By Ikome Christie-noella Eposi & Simon Ndive Kalla
Mayors in the South West Region have told the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, Georges Elanga Obam that they are no longer safe in their municipalities given the escalation of the Anglophone crisis.
Meeting with the mayors at the Buea Council Hall on July 12, 2018, the mayors said it is no longer possible for them to recover revenue to sustain their councils and have been unable to pay salaries for several months now.
Other say they have since fled their municipalities for fear of being kidnapped and are unable to pilot the affairs of their respective councils. Government delegates, like the one in Kumba also has to cope with the security challenges.
at the Limbe III Council
The Mayor of Tombel, Rose Ngassa and that of Konye, Barrister George Musima Lobe presented tear-provoking accounts of how they managed to escape from being harmed by “Amba fighters”.
The Mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema rather boosted that every mayor should be able to gain control of their municipality like he is doing. He said he is the one person that has received the most threats from the separatists, but he remains unmoved.
The minister promised to look into the difficulties raised but failed to tell the mayors are soon it will be safe for them to go back to their council areas. He also did not say whether government is going to see into the salary situation of many council staff who have not been paid for many months in some of the crisis-hit areas.
Obam said his visit to Buea was to get the realities on the field as well as supervise the projects under his ministry. “I came here to see what has been done already and what needs to be done to build an opportunity for decentralisation”.
He equally enjoined all actors to put all hands on deck to accelerate the decentralization process which he said will empower their local communities and speed up development.
Quizzed on the raison d’etre of his meeting with the governor, S.D.O’s and D.O’s of the region which held at the South West Governor’s Office in Buea, Obam said they talked on the role of the state as a supervisory authority. “The aforementioned officials are extremely committed to work and they decided to make sure that decentralization is well applied and they promised to work hand in gloves.
In Limbe, Minister Elanga Obam visited the Limbe III Council in Bimbia, Limbe I Council chambers under construction in Bota and the FEICOM regional office in Limbe.
The Minister urged the contractors to do everything possible to get the buildings for use before the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon.
Speaking to The SUN, the mayor of Limbe I, Ro-danny Mokako Mbua thanked FEICOM for supporting them in their council chambers. He added that the council chambers is a one storey building with 25 offices, two halls and one large ceremonial hall.