By Nchendzengang Tatah
Discontent has gone wild in Ewonda in response to a decision said to originate from the Presidency of the Republic, which ordered the demarcation of the boundaries of Lower Ewonda (a contested, newly created village). The Divisional Officer for Buea, Abba Abdouraman, made the first commission visit to the site in the Buea Court Area on November 11, 2025.
The population of Ewonda village appealed for justice for their ancestral lands that had been grabbed, while also stating that they did not recognise any village as Lower Ewonda. The field visit intended to “resolve the boundary dispute between Lower Ewonda and Ewonda” was highly contested by Ewonda natives.
DO’s mission questioned
The Ewonda community refused to accompany the DO alongside members of the commission he chaired into the supposed boundary area on November 11, 2025. They were categorical that they did not know of the existence of any village, such as Lower Ewonda (a quarter in Ewonda, until recently).
Moreover, they demanded that the ownership of ancestral lands, which were under threat by the supposed Chief and allies of Lower Ewonda, be restituted. The Ewonda community further wondered why the DO was on a mission in the wait of the decision from the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure who had earlier dispatched a commission to the same site. They posed their worries before the old palace of Ewonda which bears in it the grave of their deceased chief.
Presidential instructions?
DO Abdouraman, in his submission before the Ewonda community, stated that he had come on the instructions of the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, Viang Mekala, who had asked him, following a letter from the Ministry of Territorial Administration emanating from the Presidency, to demarcate village boundaries for Lower Ewonda.
He explained that the Presidency was responding to a letter addressed to it on the issue. According to his explanation, the ownership case, which was ongoing on the said land piece at the level of the Lands Minister, which was also in court, was different from the intention of his visit.
Abdouraman said his commission was interested in demarcating land boundaries for Lower Ewonda irrespective of who had the ownership rights of these lands.
Struggle continues
The said portion of the disputed land measures some 85 hectares. Its ownership has, since the creation of the Lower Ewonda village, been challenged by the new village’s chief. Ewonda accused him of having worked in the complacency of some elites and influential persons to grab their ancestral lands as properties without a constituted ownership. The Ewonda villagers have not relented in facing the situation as it is presently being addressed in court.
Ewonda natives took turns to pour their frustration before Abdouraman. Amongst those who turned out during the November 11 visit was Molua Njie, who identified himself as the eldest person in the Ewonda community, aged 72 years. He was provoked by the demarcation exercise, which he considered to be unfounded, considering that Lower Ewonda was not an entity they identified with. Molua said the locust visit did not stem from any submission.
Njoh Kalle, an indigene who has dispatched copies of a letter he claims to have addressed to several institutions, including the Presidency, stated that his writings had decried the creation of a village in the Ewonda community. Njoh pointed out that the creation of the Lower Ewonda village was seemingly comprising the ownership of lands in the disputed area which was troublesome.
“If we started fighting these people from the outset to create a village, this problem would not have erupted,” he noted adding that the Presidency hadn’t addressed any response to his letters yet.
Legal grounds challenged
The DO’s commission was challenged for lacking the legal basis to prejudicate over the case. Barister Nyonbadmia Evine, counsel of the plaintiff, felt that the law gave that right exclusively to the Minister of Lands and not the Minister of Territorial Administration, as was the case —citing the communication of the Senior Divisional Officer.
He further posited that Ewonda had no boundary dispute with the supposed Lower Ewonda. Furthermore, he hinted that following their abstinence from the DO-initiated locust, legal action was going to be taken in the days ahead to ascertain if the Ministry of Territorial Administration had jurisdiction to set up a commission to define boundaries between communities.
