By
Mbom Sixtus in Yaounde
The SDO for the Mfoundi division in the
Centre region, Jean Claud Tsila, has been dragged to court for trespassing on a
1000 square meters of a piece of land in Soa sub division. The plaintiff,
Timothé Kemmogne says he holds a land certificate which he obtained in 2003,
while the SDO who is equally accused of rejecting an offer for an amicable
resolution of the conflict, says that there are two land certificates to the
estate; one belonging to a relative of his.
The on-going case was opened on October
18, 2013 and has been adjourned several times and the plaintiff’s lawyer is
accusing the SDO’s counsel for deliberately causing the delay of the trial.
The events leading to the lawsuit
against Tsila are linked to a certain Mathieu Obonou who owned a vast piece of
land in the Nkolfoulou neighbourhood in the Mefou Afamba division, Centre
region but did not have the means to obtain a land certificate. He sought the
assistance of a renowned photographer in the locality, Feugain Michel who had
the financial means and influence to get the document. When he obtained the
land certificate, Obonou in return, gave him a piece of land from the estate.
The photographer went ahead and obtained a certificate for the land that was
offered to him and started selling it off bit by bit. One of his brothers,
Kenmogne Timothée equally bought a piece and obtained a land certificate for it
in 2003.
Unfortunately for Kenmogne, the family
of Obonou who later passed away, contested ownership of the land which he
bought from his brother, Feugain. He however sought an amicable resolution of
the conflict that ensued, despite the fact that he had a land certificate. He
organised a meeting with the family of the deceased. During the meeting which
took place on December 5, 2010, he paid them the sum of 700 000 FCFA which was
accompanied by the signing of a document entitled, ‘reconciliation’. It was
signed by Kenmogne and a certain Atangana Ebogo who was the manager of the
estates of the deceased. He then left the land unused while looking for money
to put the land to use.
Surprisingly for Kenmogne, in March 2013,
construction works began on the land and he found out that it was the SDO, Jean
Claude Tsila who was constructing a fence on his land without his consent.
According to his narrations in court, he contacted Tsila for an amicable
resolution but was turned away, before he resorted to legal action.
The SDO has been represented in court by
his lawyer, Francis Bipan. He has been absent from several hearings and during
the most recent hearing which took place on June 20, at the court of appeal in
Yaounde, it was stated that the case will be opened for hearing on September
19, this year, with or without the defendant. The case was initially taken to
the Mfou court in Soa sub division, but was later taken to the court of appeal
when the first court declared its incompetence.
The SDO for his part denied ever meeting
the plaintiff. He says he would not have rejected an offer for a peaceful
settlement if he had met Kenmogne. He equally said that he is related to the
Obounou family which gave him 5000 square metres of land and that it was this
estate which he was building a fence around. The SDO claimed that the natives
offered 2.5 hectares of land to Feugain but he tried to extend it to four.
Tsila stated that he is a respecter of legality and social peace.
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