Thugs chase Chinese engineers off Kumba–Mamfe road

Masquerades from the village of Kombe in Konye Subdivision of the Southwest Region are reported to have sent engineers of the China Communication Construction Company, CCCC, running for their safety on February 17, as they tried to exploit a quarry on a disputed hill.

The quarry is said to be a bone of contention between the people of Mbakwasupe and Kombe villages, located along the Kumba- Mamfe road.

Reports hold that, while the people of Mbakwasupe reportedly permitted the Chinese to make use of the quarry, the people of Kombe on their part refused to let anyone go close to the quarry site on grounds that, they are the real owners of the quarry.

The Post gathered that when the Chinese engineers failed to budge following the dispute, a group of Kombe indigenes in masquerades decided to chase them out of the quary.

Following the incident, the President of the Bakundu Chiefs Conference, Hon. David Motase Ngoh is said to have written a complaint to Gendarmerie Brigade in Konye.

The elements of law and order reportedly stormed the area and arrested six persons. At the time of this report, those arrested were still behind bars, while the people of Kombe were spoiling for mass protest at the station in Konye, if their brothers are not released.

It is reported that the Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency, Professor Peter Agbor Tabi, had once stated during a contract signing meeting with the contractors that, no form of resistance will be tolerated in the construction of the road.

Tabi said it took his people of the Southwest Region several decades for Government to agree to tar the road.