Chief accused of selling other villages land

Some persons who bought land around the Mwangai, Bokoko, Lisoka, Wombaki, Upper and Lower Muea area in Buea have complained of having been a raw deal by the Chief of Wokaka.

People from these villages, on the other hand, say the Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure had allocated parcels of land to their villages but the land has been sold by the Chief of a neighbouring village of Wokaka.

According to the people who bought land in the area from the said Chief, when they wanted to start exploiting the plots, the Chief asked them to wait. They said they have been waiting until their patience sagged; hence they recently accosted the Chief who asked them to give him two weeks to relocate them.

But, they said, in the meantime, the Chief is going around boasting that he has given the Governor FCFA 40 million to convince the Minister to change her decision.

The Post learnt that in an earlier decision, the Minister had allocated land to the aforementioned villages. But due to the volume of complaints that came from the area, the Minister signed another decision redistributing the parcels of land.

The villagers and the people say, before the Minister signed the latter fiat, the Chief had already sold the parcels of land.

People who bought land in the area say they think that their land merchant Chief is playing for time hoping that the Minister might rescind her latter decision. Some of them are said to claim that they have attestations and site plans for their plots.

“How can they have got site plans before the Minister carved out the area for the villages?” the villagers quipped.

Administrative sources hinted The Post that the confusion is emanating from the fact that some people hastily sold plots in the area, which led to the several complaints that, in turn, attracted the minister’s attention and her recent decision No. 0934 /MINDCAF/A100DU of November 20, 2015.

However, the villagers said they appreciate and thank the Minister for allocating land to them, but regret that the said Chief and some administrators are trying to sabotage her good intentions.