Acute Poverty, Misery in Ndian Division:

Financial Crisis Rocks Pamol as ‘Amba Boys’ Scare Workers

-Company’s coffers run dry as palm oil sales are stalled for seven months running

-Laborers down tools as salaries have not been paid since January 2018

-Managers flee to safer destinations, as GM takes refuge in Douala

By Mofako Johnson Modika in Ekondo-Titi

Pamol oil GM, Chief Mekanya Charles Okon hiding in Douala

Unless something is done urgently to save the situation, operations in the giant agro-industry in Ndian Division, Pamol Plantations PLC, will grind completely to a halt.

            Inside sources at the company say Pamol is virtually on its knees, and there is no hope of a reversal of the situation in the near future. Pamol is the mainstay and the sole employer of the thousands of indigenes and residents in Ndian division.

            “We have not effectively sold palm oil since November 2017. In April this year the management attempted to carry out some evacuation and sales with the help of security from the army. But the effort proved futile as Ambazonia fighters opened fire on the tankers transporting the oil. They burst one of the tankers causing all the oil to spill on the road. The operation was stopped,” recounted a worker at Lobe estate, who elected to stay anonymous in this report.

He added: “Presently all the storage tanks in Lobe estate are full because we cannot evacuate oil to our buyers in Douala. Also, the plantations cannot be harvested because production has stopped.”

            The present precarious situation at Pamol has caused workers to go for months without salaries.

            “Because we cannot sell the finished products, the company’s coffers have run dry. The last time most workers received their salaries was in January 2018 and there is no indication that things will get better in the months ahead,” noted our interlocutor, who added that “about 60% of the plantation laborers and almost all the managers and even the staffers of the Pamol Corporative Credit Union have all fled their homes and taken refuge in safer destinations, notably in Ekondo-Titi and Kumba.

            “About 90% of Pamol workers receive their salaries through the credit unions located in the various estates. But all the credit unions are presently cash-strapped and so the workers and even other customers of the micro-banks cannot make even withdrawals from their savings accounts. The doors of the credit unions remain shot for most part of the day. The Manager of the Lobe estate credit union, Mbah Bertrand, has since over one month now fled to an unknown destination, leaving customers of the bank languishing in poverty and misery,” a worker at Pamol told this reporter.

            He noted that small holders who sell their produce to Pamol are also crying hell as they too have not been paid for months. Pamol is presently owing over fcfa 300 million in accrued salaries and/or payments to workers and small holders, we learned.

            And all of this is happening when the General Manager of Pamol, Chief Mekanya Charles Okon, has since fled Lobe and taken refuge in Douala.

            “The Amba boys have vowed to kill the GM wherever and whenever they can lay hands on him. So he cannot risk his life by staying in Lobe,” our source hinted, also noting that “following two deadly clashes between the Amba boys and government forces in Lobe and Bai estates, the Amba boys instructed the workers of the estates to stop work until all their salary arrears are cleared.  The Amba boys also warned that anybody found working in the office or in the plantations will pay with his life,” the source said further.

             He recalled that at Lobe estate, a credit union worker and two Pamol managers were kidnapped and released later.

            “This has scared everybody away. Most of the plantation laborers have returned t their various villages to seek safety and alternative sources of livelihood. Many of the managers have also relocated to Ekondo-Titi and Kumba for safety,” we learnt.

            In one of the two clashes between the Amba boys and the government forces, a Pamol worker was shot dead in Camp 4. His body was taken to the Mundemba Mortuary and later ferried to Bamenda in the NW for burial.

            The Amba boys have also raided the Pamol Paddocks in Lobe and Bai estates and carted away over 100 healthy cows, goats and pigs, we learnt.

            It is not known for how long the impasse in Pamol estates will last. Sources say many workers have already started looking for alternative employment elsewhere, while some are even planning to leave the country.

            As the situation in Pamol drags on, it is the entire population of Ndian Division and parts of Meme division that suffers. As the only company in Ndian division, Pamol provides employment for the bulk of the populations of the division.

            Pamol aside, it should be mentioned that work has also come to a temporal halt in the Korup National Park. We are told that the luxuriant forests of the park afford a veritable hiding place for the Amba fighters.

As at press time yesterday, we could not get the Pamol GM on phone to talk on the prevailing situation. All his telephone lines were dead.

            As for the Manager of the Lobe Estate Credit Union, he told us he cannot pay the Pamol workers because the company has not wired any money to the credit union for months.

            “How do you pay workers money that you don’t have?” questioned the manager rhetorically. He regretted that Pamol has not been able to sell its produce and so it cannot meet up with its financial obligations.