Villagers protest ceding land to Catholic Church for “peanuts”

Aggrieved villagers of Mokunda in Limbe II Subdivision are resisting the occupation of their ancestral land by the Roman Catholic Church through the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann.

The said villagers are disappointed that over five hectares of their village land was given to the Church in exchange for nine bags of rice, nine bags of salt, nine cartons of seasoning cubes and two bottles of whisky.

The SUN learnt that transactions to give land to the Catholic Church were sealed in August 2012, following a request made by the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, +Immanuel Bushu.

The land was requested for the construction of a Vocational Training Centre and also for farming by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann in Limbe.

Though ten hectares of land were requested, Chief Ngale Edward Maole Motande, members of the Mokunda Traditional Council and the Village Lands Committee met on August 20, 2012 and agreed to give out five hectares of community land to the church.

On December 8, 2012, crops on the land were evaluated to the tune of FCFA 2,967,000. The 12 persons affected by the transaction were thus compensated accordingly.

Documents from the Registrar of Lands indicate that as at September 2013, no objection to the transaction had been registered; reason a land certificate was issued to the church to certify ownership of the said land.

All conditions met, the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann proceeded to develop the land. Contractors were hired to terrace the land.

Angry villagers interrupted work at the site on Thursday, July 17, 2014. They claim that they were not consulted before “five hectares of community land was given out to the church in exchange for peanuts."

This state of affairs necessitated a crisis meeting convened in Mokunda on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 by the Divisional Officer for Limbe II Subdivision, Ndouga Emaran.

During the meeting at the Mokunda Community Hall, Chief Ngale Edward Maole Motande informed the population that the land was donated, and not a transfer by sale, to the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann.

Chief Motande said the land was given with the hope that it will bring development to the village through the construction of the Technical College. Gabriel Mbene Vefonge, elite of Mokunda, holds a view contrary to that of the chief.

“We are not against development. Development has no colour, but proper negotiations should be done so that both parties can benefit. The Catholic Mission cannot benefit, and the community loses.

We are saying that in the near future, he [the Divisional Officer] should create a commission made up of the chief, his traditional council and the aggrieved population,” Mbene said.

The community leaders, on their part, claim that they had agreed in 2012 that the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann will develop the village in the domains of roads, health, youth employment and the offer of two free scholarships per discipline when the school to be constructed goes operational.

The representative of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann at the crisis meeting, Sister Pamela Bongben said “…in my life, I have never heard that a school like the one we are about to open free scholarships, constructs roads and health centres.

All what you requested was channelled to hierarchy, and we’ve met your conditions."

Seemingly provoked by the declarations of Sister Pamela, Mbene said “…we need to negotiate with the Catholic Mission…we’re protecting and defending our ancestral land. We’ll fight to our last blood.

They have brandished a land certificate. This implies that it was got illegally, given that there was no proper transfer of the land. Peace will only remain when the issue is resolved. The DO seems to have been tilted on one side. We want work to stop.”

After close to eight hours of heated debates, the likes of Councillor Ngomba Ngale, Emmanuel Mbonde John and Peter Wose, remained bent that work will only resume on the site after fresh negotiations.

They even proposed in the end that the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann should purchase the land for permanent ownership.

“We’ll punish the chief for exchanging our land for nine bags of rice. The traditional council members are only there to eat and drink and to mislead the chief,” Peter Wose shouted as tempers flared.

In response, Sister Pamela Bongben said “…we have no personal interest.We met a Traditional Council and a chief who gave us conditions.

We handed the things to the nine families. If this thing prolongs, all that has been spent should be refunded…we did not make an allocation for suspended work. The villagers need to pay for this extra cost.

It was not in our place to find out about chieftaincy and the constitution of the traditional council. If the people are not interested in the work, they should refund all what we have given them. With the present atmosphere, we can’t go ahead.”

The Divisional Officer, the Chief and other elite of Mokunda have decided that work on the site should continue, pending further negotiations.