To:
The Divisional Officer, Buea Subdivision
The Senior Divisional Officer for Fako
All Competent Administrative and Security Authorities
Subject: Protection of Ewonda farmers, enforcement of ministerial decisions and investigation into the purported Lower Ewonda Village
I write to express my full and unequivocal support for the legitimate Ewonda community and its farmers, who are defending their ancestral lands against alleged intimidation, dispossession and unlawful occupation.
Growing up in Bova One, I knew only Ewonda Village, which shares a boundary with our family land. There was no village known as “Lower Ewonda.” The purported Lower Ewonda Village emerged from administrative actions undertaken in 2021, culminating in Prefectoral Order No. 768/AP/G.37/C83/SAG of 12 November 2021, signed by the then Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, Mr. Engamba Emmanuel Ledoux, purporting to confirm Mr. Paul Molua Tonga as its third-class traditional ruler.
Serious questions must now be answered concerning the legality of that purported village, the process by which its traditional ruler was designated, and the subsequent acquisition of land by persons allegedly involved in or connected to that process. There can be no legitimate chiefdom where no legally constituted village exists.
Following a petition submitted by counsel for Mr. Molua Njie Joseph and others, a ministerial commission investigated the disputed land transactions. On 11 November 2025, the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, issued Order No. 03570/MINDCAF/A100/A110, nullifying Land Certificates Nos. 016324, 016326, 016327, 016328, 016329, 016330 and 016332/Fako. The Minister expressly identified administrative error and fraud in their issuance. This decision was communicated through Letter No. 042552/MINDCAF/A100/A110 of 11 November 2025.
I therefore call upon the Divisional Officer of Buea, the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako and all competent authorities to:
- Enforce the ministerial nullification order immediately and without favour;
- Clarify formally the legal status and boundaries of the purported Lower Ewonda Village;
- Suspend any exercise of chiefly authority founded upon the disputed arrangement pending a lawful review;
- Investigate every official and private individual who participated in the disputed process or subsequently obtained an interest in the affected lands; and
- Protect Ewonda farmers and residents from harassment, unlawful detention, violence, threats and interference with their farms.
I strongly condemn every reported act of intimidation against Ewonda farmers and against the government-recognized traditional leadership of Ewonda. No self-proclaimed or disputed traditional authority has the power to arrest, detain, dispossess or terrorize citizens defending their ancestral property.
We want peace—not division, hatred, dispossession or illegal land sales. Anyone who obstructs the execution of a lawful ministerial order or continues interfering with the affected lands must be held fully accountable under the law.
Ewonda Village exists. The purported “Lower Ewonda” arrangement must be subjected to immediate legal and administrative review. The ministerial order must be enforced.
— Dr. David Makongo, PhD, LLM, JD, LLB
Natural Resources Advocate | Mining Expert | Strategic Negotiator
I DEFEND TRUTH AND PROTECT COMMUNITIES