Eto'o acquires prohibited land in Yaounde

The Minister of Lands, Land Registry and Land Affairs, Jacqueline Koung à Bessike, allowed a top hierarchy of state to resell a prohibited land to former captain of the indomitable Lions for 200 million FCFA.

André Mama Fouda, the current Minister of Public Health, the former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge and former Minister Claude Joseph Mbafou, former DGNS Pierre Minlo Medjo, former Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Marafa Hamidou Yaya to name a few, have their names mentioned in an allotment issue on the lands of Ntougou Golf in Yaounde.

According to the newspaper Essingan in their Wednesday, July 14, 2015 edition, the former captain of the Indomitable Lions Samuel Eto'o Fils and Congelcam company, land purchasers, won the right to the land which was out of bounds following an appeal to the Head of State, Paul Biya.

It was in effect from October 2013 that the President of the Republic instructed the Minister of Lands, Land Registry and Land Affairs, Jacqueline Koung Bessike to constitute a commission of inquiry into the land allocation at Ntougou Golf in Yaounde.

It was after Paul Biya had received a fourth appeal from the indigenous people denouncing the approval of their spokesman Jean Claude Essomba to "grabbing, misappropriation and diversion of the land of the populations of Ntougou and the state at the Ntougou Golf neighborhood".

The appeal cites a scramble among the 'owners' of plots: André Mama Fouda, his daughter Mama Aline Carine, his deputy of Maetur Ekaney Thomas Kolle, Peter Mafany Musonge, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, Pierre Minlo Medjo, Remy Ze Meka, Akumchi Peter Awa.

However, according to the paper, the inquiry has so far not released any information on the outcome of its investigations. Meanwhile, a veto by the Ministry of State Property and Land Tenure prevents any transaction, especially against the indigenous people.

But "the current Minister of Health, for example, sold a parcel to the footballer Samuel Eto'o," the newspaper reported. This is one of six lots he owns in the area.

Sources close to the issue say the price of the transaction is at 200 million FCFA. Under the pressure of Samuel Eto'o, who is scared of being cheated, the MOH had to bend the rule by signing him a transfer.

The paper questions the interest of the Minister of Lands, Land Registry and Land Affairs, Jacqueline Koung a Bessike, whose personal intervention helped sell the plots.

"More revealing is the determination of employees of the Head of State to annex their authority in managing the land scandal of the Ntougou Golf plots," the newspaper stated.