Sam Nuvala Fonkem
3 October 2008
opinion
Ever since the final handing-over of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon by Nigeria on August 14, President Biya has been strutting about like a peacock and basking in the glory of the diplomatic and legal victory scored by Cameroon at the end of the 15-year-long border dispute.
A fortnight ago, he mounted the rostrum at the UN General Assembly to blow his trumpet as a Messiah of Peace and to be lionised by his peers as a champion of the rule of law and a proponent of dialogue as a civilised means of resolving conflicts.
While Mr. Biya should be given credit for having initiated a peaceful resolution of the conflict, we should not overlook the fact that it also took the political will of the Nigerian leadership to arrive at a solution and that Cameroonians can, henceforth, look forward to seeing their Head of State applying the same principles that guided his approach to the Bakassi dispute in resolving other internal matters of national interest.
These principles that emerged from the peace process include the respect of territorial boundaries inherited from the colonial era, respect for the rule of law and the pursuit of dialogue in times of conflict.
In referring to the outcome of the Bakassi dispute, the official media have even usurped the slogan: the force of argument which, incidentally, is the motto of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, which is being persecuted for asserting the self-determination of the former UN Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons through the use of argument instead of the argument of force.
The resolution of the Bakassi dispute should not only be highlighted as an example for Africa and the rest of world to emulate, but, primarily, as a golden yardstick for the resolution of all other land disputes within the national territory. After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
It has taken close to 15 years from the time Nigerian troops took up position in a section of the Bakassi Peninsula in 1993, through the verdict of the International Court of Justice in favour of Cameroon in 2002, the signing of the Green Tree Peace Accord in 2006 which laid down conditions for the complete withdrawal of the Nigerian Army and civilian Administration from the disputed territory to arrive at a durable solution of the conflict.
By contrast, perennial internal land disputes which were resolved in the colonial and post-independence era in Cameroon have had the uncanny habit of resurfacing their ugly heads in recent times, putting to question the integrity of local administrators as impartial arbitrators of disputes and keepers of law and order.
There is general consensus that most local administrators, especially in the Northwest Province where land disputes are notoriously rife, have more often constituted part of the problem and not the solution for very selfish reasons.
In a study of land disputes and boundary conflicts in the Northwest Province conducted by a civil society organisation LUKMEF-Cameroon in 2007, the organisation recommended that boundaries should be established "as generally long-lasting unchangeable facts, getting away from the idea that boundaries could be changed whenever some discontent with the existing boundary arises.
"It states further that, "in line with attempts to create a legitimate, permanent boundary regime, transparent, reasonable and verifiable policies for the decision on land and boundary issues should be set up. These policies should clarify the way on how changes are to be done and when a change of boundaries is justifiable or not, in order to prohibit a sense of 'all is possible if enough is paid.' These rules should include serious and verifiable details on how to prevent undue side-taking by administrative personnel (e.g. decision by Commissions instead of decisions by individuals).
It is logical to deduce that the perpetual recurrence of land disputes that had long been settled in colonial times can be attributed to either the ignorance or greed of corruptible administrators who are susceptible to manipulation by professional trouble makers who thrive on such disputes to raise funds for personal gains.
Such administrators are likely to throw caution to the wind, knowing that, at any given moment, they can be transferred to new postings, leaving behind a pile of confusion for their subsequent replacements to disentangle.
A clear example of the recurrence of long-settled land disputes in the Northwest Province is the one involving Bali-Nyongha Fondom on the one hand and the surrounding Ngemba, Menemo and Moghamo clans of the Widekum tribe on the other hand.
In the aftermath of a violent land dispute in which the Bali Fondom was attacked by neighbouring clans in March 1952, the colonial administration ordered an official inquiry the following month which came up with a number of findings, namely, that the Balis acquired their land in the later half of the 19th century by conquest and enjoyed a position of paramountcy long before the arrival of German colonialists; that the boundaries of Bali Nyongha had been demarcated as the result of a series of actions in Native Courts, of decisions given under the Inter-Tribal Boundaries Ordinance and by administrative action.
It concluded that the attacks on Bali property which led to the death of several Bali people were planned and concerted and were carried out by a large number of persons over a period of more than one week. Responsibility for the disturbances, it noted, lay with the Moghamo, Menemo and Ngemba clans of the Widekum tribe with the exception of Ba-Pinyin, Bambullue (Awing), Baganga (Akum), Santa, Nkwen, Abakpa, Bamenda government station, Bafawkum, Banjong and Bafawmissang.
The details of this dispute which occurred under the British administration of the Trusteeship are contained in the Nigeira Gazette No. 45 Vol. 39 of August 26th, 1952. A more elaborate commission of inquiry instituted by the colonial administration in 1953 and headed by the Commissioner of the Southern Cameroons A.G.B Manson came out with a number of findings,
notably, that, "there are no grounds to support the allegations of the Widekum people that the boundaries between the Bali Nyonghas and their Widekum neighbours were unfairly or improperly determined and that there are no compassionate grounds - such as discriminatory treatment against, or unjust oppression of Widekums by Bali Nyonghas - which, in justice, require that any Widekum people (in the disputed area) should be allotted any special portion for their own exclusive beneficial enjoyment or which justify any readjustment of the Bali boundary."
Incidentally, the principle recommended today by LUKMEF-Cameroon as a parameter for durable settlement of boundary disputes had long been suggested by the 1953 Manson Report which, among several recommendations, urged the Governor-General in Lagos to make a formal declaration to the effect that "the Widekum people should be informed that their claims to a title whether statutory or customary, to occupational rights in the disputed area or any portion of the disputed area cannot be entertained."
The report further emphasised that "as security of tenure is indispensable to the future well being, tranquillity and quiet, progressive development of the Bali people, and with a view to the avoidance of continual friction with their Widekum neighbours in the years ahead, it is essential that Your Excellency should make a formal positive declaration or acknowledgement to the effect that you deem it expedient that exclusive rights of occupancy over the land in dispute shall be vested in the Bali Nyongha people subject, at all times, to their native laws and customs and to the provisions of the Land and Native Rights Ordinance."
Curiously enough, and irrespective of the painstaking findings and recommendations made in the colonial and the post colonial eras, the people of Ngyen-Mbu recently stormed the Northwest Governor's office to protest against purported encroachment on their land by the Bali Nyonghas.
Whereas there is a presidential decree of 1977 demarcating the boundaries between Bali Nyongha and its neighbours that is; Baforchu, Chomba, Mbatu and Nsongwa in Mezam Division and whereas the 1977 decree, which ceded certain portions of Bali land to its land grabbing neighbours stated in Article 8 that, "natural persons in zones affected by the modification of the territorial boundaries made in this decree many remain where they are,
on condition that they submit themselves to the authority of their new traditional ruler having jurisdiction over the area in which they reside and provided that a person who so wishes may go and settle on the land administered by their former ruler, in which case he shall receive compensation if he shows proof that he owns a dwelling house built of permanent materials or has perennial crops such as coffee at the place from where he has moved," local administrators, without exception, have failed to fully implement the provisions of that presidential decree.
On the contrary, and in violation of the presidential decree, the Sub-prefect of Mbengwi issued an order in March 1983 banning farming activities on the parcel of land handed over from Bali to Ngyen-Mbu village, thus, giving the Ngyen-Mbu people the false impression that they had a right to expel Bali people who opted to remain on the land and pay allegiance to Ngyen-Mbu as stipulated by the decree.
In the normal hierarchy of laws, it is evident that the sub-prefectoral order was in violation of and repugnant to a higher instrument of law, that is, a presidential decree and that such an order is automatically null and void.
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