Four bills were tabled yesterday at the National Assembly amongst which was the draft law to tackle the upsurge of hate speech and tribalism in Cameroon.

The bill which criminalises and punishes the act through the amendment of section 241 of the penal code was tabled Wednesday November 13, 2019 at the National Assembly for prior consideration.

According to reports, the bill will be defended by the Minister of State, Minister of Justice, keeper of the seals, Laurent Esso before the commission on Constitutional laws.

With this new provision, reports say the legislator henceforth considers such acts as “outrage to a tribe”.

This comes as it has been observed for many months now the phenomenon of tribal and community hate speech especially on social networks, which according to the government puts in peril the peace, security and national cohesion of the country.

The modification implies that such deviant behaviours could be punishable by two years imprisonment, plus a fee ranging from 300000 to three million frs.