By Tata Mbunwe
A fresh wave of land grabbing is rocking the Cameroon Development Corporation’s (CDC) Esuke palm plantation along the Mutengene–Limbe road, where 152 young oil palms have been destroyed in two separate incidents within a week.
On Wednesday, August 26, engine saw operators, guarded by security forces according to witnesses, descended on the estate for the second time, chopping down 100 palms. The destruction came less than a week after 52 palms were felled on the same plantation.
The perpetrators, who identify as the Mutengene Muslim Community, are laying claim to the 44-hectare plantation, part of the CDC’s Bota Palms Estate. They say they intend to use the land for a 3,000-capacity mosque, a hospital, and a centre for internally displaced persons.
Witnesses told journalists that the saw operators were escorted by police, gendarmes, and military officers. The operators, they said, had been hired from Douala after those in Mutengene refused to do the job because they deemed it illegal.
The destruction comes as administrative authorities—the Fako Senior Divisional Officer Viang Mekala and the South West Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai—have remained silent, despite commanding the security forces deployed to guard the illegal operation.
Observers point to masked administrative officials who appear to be backing the so-called Muslim community.
CDC General Manager Franklin Ngoni Njie has denounced the destruction, stating that the company has received no authorisation from the presidency to surrender any part of its land. Instead, a 2020 presidential decree that suspended all land surrenders by the CDC remains in force, he said.
The palms under destruction are just 10 years old and are in their prime, Mr Ngoni Njie said, adding that if the CDC wanted to surrender land, it would not be this section of the plantation.
The CDC has traditionally surrendered land to several communities in Fako Division, but such surrenders follow an organised administrative process authorised by the Presidency. In 2020, the Presidency suspended all land surrenders to allow the corporation to rebuild after the ongoing Anglophone Crisis nearly crumbled the company.
CDC workers were attacked severally during the early days of the Decade-long crisis, forcing many to abandon work at several estates. The result was a devastating shortfall in production and revenue and the company has yet to recover from the losses, despite significant progress.
But as the company began to stabilize, a new problem surfaced: land grabbing. Traditional rulers, administrative authorities and local elite in Fako have usually been accused of masterminding attempts to seize CDC land for personal gain.
Past land encroachments on CDC estates have often been met with lukewarm responses from administrative authorities, with the SDO and Governor, who rarely intervene decisively despite commanding the security forces responsible for protecting state property.
This pattern of administrative inaction has emboldened groups to lay claim to CDC land, undermining the corporation’s recovery and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
Prior to the Anglophone armed conflict started in 2017, the CDC prided itself as the second-largest employer in the country after the state. But, today, it is barely struggling to stay alive.
The company’s management and workers are calling on authorities to intervene and protect the plantation, which they say remains vital to their livelihoods and the corporation’s recovery.