An expert in local governance, decentralisation and development has said, on grounds of anonymity that, by sealing shops in Buea last Monday, July 23, 2018, the Mayor of Buea, Ekema Patrick Esunge acted in illegality. According to the expert in council management, it is not in the place of the mayor to use reprisals.
“Mayors have extensive powers, including administrative police powers. He exercises his powers through administrative acts. His administrative powers can only be used in cases of nuisance. A mayor can seal a place when nuisance is established. We can talk about cases of hygiene and sanitation.
“The mayor can also seal a place when public peace and order is jeopardised. The acts are taken by the mayor. In most of the cases, when it is an act, it is definitely approved by the supervisory authority,” he said.
He goes on to add that: “If the mayor doesn’t act in his capacity as administrative police officer, he does not have repressive powers. If an administrative act (or a council deliberation) is not enforced, the repression is the competence of the judicial police officer and not the mayor.”
The local governance expert says within the framework of the exercise of his functions, he doesn’t know exactly why Mayor Ekema sealed shops in Buea.
“In the absence of nuisance, a threat to public law and order and recovery drive, I do not know exactly why and how he [Mayor Ekema] acted,” he said.
Quizzed on whether respecting ghost town calls does not constitute a bridge to public law and order, the expert said: “In all honesty and humility, I would have expected to see the judicial police in action and not the mayor who is an administrative police officer.”
The expert insists that, “The functions of administrative police are virtually preventive. And that is where I make the difference between a repressive officer and a preventive officer. What would be the mayor’s function in issues of ghost town? I am not too sure about that.”
The Mayor has however asked those whose shops have been sealed to meet up with their fiscal engagements and sign an undertaking to open their shops on Mondays. The Buea Council was even open on Saturday to permit those whose shops had been sealed to regularise their situations.
To this, the expert in decentralisation and governance says: “The Mayor cannot substitute for the tax administration. The function of recovery is the exclusive prerogative of the treasurer. The mayor cannot substitute for the treasurer or tax officer. The sacrosanct principle of the separation of powers makes it very clear that it is the prerogative of the treasurer to recover taxes and not that of the mayor.
“If the mayor substitutes for the treasurer, then there is definitely something wrong. It will mean that he’s definitely doing the wrong job.”
On what those affected should do, he says the people should be able to know where to go to. “The mayor should start seeing how he should reconcile himself with his people. The functions of the mayor are clearly spelt out in the law. Repression and recovery is not a competence of the mayor,” he concluded.