Unilever estates in crisis and the power of organizations in Cameroon

The local and regional-level impact of the economic and political crisis facing Cameroon in the 1990s is examined through a case study of one of the oldest private enterprises in the domestic agro-industrial sector, Plantations Pamol du Cameroun Ltd or Pamol, as it is still popularly called, a subsidiary of Unilever. Its estates are situated in the present South West Province of anglophone Cameroon and are considered of vital importance to regional development. The Cameroonian postcolonial State denied assistance to the ailing company during the crisis, leading to its liquidation in October 1987. The newly appointed liquidator then decided to run the company as an ongoing business until a prospective buyer was found. The author also assesses the role played by the trade union of Pamol workers and the cooperative of Pamol contract farmers, as well as newly created groups and associations of the regional elite, in defence of their members' interests during the Pamol crisis and liquidation. Their capacity to act appears to have been strengthened by the current political liberalization process