'Land-grabbing' SDO dragged to court

The SDO for the Mfoundi division in the Centre region, Jean Claud Tsila, has been dragged to court for trespassing on a 1000 square meters of a piece of land in Soa sub division.

The plaintiff, Timothé Kemmogne says he holds a land certificate which he obtained in 2003 while the SDO who is equally accused of rejecting an offer for an amicable resolution of the conflict, says that there are two land certificates to the estate; one belonging to a relative of his.

The on-going case was opened on October 18, 2013 and has been adjourned several times and the plaintiff’s lawyer is accusing the SDO’s counsel for deliberately causing the delay of the trial.

The events leading to the lawsuit against Tsila are linked to a certain Mathieu Obonou who owned a vast piece of land in the Nkolfoulou neighbourhood in the Mefou Afamba division, Centre region but did not have the means to obtain a land certificate. He sought the assistance of a renowned photographer in the locality, Feugain Michel who had the financial means and influence to get the document.

When he obtained the land certificate, Obonou in return, gave him a piece of land from the estate. The photographer went ahead and obtained a certificate for the land that was offered to him and started selling it off bit by bit. One of his brothers, Kenmogne Timothée equally bought a piece and obtained a land certificate for it in 2003.

Unfortunately for Kenmogne, the family of Obonou who later passed away, contested ownership of the land which he bought from his brother, Feugain. He however sought an amicable resolution of the conflict that ensued, despite the fact that he had a land certificate.

He organised a meeting with the family of the deceased. During the meeting which took place on December 5, 2010, he paid them the sum of 700 000 FCFA which was accompanied by the signing of a document entitled, ‘reconciliation’. It was signed by Kenmogne and a certain Atangana Ebogo who was the manager of the estates of the deceased. He then left the land unused while looking for money to put the land to use.

To the utmost surprise of Kenmogne, in March 2013, construction works began on the land and he found out that it was the SDO, Jean Claude Tsila who was constructing a fence on his land without his consent. According to his narrations in court, he contacted Tsila for an amicable resolution but was turned away, before he resorted to legal action.

The SDO has been represented in court by his lawyer, Francis Bipan. He has been absent from several hearings and during the most recent hearing which took place on June 20, at the court of appeal in Yaounde, it was stated that the case will be opened for hearing on September 19, this year, with or without the defendant. The case was initially taken to the Mfou court in Soa sub division, but was later taken to the court of appeal when the first court declared its incompetence.

The SDO for his part denied ever meeting the plaintiff. He says he would not have rejected an offer for a peaceful settlement if he had met Kenmogne. He equally said that he is related to the Obounou family which gave him 5000 square metres of land and that it was this estate which he was building a fence around. The SDO claimed that the natives offered 2.5 hectares of land to Feugain but he tried to extend it to four. Tsila stated that he is a respecter of legality and social peace.