By Ikome Christie-Noella Eposi in Buea
Meeting the expectations of citizens for quality services from councils, the Public Independent Conciliator for the South West Region, Dorothy Atabong Motaze has tasked community liaison officers to intensify the sensitisation of the population of the South West region on the existence and functions of the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator.
She was speaking in Buea recently during a follow-up meeting with the liaison officers who brought feedback from the field after three months of intense work at their respective communities.
With an objective of strengthening its presence and engagement at the grass root level, Dorothy Motaze explained that such an initiative organised by the office of the Public Independent Conciliator is of great importance as it will help the population express bottlenecks experienced at the level of the councils.
“We are an apolitical institution and the fact that some of the population is hesitant to give information won’t help us”. She called on the population to consider OPIC as a partner and collaborate with them. “OPIC is our office, it is a grass root office, it is not an individual’s office but it is for everybody in the South West who is using the council’s services or the services of the Regional Assembly.”
Talking about the expectations from the community based liaison officers, the Public Independent Conciliator for the SWR added that, “Their opinions and perceptions should match their reality on the ground because we want to get the true picture of what is happening without any bias. We want neutrality, objectivity. I think it has been a very enriching experience listening to the various reports because we’ve gotten to the grassroots and we now have a feel of what the population is going through”.
She said, “It is unfortunate that the issue of civil status registration documents is causing a lot of problems to the grassroots population. I expect that at the end, the community officers will go back to the field and we at OPIC will continue going down to the field to ensure that together with the Mayors and the population, we talk to them about what they are supposed to do”.
According to the liaison officer for Limbe 1, Jacobine Lonja Ekomboni, she discovered that many people were unfamiliar with the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator and its role. “I realised that most of the people do not know about OPIC, and those who even know don’t know the function or the role of OPIC”, she said.
In response, the Public Independent Conciliator emphasised on the need to continue working with the community liaison officers to reach out to the population and educate them about the office’s apolitical and inclusive nature. “We have noticed that in spite of all the sensitisation about this office, a percentage of the population is not still aware of our existence and functions, so we have to continue working with the community officers to continue with the sensitisation process”.
Still giving her appreciation of the meeting as well as the work done on the field by the community officers, the OPIC boss expressed satisfaction with some public investment projects brought up during the presentation of reports by the liaison officers. “The feedback gotten from our liaison officers will definitely reflect in our end of year report alongside what we too should be gathering as information when we go down to the field.
“This is a continuous process. We started with the regional branch of the National Youth Council and we have now brought in the South West Youth League because these are youth groups which are very vibrant in the South West region and I want to get them involved in the activities of this office. This is the 4th time we are meeting. We started meeting since 2022 but putting them as community liaison officers started about 3 months ago. It’s going to continue till the end of the year and even next year”, the OPIC boss remarked.
Note that since its existence, OPIC has been at the service of the population, using dialogue and mediation to enhance good governance and it is contributing to the growth and development of the South West region.