BY TALLA AGHAA CHRISTOPHER AND DANIELA NEBA NGUM
The relationship between the Kumba CityCouncil headed by Victor Nkele Ngoh as Government Delegate, and the Authorities of the Kumba III Sub Divisional Council headed by Mayor John Kona Makia has gone soar with the main bone of contention being the ownership of the Mambanda –Ntam Motor Park found within the Kumba III municipality and most probably along the Kumba –Mamfe road besides the Kumba III Council Chambers. While Kumba III Council is laying claims over the park, the Kumba City Council is seriously objecting.
It should be recalled that last year with the rapid construction of the Kumba-Mamfe road, the Kumba III Council in one of its council sessions adopted that the Ntam motor park that serves as take off point for passengers travelling along the Kumba-Mamfe-Ekok and Bamenda axis and Kumba-Tombel-Loum axis be relocated from its present already congested site at three corners to a more spacious area being the outskirts of Kumba III municipality.
The authorities of the Kumba III Council went ahead and inaugurated the park but activities at the park died the same day after the first vehicles took off due to the intervention from the Kumba City Council, claiming that the Park falls under the competence of the City Council. Ever since then the park has been transformed into a ‘wild forest’.
Deliberations at the City Council during the examination of the 2016 administrative, management and stores Thursday May 11, 2017, almost came to a head when the issue of the Mambanda-Ntam motor park was raised.
The government delegate maintained that the park is under the direct control of the Kumba City Council. Regarding the development of the park, he mentioned that, negotiations with the Chinese Company developing the Kumba –Mamfe road which had hitherto been conceived to be freely developed by the company turned out to be a project warranting a huge cost with the reluctance of the company’s officials to forward the cost estimate to the City Council. However the Delegate observed that, while waiting for approval of a FCFA900 million FEICOM loan to develop the park, Ngoh Nkelle Victor said there is a temporal measure of filling the park premises with volcanic ash for immediate us by drivers. But he said a letter addressed to the SDO to authorize the scooping of volcanic ash from Konye has still not been attended to.
Enter Mayor Makia
The Mayor of Kumba III Council, John Konia Makia regretted that the City Council is slowing development in his municipality. He disassociated himself from the allegations from the government delegate that he is aware of all the recent developments concerning the development of the park. Mayor Makia, told the delegate to his face “if you can’t develop and operate the park, then give it to us to operate and hand it over to you after a year”. The Mayor declared that if the government delegate accepts then the park will go operation by May 25th, 2017.The Mayor was corroborated by Councilor Bigda Oum Rufus who added that the non functioning of that park has given rise to about four illegal parks in the municipality under the name of Ntam Motor park. He concluded that the Government Delegate can’t take the project to FEICOM without the knowledge of the councilors. At the close of the discussions the Grand Councilors unanimously ‘adopted’ that Kumba III Council should go ahead and make the park functional.
Enter SDO.
The Meme SDO, Ntuo’ou Ndong Chamberlin, while wading into the rather complicated matter pointed out that there is a law governing councils and that he won’t accept any council that goes against the law. He said there is a distinction between the City Council, Councils and Sub Divisional Councils in terms of their attributions and responsibilities. As concern the park issue he advised that all the reports be forwarded to him for appraisal.