Chief Molinge David cautioned against land grabbing

The emblematic traditional ruler of Upper Muea was on Thursday summoned to the Gendarmerie division in Buea and instructed to redistribute ceded lands to villagers else he would be made to face the law. He was given only one week to comply, The Median was informed.

As we were about to go to press on Sunday news reached our newsroom that the traditional ruler of Upper Muea village in Buea, HRH Chief Molinge David has been suspected to be embroiled in the scandals that are known to characterize management of lands in Fako villages; including the popular Bakweri land grabbing saga.

Chief Molinge was given one week on Thursday to share out to Muea villagers, some of the lands that were ceded by government to the village.

The instruction came from the Gendarmerie of the South West in Buea, after the charismatic chief was summoned there along with some Muea villagers.

The popular chief who was said to have refused to give out lands to village women on grounds that Bakweri tradition does not give women any right to land, was instructed to also give land to women in need. He was told that times have changed and women can now also own property including landed property.

The orders from the gendarmerie in Buea came after some Muea villagers petitioned the president and the prime minister over the management of land in their village, we gathered. The villager complained in their petition that their chief was managing the lands ceded to the village by government as though they were his private property. They added that their chief was refusing to give them land despite the fact that they were in dire need.

One of the notables who spoke to The Median on condition that he would not be named, said a delegation from the village went to Yaounde to see the authorities and complain to them about the injustice they were suffering in the hands of their own village authority.

He said the delegation succeeded to meet General Mambo Deffo, who is investigating the land grab scandals in Fako. The general after listening to their complaints, ordered the legion commander to look into the matter.

He said chief Molinge was summoned to the gendarmerie on 12 September 2014, and on 15 September he was called up again for interrogation but this time along with some of the protesting villagers.

We learnt that the chief was ordered to give out land Muea villagers including the women. He was given one week to do so or he would be made to face the law.

Chief Molinge had sidelined some villagers in the land redistribution exercise, on grounds that some of the villagers had tarnished his public image and destroyed his political career through petition writing.

We learnt that ever since the news from the gendarmerie got to the villagers, they have not stopped celebrating and waiting on the chief to act.

We gathered further that in 1993 Upper Muea was ceded 7.5 hectares of land; 23 hectares in 2003 and another 26 hectares in 2004.

But we learnt that the chief has claimed that government took back 12 hectares of the 26 hectares that were ceded in 2014 meaning that only 14 hectares are supposed to be left.

Some villagers say they do not believe the claim by the chief. They wondered aloud whether it is possible for the government to cede land to a village only to come back and take part of it.

It is worthy to note that the land grabbing issue in Fako has assumed intolerable proportions and has become a very disturbing phenomenon to the government.

And because local administrators have almost always succeeded to corrupt or even intimidate civilian authorities sent to investigate the crime, the government decided to delegate the senior gendarmerie official, General Mambou Deffo to do the investigation.

It is feared that the chiefs and local administrators who will be found to be guilty of illegal and under-cover land deals may loose their positions or even go to jail.