The 'bad' taste of Tole tea

It is a little over a decade since Cameroon's oldest tea plantation, the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), Tole Tea Estate, was sold out to Cameroon Tea Estate (CTE).

"I was removed from work in 2002 and the company owed me 36 months of bonuses and my insurance for 25 years. When CTE came, we were told they would work with the government to compensate us but very little has been done. After our strike last year, I was given 200.000 frs cfa as compensation, but this was just a mockery given that I worked for the tea estate for 25 years and I deserved ten times more than that," Njie Evelyn, a former tea plucker, narrated.

The plucker said the frustration caused him to contract high blood pressure. "Because I had no choice, I went back to CTE to look for a job as a contract worker and last month I was paid 15.000 frs cfa, whereas in the days of CDC I never received anything less than 30.000 frs cfa and the workload was far less," Njie told The Green Vision.

The Green Vision learnt at one point that government promised to pay these bonuses. While people like Njie received some paltry amounts, others have received nothing. Some have reportedly died as they waited and others are still waiting and hoping. On top of this The Green Vision has gathered that the problem of unpaid bonuses has escalated into very harsh working conditions.

The tea estate which spans about 300 hectares is divided into three fields; Molyko Section, Sasse Section and Saxenhoff Field. Morbid working conditions permeate all the three camps inhabited by overworked, less paid workers.

"CDC management of the tea estate was by far better than CTE. There were training schools to train workers in different areas including tea plucking, tea weeding and spraying, but all of these is lacking in CTE. CDC also used better agricultural practices which always kept production high. Insecticides and pesticides were used to fight disease in tea," a former CDC overseer, Nchofong Daniel, said.

Nchofong said that the salary situation is the worse. "I worked as an overseer with CDC and I used to earn up to 90.000 frs cfa. But today, an overseer working for CTE cannot boast of 45.000 frs cfa a month. In addition, CDC provided its tea workers with free hospital care, palm oil on credit. There were camps for workers, but CTE destroyed camps at Sasse and Tole forcing workers to live in nearby villages and pay rents. The hospitals were closed leaving workers with no health facility. This is worsened by the fact that tasks have increased without a commensurate increase in income, leaving workers with back and chest pain," the former overseer narrated.

He said when they put in eight hours of hard labour a day, they earn 1.200 frs cfa whereas in the days of CDC, they would fetch 1.500 frs cfa.

"If you are strong enough, you can earn about 25.000 frs cfa but in the days of CDC, one could earn up to 50.000 frs cfa. The poor working condition has equally had a toll on production as workers have become less concerned," Nchofong said.

He added, "April and September are the peak seasons of tea. In the past, each section could give up to 24.000 kg of good quality tea but today, production has dropped only 8.000 kg of tea."

A former CDC Field Assistant, Leke Theodore, confirmed this. "Around 1990, tea was sustaining other CDC crops such as rubber and palms especially when the prices of these crops in the international markets were dwindling."

Another worker living in the Saxenhoff Field said "1.000 frs cfa is deducted from our salary to pay for a so-called solidarity fund, whereas when we go to consult at a pharmacy owned by CTE, we still pay consultation charges and medication. Why then do you deduct 1.000 frs cfa from our salary?" 26-year-old Richard Bakia grumbled.

He said they have complained to the Manager of CTE and he maintained that the money will be deducted and anyone who does not like it should leave.

Bakia said everyone recruited to work in the tea estate is based on a contract and because no one is permanent, you can be hired today and fired the next day.

"The privatization of the tea estate came like a big surprise. It has brought us nothing but misery and hardship. My mother had worked for 22 years as a tea plucker. She like many others was in 2002 just informed that government was no longer in control of the tea estate and that it had been sold to Baba Dan Pullo," Bakia lamented.

Bakia's mother who had been the bread winner of the family was laid off with no bonuses or insurances paid.

"I was just 16 then and I dropped out of school in form one. My elder brother who had just succeeded in the Advanced Level and was preparing to enroll into the University of Buea also dropped out because my mother was our only source of income. This is what caused my mother and other former workers to strike for months in Buea calling on the government to compensate them, but as we speak, the problem has not been solved," Bakia told The Green Vision.

He added, "I am forced to work for the CTE because I live in the camp. I would have loved to concentrate on my tomato farm which gives me nothing less than 50.000 frs cfa a month, but I can't. I am subdued by the harsh working conditions. This is more than slavery, I wish I could raise some money and go back to school to become a better person."

When The Green Vision contacted the Manager of the Tea Estate to comment, he said he was not interested to say a word.