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Cameroon: Minister Says Bakweris Have Legitimate Land Claims
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The Post (Buea)
13 September 2007
Posted to the web 13 September 2007
Francis Tim Mbom
Former Minister of State Property and Land Tenure, Louis Marie Abogo Nkono, has said the Bakweri natives of Fako Division in the Southwest Province have a legitimate right to ask for compensation for their lands expropriated by the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC.
The Minister, however, advised that the question of compensation or not can be better handled through dialogue between the stakeholders and government and not through what he termed political propaganda by some individuals.
The Minister was speaking recently in Limbe during the last lap of his tour of the Southwest Province. His visit had taken him to Mamfe, Kumba, Buea and finally folded up in Limbe in a working session with local officials of his Ministry, other related administrators, chiefs and other stakeholders.
Abogo was responding Chief Otto Molongo of Batoke's question on government's stance regarding the Bakweri lands claim.
Molongo's worry came at the backdrop of a case for compensation filed at African Union Court by the Bakweri Lands Claim Committee, BLCC, urging the Government of Cameroon to pay compensation to the Bakweris whose lands have been under use by CDC over five decades.
Abogo said the problem of the Bakweris as well as some related others in the country, was a complex one to resolve because it dates back to the German colonial days.He said it needed a careful study and that government was handling it. He called on the Bakweris to trust in the government for a solution, though it might be slow in coming.
The question for CDC to cede more land for development was also one of the demands made to the Minister by the Government Delegate to Limbe City Council, Samuel Ebiama, stakeholders from Idenau and many others. To this, the Minister cautioned that just as it was necessary for the people to have land for development, CDC also needs palms on which both government and the people depend.
As to the question of huge rents owed by the government to landlords of houses rented out to the state, Abogo said for the past 15 years government has been in a financial stress.
He said rents owed in arrears to private real estate owners were twice heavier than the money his Ministry received to handle the dues. He promised that the rents would be paid progressively as money trickles in.
Dilapidated Government Houses
Assessing the status of state houses, Abogo said most of them were in disrepair and needed maintenance. He said from the next fiscal year, state houses, especially administrative structures, would be provided with funds for yearly maintenance.
He went on to promise that new structures to house Divisional Delegations of Manyu in Manfe and Meme in Kumba would be built while those of Buea and Limbe would be refurbished.
Abogo ended his visit with a symbolic handing over of five land certificates to their owners, while disclosing that more than 5,600 certificates have been issued so far with 160 of them in the Southwest Province.
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He urged the administrative staff and the various SDOs to continue in their efforts at facilitating the acquisition of the certificates.
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