Fako: Gov’t cancels ceding of CDC land to Mutengene Muslim community.

According to the officials, the cancellation of earlier approval of such retrocession is based on discovery that documents earlier submitted to ask for the land were forged.

Ngoh Ngoh had written to Minister Eyebe Ayissi, on September 7, 2026, instructing the cancellation of the retrocession authorisation. 

On September 11, 2026, the minister of lands signed Order No. 03472/A/MINDCAF/SG/D1/D12/DM, bearing on the cancellation of Orders No.00633/A/MINDCAF/SG/D1/D12/ of 21 March, 2025, and No.00605/Y.7/MINDCAF/SG/D6/S200/S230, of February 19, 2026, authorising the lease and retrocession of State-owned land to the Muslim Community in Mutengene.

Minister Eyebe Ayissi referenced letter No. B1621/SG/PR, of the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic of September 7, 2026, denouncing the nature of fake documents that had been submitted to trigger decisions necessitating the authorisation of the land retrocession.

Article I of the minister’s September 11, 2026 cancellation order notes that: “It is hereby noted that, in accordance with Correspondence No. B1621/SG/PR of September 7, 2026, from the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, the documents presented as letters No. B106/SG/PR/ of February 20, 2024, No. A184/PR/SG of May 16, 2024 and No. 331/CF/SG/PR of May 13, 2026, which served as the basis for the drafting of Orders No. 00633/A/MINDCAF/SG/D1/D12 and No. 00634/ A/MINDCAF/SG/D1/D12 of March 21, 2025 and No. 00605/Y. 7/MINDCAF/SG/D6/S200/S230 of February 19, 2026, authorising the transfer of State-owned plots and the granting of a 35-year long-term lease to the Muslim Community of Mutengene on land belonging to the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), with areas of 07ha 36a 58ca and 36ha 99a 02ca in Ombe on the one hand, and 15ha 00a 05ca in Bulu Likumba on the other, are forged.”

Article 2 (1) of the ministerial order states that the actions emanating from the cancelled orders are nullified. Eyebe Ayissi, in Article 2 (2) wrote: “…it follows that the aforementioned plots regain their natural status.”

Article 3 of the order instructs the Director of Lands, the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO of Fako and the Divisional Delegate of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure of Fako Division, to take dispositions in line with the cancellation.

Context, perspectives

The September 11, 2026, decision comes in the wake of heightened uncertainty around CDC estates in several parts of Fako Division. The management of the Corporation has for several years been decrying brazen encouragement on its land and destruction of huge investment.

This year alone, the land saga with the Muslim Community in Mutengene, appears to have been the most challenging for the CDC. 

Individuals, acting under the cover of the Muslim Community in Mutengene, resorted to felling of young palms, which the CDC had until recently been counting on to sustain its recovery from the armed conflict in the English-speaking Regions that almost grounded it.

For one thing, the Mutengene Muslim community land saga with the CDC had been on since 2021. The CDC management has repeatedly said the individuals behind the project first wrote to the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Fako, that year, asking for land retrocession.

The CDC admitted having also been approached in 2023, but noted that it had informed those heading the grouping that such land was not available. 

The CDC said it had, in addition, cited a letter from Ngoh Ngoh, addressed to Minister Eyebe Ayissi, dated September 22, 2020, suspending land transactions across Fako, including the surrender of CDC land.

Yet, the land around Ndongo Camp and Esuke village section of the Bota Estate, occupied by the CDC, has repeatedly suffered invasion and destruction.

On Thursday August 20 this year, CDC authorities and workers watched helplessly as individuals, being guarded by security officers, felled young palms. 

The General Manager of CDC, Franklin Ngoni Njie, had put the destruction at over 75 million FCFA, covering an area of 4.2 hectares. 

In January this year, CDC workers went to the streets, raising alarm over the daylight destruction of the Corporation’s plantations.  

The Muslim community in Mutengene had been battling for 44 hectares of land from what belongs to the CDC. It had claimed to be having a project to construct a museum, school, mosque, hospital and other facilities.

End of cacophony or relapse?

Despite the decision of the Minister, critics are already questioning if it marks the end of a season of confusion, persistent attacks on CDC or a period of relapse for alleged land grabbers to re-strategise.

The CDC is still bleeding from the recent destruction of its young plantations, destroyed in the Mutengene land affair. 

It is a Corporation facing pressure from several fronts, with many increasingly urging government to step up its protection of the giant agro-industrial corporation.

 
This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3912 of Thursday September 17, 2026