Stop the indiscriminate cutting of trees - Nkambe Council

The Nkambe Council in Donga-Mantung Division of the Northwest Region and the 62nd Infantry Motorised Battalion are highly perturbed about the exploitation of the Nkambe Council Forest.

The military reported the indiscriminate felling of eucalyptus trees for timber. About a decade ago, the Nkambe Council gave a portion of its forest to the 62nd Infantry Motorised Battalion for the construction of a military camp since they were based on the campus of the Technical School of Agriculture Nkambe.

Recently, the military started some construction at the site and started cutting trees, which Nkambe Council authorities have challenged them to stop. According to the Council, the military were given the plot for useful purposes trusting that they will not disturb the vegetation.

In a letter addressed to the Governor of the Northwest Region by the Mayor of Nkambe, Paul Ngabir Bantar, the Mayor states that the Council allocation of land to the military did not include the trees. He argued that the military should have informed the Council about their impending construction at the site.

The Mayor stated that what was worst was the fact that trees which were cut down for the timber in the forest were transported overnight out of town by military authorities. He said his municipality have invested so much in maintaining the forest and feels grossly cheated given that the timber is neither used within the municipality neither does returns from sale get into the Council’s coffers.

It is alleged that some Council Forest Guards who went to the forest to fetch firewood were seriously mal-handled by military men who warned them never to step there again. It is also alleged that the military men have sent out warning that anybody found trespassing would be shot. Our sources say, like the timber, firewood is sold by them and shared accordingly.

Contacted on the issue, the Senior Divisional Officer for Donga-Mantung, Bernard Ndode-Mesape, said he was only recently briefed. He said he would investigate the matter and find the way forward. He, however, expressed disappointment in both authorities for not coming to a compromise on an issue that might threaten the peace of the area as well as the environment.

It is said that when the military started the aggressive exploitation of the forest and the Council opposed it, the former SDO, Theophile Nzege, tried to bring the two parties to a compromise but failed because the military authorities refused to cooperate. Efforts to redress the issue at Regional level have proven futile.

Witnesses to these claims hold that a decision can only come from the Armed Forces headquarter in Yaounde.

Meanwhile the exploitation continues despite the fact that some top Donga-Mantung elite have condemned the act describing it as exploitation of the first order. They suspect that the reluctance to decide on the issue by the Yaounde military authorities is because they are benefitting from it. Others have described the act as embezzlement of public funds that must be quickly checked.

Attempts to get military authorities to comment on the issue have been futile. Nevertheless, a senior officer of the 62nd Infantry Battalion, who pleaded not to be named, argued that when the land was ceded, there were no specifications and that the plot couldn’t have been given for them to build on the trees.

According to the Nkambe Mayor, the Council would definitely cut the trees when the military intended to start construction.

Inhabitants of Nkambe are agitating to protest if the problem is not resolved immediately. The forest was initiated in the days of the Nkambe Division which latter became Donga-Mantung.