By NOELA EBOB BISONG
The current disturbing situation of some giant corporations in the South West region took center stage, during the 6th edition of the Meveo Cultural and Development Assembly MEVCUDA 2019, under the patronage of the minister of agriculture and rural development, last Friday, November 8 2019, at the ENEO Training Center in Meveo village.
As Ministers Gabriel Mbairobe of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Henri Eyebe Ayissi of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure answered present to the event themed Promoting Agriculture, displaying Arts and Culture, both the chief of Meveo village, HRH Chief Ndiko Fonderson Henry (chairman of the MEVCUDA organising committee) and the Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council, both seized the opportunity to expound on the urgent need for government to rescue the CDC, SONARA and PAMOL. The General Managers of both CDC and PAMOL were very much present while SONARA sent a representative.
MEVCUDA 2019 with cultural groups
According to Chief Fonderson, MEVCUDA is not only aimed at assembling indigenes and well-wishers from around Fako Division and beyond to witness cultural manifestations, but also aimed to encourage farmers of Meveo village and others to cultivate and produce more food products to cover a larger scope of consumers, owing to the imminent food shortage caused by the ongoing Anglophone crisis. Among other things, chief Fonderson decried land grabbing in Fako and furthered that “I wish to add our voices to appeal to the supreme office of the republic, for considerable measures to be put in place to revamp the Cameroon Development Corporation. As we all know, thousands of families depend on the CDC for survival. It is our prayer that CDC gets back to her feet as soon as possible…it is the same message that we have with regards to SONARA…”
Representing the government delegate to the Limbe City Council, Secretary General, Kinge Thompson equally decried the plight of the CDC and others. He noted in his address that, after Yaounde and Douala, Limbe, Fako Division and the South West represent a strong economic hub. “We are home to the headquarters of two giant corporations. There is the second employer after the state, the CDC, and the country’s lone refinery – SONARA. Unfortunately, today both institutions have crumbled…That is why, we think, government has a responsibility to bail out these corporations when times are hard like the current difficult situation they are going through. We in Limbe badly need the CDC because it has and continues to contribute to the town’s growth and development.”
In response, Minister Gabriel Mbairobe in his keynote address assured that government is aware of the important role the CDC and other giant corporations in the South West (SONARA, PAMOL) play in the country as a whole, and said they are currently seeking ways to bring them back to life. He equally spoke on the need to increase productivity through agricultural modernisation in line with Vision 2035, while hailing chief Fonderson for a job well-done in encouraging peaceful endeavours towards rural development.
Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi, while congratulating chief Fonderson for his initiative to organise an event of that nature which to Minister Ayissi serves as a forum for nation building and social cohesion, he warned against indiscriminate land grabbing and maintained that no stone shall be left unturned to ensure that land management especially in Fako division is done in conformity with the laws in place for national and local development. He therefore emphasised on the need to consolidate social peace by minimising conflicts in relation to land.
The MEVCUDA event was graced by cultural displays and exhibitions.