Seizure of former Minister Marafa's land in Kribi: Kicking a man whose back is already on the ground

Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Minister of State in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization sentenced in a case of embezzlement of public funds by the CPDM regime, has again seen his land located in the Mboro area deep within Kribi seized. The expropriation order was made by Jacqueline Kung A Bessike, Minister of Lands. Cameroon Concord learnt that the government has decided to build a five star hotel on the Marafa Hamidou Yaya piece of land.

The disgraced former minister had reacted to the government decision confiscating his land in his sixth letter written in December 2012 in which he observed that his land located some 35 km from the port of Kribi “remains his property until he receives compensation in cash, cheque or bank transfer from whosoever is interested”.

With the mantra of war against corruption from which former Minister Marafa (seen here on this photo when he was top in those days) carefully insulated President Biya through a constitutional amendment, Biya has vandalized his expendable lackeys like him with the zeal and brutality of a wounded lion. With this immunity, a purported war against corruption, an unrestrained access and control over state resources reminiscent of an Alibaba, Paul Biya acquired enormous powers to dismantle and establish new instruments of power to sustain his eternal imperial reign.

The rallying war cry against corruption has since become the explanation and justification for thirty-two years of misrule, oppressive policies, failed economic policies, nepotism and the politicisation of national ethnicities. These mantra precarious political and economic policies that have been the signpost of his three decades in power have driven the polity to the edge of a collapse into inter-ethnic conflict with wide ranging ramifications.