Months after cancelling: MINAT boss orders rehabilitation of 15 Chiefdoms in Fako!.

The reason(s) for the MINAT boss' U-turn remains unclear, especially given that he had instructed for the elimination of such villages amid public outcry of land-grabbing and the creation of illegal villages.

The fresh instruction of Minister Paul Atanga Nji is contained in a confidential letter dated July 28, 2023, which has surfaced to the public space. 

In the document, which has gone viral, the MINAT boss instructed the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, to direct the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO for Fako, to proceed with rehabilitating the concerned Chiefdoms. The Chiefdoms are found in Limbe, Tiko and Buea Subdivisions.

According to the minister in his letter, the decision follows a meeting he had with the Governor of the South West Region on July 19. 

Atanga Nji in the letter, also cites a letter of February 15, 2023, which the regional administrator also addressed to him on the same issue.

Chiefdoms to be rehabilitated

The villages which are all third class Chiefdoms are: Upper Fue, Monde, Mapanja, Mbinde, Wokeli, Wonya Imali, Lower Ewonda and Kassa, in Buea Subdivision. 

In Tiko Subdivision, the villages are: Tiko-Duala Chiefdom while in Limbe I Subdivision, there are: Mokota, Kole, Mwette, Wonjamba, Ewuke and Tumatal.

Fako Division & tale of fake Chiefdoms, land-grabbing 

When Minister Atanga Nji first ordered for the suppression of the villages in July 2022, there was widespread outcry from stakeholders and elite in Fako, against land-grabbing and the creation of fake Chiefdoms.

 Some individuals are said to have been working in collusion with the administration to create fake villages to grab land in the name of the community, which they in turn retail to the public. The situation had resulted in clashes in some communities.

Before then, there had been calls for the government to step in and address the situation. Then, even families were openly clashing over land and Chieftaincy stools. 

The situation became worse and complex when the Head of State introduced the payment of monthly allowances to traditional rulers. 

Observers say this could partly explain why the quest for monthly benefits and the high demand for land in Fako resulted in deadly battles.

Atanga Nji’s war against fake Chiefdoms, land grabbing

Atanga Nji himself had in the wake of such calls for government to act, called on his collaborators in the 10 Regions, singling out the South West Region in the process, to fight against the creation of fake villages and land grabbing that remain problematic till date.

During a brief security and administrative coordination meeting on July 11, 2022, at the Limbe City Council, the MINAT boss had warned that all irregularly created villages in Fako Division would be cancelled. He was also clear on the need to put an end to land grabbing in the Division.

While opening the Second Bi-annual Governors’ Conference in Yaounde, on December 12, 2022, the Minister outlined measures to address the situation in Fako Division in particular. 

Minister Atanga Nji had said then that the constitution of Chieftaincy files for First, Second and Third Class traditional rulers must be done in consonance with the kingmakers and notables as the case may be; to avoid conflicts that still remain recurrent till date.

He had also said files designating traditional rulers must be signed by the notables with a copy transmitted to the Ministry of Territorial Administration for follow-up.

CONAC petitions minister

It should be recalled that prior to the July 2022, decisions to cancel the same villages which will in the days ahead be rehabilitated, the Chairman of the  National Anti-Corruption  Commission, CONAC, Rev Dr  Dieudonne Massi Gams, had also written to the Minister of Territorial Administration, over reports of the creation of illegal villages in Livanda Community in Limbe I Subdivision.

Dorothy Njeuma on land grabbing, fake Chiefdoms 

The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Prof Dorothy Djeuma, had in a write-up, dated September 23, 2021, slammed administrators, traditional rulers and non-natives of playing “dirty games” to the detriment of the population.

Then, she cited “recent march by Chiefs of some villages in Tiko and Buea, to the Governor of the South West Region, supported by some of their subjects and greedy non-natives, to agitate for land surrender by CDC”. 

Prof Njeuma was categorical that the “irregular creation of Chiefdoms and designation of fake Chiefs in Fako Division was solely to grab land.

In her piece, she had raised an alarm over the “allocation of 25 hectares of CDC land near Misselele to the DDR in 2021”. She had lamented that only less than five hectares were fenced for the DDR, and “the rest has been given/sold to the administration, Chiefs and others."

She had also decried the illegular creation of new layouts across Fako Division.