Transformation of Tuba Municipality into a city well on course

 Lord Mayor of the Tubah Municipality, Tanjong Meshongong Martin has declared that the transformation of Tubah into a modern city which was one of his main objectives when he became mayor is well on course.

Lord Mayor Tanjong Martin of Tubah

 He said immediately he was sworn in as mayor he started opening up roads which was an unavoidable first step towards realizing this dream of transforming his municipality from a big village to a modern city. He was speaking in an interview he granted Edev Newspaper recently in his Bambili home.

He however concedes that with the advent of Ghost Towns, it was very difficult to realise many of his projects. “I feared when the year began but I ended up realizing 90% of my ear marked projects. As I stand here, I am proud that my council does not owe salaries to its workers. In the development of my municipality much has been done. If you move round my municipality you will notice that there are no plastic papers around. Last summer holidays I recruited 125 students who brought 550 Kilograms of plastic paper bags. That’s what we are using now and converting into bricks for building.”

He further states that his plans for 2017 were covered and that together with his councilors they had noted that the roads they started bulldozing in 2014 were getting old. This is the reason why one of his aims in 2018 will be to put these roads back in their original state.

The ambitions of Mayor Tanjong Martin are further brought forth in the following declarations. “In order to transform Tubah from a Sub Division to a modern city like I promised to do, there are some things that must be done. When I took over on the 29^th of November 2013, before the 15^th of December I was already dis-enclaving. I had to open roads in the whole municipality not only in Bambili. With the presence of the University, this was needed to open up the area to facilitate movement in Bambili. This past year we constructed classrooms and provided electricity to about a third of the municipality. We did it in Kejomkeku, Kejomketungo, Bambili and Bambui though that of Bambili is not entirely concluded. We keep on subsidizing water organisations like that of Bambui and providing materials like pipes and other accessories that help in the continuous provision of water. My main objective for 2018 is that all roads will be back to normal.”

Mayor Tanjong Martin also extended 2018 Special New Year wishes to the staff of the Tubah Council, the administrators of Tuba, his own close collaborators, his Deputy Mayors, municipal treasurer and his family which he said was always there to support him in all his endeavors.  

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Bamenda III Mayor predicts positive 2018 and declares preparedness for elections

The Lord Mayor of the Bamenda III Municipality, Fongu Cletus has predicted a positive 2018 and declared preparedness of the council and the Social Democratic Front for the 2018 elections. He made this disclosure recently in a press briefing in Bambili.

Lord Mayor Fongu Cletus

Taking a retrospective look at 2017 he said “I think 2017 was a very interesting year as far as the Bamenda III Council is concerned even though a number of challenges came up. A lot was done this year and we have been able to realise some road projects within the municipality and provide water to the population. We have equally been able to assist some areas in the provision of electricity and other social projects. We have equally built bridges, culverts, classrooms and provided assistance to people with special needs.

The Lord Mayor said these projects were realised thanks to the commitment of the municipal councilors, the population and stakeholders in the process of development. He said they would have loved to achieve more but due to the socio political crises affecting certain Regions of the country they could not do more. “These crises have affected us adversely and this is because the population during this period did not pay its taxes” he said.

Harping on the elective exercises that will dominate 2018 Fongu Cletus said “the party to which I belong, the Social Democratic Front is always prepared for elections. Even if the Head of State calls for elections today we will be ready. I am seizing this opportunity to wish the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front His Excellency Ni John Ndi, the Seniour Divisional Officer for Mezam, the Divisional Officer for Bamenda III, His Royal Highness the Fon of Nkwen and all my collaborators a prosperous 2018.” 

 Edev Newspaper: Email: edevnewspapergmail.com: Tel: +237696896001/ +237678401408/ +237669542467

2018 Elections in Cameroon

“Transparent elections can’t take place with Oligarchy in power”

Barrister Fih Davidson, President, Tiko Lawyers Forum. 

What do you think were the peak moments of 2017?

Barrister Fih Davidson

2017 in the history of this country is a year that will never be forgotten. It is a year during which the Anglophones caused the history of this country to be rewritten. The historical facts of the country had been twisted by some individuals to suite their interests. It is a year that the Anglophones stood out strong and made Cameroonians to know the real facts about the history of their country. It is during this year that many Cameroonians came to know that Southern Cameroons was a state with full status like any other state. It is a year in which Anglophone Cameroonians decided to regain the status of a state which they already had. They came out strong to claim these rights calling for a restoration of their state. They came out as one and decried their rights that had been trampled upon. This cry for restoration had no answer from the authorities. Because of 2017 Cameroon will never be the same again. 

People expected much from the end of year speech of the President and Anglophones expected something concrete to be said in the direction of solving the present stalemate…

I know the authorities that are ruling us and I cannot deceive you that I was expecting anything from President Paul Biya’s End of Year speech. It’s an Oligarchy that is ruling the country. They have clung on to certain prerogatives and rights. There will never be any alteration at the helm of the state and a few individuals are lording it over the entire nation. They don’t want to listen to any other reasonable idea and have fashioned the army in a way that suites them. Once there is nothing that touches on the security of the state then there is no problem. The clamouring by Anglophones for the restoration of their statehood has embarrassed them and we know from all the memoranda and all the petitions that have been written, be it from political parties or from the defunct consortium, the authorities in Yaounde have had no answers to them. This is simply because the creation of the State of Southern Cameroons means the end of that dictatorship. 

Apart from the Anglophone issue, what other issues do you think were not addressed or were only partially touched?

The whole country is rotten. There are no roads and the President did not address the issue. The Private Sector is dead, he did not address it. How can we host the Nations Cup without infrastructure? The Railway System is dead and he said nothing about it. We have to host the event in a year and this year has equally been declared the year of all elections in Cameroon. This means about four or five elections will take place within the year. This is not possible. An election cannot take place in a country where there is no peace and where there is war on many fronts. There is war in the North, war in Southern Cameroons and instability in the East as result of the situation in Central African Republic. 

The President once more reiterated the confidence he had in the people he chose to constitute the multi-cultural and Bilingualism Commission. What do you make of it?

The President knew very well that the commission was just a farce. There is no legitimacy here. That commission which was made up of a few hand-picked people has nothing to do with a majority of Anglophones. The head of that Commission Senator Musonge knows very well that the people have rejected him. He knows this himself and has remained in Yaounde doing nothing. The only thing that has been done is the fat budget that has been voted and placed at their disposal. They have been in their cozy offices in Yaounde since the creation of that commission.

You are at the head of Tiko Lawyers Forum, one of the most buoyant groups of legal practitioners in Anglophone Cameroon. What message do you have for them?

I know there is a lot of frustration because over the years we have not had transparent and fair elections in Cameroon and there will be no transparent and fair elections if the oligarchy remains in power. I want to congratulate my colleagues particularly here in Tiko for they set the ball rolling and a lot has been achieved. It is not the translation of OHADA which was just that spark that was needed. I thank my colleagues for having opened the eyes of English Speaking Cameroonians. Things will never be the same again in this country and I call on Cameroonians to be calm and English Speaking Cameroonians in particular need to be very focused in the struggle to restore their statehood. Things cannot happen through elections with the oligarchy in place. The electoral landscape has been fashioned in such a way that they can win elections even for the next seven years.

Interviewed By Francis Ekongang Nzante

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“The Anglophone Crises is degenerating into a civil war”

Vice National Chairman of the SDF.

The Vice National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, Josua Ossih has declared that the Anglophone Crises in Cameroon is degenerating into a Civil War. He was speaking on Sunday January 14 at the Ntarikon Palace in Bamenda during the National Executive Committee Meeting of the party. 

Joshua Ossih

He said the party was passing through very tricky moments now because it was preparing for an elective convention in the days ahead. “There is the alarming situation of the Anglophone crises which is degenerating into a civil war since the President declared as he came out of the plane that the country was in a civil war.”As a leading political party, he said the party was preoccupied with this tendency for the President to declare war on his citizens adding that this occupied a reasonable part of debates of the party during the meeting.

 Harping on the socio-economic situation of Cameroonians which he said was very preoccupying, Joshua Ossih said 2018 was going to be a very difficult year for Cameroonians. “We deliberated upon this and arrived at conclusions on how to face the situation.”

On the situation of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria he said “we didn’t arrive at any resolutions on the Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria but their situation is very preoccupying and it is indeed scandalous that a rich country like Cameroon which was very peaceful in 1982 has been reduced to a poorly governed dictatorial regime riddled with civil war in 35 years with refugees in a foreign country. One of our party officials in the area visited these refugees and noticed that the situation of these Cameroonians was precarious. We are going to carry out measures to ameliorate the conditions of these refugees.”

Cameroon he said was a sinking sheep and “for the first time in our history people are fleeing their country to another country. Parents don’t know how to feed their children and Cameroonians don’t want to register on the electoral register because they have no confidence in the future. The Anglophone crisis was largely debated and the socio political climate was equally a major preoccupation during this NEC meeting. A dictator has declared war on his people and these are all very preoccupying issues. We even have doubts on the capacity of this regime to continue running this country. It is in these challenging moments that SDF is holding an elective convention in a couple of weeks and we are fine tuning preparations towards that convention. We will be having a final meeting in the coming days to take a final decision on the convention.”

Meantime, the Secretary General of the SDF Party disclosed that the convention of the party was going to take place on the 22nd, 23^rd and the 24^th of February and emphatically stated that no effort was being spared to make sure that the convention took place as scheduled.  

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