White Man Caught With 150 Bags Of Illicit Charcoal

People come from Douala, Yaounde, Bamenda, Buea and other places to buy charcoal here at the Mungo Bridge in the South West Region. Even whites come here to buy… But one white man wasn’t so lucky.

By Bertrand Shancho Ndimuh

Forestry officials caught the white man in possession of 150 bags of charcoal. All the attempts to make the white man go with his merchandise came to nought, a charcoal dealer told The Green Vision.

“I can remember one white who came here and bought 150 bags of charcoal but unfortunately he met with forestry officials who seized everything demanding for permit and all his pleas yielded no fruits,” charcoal dealer Celine Bojoh said, adding, “some forestry officials are duty conscious and will not compromise.”

The white man, Bojoh and many others are some of the human chains in the link booming charcoal business in Cameroon with the Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve, Mungo and the Tiko forest areas being the most affected in the South West.

Cameroon’s forests, which cover up to 40% of the national territory, remain targets of destructive exploitation by unemployed youths and women engaged in unsustainable charcoal production and sale. The victims of this destructive charcoal traffic are trees like Mangosi, Bush Mango, Small Leaf, Bobinga and Makore due to their ‘hard nature.’

At the Mungo Bridge, charcoal is sold in the open at the roadside. This is where Dieudonne Fagueu checks out one of his customers.

“Charcoal is produced in Mawo with wood from the Tiko forest area; in Bombe around the Southern Bakundu Forest and here in Mulango-Mungo. We approach our traditional authorities and village notables around the forest for authorization. Then we get to the forest and harvest the woods, split them, dig a pit then put all the wood inside, carefully creating a hole in the middle as we pile the wood. We then cover the pile with grass and soil, then set fire to the wood through the hole and leave it to burn. After three or four days depending on the kind and amount of wood, we come and remove the charcoal and pack into bags for selling,” said Fagueu.

Luther Ticha joined the charcoal business five years ago after high school.

“I never had money to continue school and getting a job too was not easy. I resorted to charcoal production. I can’t tell you the number of trees I cut per production but I produce between five to 15 bags per week depending on the season,” said Ticha.

The charcoal business is even more lucrative to sellers. Celine Bojoh, who dropped out of school, has been in the charcoal business for over two years.

“The business is really profitable and has been helping me to take care of my family. We buy charcoal from Musaka, Douala Musango and many other places for 2.500 to 3.000 francs cfa per bag and sell it for 3000 to 5000 francs cfa. People come from Douala, Yaounde, Bamenda, Buea and other places to buy here. Even whites come here to buy. Averagely, we sell between 8 to 10 bags daily with a profit of up to 5000 francs cfa,” Bojoh said.

Vivian Yunwe is a single parent. She buys charcoal from Mawo in Limbe and Bombe in Kumba and sells at the Buea Central Market. She told The Green Vision that the charcoal business helps her to cater for her family and pay her children’s fees.

These charcoal dealers said they are aware that they are operating illegally and that sometimes they harvest woods from government reserves. Subsequently, they often are confronted by forestry officials and may have to either bribe their way out or have their charcoal seized.

“Forestry officials confiscated 47 bags of charcoal from a driver that I sent to Bombe a few weeks ago but this was because the driver did not know what to do. If I were there, I would have given them something and they would understand,” said Yunwe.

Ticha affirmed Yunwe’s allegation; “Forestry officials often rush here threatening to seize our wood, engine saws and charcoal but you know everything in this country is about arrangement. We simply arrange them and continue with our business.”

The charcoal dealers attribute their illegal action on long and complicated government procedures and the cost of procuring a permit.

“There are many documents required for a permit which we don’t even know how to go about and the cost I must tell you is expensive, over 150.000 francs cfa. We are not refusing but the government should consider some of us who are struggling. They should not send us out of the business but should reduce the requirements for obtaining a permit,” they said.

Several visits to get reactions from the service in charge of the transformation of forest products were abortive.