Untold story of Kumba-Mukonje land dispute revealed!.

The parcel under dispute extending beyond the Mahole neighbourhood in Three Corners Fiango, covering hundreds of hectares, came to the fore when government opted to construct the administrative block of HTTTC in 2014. 

Since the foundation stone of the school was laid in June 2017, things have still not progressed as both Mokunje and the Bafaw continue to dispute the land.

Bafaw traditional council restates ownership

On January 3, 2024, members of the Kumba Traditional Council, KTC, faced the press. The outing was staged at the Nfon’s Palace in Kumba. 

Varsity don, Prof Nfon Samuel Akama Penda, traditional ruler of Njanga Bafaw sat in for the Nfon of Kumba and Paramount Ruler of the Bafaw, His Majesty Senator Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko. 

Meanwhile, Shi Abwa Mbontona, Chairman of the Kumba Traditional Council, alongside some council members, also attended the outing. During the presser, they argued that the disputed land belongs to the Bafaw.

To note that in recent weeks, fresh bickering has emerged over the said land, leaving many confused as to what the future holds. 

In the face of the renewed contentions, the Kumba Traditional Council has in addition to the presser, issued a detailed statement, unearthing  colonial and other historical facts to strengthen its claim over the said land.

“War against hidden agenda”

Members of the KTC, have in the meantime, told The Guardian Post that the recent statement is an account of the “untold story of the Kumba-Mokunje land dispute”. 

In the release, the Kumba Traditional Council makes bold that it is not against government making use of the said land for any purpose but wants such to be done in collaboration “with the proper owners who are the Bafaw of Kumba”.

The council is blunt in its statement that “…any attempt to change the boundaries of Kumba, for whatsoever hidden agenda, will not be accepted by the Bafaw, natives of Kumba”.

Kumba Traditional Council on untold story

In their note on the matter, the KTC writes that “the dispute between Kumba-Bafaw and Mukonje (Balong) started as far back as the colonial period. It was formally put to rest in a meeting between the two parties on the 7^th day of March 1902; wherein Kumba-Bafaw was represented by their chiefs-Chief Abel Mukete and Mukonje Balong by Chief Makia”.

The Traditional Council disclosed that at the end of the meeting, which Vosh I presided over, it was resolved that “the Mukonje (Balong) were migrants from Mbanga, who later crossed the Mungo River to settle on the Mudame area”.

At the same meeting of March 7, 1902, the KTC recalled that it was also established that: “The Bafaw owned vast territories far across the Mungo, which was trespassed into by some of their neighbours because of their numerical inferiority. That the Bafaw have been very generous to their neighbours and this was accepted by Chief Makia of Mukonje (Balong)”.

Emerging from that meeting in March 1902, the KTC, in its statement said a cadastral map was established, demarcating Bafaw land. 

The release adds that, “after these settlements and acceptance by Chief Makia of Mukonje (Balong), all settlers in that area such as the Bamilekes became tenants to the Bafaw (Kumba) under Chief Mukete”.

The Council said the settlers were paying rents to the Bafaw. 

 Trespass on Bafaw land

The council members also told the public that the settlers enjoyed their stay on Bafaw land for 46 years spanning 1902 to 1948. 

Things, the statement indicated, went out of hand after “they complained to Chief Mukete of some trespasses by one Anoke, then Chief of Mukonje, in the Dschang Quarters farming area of Kumba Bafaw land”. 

In this regard, it added that on July 12, 1948, the then Area Head of Dschang Quarters, Johannes Bieleu Ditche, wrote to Chief Abel Mukete about the sad developments.

Report confirms Bafaw control

Still in line with its quest to establish the truth, the Kumba Traditional Council, revisited an assessment report from the Secretary’s Office, Eastern Province Enugu, Nigeria, dated July 2, 1956, which confirmed the control of Bafaw over the disputed land and beyond.

The KTC statement said report No. 2705/4, authored by Ruder Foord B., confirmed the declarations from Chief Ebanja of Mukonje that, “the following quarters: Fiango, Mukonje, Kopenda, Dschang, Tancha and other Bamileke settlers in Kumba were answerable to Chief Mukete”.

Even in contemporary times, the declaration from the Kumba Traditional Council projects that Quarter Heads known as Nkume in Bafaw dialect appointed in the said vicinities were and are answerable to Nfon Mukete III and Nfon Mukete IV.

Even when the late Nfon V.E. Mukete III further partitioned the said areas to ease administration, the KTC, in its statement enthused that Mukonje never raised any concern. 

The Council justified the composure of Mukonje to the administrative actions of Nfon Mukete III on grounds that “they have never owned or been in control of these areas till date”.

Creation of HTTTC Kumba triggers fresh trespass on Bafaw land

According to the Kumba Traditional Council, Mukonje trespassed into Kumba land immediately the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, decreed the Higher Technical Teachers Training College, HTTTC Kumba.

Going by the Council, “the Mukonje (Balong) trespassed into this same land owned and controlled by the Bafaw Kumba and occupied by their tenants (Bamileke settlers) and presented same to government” as the best site to host HTTTC.

Minister cancels fraudulent land titles 

The traditional institution furthered that Mukonje “even went further to bulldoze farmlands belonging to these settlers, creating roads therein, partitioned same to themselves and fraudulently obtained land titles over same in both the village’s name and in the name of some individuals”. 

The Council cited the late Chairman of the Mukonje Traditional  Council, Otto Abange Alexander, as one of those who benefitted from the scheme.

It should be recalled that the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, had some time ago cancelled the land titles, pending further findings. The cancellation was based on a complaint from the Bafaw.

Meme administration enhancing corruption

Going by members of the Kumba Traditional Council, the land dispute has been dragging on because the Meme administration is corrupt. 

Some members of the administration, the release indicated, had been promised huge portions of the disputed land.

1.2 billion FCFA compensation source of fresh rancor?

In the meantime, there are authoritative reports that schemes to swindle some 1.2 billion FCFA compensation for owners of portions of land in the disputed area, is at the origin of recent clashes.

Beyond the clashes, it is reported that some officials in the Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, had engaged in unorthodox negotiations to line their pockets with part of the money.

There are said to be mini-networks made up of people in different echelons of power and society, reportedly looking to reap millions in the matter, irrespective of the damage to society.   

The Bafaw, on their part, are said to be viewing the developments as part of a bigger conspiracy to frustrate their identity and dispossess them of land from their forefathers.

Mukonje Chief petitions Biya to intervene

Meanwhile, in a viral video which The Guardian Post stumbled on, the traditional ruler of Mukonje, Chief Oscar Sona Ebanja, has called on the Head of State, President Paul Biya, to ensure justice prevails. 

He is presumed to have made the declarations during a protest he led on the disputed land with some of his subjects on December 16, 2023.

In the video, the Chief said the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, had set up a commission to visit the site but days to the visit, the commission was suspended. He said since then, they don’t know what is happening.

He projected the June 2017 visit of the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, Prof Fame Ndongo, to lay the foundation stone of HTTTC Kumba, as having established some facts.

Chief Ebanja said the fact that his late father, Chief Gabriel Ebanja Elonge, performed the ritual instead of Nfon V.E. Mukete, was telling of who owned the disputed land. 

While drumming peace, he regretted that such disagreements and conflicts have been hampering development across Meme Division.