Communication 389/10 – Mbiankeu Geneviève v. Cameroon
Summary of the Complaint
1. On 7 September 2010, the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human
and Peoples’ Rights (the Secretariat) received from Mrs Geneviève Mbiankeu
Kamenga, a citizen of Cameroon with French nationality, a Communication
submitted pursuant to Article 55 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter). The Complainant is a radiology
technician resident in France.
2. The Communication was submitted against the Republic of Cameroon (the
Respondent State or Cameroon), a State Party to the African Charter.1
3. The Complainant submits that following a mandate entrusted to a law firm in
Yaoundé, she and her husband were informed on 6 June 2007 that a 2,000 m²
plot of land located in a residential neighbourhood in Yaoundé was on sale.
After verifying the documents in the possession of the vendor’s notary, Mr
Pierre Firmin ADDA, a notary in Yaoundé, the Complainant and her husband
were informed that there was no opposition to the sale of the plot of land. On
8 June 2007, the firm, on their behalf, negotiated with the vendor for the
purchase of an area of 500 m² valued at 22,500,000 (twenty-two million five
hundred thousand) CFA francs.
4. The Complainant avers that her husband then left Paris for Yaoundé where
he signed, on 26 June 2007, the deed of sale in exchange of the sum of
26,578,000 (twenty-six million five hundred and seventy-eight thousand) CFA
francs which was handed over to the notary. This amount included the sum
of 3,020,340 (three million twenty thousand three hundred and forty) CFA
francs as fees paid to the Government of Cameroon and notary and lawyer
fees.
5. The Complainant contends that following the land sale and administrative
steps taken by the notary, her husband received by DHL on 17 August 2007, a
land certificate no. 38826/Mfoundi issued on 6 August 2007 by the
Government of Cameroon.
6. The Complainant further alleges that her husband returned to Yaoundé on 25
October 2007 to start developing the land. She contends that on 29 October
2007, the Land Registry issued her husband a certificate of ownership stating
that the land certificate was not subject to any charges or fees, and that as
1
The Republic of Cameroon ratified the African Charter on 20 June 1989.