Buea Council Highly Indebted But Mayor Ready For Breakthrough

Mayor of Buea David Mafani Namange 

By Christopher Ambe

The Mayor of Buea, David Mafani Namange, last week, disclosed that upon assumption of office he met in the Buea Council coffers a ridiculously small sum of 228,000fcfa whereas the Council was highly indebted to the tune of over 1.7 billion Fcfa.

 He regretted that he met an overstaffed council. “We met a work force of 318 satff,of whom the employment situation of some was unclear and some on the wage bill were simply ghost workers.

Mafani Namange said he met council workers who had toiled for months without salaries, even as the immediate past late Mayor Ekema Patrick-led Council management had christened and prided Buea as the “City of Excellence.”

But a determined Mayor Mafani Namange, who has already started  settling the huge  council’s  debts, said  his leadership  is bent on forging ahead with the socio-economic development of Buea, which has been re-christened the “Town of Legendary Hospitality”, a slogan  adopted  and used by former two-term Mayor of Buea,Charles Mbella Moki.

The mayor, who was speaking, July 22, on the occasion of the First Ordinary Session of Buea Council, revealed that, “taking over office the financial situation of the council we met was 228,000 francs CFA;we met a debt of 1.202,071,858 [owed ]the Taxation Department, 120 million owed National Social Insurance Fund,152 million owed  HYSACAM; over 23 million debt as sitting allowance arrears for Buea  Council Tenders Board; about 220 million owed the Council Support Fund(FEICOM).”

He added, “We equally met many third party contracts with little or no financial benefits to the council, especially as concerns advertisement, thorough fare, and the management of the Mile 17 Motor Park.”

The Mayor told the session, which was convened for the examination and adoption of Buea Counci’s Administrative, Management and Stores Management Accounts for 2019 and chaired by the First Assistant SDO for Fako that his leadership had “partially paid 30 million francs to Taxation Department,20 million francs to HYSACAM,seven million francs  to Tenders Board and 22.7 million francs to FEICOM”

 Mafani Namange said  contracts had already been awarded for the execution of some projects,viz:streect-lighting of Mile 14 (Dibanda) to Buea Town through the Regional Hospital Annex to Mountain Hotel ;the establishment of boreholes  in Great Soppo, Molyko  and Boduma;the grading of the Mount Camel Street at Mile 18,Chief Street Bomaka and Sandpit( from Yadikwa Junction to Eta Palace residence);the construction of an agricultural post in Bova and the provision of social assistance to the needy in the community. He said several other projects such as the Mosaka pipe-born water project were underway.

The Buea Council, it emerged, had been at the forefront of the fight against Covid 19- with  the sensitization of denizens and provision of wash hand kits ,10000 face masks, disinfecting schools within the municipality and administrative services.

The council created a food market at Great Soppo in order to reduce congestion in the markets.

The mayor attributed the realization of some projects so far to   the support of the Joseph Dion Ngute-government and the population.

Convinced that more development would come when there is peace, the mayor invited Cameroonians of goodwill to heed President Paul Biya’s call for lasting peace in the Northwest and Southwest Regions

“ It is not at this point when we have the opportunity  to enjoy the benefits  of decentralization and those of special status which are catalysts for local development that we should afford to gamble with our love for peace and our father land”, noted Mafani Namange.

“We shall not relent in our efforts to provide social amenities and to ensure the cleanliness of our municipality while putting up a fierce fight against urban disorder especially in the transportation and building construction sectors”

 Despite the numerous challenges facing the Council, the mayor was very hopeful.

 “We have reasons to be hopeful; hopeful because we have identified our shortcomings, hopeful because we have councilors with a wide range of experiences who are united in purpose, in their vision and mission to leave Buea a better place than we met it; yes, hopeful because we have the local administration and the Government on our side, hopeful because we have a leader full of experience in the person of H.E. President Paul Biya;but above all, hopeful because we enjoy the grace of God Almighty.”

 The 2019 budget under review stood at two billion five hundred million (2.500, 000,000) francs CFA. The revenue realized was 1.5 billion francs while expenditure stood at 1.4billion, giving an excess in revenue over expenditure to 117.4million; the realization rate was 59.7%

The drop in revenue and expenditure in the 2018 from the 2019 administrative account was mostly as a result of the socio-political crisis that ravaged the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon.