BY TAC
Councillors of the Kumba City Council Board, including development stakeholders have showered praises to the Kumba City Mayor, Gregory Mewanu for his development strides recorded in municipality during the 2022 fiscal year.
The Councillors expressed their satisfaction after listening to the Kumba City Mayor present what they described as ” positive 2022 administrative, management and stores accounts”.
This presentation of the account was during the first ordinary session of the council aimed at examining the administrative, management and stores accounts held at the council auditorium on Thursday, April 6, 2023 under the watchful eyes of the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, Ntou’ ou Ndong Chamberlin in his capacity as the Council supervisory authority.
Presenting the accounts, the Chairman of the session Lord City Mayor, Gregory Mewanu said the budget for 2022 was drawn to balance in revenue and expenditure at FCFA 7,200,000,000. He said the initial budget stood at FCFA 1,150,000,000 and the additional budget of FCFA 50,000,000 was deducted by the ministry of finance in Yaounde and paid to HYSACAM on behalf of the council. The effective collections from the 2022 budgetary allocation stood at FCFA 1,777,675,114 while total payment stood at FCFA 1,379,716,717 with a general excess of revenue over expenditure of FCFA 397,958,397.
Mayor Gregory Mewanu hinted that the revenue whose amount stands at FCFA 1,777,675,114 for an estimated budget of FCFA 7.200.000.000 shows a realisation rate of 24.69% . The City Mayor remarked that recurrent revenue was recovered to the tune of FCFA 1,282,729,753 for a recurrent budgetary allocation of FCFA 1,396,853,187 showing a 91.82% realisation rate.
For the recurrent executed during 2022 financial year stood at FCFA 926,691,373 on a budgetary forecast of FCFA 1,213,250,000 leading to 76.38% rate of realisation while investment expenditure carried out stood at FCFA 453,025,398 out of budgetary forecast of FCFA 5,986,750,000 giving 7.57% rate of realisation.
The city Mayor of Kumba, narrated that of all these amounts enumerated FCFA 926,691,373 was effectively exhausted as recurrent expenditure was used for monthly payment of fuel and lubricants at FCFA 97,239,564, the sum of FCFA 113,288,654 was spend on maintenance of water and electricity network, staff Salaries of exhausted FCFA 242,122,283, contribution to National Social Insurance Fund stood at FCFA 47,552,159, Common operating allotment to sub divisional councils stood at FCFA 28,633,310 and FCFA 9,150,000, was exhausted in sporting activities teams of the municipality and the settlement of council debt stood at FCFA 45,297,957 amongst minor expenses. As for investment expenditure the Mayor disclosed that FCFA 453,025,398 was effectively exhausted for the maintenance of commercial buildings to the tune of FCFA 21,103,470, the construction of road networks and HIMO project consumed FCFA 327,499,791 while payment to HYSACAM stood at FCFA 95,233,187.
Hurdles
In the 2022 fiscal year, the council would have recorded much in her bid to transform the municipality to an eldorado. The Mayor hinted that, the low rate of realisation is due to the fact that most projected investment fundings’ loans from FEICOM couldn’t be provided due to procedural lapses and some bottlenecks. He said that projects such as the construction of the Mambanda Motor Park, modern market stalls, an ultra – modern council chambers, the completion of the main grandstand, the purchase of two giant generators, construction of low cost houses and the purchase of two service vehicles for the council would have been realized if FEICOM responded positively.
However, he announced that there’s still hope in the horizon as the council is leaving no stone unturned to continue the follow up process to obtain these capital grants from FEICOM. The Council, he maintained, is still on serious lobbying with the World Bank for already earmarked projects to be financed by the international monetary institution.
Achievements afterall
The Lord City Mayor of Kumba received thunderous applause when he announced the following achievements recorded by the council. The realised projects include the transformation of the once dusty, muddy, and bumpy SONAC Street which now has pavement blocks as even the blind can testify.
Other maintained roads include, Bakundu street, hospital road, the army camp besides railway station, Mulango street, Don Cherif junction to cargo park, high court road junction, Alaska street, Razel junction to Nkamalikum junction, CONGELCAM road, Lumumba Street, Confidence street, St. Francis, Ndeme Avenue and Obama street.
On the social platform, the Mayor disclosed that since cleanliness of the munuicipality is top their agenda, the council introduced a ” clean your quarter competition”, and many dwellers were satisfied with the initiative and prayed that it remains sustainable.
The council employed fifty students for the holiday job program while a good number were maintained in the HIMO project. To further promote the atmosphere of peace and social cohesion, the City Mayor disclosed that the council organised what was known as ” the ” restoration festival” , football tournaments, and the Kumba Amusement Park was transformed into a small paradise for city dwellers to enjoy the festive period of Christmas and New year.