Reconstruction of NW & SW is part of the Peace Building Process- Paul Tassong

By Francis Ekongang Nzante 

Tassong Paul, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions has declared that the project is part of the Peace Building Process in the crisis riddled Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. He made this declaration on Monday June 22nd in Bamenda during a Working Session marking the beginning of an Awareness  and Sensitization Campaign on the Project. This campaign according to the National Coordinator Tassong Paul, is aimed at reaching out to the Beneficiary Populations and other actors in the field.

Paul Tassong Received in Bamenda by the Governor

Highlight was placed on all the reconstruction activities envisaged, the processes and mechanisms for the implementation of the plan, the methods of organisation and support for the various beneficiaries of the plan and ensuring an ownership of the plan by the various beneficiaries.

Speaking during the session marking the beginning of the campaign, the City Mayor of Bamenda Achobong Paul laid emphasis on the deplorable state of roads in Bamenda paying particular attention to the road at the entrance into the Northwest Region from Babadjou. He also drew attention to the deplorable state of teachers in the Private Sector whom he said had gone for years without salaries due to the Anglophone Crisis. The City Mayor equally drew attention to the complete lack of infrastructure for Sports and Leisure. In this vein, he made mention of PWD Football Club Bamenda, recently declared Champions of Cameroon. He said it wasn't normal that the team which would be representing Cameroon at the CAF Champion's League had no good no stadium for training. Attention was drawn to these and many other pertinent issues by the City Mayor.

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions Tassong Paul called on those in attendance whom he said represented the people of the region to truthfully present the problems of the Region so that at the end of the Awareness and Sensitization Campaign an appropriate report would be presented to the Prime Minister, Head of Government.

Tassong Paul said due to the sufferings of the populations of the Northwest and the Southwest Regions for the past four years, the Head of State had decided to put in place a couple of measures to make sure that minimum level of stability was achieved. The first thing that was done he said was an Emmergency Humanitarian Plan which saw aid being given to victims of the crisis.

The next step that was taken he said was that of Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintergration of former Separatist Fighters into society.  This, Tassong Paul said was followed by the stop of court proceedings against some 289 people convicted in relation to the crisis adding that after the National Dialogue some 333 detainees were released. 

Tassong Paul said it was on the basis of feedback from the National Dialogue that a draft for the Reconstruction of the Northwest and Southwest was drawn. The President after approving the draft called it the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest.

The objective of the plan Tassong Paul said, was to restore the pride of Cameroonians in the two regions by building the values that support community life. 

The Presidential Plan he further said was structured around three core pillars which he said were the promotion of Social Cohesion, the Rehabilitation of Basic Social Infrastructure and the Revitalization of the Economy. The plan he said was the first phase of a more global development plan for the Structural Transformation of the two regions in the next ten years in order to place them on the path of sustainability. 

Reacting to the disbelief and doubt of many that reconstruction could not take place without without peace, Minister Paul Tassong said the Presidential Plan was simply a process towards peace. He said reconstruction would start from more peaceful and secured areas before moving to the more unstable areas. He said People Centered Conflict Resolution indicated that Humanitarian Aid was a sign of precariousness and people could not live on it forever. "Suffering should not become a way of life" he said. The situation he said had turned the hard working people of the two regions into beggars and had to be brought to a stop.

In attendance at the beginning of the Awareness and Sensitization Campaign were the Gorvernor of the Northwest Region, the Seniour Divisional Officers of the seven Divions of the Region, the Mayors, Traditional Leaders and Development Stakeholders from all the Divisions.

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