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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Cameroon's Reunification Golden Jubilee: Major Projects in Buea near Completion but Water Crisis Persists

By Christopher Ambe
The Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency and Chair of the National Organizing Committee for the 50th Anniversary of Cameroon’s Reunification, Martin Belinga Eboutou, early this month  in Buea, said major projects earmarked for the event were almost complete, indicative of the fact that the golden jubilee would soon take place this year.

Mr. Eboutou made the remark after an evaluation of the some of the major projects.
He was accompanied to Buea by the Minister of Armed Forces Alain Mebe Ngo’o, the Minister of Tourism Bello Bouba Magairi and Southwest Governor, Bernand Okalia Bilai.

Their evaluation tour took them to project sites such as the new grand stand, Buea Mountain Hotel, Parliamentarian Flat (Hotel), new Buea Council Building, and the two presidential residences in Buea.

Other significant projects such as the construction of the cultural village opposite the new grand stand, estimated to cost 350 million Fcfa and the erection of the reunification monument estimated to cost over 750 million Fcfa  are still to be realized, although officials are hopeful that they will come to fruition as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, residents of Buea continue to face water crisis with some neighborhoods such as Bokwango hardest hit. For almost a year now, residents have been trekking long distances daily just to fetch portable water, following CAMWATER/CDE repeated failures to meet their own deadlines to ensure regular water supply.

 The road network of Buea is being improved. But regrettably, the ridge on the over 8km double-lane road in Buea is being scrapped off, despite widespread condemnation by the public that the removal would provoke more road accidents. Officials say the ridge removal is to ensure the security of the presidential motorcade.
Several Buea streets have been lighted, although many residents doubt whether after President Biya must have come and gone, the street lamps will still be lighted.
Clean-up campaigns in Buea have now become more regular.

For their part, the Peter Mafany Musonge-led Southwest Local Support  committee  for  the golden jubilee , last May  4  in Kumba , ended their  fund-raising  by realizing  198 million FCFA ,up  from their  original target of 150 million FCFA. 

 In another twist, historians and constitutionalists who recently converged on Yaounde for a conference-debate on the theme “The case of Cameroon at the UNO,” organized by the Commission in charge of Studies, Conferences and Debates for the 50th anniversary of the so- called Reunification of Cameroon, confirmed that there has been no legal union between the state of La Republique du Cameroun with Southern Cameroons
(First published in The Recorder Newspaper,of Cameroon,May 15,2013)

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