– Hiccups in transition process as minister, SDO fall over each other to designate interim mayor
By Norbert Wasso Binde
Limbe, the town of friendship is still writhing in pains and shock following the death of its city mayor, Motanga Andrew Monjimba. Motanga quit the stage on Wednesday, January 5 at about 5pm at the Douala Reference hospital after a protracted illness.
A pioneer in three offices he was the first mayor of the Limbe II subdivisional council in Mokundange in 2007, he was appointed pioneer government delegate to the Limbe city council in February 2009. He served in that capacity till 2020 when he was elected first city mayor. A political colossus Motanga bestrode the political terrain in Limbe and Fako. He was section president from 2002 until his death.
He was impregnable politically and a progressive municipal magistrate. He made the CPDM turn Limbe from an opposition hotbed to a CPDM stronghold. His legacies as government delegate and city mayor are immense. Limbe FESTAC the reference arts n culture festival was his imprint. He transformed Limbe infrastructurally and socially. Under him Limbe upgraded its status of cleanest city in the country.
How he succeeded in keeping Limbe a safe haven from the ongoing unrest that has ravaged the North West and South West is anyone’s guess. The municipality under his aegis not only successfully organized the crowd-pulling FESTAC but equally hosted the Women’s African Cup of Nations in 2016 and the African Football championship, CHAN in 2020. He died on the eve of Limbe hostiong the TotalEnergies 2021 African Cup of Nations.
A humbe and social mixer Motanga was a delight to encounter and interact. He was an exceptional politician and a successful businessman – one of the few Anglophones to break into the transport business taking to the top the Musango Bus Service brand name and later Musango Beach Hotel.
Big void
Nature they say abhors a vacuum but Motanga’s demise has left a huge gaping hole in the Limbe and Fako political landscape. His shoes are going to be too big to fill.
The Motanga Andrew Monjimba era has thrust Limbe into the superhighway of development.
On February 6, 2009 moments after his appointment as Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council following a presidential decree, Motanga Andrew Monjimba promised to make Limbe reflect the petroleum town it is. He also said one of his priorities would be the provision of basic social facilities and the embellishment of Limbe.
His official commissioning a month later, on March 6 thrust on to the beautiful Limbe one of its best administrators so far. Motanga stayed true to the promises he made to his beloved people of Limbe.
Many say they have seen development like never before from the leadership of a man said to be the “architect of modern Limbe” – a man of few words but of very positive action.
As Government Delegate, Motanga is by all means the go-getter of the friendship city of Limbe. His team has worked unceasingly to meet the basic social and priority needs of the denizens in the last decade.
In his first three years as government delegate, Motanga put Limbe on the development fast lane.
Aside tarring roads, grading and maintaining others, the LCC embarked on a mission to expand Limbe’s electricity and water network to every nook and cranny.
The City Council continues to make huge sacrifices to support the flow of water on public stand taps even though the exponential growth of the city’s population is making it very difficult to satisfy all.
Youths are being catered for through various youth employment programs. The accessibility of most neighbourhoods continues to receive priority attention with the tarring of some major roads, the upgraded maintenance of earth roads and construction of culverts.
In fact, the infrastructural development of the town has been phenomenal. Tarred roads, new market buildings, new office complex in Mile II, beautification of the Community field, culverts, road signs, the front view of the Limbe Regional Hospital at Mile One among others are there for all to see.
It took the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic and the razing of SONARA production units to put a hold on Limbe’s remarkable forward march.
There have been other social landmark deliberations such as the white city project entailing the painting of houses white; the banning of wake-keeps with corpse to just to name these few which has now being implemented throughout the South West region.
In eleven years as Government Delegate and close to two years as city mayor, he touched and imprinted his mark on all facets of the society directly or indirectly.
Already transition hiccup
Motanga’s absence since October 2021 plunged Limbe in an unprecedented power tussle with the first deputy mayor, Karen Tanga Wouapit engaging the secretary general of the council, Kinge Thompson, in a messy public and media fight alleging a lot of wrongdoings.
As the supervisory authority put its face the other way, she even attacked the city mayor on his sick bed claiming that she was being unlawfully restrained from acting as interim mayor. The matter came to a head when a purported motion went round for city councilors to sign calling for an extraordinary session.
The Senior Divisional Officer, Emmanuel Engamba Ledoux was forced to call a brief meeting where he issued a terse warning to everyone to stop the noise. The desired result was not got and the governor had to dispatch his secretary general Nkweti Acha to restore order which he successfully did by calling everyone out and putting especially the first deputy in her place.
Meantime, Motanga had returned from abroad in early December but a few weeks later his health deteriorated and was taken to the Douala referral hospital. Despite a restraining word from the SDO, the first deputy went ahead to summon a public meeting with stakeholders on the 2022 budget. The meeting as expected botched.
As 2021 neared its end the Limbe City Council situation became even more preoccupying with its vote holder still in hospital and AFCON fast approaching.
A team from the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development, was dispatched to Limbe to carry out findings. While the team was still in Limbe, The SUN got wind of the impending arrival of the minister on Wednesday, January 5 for a meeting the following day. Coincidentally, Motanga gave up the ghost same Wednesday in the afternoon.
While many thought the minister’s meeting was to be an open one and listen to all stakeholders, it turned out that the minister came to enforce provisions of sections 205 and 235 of the code on decentralization on designation of interim in case of death.
According to senior staff of the ministry, the minister acted within the law. “The administration is the supervisory authority; by administration we mean the SDO and the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development. The administration ensures that the acting City Mayor works in accordance with provisions of the law; As per sections 205 and 235 of the General Code of Regional and Local Authorities, the first deputy is in charge of the LCC, seconded by the second deputy; The SG remains in charge of the administration and daily running of the LCC; He receives instructions from the first deputy and executes them; The Treasurer Pay Master and the Municipal Treasurer are invited to collaborate at all levels”.
Questioned whether her designation is verbal or there has to be an act officialising her as acting city mayor, the senior official merely referred us to the above sections.
When reminded that the first deputy had acted in ways that brought chaos in the place and why did the minister and SDO not allow those in the meeting to express themselves, we were asked to “please read Sections 205 and 235 of the Code”.
It should be noted that after the minister’s meeting of Thursday, January 6, the SDO followed up with another meeting on Friday, January 7 to emphasise the minister’s decision and to confirm Karen Tanga epse Wouapit as interim mayor.
The SUN is reliably informed that tongues are wagging in Limbe, Buea and Yaounde over why the minister had to come and designate an interim mayor in an era when decentralization should be reaching its apogee.
One official quipped that “as we speak Karen Tanga is illegally occupying the position of interim as there is no legal instrument from the council board to ascertain or validating her as interim.
For now, however, Karen Tanga, is seizing her moment with two hands and knowing how she fought to be interim even standing up to the one who made her first deputy, she certainly will not back down. Hopefully, a sense of responsibility and humility will dawn on her over the next 60 days before the Limbe City Council gets its next city mayor.