The driver and the security guard of the deceased Bishop of Bafia, Jean-Marie Benoit Bala detained on the 2nd of June 2017 have both been released. However, a well-placed security source told Cameroon Intelligence Report that they still remain part of the judicial investigation opened following the discovery of the body of the prelate. Our source also hinted of a long inquiry into the affair.

On May 30th, 2017, the Bishop of the Diocese of Bafia reportedly disappeared. On June the 2nd, 2017, his body was taken out of the water in the Sanaga River at a place called Tsang in Monatélé Division after an intensive search. Some few hours after the discovery of Bishop Bala’s body, the guard of the diocese of Bafia Ibrahim A and a driver Mathieu N were arrested and placed in custody in Yaoundé in the Central Region. Nothing has so far filtered from the detained action of the two people who were closed to the immediate entourage of the deceased bishop.

As for the funeral program of the late Bishop Bala, a relative confided that it not in the family agenda for now. Last week the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon declared that the prelate “was brutally assassinated” and requested that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government should make public the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Bishop.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Intelligence Report