SDF MPs concerned about potential social unrest

Social Democratic Front's (SDF) members of the National Assembly of North West extraction have called on government to take urgent and tactful measures to avert looming social unrest in the region.

The MPs were speaking to the press in Yaounde recently after meeting the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, René Emmanuel Sadi, to whom they presented their worries on the different crises ongoing in the region.

According to the leader of the SDF Parliamentary Group, Hon. Joseph Banadzem, the issues presented to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation included the farmer-grazier crisis in Esu in Menchum Division chieftaincy squabbles in Bangolan in Ngoketunjia Division, tensions in Ndu in Donga-Mantung Division as a result of privatisation of the tea estate.

The MP's other concern was the transfer of suspects of Wum Military Barracks attacks to prisons in Yaounde. "Members of Parliament of the SDF from the North West Region sought audience with the Minister at the behest of the SDF National Chairman, who like many North Westerners, is disturbed by recent happenings in some parts of the region," Hon. Banadzem told reporters.

The MPs decried the generalised poverty, misery and social unrest in Esu and Ndu, said to have been created by the activities of a highly placed and influential business mogul, Alhadji Baba Danpullo.

"We wish to express our desire to maintain the harmonious relations that preserve the economic interests of Danpullo as well as the socio-economic interests of the local population," they stated.

They enjoined the administration to handle the Bangolan crisis tactfully where tension is mounting following the leadership squabbles in the village.

The MPs also expressed dismay with the fact that Wum Military Barracks suspected attackers have been transferred to Yaounde prisons when there are judicial institutions in the North West Region.

The Minister is said to have assured the group that he has instructed his collaborators in the field to find peaceful solutions to the crises but expressed reservations on the Wum Military Barracks attack suspects.