Before becoming MP, Hon Aka Martin Tyoga, who holds a law degree from University of Yaounde and later trained as a teacher, had taught in GTTC Mamfe, served as Divisional Delegate for Public Contracts for Meme and Ndian divisions for several years; had earlier served for eight years as Private Secretary to the Grand Chancellor of National Orders at the Presidency. The MP was interviewed s on June 30 in Buea by Christopher Ambe.
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Question: You were one of the Manyu delegates who attended the Awareness and
Sensitization meetings of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and
Development of the Northwest and Southwest regions (PPRD), which held from June
29-July 3 in Buea and chaired by Minister-Delegate Paul Tasong, who is the PPRD
National Coordinator.
At the opening ceremony, PCC
Moderator Rt.Rev.Samuel Fonki, an elite of Akwaya, strongly appealed to Government
to upgrade Akwaya Subdivision to a division and to significantly enhance its
development. As MP of Akwaya (Manyu II) you have been making the same appeal. How
would you present Akwaya to the public?
Answer: Akwaya subdivision was
created in 1963 alongside with Mbengwi subdivision now Momo Division,Fundong
subdivision now Boyo division,Fontem subdivision now Lebialem Division. Akwaya subdivision has five
court areas viz: Assumbo,Boki,Takamanda Mbulo and Messaga-Ekol , with 99 gazetted
villages. And, Akwaya has maintained this status quo for political, administrative
and developmental reasons.
As MP, I am from Messaga
Ekol court area, the Mayor of Akwaya is from Takamanda and the senator from Mbolu Court area; the
CPDM subsection President from Assumbo and
a former GM of PAMOL and a deputy GM ( who are now of blessed memories)from Boki.
In a nutshell, Akwaya
starts from Baje-Dadi-Bodam kekusem II sharing boundaries with their brothers
of the Boki Local Government in Cross River State( the equivalent of a division…
passing through Obonyi I and II,Bajelegete,Bechere villages with
Oliti villages -sharing boundary in the
north Akwaya with Assumbo court area Ijawbow,Bakinjus Ballin in Messaga Ekol,sharing boundary with
Benue and Taraba states in Nigeria.
On the Cameroon side, Akwaya
shares boundaries with, Menchum valley,Njikwa ,Widikum ,Mamfe Central,Eyumojock
subdivisions.
Akwaya is the oldest and
biggest subdivision in terms of land surface in the Southwest region. As at now
Akwaya has a population of about 130,000 inhabitants.
What is the main occupation of Akwaya people?
The people are mostly
engaged in agriculture. Most people don’t know that Akwaya grows rice and most
is sold in Nigeria. They cultivate groundnuts, cocoa and rear cattle. The only
area in Southwest region that has cattle is Akwaya.We have herds of cattle
(10,000). We also have timber. The oldest specie of gorilla is found in
Akwaya-precisely in Takamanda.
Akwaya is said
to be one of the oldest and largest subdivisions in the Southwest region. Why
do you think it lags behind in development?
The lack of adequate human
capital development and the dire need for good roads are mainly responsible. It
is sad that Akwaya is underdeveloped .Can you imagine that the first secondary
school in Akwaya was created in 1989, whereas the subdivision had been created
in 1963. Today we have just 12
secondary schools. This number is still small considering our population. As at
now,Akwaya has only one district health hospital with very few personnel; very few health centers; no electricity and pipe borne
water except in Akwaya town.. The only tele-center
in Akwaya had since stopped functioning. But each court area needs at least
tele-center.I am in the process of contacting the Minister of Post and
Telecommunication to this effect.
Poor road network is
serious concern for us. It is shameful that the DO passes through Nigeria to get
the subdivisional headquarter. The government made some effort to link Akwaya by
road passing through Northwest region-via Bafut, Befang ,Eshibi-Bawuro Ballin
.We thank the Cameroon government for this alternative road,but since 2012 when
the road was excavated to Akwaya town with no bridges constructed, there has
been no maintenance work. Only the military are trying to use the road now with
their trucks to reach Akwaya.
It is shameful that one
has to pass through Nigeria to reach
Akwaya.
Pipe borne-water is a luxury
in Akwaya.But in Messabga Ekol court area we have our community-built water project;
in Akwaya town, there is pipe borne water, that was built by SATA many years back.
But the other ninety-something villages have no water.
When the Satum bridge was built we thought it
was a way to facilitate development efforts; Unfortunately, we realized it was only intended to exploit
timber. Immediately the timber was exploited they abandoned uncompleted bridges.
How can you talk of meaningful development with roads? Where there are roads development follow.
What are some of the priority areas you want
Cameroon government and or development partners to help develop as a matter of
urgency?
What I am expecting from the Presidential Plan for Reconstruction and
Development (PPRD) and by extension from the Cameroon government) for Akwaya is
firstly the rehabilitation of the road from Baworu to Akwaya, to facilitate the
coming of civil servants to Akwaya.
Secondly, the construction of the Satum-kesham kajifu-Takamanda Road and
the completion of the bridges between Mamfe and Akwa, this will bring the much
needed development in the area.
Thirdly, Akwaya should to be upgraded to a division and the five courts
should become subdivisions. I want to assure you all the divisional officers
who have served in Akwaya have made this need known to the government. The lack
of proper development of Akwaya has made the place to serve as a hideout for
criminals. The socio-political crisis we are facing in the Northwest and
Southwest regions has caused criminals to escape from elsewhere to come and
hide in Akwaya.
You are
advocating for the rapid development of Akwaya, how will such be beneficial to
the Southwest region in particular and Cameroon in general?
. Akwaya
has timber the government can exploit this timber for the good of its citizens.
The Takamanda forest reserve is
the only place in the whole world with special specie of gorillas.This is a
great tourist attraction. We have the kaghegi sanctuary. Apart from that, Akwaya has wild honey with high
nutritional and medicinal values; we have cocoa and rice which are sold in
Nigeria. In addition, It is not advisable to abandon your border localities. Akwaya people want to feel as part and parcel
of Cameroon.
What are the Akwaya elite doing to help
enhance the development of this subdivision?
Akwaya has a cultural and
development Association, which I am in the process of revamping. In order to
boost human capital development, I have given scholarship to one hundred young
people of this area to enroll into various professional schools; I have given
them more than three million FCFA and I can assure you that more than fifty of
them have already registered. I will do
more. I want my constituents to go to professional schools like Public works
school; schools from which they can graduate and be self-employed instead of
looking for jobs.
How is your relationship
with former MPs of Akwaya such Hon.Justice Ayah Paul like?
I have a cordial
relationship with him. Akwaya must be proud to have a person of his caliber.
Hon. Ayah is development-focused and very objective in his approach to issues.
Do you have an appeal
to make to Akwaya natives living and working out of the subdivision and in the
Diaspora?
Honestly, some of them
have been supportive of our schools. I
commend and encourage them. There is no way that you can carry out meaningful
development when there are no means to get the desired things to the people. I
urge Akwaya people wherever they may find themselves to be advocates of peace
and development. Let them continue to get the kind of education that will be
very useful in the development of Akwaya.We started late and so there is that
need to catch up with other subdivisons in terms of development and education.
I want the Akwaya
constituency to know for the first time they have had an MP is nearer them in
terms of finding solutions to their needs.
( This interview appears in The Horizon Newspaper ,Cameroon,of July 7,2020)
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