There was corruption around land restitution process of CDC- Matute Menyoli Ph.D.
By Shanta Sih
Despite the fact that the media played a key role in the process of restitution of land by the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, to communities in Fako Division, there were other challenges faced and mistakes made by the media, Matute Menyoli Ph.D. said, a few minutes after defending his doctoral thesis.
“When we carry out research, the first thing is that we really expect policymakers to exploit and make use of the recommendation made…among them was that of having a permanent media Act put in place so that the media will have the possibility to have access to information.”
Matute Menyoli Ph.D.
He also said the government has to protect journalists covering such daring areas in their professions.
His supervisor, Professor Kingsley Ngange said the findings have nine key findings,” It is a good piece of work that has in all nine key findings; three relating to the rules of the media, four relating to the challenges of the media, and two relating to the faults of the media in reporting to sensitive issues as corruption in the land restitution crisis or problem in the Fako Division, South West region of the South West region of Cameroon.”
On Saturday, October 29, 2022, Matute Menyoli Jonas defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Journalism and Mass Communication of the University of Buea with a focus on the role of the media in land seizures in Cameroon with a zoom on the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) land restitution process and the corruption therein.
“The issue of land grabbing in Fako has become worse and journalists are the last line of hope in exposing the corruption involved in it,” Menyoli told a panel of examiners at his defense hearing.
“People are thrown out of their land without prior notice, houses are demolished every day; leaving others homeless and prime examples are the demolitions taking place in Yaounde, Douala, and other towns forcing these people to march to Yaounde in protest,” he said.
Menyoli added that “It is in this light that I the researcher set out to investigate the actual role played by the media in reporting corruption in the CDC land restitution process.”
He told members of the jury that his findings revealed that journalists play a crucial role in reducing or discouraging corruption in land acquisition processes like in the case of the CDC. The three roles of the media according to the researcher were:
1- Giving information and creating awareness
2- Public Education
3- Prompting other journalists to equally report on corruption.
He also mentioned that some of the residents of communities that had seen their land unjustly taken from them did not know of the corrupt dealings underpinning the whole process until they heard the issue being discussed on CRTV Buea Press Club, newspapers, and online.
His recommendations, among others, were that “The media should be considered an important tool in the fight against corruption. Those interested in exposing corruption should be involved in investigative journalism as this enables them to back their reports with documented evidence”.
