 Manga Bell argued that the expropriation plan ignored the treaty's promise "that the land cultivated by us now and the places the towns are built on shall be the property of the present owners and their successors" and contradicted statements by Governor Theodor Seitz that he would leave Bell lands alone as he constructed a railroad in the colony.The Germans countered that the German-Duala treaty gave them the authority to manage Duala lands as they saw fit.That August, they removed Manga Bell from office and from the civil service and stripped him of his annual pension of 3,000 marks.