Marafa’s Health in Very Bad Shape – In Hospital Since March 23

Marafa Hamidou Yaya

Marafa Hamidou Yaya, jailed former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization is in a critical state of health, his counsel Patrice Monthe has said.

Barister Monthe made the disclosure at the Special Criminal Court, SCC, Tuesday April 5, when Yaya’s appeal came up for hearing.

The lawyer told the court that Marafa was admitted at the Yaounde Central Hospital since March 23 and has not been discharged since. “The former minster’s health is deteriorating at an alarming rate,” the counsel stated.

Marafa is currently serving a 25-year jail term for intellectual complicity in embezzlement of state funds. He was accused for the role he played in the purchase of a presidential jet that caused the state to push away 29 million United States dollars down the drain. The plane turned out technically defective after an unsatisfactory first flight. The former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization has been in the dungeons of the Secretariat of State for Defence in Yaounde for about four years now.

Monthe, his lawyer, told the court that when he went to the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaounde to see his client, it was there that the Chief Medical Officer in Charge of the Prison told him that Marafa had since March 23 been transferred to the Yaounde Central Hospital  for more intensive care. He, however, did not state exactly what was wrong with his client, but insisted Marafa is still undergoing many medical examinations.

The jury of seven headed by Justice Daniel Mekobe Sone proceeded to find out from the attorney general of the republic who confirmed that he too had been updated with that information by the Chief Medical Officer of the Kondengui  prison.

Marafa’s counsel prayed the court to adjourn the case for another six weeks. The court adjourned the case for May 3 at 10am.