A pastor of Divine True Church of God, a Pentecostal Church, in the South West Region, Rev. Pastor Elvis Agbor Etchi, has said homosexuality is a crime against humanity as God created human beings to mate only between males and females and not males and males or females and females. He said sex is for procreation and God meant it to be done only with the opposite sex.

Rev. Pastor Elvis Agbor Etchi made this pronouncement recently during one of his Sunday sermons. He added that if dogs could have sex only with their opposite sex, then men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women are worst than dogs. He thus called on Christians to shun homosexuality with all their might.

It would be noted that homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon and culprits can be punished with jail terms ranging from six months to five years with a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 francs CFA, according to Section 347 of the Penal Code.

Meanwhile, despite being illegal, homosexual activities are still on the rise in the country and police and gendarmes have stepped up efforts to clamp down on this.

This was the case in May 2005 when 11 men were arrested at a nightclub in Yaounde on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct medical examinations to “prove” their homosexual activity.

A recent case is that of William Bafon Ntungwen, who is said to have been caught in the act of homosexuality with his male ‘lover’ by a neighbour. Ntungwen and the other culprit are said to have fled through the window.

William Bafon Ntungwen is said to have been smuggled out of the country by a white tourist with whom he had also been perpetrating homosexual acts.

It would be noted that the same William Bafon Ntungwen and another lover of his, Mbah Louis, on December 24, 2014 escaped lynching from a mob after they were caught in homosexual act. His father is said to have disowned him because of this.

Many other alleged homosexuals have been arrested and detained under Section 347 of the Penal Code. One of these, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, was arrested by security forces for sending love SMS messages to a male acquaintance and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the Kondengui Central Prison.

The sentence was protested by international human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the latter of which named him a prisoner of conscience. Mbede later died in prison. He had not received medical treatment for a month before he died, activists said.

Barrister Alice Nkom, who has been fighting for the rights of homosexuals, said “I accuse the state. If there had not been criminalisation of homosexuality, he would not have gone to prison and his life would not be over.”

In November 2011, a Cameroonian court convicted two young men, Jonas Kimie and Franky Ndome, who had been arrested for homosexuality outside a nightclub based solely on their appearance and behaviour to five years’ imprisonment.

The presiding judge stated that the way they spoke and their having worn women’s clothing and ordered a cream-based liquor was sufficient evidence for homosexuality.

In July 2013 prominent Cameroonian gay rights activist and journalist, Eric Lembembe, was founded murdered in his house in Yaounde. Lembembe’s neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands, and feet burned with an iron, Human Rights Watch (HRW) had said. He was one of several activists or homosexuals targeted.

The offices of a human rights activist, who fights for homosexual rights, Barrister Alice Nkom, have also been ransacked by unknown assailants. Most homosexuals believe their lives are constantly in danger as they are continuously being persecuted not only by security operatives but also by the public.