BY TAC
Councillors of the Kumba I Sub Divisional Council in Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon, under the stewardship of the Mayor Barrister Prince Eseme Moses Esembe have presented to the public their achievements recorded during the 2022 financial year irrespective of the difficulties encountered by the council.
This was during the occasion of the Council session dedicated to the examination and adoption of the joint administrative, management and stores accounts of the 2022 budgetary year, that took place at the council auditorium on Friday, March 31, 2023 under the watchful eyes of the council supervisory authority, the Meme SDO represented by the 2nd ASDO Herima Njonje.
Urged onby rousing applause by the Councillors and other development stakeholders of the municipality, despite some of the hurdles encountered during the year under review, the mayor disclosed that in 2022 fiscal year some visible projects though from the Public Investment Budget , PIB , were executed. He hinted that phase II of the construction of the 0.9 kilometer of roads with pave bricks from Ecobank to Vianelo – SATA workshop – Sonafang streets towards Eta College, worth the sum of FCFA 68,000,000, from the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development is still on-going due to the late award and climatic constraints, support to vulnerable persons within the municipality with assistive devices worth FCFA 1,500,000 from the ministry of social affairs; the construction of water catchment and supply of portable water to the GRA Up Station Community; phase II of the completion of works for the rehabilitation of the Kumba Traditional Council worth FCFA 4,000,000 with funding the ministry of culture; the rehabilitation of a block of four classrooms at GPS Kumba town with funding of FCFA 12,000,000 from the ministry of Basic Education; and the rehabilitation of the Kumba Women Empowerment Centre worth FCFA 20,000,000 from the Ministry of Women Empowerment.
According to Mayor Barrister Eseme Moses, some projects are still to take off due to some technicalities. He cited the construction of the Kumba I Sub Divisional Council slaughter house at Kake II Bokoko worth FCFA 60.000.000 from the ministry of Livestock, the road maintenance project from Mukete Junction to Cassava Farm I quarter with credit from the ministry of Public Works worth FCFA 27,000,000 and lastly the road construction project under the National Road Fund worth FCFA 60,000,000 which is at its 90%. As for the current staff station of salaries is concerned, the Mayor said that the council promptly paid monthly all the 12 months of staff salaries of the year 2022, just like in 2021 and have equally reduce the arrears of staff salaries which his administration inherited from the previous administration from 6 months to 3 months.
To better prepare the staff of the council to meet up with the decentralization challenges, the Mayor disclosed that, some four staff of the council went through the in- service program of the National School of Local Administration, NASLA, in 2021 and 2022. The council the Mayor said continue in their vision of capacity building reasons why three council staffs have been enrolled into the National Advance School of Public Works Annex Buea, Community Development Specialisation Training School Kumba and the National School of Stores Account Yaounde for course works expected to run for two years each.
The Accounts
The Kumba I Sub Divisional Council 2022 administrative accounts the Mayor hinted recorded the sum of FCFA 800,867,849 being revenue effectively realised for the year. Total expenditure according to the Mayor stood at FCFA 636.467.452 and a surplus of FCFA 164,400,397 carried forward into 2023 council budget. The 2022 budgeted revenue realisation rate stands at 79.271% while expenditure stands at 62.99%,the Mayor revealed. As for the stores and management accounts for 2022 fiscal year registered the sum of FCFA 18.051.010 for both goods bought and services rendered while total exit from the store stocks stood at FCFA 17.755.810 and the surplus of FCFA 295,200 carried forward to the 2023 fiscal year.
The Councillors through their mayor used the session to forward a motion of thanks to the Head of State H.E Paul Biya, the Prime Minister, Head of Government Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute and all the ministers of the ministries through the representative of the Head of State, Ntou’ou Ndong Chamberlin for their support and contributions during the year 2022 in developing the municipality and improving the living standards of the population of the municipality.