the limelight flying the tailcoats of her husband. Like every mulatto, she has a flamboyant imaginary self-concept and inflated ego which borders on racist jingoism. It is unfortunate that a French Magistrate court improvidently endorsed such an outrageous cause of action.
You can't have your cake and eat it, and if the defunct journalist cum musician thought she could score points with this incident, she has to drench something more creative.
Those of us who know Me. Tchoungang can read in between the lines. This is just another instance of prejudice and points to the scant disregard the French have for our institutions.
RFI should be taken to court for defamation. By repeatedly broadcasting such defamatory information designed to injure and bring the public image of the recently elected Bar Council president into disrepute, RFI, which found it proper not to contact Me Tchoungang for his own side of the story, violated the basic journalistic principles of balance and fairness. It was a deliberate act of malice and RFI should face the music.
Afterall, they are the ones who specialise in giving lessons on ethics of responsible journalism. It is now evident that the teacher needs to learn some of his own lessons.
Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai
Boston, USA
Posted by: Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai | Wednesday, 05 July 2006 at 08:42 PM
so now all mixed-raced people have an attitude problem? please get real. no one really knows the ins and outs of this matter except the couple. i just hope their children don't suffer while they play tyson and hollyfield in the courts.
Posted by: mn | Saturday, 08 July 2006 at 11:12 PM