Chantal Biya cousin renders several homeless in Yaounde ¹

A peaceful march has been staged in Yaounde against Antoine Félix Samba, General Director of the Budget at the Ministry of Finance and cousin to First Lady Chantal Biya accused of using his family’s proximity with the wife of President Paul Biya to demolish homes and throw hundreds of families in Yaoundé to the streets.

The protest was organized by a representative of the group of homeless families in the Nkozoa district, Fonke Issa. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that the cousin of Chantal Biya was acting with the complicity of Jacqueline Koung a Bessike, Minister in charge of Lands and a few individuals at the Ministry of Justice.

The Antoine Felix Samba demolition started on September 4, 2016, at the beginning of the school year when he reportedly send heavily armed men and drug addicts to demolish a school and some houses in the locality. “They beat up all those who resisted. They broke or grabbed phones from people trying to take pictures. They told us that they acted on instructions from the cousin of Chantal Biya, the president’s brother-in-law and that nothing could happen to them, “Fonka Issa revealed. Antoine Félix Samba has further undertaken the construction of a wall on the disputed plot.

In a country where, according to experts, 50% of the disputes brought before the courts are land-based, the demonstrators now on the street, say they expect much from the President of the Republic. Dozens of families, from the area are now sleeping under the stars. All their dwellings have been demolished. They began a series of public demonstrations to stir up the slippage of a member of the regime who would use his proximity with Chantal Biya to undermine social cohesion, peace and national unity.

Antoine Samba was quoted as saying that the inhabitants of the Nkozoa district were predominantly Bamilekes who do not have a place in Yaoundé and should go back to the West region.

By Chi Prudence Asong