Land grabbing, governance and social peace-building issues in Cameroon: Case study of the roles of elites in land deals and commoditisation in the North West Region

J. A. Mope Simo

A critical analysis of patterns of land grabbing and commoditisation by big capitals or state-funded agribusinesses and elites in Cameroon reveals that the social phenomenon is a major obstacle to local livelihood concerns and sustainable development. The evidence suggests that the government and local administrations have played a seminal role to assist land acquisitions and in turn the processes have resulted in the neglect of traditional land and resource rights. Parastatal agro-industrial complexes have taken advantage of the opportunities provided in the modern land law for private property rights and the weak defence offered by customary land tenure systems to engage in the accumulation of huge arable and accessible agricultural lands in the hinterlands. On the other hand, (traditional and modern) elites as important stakeholders and power brokers have facilitated land acquisitions and/or increasing outright sales through the expropriation and appropriation of community lands.

This paper focuses on land grab strategies by elites in the North West Region. It takes a scrupulously even-handed look at the assertion that land deals violate the characteristics of local governance: accountability, observance of the rule of law, human rights and dignity, inclusive political performance in the face of the country’s irrevocable democratisation process, and social peace-building. The ensuing conflicts remain unsettled here and there, with great ramifications on peasant societies; irrespective of gender.