It is intended to create OFFGO as a local farmers Group in Cameroon. Coherent with article 6 of Law No: 90/53 of 19 December 1990 on the freedom of association, we prepare since December 2015 the submission of our statutes to the Divisional Office of Mbengwi Sub Division. The Officer refused the registration of the submitted documents. According to the Cameroon State human rights commission CNDHL/NCHRF, this Officer targeted Jan Cappelle and the other founders of the group for their human rights work. Hence, OFFGO is not operating as an association in Cameroon. As a temporal solution, the persons involved in the set up of the OFFGO, including Jan Cappelle, are also individuals whose activities fall directly under the legal scope of the traditional authority (Palace) of Tudig. This cooperation is regulated in contract CMR/2015/Tudig/1. Meanwhile, OFFGO is also a registered organisation in Belgium. Jan Cappelle and members of the traditional authority of Tudig and the community of Tudig are founding members. The Government of Cameroon communicated on 29 July 2019 that it tolerates the activities of OFFGO in Cameroon.
The goal of OFFGO, when registered in Cameroon, is:
- the promotion and implementation of organic farming, and sale of organic farming products,
- the protection of the environment in which farmers operate,
- the protection of the Cross river gorilla in the North West Region of Cameroon through the implementation of science-based protective organic farming programs as alternative for farmers’ activities in valuable areas for the species that might negatively influence the species’ survival, distribution or ecology,
- the facilitating, negotiating and participation in mediation in times of farming-related conflicts between individuals or groups of people, whenever the need arises,
- the protection, promotion and safeguarding of the fundamental rights of organic farmers, inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon.
It is regulated in the draft statutes that it is strictly forbidden, with penalty of suspension of membership or expulsion, for all members of the Group (article 5 of the Internal Rules and Regulations: loss of membership) to:
- Use of physical or mental violence,
- Use of the organization for political statements or initiatives,
- Use of the name of the group for personal interests, that does not meet the objectives of the group,
- Embezzle the funds, as well as the materials of the group.
Draft statutes OFFGO Cameroon, for publication (Law 90/053, 19 Dec 1990): version of September 2015.