AGHEM Women March to Divisional Office Again. By Mabel Nyeh Samba with field reports from Chongsi Joseph Ayeah

CPDM Baron, Baba Danpullo's cows are so well-fed that the Aghem women of Wum refer to them as "Their Excellencies." Herewith the sorry tale of another dastardly gung-ho of African "Their Excellencies" running riot among the farmlands of poor women. Their Excellencies have also been saving the water catchment area...the same way their owner, Danpullo, savages most banks in Cameroon - while Mr Biya and his administration look the other way. farmer/Grazier conflict Episode 2005.

Over 6000 farming mammies in the Wum-Esu area have pitched tents outside the offices of the Wum administration demanding that top CPDM baron, Alhadji Baba Danpullo of the Elba Ranch in Ndawara, remove his over 100.000 cows from their farms and water catchment area.
“We are now faced with a hopeless situation where farmers now buy food from the graziers,” said the 1st deputy Mayor of Wum and Spokesperson for the women, Mrs Elizabeth Ewi, “there is more than enough grazing land in Wum. We cannot understand why Baba Danpullo and his boys have decided to graze their cattle only in the farmlands and on top of the water catchment area.”
Mrs Ewi also denounced the fact that the Wum administration was practically in the pocket of Baba Danpullo.
“We simply want to Divisional Officer of Wum (Mr. Tam Kizito) to respect the clear instructions from Governor of the province, Mr. Koumpa Issa, who has told him to get the cows out of our land,” says Mrs. Ewi.
The Aghem women have been camping outside the DOS office for the past two weeks, starting March 23rd. Matters took a head last April 6th when Baba Danpullo’s cow boys (Gannakos) started shooting in the air to intimidate the women. The North West administration was forced to deploy policemen from the Bamenda Mobile Intervention Unit.
“We are engaged in a peaceful protest,” says Mrs Ewi. “We are unarmed and we are women. We are only protected by the green leaves of peace that we carry with us.”
Small graziers in the Wum area have taken side with the women against the invasion of what one of them teasingly called “Their Excellencies,” referring to Baba Danpullo’s well fed cows.
“They are indeed His Excellencies,” the cow hand teased, “ they are well-fed. They have blocked the whole place right down to the Nyos Resettlement Area and the Senior Divisional Officer’s house. They eat even more than the peasants do and their boss meets with the president all the time. Cows that belong to His Excellency must be referred to as ‘Their Excellencies.’”
The farmers/grazier the Bafia dance is a regular fixture between Cameroon’s fogey administration and the Aghem women. Every farming season, the administration collects bribes in cash or in cows from Fulani herdsmen and practically looks the other way as rampaging cows eat the crops of the farmers. “Enough is enough,” Mrs Ewi declared pointedly.
The 2004 March of the Women
Last planting season some 6000 Aghem women of Menchum Division in the North West Province of Cameroon camped outside the offices of the Wum administration. The women were protesting against the perennial destruction of their crops by Fulani Gannakos (cowboys) and their accomplices in the administration. The generation-old problem has been causing sleepless nights to the poor Aghem women who only demand enough to feed their husbands and their children.
The women laid siege on the Aghem Fon’s palace for 48days and even refused their husband’s sex for not coming out to fight the graziers with them.
The women charged that as the main custodian of the land Fon, Bahmbi II was not showing great vigour about their plight because he had sold the land to the cattle hands.
The issue took a new twist when the then administrator of Wum, a certain Eddy Joe Muluh, signed an order demanding that the farmers quit the land in favour of a certain Ndong Thomas of Naikom and Alhaji Goni of Mbinjam Kesu.
The women girded their wrappers, tied their babied on their backs and then marched to the Fon’s palace. They brought along blankets and makeshift beds.
Attempts by the Menchum Administration to convince them to go home while a solution was being sought for met with stiff resistance. The women said that they would rather to stay at the Fon´s palace and die of hunger to spend their energy farming for cattle.
They denounced the collusion of the administration which collects huge bribes from the graziers at the expense of farmers, who have no other source of revenue with which to feed their families, sent their children to school and take care of their health.

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Brief history of the conflict
A very fine line separates the farmers and graziers in Menchum. The line is so thin that cows hardly find any difficulties grazing on cultivated crops. The women always blame the predominantly Mbororo and Aku´u graziers for failing to restrain their cattle from the farmland. Successive administrations have given a deaf ear to the plea of the women for the boundaries to be well demarcated.
In 1937 Chiefs Kelly Kwala, Fung-u-Tsang and Keba-Mbong under the leadership of Bahmbi I negotiated with Major Walters, the then administrator of Wum for the corralling of graziers. Instead the graziers moved in with a vengeance.
In 1943 Fon and Chiefs allocated three grazing zones, Kesu, Zonghofuh and Waindo. 1957 saw the first major conflict of farmers/graziers. In 1972 Aghem women marched naked in Wum because the graziers failed to stay within their boundaries.
In 1973 women marched to the Governor’s office in Bamenda. Guillaume Nseke the governor of the North West Province at that time ordered the separation of farmland from grazing land.
In 1981, nine people lost their lives during a confrontation with armed forces over the same conflict.
On 8 January 1997, many people were injured when gendarmes opened fire during the arrest of Damien Ngah, Fon of Fungom, in Menchum Division in the North West Province in connection with a dispute about land and grazing rights. About five women were admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds and injuries sustained from beatings with gun butts.
The graziers are back again with a vengeance. So too are the women

Toying with Lives
Attempts have been made of late by former Prime Minister, Simon Achidi Achu to resolve the problem amicably. The women appreciated Achidi Achu´s efforts but continue to fault the administration for its bad faith. The women still insist only a long-standing solution can do. The women insist that rather than shopping around for ad hoc solutions, the Minister of Territorial Administration should step in with lasting solutions.
Last year the governor of the North West Province, Koumpa Issa made two trips to Wum, the Divisional Capital of Menchum in an attempt to solve the problem. He then decided that the graziers should relocate and that an adhoc commission headed by Peter Tieh Nde, secretary General of the Province be put in place. The will work on the conflict and bring its findings and lasting solution to the problem. The commission is still at large.

A traditional cleansing ceremony was conducted throughout Wum on the 8th of December 2003, because during the strike the women evoked the wrath of the ancestors to punish the perpetrators of their suffering.
* This is an updated report by Joseph Chongsi, the Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy, Bamenda

Comments

[Randy Jo Sa'ah]

Congratulations for this rather exhaustive peice. I wonder why the rest of the press in Cameroon has grossly ignored this perenial conflict. May be the poor Aghem women can't offer gombo! Cheers and Well Done!

[Atanga Nji Michael]

The Farmer-graziers conflict is a very complicated and pertinent issue and it should not just be treated so lightly.Many actors have rendered this conflict a very difficult one, these actors are the farmers, the graziers and the administration not excluding the local chiefs. Therefore it is very early to start pointing fingers at John or Peter for this or that without examing the roles of the various actors in this conflicts.Permit me to ask just one question that may trigger other questions. Is Wum the only area having farmers and graziers cohabitating together, thus Why the persistence of this conflicts in Wum and not in Santa or Piyin? Therefore this conflict in Wum is so particular and unique that he who can understand and interprete this uniqueness can easily provide solutions to this conflict or puzzle.

[Atanga Nji Michael]

The Farmer-graziers conflict is a very complicated and pertinent issue and it should not just be treated so lightly.Many actors have rendered this conflict a very difficult one, these actors are the farmers, the graziers and the administration not excluding the local chiefs. Therefore it is very early to start pointing fingers at John or Peter for this or that without examing the roles of the various actors in this conflicts.Permit me to ask just one question that may trigger other questions. Is Wum the only area having farmers and graziers cohabitating together, thus Why the persistence of this conflicts in Wum and not in Santa or Piyin? Therefore this conflict in Wum is so particular and unique that he who can understand and interprete this uniqueness can easily provide solutions to this conflict or puzzle.

[mua kestine bua]

i like your website notes.it was exactly what happened.i believe you were there live.thanks so much.

[ccd camera]

What a good piece! If you are interested in ccd camera, we can have an exchange.

[musa yahaya]

Must of the people of cameroon are lying on him,they are just hating,it is god that gave him.so the people should just put eyes,it's just from god.thanks

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