Youths of Ewonda village in the Bonavada area of Buea, South West, have decried the forceful seizure of their ancestral land by Paul Tonga Molua, a native of the village who is reportedly working with government officials to grab hundreds of hectares of land.
The protest took place in the village on Thursday, April 24.
The youths, brandishing placards, descended on the said piece of land where a bulldozer, guarded by police officers, was creating access routes in what appeared to be villagers’ farmlands.
The protesters got the bulldozer operator to stop work, defying police attempts to scare them off.
Paul Tonga Molua, claiming the title of Chief of the newly created village Lower Ewonda, masterminds the land grab.
Ewonda villagers say he has continued to bulldoze their farmlands despite an injunction order from the Buea administrative court halting all work on the said land.
According to the protesting youths, Ewonda, which shares boundaries with Mokunda, Bova, Bonduma and Soppo, has existed as one village
A few years back, Paul Tonga Molua declared himself Chief of Lower Ewonda, a village the youths say does not exist.
The youths insist that the bulldozed area, which they claim is being sold, lies within Ewonda.
When the government constructed the road linking Buea Town to Bonakanda, many people moved from the interior to the roadside. This shift left the interior uninhabited and primarily used as farmland.
The Ewonda villagers say this land has served them and their parents for decades, and they depend on it for livelihood.
But after Paul Tonga declared himself Chief in connivance with some regional authorities, he has reportedly begun a mass sale of plots on this land.
Villagers say this land belongs to more than 20 families, but its ownership is now being claimed by one man, Paul Tonga.
During Thursday morning’s protest, the youths forcefully stopped the bulldozer that was demarcating the area.
In the course of demarcating the land into plots, the bulldozer destroyed food crops, including corn, banana, and plantain, as well as cash crops such as oil palms.
Efome Ferdinand Motutu, the youth leader of Ewonda, said they have tolerated enough.
“When they created this Ewonda village, we tried everything possible, but, through their influence with the administrators, they were able to come and coronate the chief of Lower Ewonda,” he said.
“We allowed that to pass. Just recently, he has come to claim that, with the aid of the governor, minister of land, and D.O., he was issued a land certificate for all our lands.
“We, the youths of Ewonda, are passing a clear message. All this while, you people have not been seeing us because we are very peaceful. But it is very difficult nowadays to push the youths to the wall,” he added.
The villagers had taken the matter to the Buea Court of First Instance, and the court placed an injunction on the said land.
However, the chief of Lower Ewonda violated it and continued bulldozing the place.
Police officers deployed to the area attempted to stop the youths when they confronted those operating the bulldozer.
It almost resulted in a confrontation. However, the bulldozer driver and surveyors, guarded by the armed police, drove out of the land.
“We don’t want any trouble. But if they want to see the other side of Ewonda youths, we are expecting them to come again,” Fome Ferdinand said.
“This is a clear message to the administrators.”
Ferdinand said the land is the only source of livelihood for them.
He insisted that Ewonda is one village, and there is nothing like Lower Ewonda.
The protesting youths said the Governor of the South West, Bernard Okalia Bilai, came to the region and became a landlord, of which he is just an administrator.
They believe that the governor is the one pushing the chief because he has taken several hectares of the land to sell. MMI can’t verify this allegation.
“The governor should tell us where we will stay,” the Ewonda youths collectively demanded.
The works have stopped, and the youths have promised to chase out anyone who tries to re-enter the land.
However, when they arrived there, they realised that the bulldozer had encroached into Bova village, which is a different village from Ewonda.
MMI is yet to get a comment from Chief Paul Tonga Molua. However, we got a comment from his older brother, who disassociated himself from the land-grabbing saga.
“I never participated in the inauguration of the chief. I am not part of it,” he said.
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