Cameroon: Open Letter to Bruce Wrobel, CEO of Herakles Farms in Response to his Open Letter of September of 2012

By Albert Motale

This letter was written and sent to Bruce Wrobel (then CEO of Herakles Farms) in 2012 (May His Gentle Soul Rest in Peace). It has become imperative to us now to make public the contents of the letter in extensor, to remind the Management of Herakles Farms that they have a social contract with the people.

 

Dear Mr. Bruce Wrobel,

I write in response to your open letter in response to Oakland Institute letter and to commend you most sincerely for the letter. My commendation is borne out of the fact that, it is extremely rare in this part of the world for a Chief Executive Officer to  write and explain issues.

I have read the Oakland Institute report and averse with all the issues and concerns raised by the various NGOs, Environmentalists and all the local stakeholders. 

According to the CEO, Herakles Farms is a wonderful organization committed to worthy causes (from poverty alleviation and human rights to education and environmental stewardship), to the press covering the issues of human development and/or environmental concerns in Africa
The Oakland Institute report portray Herakles Farms (“HF”) and its oil palm initiative as a massive project which threatens to level the Cameroonian rainforest while negatively impacting the lives of tens of thousands of formerly happy and content indigenous hunters and farmers in the South West Region of Cameroon.

The submissions of both parties are reminiscent to that of the famous story book play `Nchanga and Enoma` and my conclusions will be same as that of the King whom, after listening to the submissions of each of the parties,  declared---` All what you say is true`

Invariably all what both parties are saying are the truth depending on which side of the divide you wish to stand. The focus of my letter to the CEO is not delved into the legal and scientific gymnastics but to share a few concerns as a native of the locality (Ndian division).

The CEO in his open letter vividly describes the local people of the affected area of HF operations and by extension, Ndian Division, as, “one of the poorest regions and peoples in Cameroon”. Maybe out of politeness or diplomacy they could have been best described as the poorest, most deprived and abandoned in the world based on their natural resources, exploration and exploitation of its natural resources in the area in the last one hundred years and more. This particular statement of yours, sir, is the most absolute and the best truth l have ever read.

With your pedigree and academic credentials and as the CEO of Herakles Farms, coupled with your tract records in developmental projects and fight against poverty in some of the most deprived communities in the world, your assertion and conclusion on the level of poverty of our people is the kernel of all the agitations, apprehension, reservation, bickering, resistance and litigations.

                                      PAMOL PLANTATIONS

Mr. CEO, You will recall that, PAMOL has been in existence and operating in Ndian Division for close to a century. The question any sane mind could have asked is, how can a region hosting an agricultural conglomerate such as PAMOL, with plantations across the division, still harbours one of the poorest and most deprived natural land owners in the world?

The answer is straight forward and simple. Pamol  from inception had adopted the approach of the proverbial `chichi dodo` bird in the Novel `The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born`  that survives on eating maggots  but will never allow the excreta  to touch its legs.

·       Pamol has never thought it necessary or expedient to be an active agent or catalyst for the development of Ndian, largely as a result of the docility of the indigenes and this general fear of being killed by witchcraft if you open your mouth.

·        Delegations of` weeping` mothers are sent to any so-called activists to dissuade him from challenging the status quo.

·       Regrettably, Pamol is one of the biggest tax defaulters to the local councils.

·       Most people are oblivious of the fact that, Palm Oil business is even more profitable than Crude oil.

·       Palm oil throughout 2012 sold for $500-$700 (350 000FCFA) per metric ton.

·       Conservatively, PAMOL produces about 16 000 tons per annum which translate to a projected estimated revenue of over $8 million USD or 4 billion FCFA.

·        Why can`t Pamol dedicate $50 (25 000FCFA)  per Metric ton for every palm oil sold for the developmental projects such as;  construction of roads, modern health facilities, markets, communal ovens for drying cocoa beans , fish and shrimps, community libraries and sporting arenas in the division.

·        The conservative estimate of $50(25 000FCFA) per mt shall translate into $8 million dollars (400 million FCFA) annually dedicated to the development of Ndian.

·       These amounts shall be able to construct and paved the Mundemba-Ekondo titi- Toko Road, Mundemba-Isangele Road, Ekondo-Dikome Balue Road or Toko –Nguti Road?

·       The meaninglessness, purposelessness, parasitic  nature  of PAMOL in the lives of the indigenes and communities have made a lot of youths to adopt a self help approach by `helping` themselves through stealing of palm fruits with impunity.

·       These are natural fallouts in communities where there is lack of social justice and exploitation of the people’s resources with impunity.

                                                                         PALM OIL IS NOT NEW TO NDIAN

Mr. CEO, Palm oil is not new to the Ndian people and palm oil l can categorically state, is the least needs of the people and inhabitants of the Ndian Division. You will recall also that, before 1967, when Ndian Division was created from the Kumba division, Plantation PAMOL DU CAMEROUN served as the de facto `government ` of Ndian Division. PAMOL provided all the social and welfare services and infrastructures only within its operation area and cared less about neighbouring villages. For decades our people were subjected to trekking on foot to commute from one village to the other. PAMOL was, and has still been unable to construct a quarter-long bridge, to link the people of Ndian Town to PAMOL, a community that was within the catchment area of their operations, deceived and relocated across the River and has since been detached from any economic gains generated by PAMOL.

You will also recall that the Ndian people are very much aware of the employment profile and composition of staff in PAMOL over the years. Research and available statistics have shown that the Ndian indigenes are hardly groomed into Upper Management positions in the company. As soon as the whites were leaving, they were being replaced by migrant workers from faraway lands and ironically to those whose forebears had vehemently refused to sell or give their lands away for such a giant project. The white management claimed these non-natives were being compensated for their loyalty. That loyalty is yet to be defined; however, a plaque has been constructed at PAMOL Ndian Oil Mill `Dedicated to the Bamendas for the construction of the Oil Mill`

Regrettably, the sand used for the construction of the Oil Mill was excavated at no cost to PAMOL from our land and the Oil Mill constructed on our land. Yet, the management decided to appreciate and give gratitude to only the immigrant workers, whose services were already paid for through salary allocations with native labour which sacrificed their land on which the project was established.

The gratitude and goodwill towards the labourers from the North West Region, in total disregard and disrespect to the indigene labourers, is the reason why the dynamics within PAMOL has changed for the worst. The management staff of PAMOL, over time, was composed of entirely of non natives. Also, about 90% of the clerical staff is also non natives.  The bulk of the harvesters and Labourers (who do the hard menial labour) are natives. These are evident in the camps they lived---because---one’s accommodation defines your class and status in the company. It will interest you to know that a vast majority of the natives lived in Mana, Makeke, Centre, Ikassa, Mundemba camps, whilst most of the migrant workers lived in Bula camp. Bulu camp had electricity, water and a labour and staff clubs. Whereas the Labour clubs in other camps were reserved for harvesters and the general public, the labour club in Bulu was for drivers and low level technicians and clerical staff.

It will interest you to note that, Ndian Town was less than 15 minutes walk (a mile away) from Bulu camp but has no electricity, pipe-borne water or even a school built by PAMOL.

For decades, the only means to get to Ndian Town was by canoe provided by the Local town council. Yet, PAMOL against all odds was able to provide a bridge with electric lamps across Ikassa River to Ikassa camp, but had never given it thought to  grade or rehabilate roads in Ekondo Titi or Mundemba Town not to talk of constructing  roads into the hinterlands, which are critical for development.

It is even sad to note that all our traditional shrines, farmlands including the sacred cave that housed the founder of Ndian according to oral tradition are in PAMOL land.

If  after almost 100 years of the operations of PAMOL in Ndian and the CEO, Herakles’ Farms could still describe the area and its people as one of the poorest , which l agree entirely, should serve as the score card and the gravitas of our peoples concerns, which the people hope Herakles Farms should not replicate PAMOL.

For your information, Mr. CEO, the Ngolo people under the auspices of NCUDA led by. Dr Reuben Osih, Dr Elias Meboka, `General` John Osih, Njabe (SG), Chief David  Epupu and many others galvanized the people to adopt a self help approach in the construction of the Mundemba-Toko road.

PAMOL over the years had constructed roads to link the remotest parts of its vast plantation estate across the length and breadth of the division and in some cases provided water transport and ferries to facilitate the transportation of its produces. .

It is a truism that, if PAMOL had taken that social responsibility ab initio to provide at least a road to link PAMOL to the rest of the division by constructing just five kilometers of earth road every year, the people of Ndian could not have been described as the poorest or the most backward and deprived community 70 years after.

                           EXPLOITATION OF CRUDE OIL

Mr. CEO, you will also wish to recall that, oil exploration started in Ndian division in the early 1960s. And as we speak, there are over 15 oil wells being drilled in Ndian division. However, despite the enormous wealth and revenue generated from oil extraction in the division, Ndian is being taunted daily as the treasure of the entire nation, but has not a single filling station in the entire division or a single tarred road which is a byproduct of the oil.

According to one of the leading politicians, Ndian is so blessed and the only division in the country with economic and political capitals viz Ekondo Titi and Mundemba respectively, so what do we need again from the Government?

We were also told that, the former ruler and dictator persistently bullied one of our politicians and constantly reminded him the oil in Ndian does not belong to our fathers. The current regime has also informed us that, the matrix used to calculate barrels is so complex and complicated and it is not the preserve for the common man. So it will be wise, prudent and politically expedient not to comment any further on this subject matter.

                                KORUP PROJECT AND OTHER RESERVES

The KORUP Project, like the Herakles Farms, generated a lot of excitement from the indigenes. There were deliberate and genuine efforts by the WWF to implement the action plan and road map of the project.

For the first time in the history of our people, the locals were recruited and some given opportunities to equip and sharpen their skills. Korup workers became the new brides in towns and were like noisy neighbours that kept the local economy going.

KORUP Management team had a more complicated and arduous tasks in my view than HF.

·       Their mission and tasks were even more daunting as they had to enlighten and sensitize our people on the need to preserve the forest;

·        Dissuade them into abandoning their age-old profession of hunting; provide alternative sources of income

·       Deprive the populace  from eating our delicacies of bush meat (NJOKOBI); and,

·        To relocate the natives from their ancestral homes to new sites.

The Korup project won the hearts and minds of the people because they were on the ground and a part of the community. The historic visit of Prince of Wales to inaugurate its office and his one kilometer trek into the Korup forest was legendary. And that particular visit brought Mundemba and Ndian to the limelight as sights of Ndian adorned for the first time the cover page of the Famous BBC Focus of Africa Magazine. For the first time, the world could read and see the plight, difficulties and challenges in pictures of our people. That publication and Korup brought enormous goodwill, researchers, tourists, journalists from around the world.

That period also witnessed concrete interventions by external donors in Ndian as we witnessed the construction of a bridge across the famous Ndiba Mana, the dreaded river that had claimed so many lives of our people in the process of transporting cash crops and goods to Mundemba.

                                            KORUP LIKE PAMOL

Korup Project like PAMOL suffered the same Dutch disease. when the white managers were exiting, the Korup project was handed over to migrant workers or better still public servants from elsewhere, who had no clear idea or understanding of the vision and mission of the project.

The Korup project, like many other public enterprises conceived in Southern Cameroon and handed over to migrant workers, have either collapsed or remained relics or pale shadow of their former selves.

Korup Project is under an intensive care unit with a paltry annual budget of about $20 000. . The rough road leading to the Korup forest reserve tells the whole story about the project. 

Korup forest is now like an evil forest and an albatross on the neck of the Ndian people. It is a source for prison for so-called poachers, a source of woes and misery for farmers as the marauding elephants are destroying farmlands, a source of dead as the elephants keep killing the people, whilst the project itself remains a white elephant, that has deprived the people of Ndian cheap and easy access road to Nigeria and Eyumojock via the forest.. 

It is inconceivable for such a landmark project to exist anywhere in the world without the Government providing the enabling environment to encourage tourism?

WWF and associates were so much in a hurry to hand over the project and never attracted the necessary support services or establishing conditions precedents that could grow tourism in Ndian.

                 The False Starts of Herakles Farms

 The objectives and mission of HF as espoused by the CEO are brilliant and wonderful but absolutely not new as l will consider them a déjà vu.

(a)    HF has failed to draw lessons, or willing to learn, from the story of PAMOL du Cameroun.  

(b)    HF has equally failed to understand that palm plantation or palm oil is not a new concept or crop to the Ndian people.

(c)    The Ndian people have simply gone weary of the smell, colour and sights and sounds of palm trees and nuts.

(d)   The Ndian people detest what PAMOL have done to them and to their lands. They know that the project benefited more non-indigenes than indigenes.

What most people are saying is that, “if gold could rust what of iron?” That is, if PAMOL and KORUP could deceive and enslave the indigenes, why not Herakles Farms? Can they be wrong this time around, Mr. CEO?

Herakles Farm, unlike Korup project which was under the WWF from inception, had visibility in Mundemba. They cited their office in Mundemba and were involve in the day to day activities of our people.

Currently, Herakles Farms’ head office in Cameroon is based in Limbe rather than in Mundemba or Toko. The key staff operate from Limbe and only visit Mundemba and Toko as tourists, strangers and on ad hoc basis. The white farmers who established Pamol did so from the fields of Ndian Division and not from the comforts of their off shore offices elsewhere.

Furthermore, the Limbe office has already recruited staff working in an environment that has no bearing to its field operations.

HF staffs based in Limbe are receiving salaries on a project based in Mundemba-Toko and are using such capitals to contribute to the economic activities of another town-Limbe and by extension Fako not Mundemba-Toko in Ndian.

Neither PAMOL nor Korup Project did that, except the Oil companies which are considered too elitists and sophisticated for any local to commend or comprehend.

The HF should tell the Ndian people the rationale behind the citing an office in Limbe rather than in their areas of operations?

The current Management structure of HF to say the least is akin to that of PAMOL. Our people can simply not identify any of their sons and daughters in a project that will deprive them of their land for the next 100 years.

Mr. CEO, where are the sons and daughters in the scheme of things? It is also very condescending for you to ask us to applaud you for recruiting two sons of south west region into the fold.

It would be useful and instrumental to publish the list of the management staff of HF and their job profiles.

The CEO will recall that, even in his home country (USA), where the UN is located, The UN Protocols and Conventions require that there should be equity and justice in the distribution of posts and appointments within the UN Systems. It is a convention which is religiously applied to all positions below the level of G5 (General Services staff include; clerks, nurses, Typists, Secretaries, security personnel, drivers, junior accountants, Protocol officers, Gardeners, in short all junior staff) SHALL BE GIVEN TO INDIGENES OF THE HOST COMMUNITIES.

According to the UN Conventions, Protocols and common sense approach, Professional, Managerial or statutory appointments SHALL BE RESERVE FOR MEMBER STATES ONLY, IN THIS CASE AREAS OF HK OPERATIONS. HF should understand that, in Africa there is a difference between ours and mine.

We (the Ndian indigenes) as a people will be happier and more appreciative if, we could see our sons and daughters as drivers of the projects and not just passengers.

2.       Based on the foregoing, HF should, as matter of urgency, review its criteria for employment and make sure that, except under exceptional circumstances, and with consultation with the Chiefs, all the relevant positions are allocated to communities within the operation areas.

The people of Ndian will sincerely appreciate if Directors or Management staff are recruited mainly from areas where HF operational area.

It is also disingenuous for the CEO to keep on reiterating that, employment is being given to the local youth in the area.  These youths are casual workers engaged in the planting of seedlings. Granted; they are paid something, but the total package for these 500 young boys and girls working at the nursery is simply measly sum compared to fat salaries paid to four of your management staff sitting in the head office in Limbe.

The CEO should understand that such a giant project cannot be achieved or developed through propaganda.

When PAMOL was established almost a century ago, there were probably no awareness concerns of concern to the natives who were not opportune to attend even a primary or elementary school.  

Today the situation has changed. Even though the area is still backward and the poorest in the region, it is blessed with some of the best minds in the country, equipped to accommodate the labour demands Herakles Farms needs.

Though a backward region, the literacy level is appreciable for the people to watch and recognize New York. Paris, London or Beijing on a film or documentary, and appreciate what modernity means, and would wish to see their hamlets and villages transformed into modern township with portable water, electricity, descent accommodation , health facilities and value and good returns for their lands.

HF should understand the African adage that says that, “the traders will know if business will be good on the eve of the market day.” Invariably, our people will know if the HF project will be beneficial to them by your works on the ground and not on the pages of newspapers.

 9. We have seen Pamol from inception. Pamol was able to bring light aircraft planes to Mundemba and Lobe. They were able to construct water reservoirs, hospitals, schools, camps, roads, river ports, even though these have been allowed to deteriorate and even go fallow. These were all done within their area of operations to the exclusion of the division.

To quote the CEO, “HF is also a newcomer and foreigner to the area, and so we have to earn local trust.”

To this end, we strongly appeal to the CEO to urgently relocate HF office to Mundemba and constitute a crack team to conduct a SOCIAL NEEDS ASSESSENT OF THE PEOPLE or areas that require urgent social intervention.

That Mundemba and Toko should be the ideal place for such need assessment to take place and not Limbe.

I will suggest that, HF should stop the cosmetic services which are currently being provided.

HF should embark on concrete and visible projects to make meaningful and significant impact on the lives of the people, especially in the areas of road construction, provision of educational and health facilities not only within the catchment area but to the entire region.

The CEO and his team might have observed that most of the schools in that region do not dispose of modern toilet facilities or places of conveniences.

There are no dining sheds for the pupils /students to have their meals or lunch during recess.  It is gratifying to note that, textbooks were donated to some schools in the region, but where will these books be kept? Most of these schools don`t even have a functional library room or a study room talk less of textbooks.  

One of the ways that HF can make an immediate impact on the lives of the children of school going age, is to embark on what l describe as `school feeding programme` .

The children should be served at least a meal a day whilst in school. This project is being done in a wider scale elsewhere.  l see no reason why such a project cannot achieve success for an area with a population of less than 200 pupils.

This will have a trickle down effects on the local economy, as a few women will be empowered as cooks, it will provide market for the local farmers; boost school enrolment and make a HF a family member the indigenes have been waiting for years.

Mr. CEO as we speak the Mundemba Hospital does not have a morgue.  In spite of the bad roads our people still have to convey corpses of their beloved ones to and from kumba.

The pains and trauma for both the families and dead could be better imagined than described as they navigate in bush taxis on roads akin to abandoned landmines.

Mr. CEO, an intervention in this direction will be a mighty relief to all and sundry as such intervention will bring HF closer to the hearts and minds of our people.

HF should also be exploring the possibility of setting up HF Vocational or Skill Acquisition Training Centre. The benefits of such a Center of Excellence which could be tailored towards meeting the basic needs of HF now and in the future will be phenomenal.

The center which should focus on the training of medium skills workers, artisans and technicians such as plumbers,  fitter machinists, machine operators,  wielding, constructions, builders, carpenters , bulldozers operators, harvesters and even drivers etc.

In the area of health, the current efforts of HF though commendable is meaningless if urgent solutions are not taken to enhance the capacity and facility of the General Hospitals in the region, whilst awaiting the construction of HF hospitals in future.  There is general absence of ambulance services which could enhance the quality of health of the people.

In conclusion: l believe that, the Herakles oil palm project in Cameroon has the potential to transform a poor and underdeveloped region of the country and bring tremendous economic, social and environmental benefits to the people around it, if the management gets its foundational priorities right at this initial stage.

Mr. CEO, I will plead with you to use your expertise, connections and   network to attract other cottage industries or factories that will provide ancillary services or rely on the byproducts of Palm oil. 

African politicians and elites are more at ease stealing money from Africa and stashing it abroad instead of investing at home.

Mundemba should be its operational base; not Limbe.

***Mr. Albert A. Motale is an Investment and Management Consultant. He lives in Accra, Ghana***