BY SIMON NDIVE KALLA and MAMBE NJIKOFORE MANDE
Paul Efome Lisombe Mbole Ngale has been elected as the new Limbe City Mayor.
He was elected on Friday, March 4, 2022 at the Limbe City Council Hall, Bota during an extraordinary session dedicated to vote a new Limbe City Mayor following the demise of late Motanga Andrew Monjimba who was buried on February 26, 2022.
The election which was conducted by the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, Engamba Emmanuel Ledoux was observed by the Central Committee representatives headed by the Minister of Higher Education, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo.
The tense four-hour election started with deliberations with the mayors and councillors from 2pm to 5pm, after which the elections proper commenced.
During the election, Oscar Quan, Karen Tanga, Ekema Abel and Chief Woka Ndive were all nominated to run for the election, but they later on declined their nominations to give room for the lone Central Committee candidate Paul Efome Lisombe. He won by 57 votes out of 73 as 16 votes were read as null votes.
New Limbe City Council Mayor
Profile of the new Limbe City Mayor
Paul Efome Lisombe Mbole Ngale popularly known as ‘Amateur’ is a final year Masters student in Political Science at the University of Buea. He holds a BSc. in Political Science and Public Administration from the same university. He equally holds a Diploma in Human Resource Management from PAID-WA, Buea.
Before being elected city Mayor, Paul Efome Lisombe Mbole Ngale served as an Honorable Councillor for Limbe Limbe ll Council where his brother, Chief Ndive Woka Ngale Daniel is Lord Mayor.
He was also City Councilor for Limbe City Council, Treasurer for CPDM Fako 1B section, Secretary General of National Bureau of Cameroon National Youth Council, Divisional President of CNYC-FAKO and President of Fako Electronic Technicians Union.
At the end of the exercise, the SDO for Fako thanked and congratulated all councillors for a job well done and the central committee for their instrumental participation in the elections. He also implored the newly elect to continue in his predecessor’s footsteps while assuring him of constant support of the administration and the government, “…Now you have the challenge to continue and why not do better with your young age…congratulations.”
In an interview granted to the press, the new City Mayor, Paul Efome Lisombe Mbole Ngale said “I want to thank the head of state for trusting me. I also want to thank you, my councilors for investing your trust in me. Challenges I know are there but I also know the opportunities are there to overcome the challenges. My area of priority is to alleviate poverty and develop the community,”
When asked how prepared he is for the task, the new City Mayor replied “I am very, very prepared”
Interim City Mayor, Karen Tanga told the press, “We all know him as a City Councillor but not more than that but I know in the coming days we will get to know him better as we are collaborators, we are colleagues. Everybody has to seek for advice, but I cannot impose my advice on him because he will have his own vision so we have together as one to develop the city.”
Senator Mbella Moki on his part said “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the Limbe people on new municipal authority, the City Mayor. It has been a very grueling expedition to get to the results we had. They disagreed, but at the end of the day, they agreed”
The mayor, Limbe I, Mrs Mbwaye Eposi Florence expressed her happiness and expectations “We have seen today, Ngalle is one of the youngest councilors and if the head of state has decided to put a youth as city Mayor, then, he is trying to back his words with actions. We are so happy. He has taken us unaware because nobody could believe that we were going to have but this young man today.”
“We were expecting as usual to have old women, old men,” she continued, “…but the central committee sat down and said that changes should be. So we are so happy. I am very happy that I will work with him. The young man is somebody who has a vision, so I think with his presence as the city mayor, Limbe municipality will grow. I thank God.”
She went ahead to advice the newly elect, “As a leader, the first advice I will give him is that leadership is humility. When you are a leader, you must humble yourself. He has to give listening ear to the population, because he is working for the population.”
“As a mayor, I will expect that his first challenge should be the salary of workers. Carry on from where the late city mayor left undone.” She stated.
In another councillor’s words, “Well, we are just happy to have a new city mayor and we only hope that since he is still young, he’ll be able to listen to elders and continue building this municipality as the late man did. He should listen more and focus to implement his own vision as city mayor,” he said.
The elections ended with a reception at the Macson’s Hotel, meanwhile there were extensive celebrations and jubilation at the new Limbe City Mayor’s residence in Bobende, Limbe II subdivision till late at night.
The Limbe City council has been in the managerial hands of 1st Deputy Mayor, Karen Tanga for the past 2 months following the demise of former Council Boss, Motanga Andrew.