Open Letter from CEO of Herakles Farms in Response to Report On ...

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Of these 23 villages which HF presents as having signed the MOU and support the project, only 9 signatures are genuine. Of the 9 signatures, only two villages have a forest to offer HF. The rest, Lipenja I numbering 250 people, Mokango Bima, 110 people, Kuma Bima, 58 people, Beboka Bima, 48 people, Bweme Ngolo, 68 people, Mobenge Ngolo, 55 people and Iwai Bima, 15 people, only Fabe, 100 people and Mokange, 105 people have land to offer the HF project. These are the 809 people in a community of over 14,500 who have accepted HF in principle. Today, we have 3,000 plus signatures from the Mudemba and Toko sub divisions alone. Let me also remind Bruce that the Bima, Ngolo and Batanga are ready to give HF a real run for its money if you succeeded in bribing yourself through the Presidency of Cameroon and imposing yourself on their lands. That will be in total contravention of the requirement for prior and informed consent in land acquisition in Cameroon. The populations of Mundemba and Toko sub divisions state emphatically that there is no paramount chief of the Batanga and that Chief Mbile who is parading as paramount chief is not recognized as such by his peers. He is seen as a corrupt impostor who is avaricious and can sell his father’s tomb for money. They claim that when the moment of reckoning will come, the true heirs to the Lipenja I chieftaincy stool will show themselves and HF will regret the trust invested in a rogue like Mbile. We have other honourable rogues in Cameroon and even more still sitting among honourable parliamentarians today. There is a mountain of evidence that Daniel Agoons has been bribing and attempting to bribe people on behalf of HF. He approached the activist and deputy mayor of Mudemba council, Namulongo Peter with a proposal of FCFA 13,000,000 to change his position in favour of HF. I recently encouraged him to take the money and hold it as evidence of the corrupt practices of HF. Chief Mbile has been bribing people on behalf of HF and as of last Saturday 21 September 2012 he paid out his most recent bribe package to some supporters in Kumba. Chief Eleli of Meangwe II confessed that Chief Mbile has approached him many times to take money and support HF. To further prove opposition to HF, the community of Meangwe II barred the way to a team of technicians claiming to be drilling for a borehole to get water to the surface for the community. The technicians were simply ordered to leave or face the wrath of the teeming 850 population present in the village. Just the population of Meangwe II alone, tip the balance against all the 9 villages which have signed on to HF. Bruce, be informed that of the 19 villages in Nguti sub division, only the chiefs of three villages support the project. Only Chief Dr Atem Ebako of Talangaye, who has surrendered his personal 47 hectares of forest for the HF nursery, in exchange of patronage, money and cars, Chief Eben Nkongho of Manyemen, and Chief Lordson Asek of Ayong who is a worker with the HF nursery in Talangaye has gotten into deals with HF. When I interviewed people in these villages their populations all oppose the advent of HF. Manyemen community evolved a scheme by which from their last farmland, they set aside 3 kilometers for future development and generations to come. What was left was just 500 meters for HF. HF went and tricked the SDO of Kupe Muanenguba and bribed him to come to Manyemen and tell the people they should remove all HF pillars and adjust them so that they were planted far from farmlands. True to HF modus of falsehood and deceit, HF sneaked back and planted the pillars instead towards the village as such gaining more land for itself. This attracted protests from some folks led by retired Adjudant Ayuk, formerly of the Cameroon army. The village is now split and preparing for a deep schism. Is it becoming true that wherever there are resources, American Economic Hit Men like Bruce Wrobel will fan the flames of conflict, so that while the indigenous people are fighting and killing themselves, the invader company reaps their resources?
All the Bassosi villages (11) under the umbrella of Mboum Nsuanse (Bassosi Cultural and Development Association) have vowed never to cede an inch of its lands to HF. That notwithstanding, HF has planted its beacons and marks through their farmlands and forests. The chiefs of the following Bassosi villages numbering over 18,000 people spread out through the villages of 1)Ntale, 2) Bombe Konye, 3) Mungo Ndor, 4) New Konye, 5) Babensi I, 6) Babensi II, 7) Ekita, 8) Ediango, 9) Ekenge, 10) Ofrikpabi, 11) Mboka, have vowed to face HF with their machetes and traditional gadgets if HF pursued its trespass and sacrilege of its holy and sacred sites in the forest. Following complaints from the communities about the falsehood and bad faith of HF and its agents and assigns, some Bassosi elites and associations have petitioned the Head of State of the Republic of Cameroon not to grant any portion of their land to HF. It is true that after many years of a traditional lifestyle of farming and hunting, the people of Nguti were excited to welcome a company that will create jobs. With that enthusiasm some of them put their signatures to a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that still had to be discussed with all stakeholders. On 31 January 2009, some chiefs and elites of Nguti signed a proposed MOU. They were expecting a discussion of the points at subsequent meetings and as it never happened, the National President of the Nguti Sub-divisional cultural and Development Association (NGUSCUDA) wrote to Bruce Wrobel, CEO of HF on 18 August 2009, complaining about HF’s disregard for the conditions laid down for any cooperation with the Bassosi. The same petition ordered HF to suspend all its activities and discuss with this important stakeholder. HF did not only ignore this injunction but it went ahead to continue its illegal activities. Following this, a renunciation of the MOU was sent to your offices captioned RE. RENOUNCING OF THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PEOPLES OF NGUTI SUB DIVISION AND SUSTAINABLE OILS CAMEROON (SGSOC) PLC This document raised the following issues; a) Till 2010 SGSOC refused to return a signed copy of the MOU to the people of Nguti. b) HF refused to meet as stipulated in MOU to demarcate and agree on the parcel of land to be surrendered to SGSOC PLC for the plantation. But HF had gone ahead to demarcate and plant beacons trespassing into local farmlands. c) We had never intended to give SGSOC PLC a blanket authorization to exploit our land, but we are prepared to release portions of such land as we would jointly demarcate ensuring sufficient farmland and a buffer land for the indigenous populations. d) The chiefs and populations of Nguti sub Division on 25 November 2009 addressed a list of specific demands to the Management of SG SOC PLC for them to address and further discuss with the population and chiefs. SGSOC PLC has not responded to these demands to this day ignoring the body (Think Tank) that was set up to play the role of intermediary between SGSOC PLC and the local stakeholders. e) SGSOC has systematically demonstrated total disregard for the future of our population. They therefore ruled that 1. Considering the persistent refusal of SGSOC PLC to come back and dialogue with the local stakeholders as to the specific surface area to be surrendered to the plantation project. 2. Considering the insincerity of the representative of SGSOC PLC in the handling of negotiations with the population.
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