CORPIC Petitions President Biya to Sanction Administrators for Destroying Bambili Houses

The Secretary General of the Commission for Restoration of Patriotism and Integrity in Cameroon (CORPIC) has petitioned President Paul Biya of la Republique du Cameroun to intervene to stop his appointed administrators from committing further atrocities to satisfy the Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda, which has been coveting the Mbororo land of Wumse-Ndzah to build the Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC).

On 2 May 2013, the Senior Divisional Officer (S.D.O) of Mezam Division, Felix Nguele Nguele led a caterpillar, military and paramilitary personnel to destroy property belonging to 175 Bambili people on the proposed resettlement site of the Mbororo to be displaced to make way for the CATUC.

Barrister Nsoh Robert Fon had pleaded with the S.D.O, during a meeting on 16 April 2013 attended by all concerned by the CATUC project, to withhold any action concerning the proposed land issue until judgment was passed in Suit No CFIBA/15CM/2013 praying the Court of First Instance Bamenda (CFIBA) to restrain the CATUC represented by His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua from destroying the buildings belonging to the Mbororo community.

In a show of what the population is calling bias and interest, the S.D.O went ahead to destroy some nine (09) houses, property and farms belonging to Bambili people. The houses, farms and property of these Bambili people is estimated at some FCFA 15O million, (US 300,000).

After the S.D.O destroyed Bambili houses, they retaliated by destroying all Bandzah houses around the proposed resettlement site, justifying their action by the fact that it was the Fon of Bandzah who led the S.D.O and his team to the site for demolition, as such encouraging the destruction of their property while sparing those of the Bandzah.

This proposed resettlement site had been described as a deathtrap by Barrister Abednego of Bandzah extraction during the meeting with Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua and the Mbororo community at the S.D.O offices on 16 April 2013.

'They came when I was on the farm and started destroying my house. I was only able to rush in and collect my 8 months old granddaughter who was napping. They destroyed everything I had gathered for my 40 years on this hill. This new house was built by my first son born here,' Moaned the wife of Mabo Zaccheus.

She added that she had never been asked to quit the place she had called home for 40 years since she married Mabo Zaccheus.

'Where am I going to start from? Why did they not give us time to remove our things? The sun is shining and God is seeing all this wickedness.' The wife of Mabo Zaccheus added.

Awemo Gregory Njokom produced his land certificate established some 10 years earlier. Most of the victims on the proposed resettlement site have land titles and others were in the process of establishing theirs. All the 175 people swear that they were never served any notice to quit the land nor warned of the destruction of their houses and property.

Enow Junior, Divisional Delegate of Land and Surveys for Mezam Division claims that the people had been warned. S.D.O Felix Nguele Nguele also accused the Bambili people of being recalcitrant and stubborn to leave the proposed resettlement site which was on community grazing land. Both authorities failed to show documented proof that they had served the Bambili people with quit notices and warnings.

The Secretary General of CORPIC decided to present these facts to the President of la Republique du Cameroon on 5 June 2013 reminding President Biya that such acts were in violation of the basic rights of these people protected by the Cameroon Constitution and other United Nations Covenants, which Cameroon is signatory to.

The petition deplores all such acts of wanton destruction, corruption and abuse of power considering them as acts from unpatriotic people lacking in integrity. The President was reminded of his pledge of Rigour and Moralization which are mocked everyday by his own appointees.

Such acts were not only inhuman but completely contravene the Land Tenure Laws of Cameroon. Even though many symposia have considered these laws bad, at least administrators should respect the laws even in their bad spirit.

The petition concludes that 'We are in a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and cannot resort to the destruction of hard earned property and houses with no justification or proper compensation. May you find it necessary to sanction the recalcitrant and unpatriotic administrators who have provoked this war in the North West Region, and have decided to reduce people who were already poor to total destitution?'

The United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that 'Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes: To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity; to ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his rights thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy;'

This petition was sent to all concerned parties about this CATUC land grab and the ripple effects rearing their ugly head in the form of ethnic targeting and tribal war in the North West Region of Cameroon.

Fon Christopher Achobang
Department of Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
University of Buea
P.O. Box 63 Buea
(Senior Translator),
English-French-English
Expertise; International Business Translation; Literary Translation,

Medical Translation; Legal Translation, Editing; Proofreading; Translation lecturer.

(Senior Reporter, Social Commentator, Human rights activist)

The Cameroons
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