By Ikome Christie-Noella Eposi
The sum of One billion two hundred million Fcfa (1.200.000.000) was on Thursday December 28 2017 adopted as Budget for the Tiko Council for the year 2018 amidst controversies from the councilors at the session. The angry, disgruntled and furious councilors used the session as a means to air their grievances to the Mayor of the Tiko Council.
Expecting to experience a normal and peaceful council session as in previous cases, the scenario this time around at the Tiko Council was that of controversy, exchange of words and total disagreement. 36 out of 40 councilors reported for the session. A majority of the councilors in the hall expressed total dissatisfaction as to the behavior of their Mayor which some of them termed as being inhuman and self-centered.
A lot of grievances were put forward by the councilors right at the start of the session concerning issues such as the absence of “Any other matters” on the agenda, the misuse of some council property, and the refusal of the Mayor to grant housing allowances to council workers amongst others.
The session was aimed at examining, deliberating and adopting the 2018 budget. The budget set aside for this year reveals an increase of one hundred and sixty million (160.000.000) as compared to one billion forty million (1.040.000.000) budgeted in 2017 representing a percentage increase of 13.3% of the budget.
Stipulating some of the reasons behind the increase in the budget for the 2018 year, the Mayor of the Tiko Council, Moukondo Daniel said, the pavement of street 3, 4,5 Tiko town, construction of 12 culverts within the municipality, rehabilitation of earth road within the municipality, construction of six bore holes, acquisition of 6 trash cans, construction of two classrooms for G.S Mpongo Matute, G.B.H.S Motombolombo and G.T.H.S Tiko etc are the various projects that have been set aside for the action plan for Tiko Council 2018 internal funds.
Noting that the task is enormous, the Mayor added that he is very optimistic that they can all meet up with the challenges.
The various committees presented reports on the various projects which have to be undertaken as well as the amount budgeted for the various projects.
“The budget will go a long way to ease social, economic and root problems in the municipality. We have so much to do and inter-quarter development is not an exclusive case. Concerning the problem of water which has posed a lot of problems especially in the Mutengene area, I promise the people of Mutengene that they will finally enjoy water more than any other place in the municipality. We have put on a project with the K.F.W, A German funding body to put water in Mutengene to the tune of 867 million fcfa. Once this project is completed, Mutengene will never suffer from water problems. As concerns the disagreements in the hall during the session, all I can say is that most of the councilors were ignorant of the law despite the seminars put in place to train them. I love such debates because they show that I do not have any skeletons in my cupboard” Mayor Daniel purported.
Councilors Ambe Che Henry and Fobang Andrew Menkenteba were among the other councilors who challenged the mayor during the session.
After the long hours of controversies and unending deliberations, the situation which had gotten out of hand was later on brought to calm through the intervention of the divisional officer of Tiko Anuafor Cletus Asongwe who acted as a peace mediator between the angry councilors and their Mayor.