-Hon. Muyali Boya Mary epse Meboka.
Hon. Muyali Boya Mary epse Meboka, MP for Bakassi-Mundemba Ndian is also the Vice -President of CPDM Parliamentary Group. She is one of four female MP’s from the Southwest region. Trained as an agricultural engineer in University of Dchang-Cameroon, employed as a civil servant, Hon Mary Meboka later bagged a Masters of Science (MSc) degree in Development Training and Education from the University of Wolverhampton, UK.She had worked with IRAD Ekona ,Korup Project and served as Ndian Divisional Delegate for Environment & Protection of Nature before her election as an MP
She sat down for an interview with Recorder Editor Christopher Ambe Shu and Princewill Mukwelle Aduma in Ekona.Honorable, let us beginning by asking: why is your name so long?
(Laughs) Muyali is name I cherish so much. It means the family should grow.Boya is my father’s name. He did so much in my life and I would not like the name to disappear at any time. Mary is the mother of Jesus and Meboka is my husband’s name.
Hon Mary Meboka, Could you present your constituency to our readers?
My constituency is made up of six subdivisions viz: Mundemba, Toko, Isangelle, Kombo Itindi, Idabato, and Kombo Abedimo.
Don’t you think your constituency is too large for MP to be in charge?
Well, it may be too large. But the Constituencies are carved out based on certain criteria. It is just the challenge I have. Those who carved knew why they carved as such.
What is it that really pushed you to enter Parliament?
Being a rural constituency, it is not easy to pin down on something. But I told myself that economic empowerment is what is necessary in that whole area. I mean the economic empowerment of youth, and women and farmers. Most men who are in my constituency are farmers. That is how I envisioned it-that if there is economic empowerment it will go a long way to alleviate poverty in the entire community.
It not easy to really pin down on what you do for economic empowerment in such a constituency which has limited accessibility in terms of roads, limited educational capacities and other challenges.
But I said economic empowerment is the way to go and I know it can not really be achieved in five years. My approach is to lay down the foundation for greater development projects to be carried.
As a first -term MP, what are some of the challenges you have actually been facing?
The first challenge is the accessibility problem .With a division like that which I have you always need to have contacts with people, meet people and talk with them, try to share you vision with them so that you can develop common actions and execute them together. But that coverage is not easy because the whole area is almost inaccessible-you have to trek in some areas, and in others you go by water. Even in the hinterland, sometimes with a good vehicle you still find it difficult to circulate. Although a lot is being done to develop the area, but accessibility remains one of my great challenges.
Another one is that being a woman you have to prove that women can do it. As a first female MP in the region-I remember when I was going for elections and I was presented to one elderly man as the candidate for the election and the man said, “Ah, would this woman be able to bring a caterpillar in this area”. And it was very interesting because caterpillars are not carried on head. But he was just expressing his natural doubts whether I would be able to do make things happen.
So you see that I have the challenge to do two or three times more than a man could do.
Do you feel shy when you are in the midst of men?
Not at all. What I am is the representation of the people. And a good representative of the people should be a person of the heart; and if you are the person of the heart then you can be able to feel what the people feel and know how to follow up what they are doing. Instead it makes me stronger to be able to work in this type of challenging atmosphere.
Honorable, before you were elected into office as MP, you certainly promised your constituents a lot. So far, what have you achieved in your constituency as MP?
With the vision that I had-I told you earlier that I was looking at economic empowerment. It was not easy for me to pinpoint that I would do this or that. But as soon as I assumed office, I undertook a parliamentary tour of my constituency so to have frank discussions with my electorate. Although I know some of the problems of the area and people, I still did the tour so that I should build that collaborative relationship with the constituents and get their endorsement of the projects I was thinking to carry out for them.
The first project I carried out was what I called “The One Hectare Program.” I was looking at the empowerment of youth. And we have worked on that. The objective is that each youth who registered with that project should have one hectare of oil palms palnted.And I have a hundred plus. And many more are still interested in the program. With the support of PAMOL, we got nuts which are already in the nursery and are looked after by the youth. So far we have planted thirteen thousand nuts with PAMOL and hopefully in a couple of months we will have them planted in the field.
The next thing I considered was road maintenance. Road is a big issue. A lot I have done on roads is to lobby with the Government. I thank the minister of Public Works for he is taking that road Mundemba-Ndian –Kumba-Ekondo-Titi at heart and he gives me a feedback of the progress of it. Presently, they are doing maintenance work on the roads. It just that we have the rain challenge which sometimes does not allow for proper coverage.
I have also presented projects to Government intended for my constituency such as schools and health centres.Several schools and health centers have constructed in my area
Honorable before you continue enumerating your achievements we hear you have a soft spot for school activities. Can we know why?
For me education is empowerment. It is the core of development. If I had my way I would like to really strengthen the educational aspect of that constituency.
You know in rural area some people don’t even see the value of education and sometimes there are some people who are willing to send their children but they lack the means. For me as MP it is a key area of concern. What people will be tomorrow depends on their education.
Just recently I gave 30 scholarships to deserving students of my constituency-Each received Fcfa 25000.
Tell us more about the one hectare program
The one hectare project is an enterprise development. We are also doing soap-making with women. Could you imagine that, in the Isangelle area, simple was being bought from Nigeria? And I thought I should work with the women on this. We are carrying action-oriented training for profit. We train some women that they in turn carry on with the training. They need a lot of back-up to continue with the traing, and we provide the basic materials for them.
I constructed the shelves in the Toko Health District Centers and paid for, before drugs were supplied there. We had to pay for stones to be cracked on put on portions of Toko road last year to ease the movement of small vehicles.
I have the chemical program, which is very important. The problem of the farmers is access to chemicals. They have licensed buyers who give them chemicals at very high prices and at the end of the season they don’t make much profit from their produce. I decided to take the problem-solving approach. I buy the first grade of the chemicals, take to the farmers and they pay at the same price that the chemicals were bought in Kumba or Douala.When they pay, I don’t collect the money. I leave the money with them, they take it and plough it back, send for more chemicals. I have spent about two million francs on that project…
My people are hard working but they don’t make much profit from their efforts. We need to find out why and support them. That is what I am trying to do
I am also interested in the valorization of culture. Recently I took about 30 members of the Oroko dance Group, and they performed very well within the framework of the Commonwealth Conference in Yaoundé .These dancers were commended by the watchers
Fishing is done in Bakassi area. Have you been of assistance in this sector?
I have not yet done much in this area. But What I have been doing now is discussing with people to know how they view the problem and how we can strengthen Cameroonians to get more involved in the fishing sector. There are just few of them involved in the fishing sector.
With all what you have done, would you say your people appreciate your efforts?
Often I get some positive feedback, which really don’t flatter me because I need coverage in my constituency. I want to make sure that in my Constituency I have had key results –achievemnets that I can be proud of. I get both positive and negative feedback. For now I don’t want to concentrate on the positive feedback because there is still a lot to be done.
Your mandate is half- gone, what is the way forward?
I have a plan of action I work with. But let me give you some highlights. There is the aspect of water which is very important and I have been discussing with the delegate for water and Energy for us to see if we can get a water catch ment.There is no electricity in most of the villages and the people need it. Some people have generators while others don’t. So this is an issue that I am thinking about how to handle. The education program will definitely continue. Some schools need computers which they asked me to buy. I will see about that. The scholarship program will continue; it is an on-going program. The empowerment of farmers will continue. The enterprise development is an on-going program which I see more capacity –building than just an end; it is a process so that the people can be able to handle their problems themselves. I am still following the road issue; it is a priority in my constituency. It is something that we will continue to talk about, to appeal to the quarters that be, to discuss more with others and give our ideas where necessary.
Would you say you are satisfied with what government is doing in terms of development in the Bakassi area?
What I would say is that the government is doing a lot especially with the development projects going on in the Bakassi area. The Government is investing quite a lot of money there now. Even last year, the Minster of Public Works put about one billion francs on road maintenance. I think what is to be looked at is the implementation strategy, so that the impact is commensurate to the efforts that they put. My constituency which is rural has many problems to be solved.
What the government is doing there is on-going. There is still more to be done.
Courtesy:The Recorder newspaper,Cameroon,June 11,2010
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