Anglophone Senators promise blunt exposure of dying people in NW & SW

By Francis Nzante

Senators from the two Engish speaking regions of Cameroon have expressed a firm resolve to bluntly spell out the crying and dying among Cameroonians in the North West and South West Regions. This stance was most perfectly spelled out in the words of Senator Kinyan Nyang Georges, one of the seven SDF Senators who wore senatorial sashes on Wednesday May 2. Hear him, “we will be blunt in the way we tell the world that people are crying and dying in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.” He was speaking recently in Yaounde shortly after the sash wearing ceremony. 

Senator Nyang Kinyang Georges from Bui

A cross section of senators from the NW and SW irrespective of their party lines have acknowledged the terrible twist the Anglophone Crises have taken and have promised to use the senate as a medium to draw attention to the problem.

 The young Senator from Bui Division, Barrister Nyang Kinyang Georges of the SDF said “at the moment we have tears in our eyes and the challenge is so big. I know that this mandate that God has given is for me to make a contribution to the Senate of this nation, a contribution that is based on justice to fight corruption in this country. Mine will be a contribution that will be geared towards putting food on every table and one that will wipe tears from the eyes of my brothers and sisters of the Northwest and Southwest Regions. We believe strongly that God will grant the Head of state wisdom and the will to stand this challenge and solve this problem once and for all to make us live as one and as brothers and sisters.”

Senator Ajuoh Ngam Honore from Boyo

Senator Barrister Ngam Honore from Boyo Division said it was rather unfortunate that the crises kept escalating despite calls for inclusive dialogue which is yet to take place. “I don’t know why our government is so resistant to dialogue because dialogue is inherent in our African Culture. If you look at our traditions, people used to gather under the trees to discuss village problems. That’s why I am so embarrassed that our government is so resistant to dialogue. I just want to seize this opportunity to say that dialogue is unavoidable and without it there will be no way forward to achieve peace in our country.”

Senator Nkeze Emilia who was elected 3^rd Vice President of the Senate and was  List Head of the SDF doesn’t deviate in any way from the general trend of promises and proposed ideas of her peers. This lady who in the words of Hon. Audu Mbaya Victor is specially marked out for leadership assembled thousands of Cameroonians from different parts of the country and symbolically reached out to them with her warmth and message of love as the way forward for Cameroonians.

Senator Mbella Moki Charles of the CPDM from Fako regretted the state of affairs in the South West and North West Regions and reiterated the need for an all inclusive dialogue to sort out the quagmire. Any peaceful and long lasting solution could only come through dialogue between all concerned parties. It was high time he insinuated that such an encounter takes place.

Another senator and house hold name from the Northwest Region Regina Mundi of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement CPDM and one of those appointed by H.E. President Paul Biya said “If we put our hands together and work in peace for the development of our Regions then things will work. We can achieve a lot. There is work ahead and it’s not a joking period. Maybe we have been relaxing but the real work is beginning now.” 

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Infrastructural Development is one of our main preoccupations in Nwa

 –Lord Mayor

Dr Ngomfe Loma David Moloh, Lord Mayor of Nwa Council, hails from Luz in the Fumteh Clan and has worked as chief Medical Officer in many hospitals around the country. He was one of the earliest District Medical Officers that were posted to Kumbo and has also worked in Nkambe and Ndu in the same capacity. He became Mayor of Nwa since April 6, 2000 when he was District Medical Officer for Ndu District Hospital. In this interview by Francis Ekongang, the Lord Mayor states that his main preoccupations are Education and infrastructure.

Considering that you had a wonderful career as a Medical Doctor, what inspired you to get into politics?

That’s an interesting question. In fact this same question was asked me by an old woman in the village. She said when I was in Nkambe she came consulting and was always happy with the attention and care she received. In my absence she said when she went for consultation she complained that she couldn’t get the attention she needed. She then asked me why I had abandoned the hospital to work as a mayor. I told her to accompany me to GHS Luz. There are actually three main buildings in the school. I asked her if she knew who had constructed any of buildings and she indicated one of the buildings that had been constructed by the PTA and indicated another one constructed by the council. Then I asked if she knew the cost of each of the buildings. The cost of a building was 15 million FCFA. I then told her that if I came here as an elite and they were asking people to donate for the construction I would not give more than 500.000 FCFA. The fifteen million which had constructed the building had been made available simply by the signature of the mayor I explained to her. I then told her that my main reason of leaving medical practice to become mayor was simply because the Sub Division was completely underdeveloped. Many politicians from this area spend time concentrating on self aggrandizement and have hardly ever given a glance at the area.

Can you shed light on the history of Nwa Sub-Division? 

This Sub-Division was created in 1963 with three clans; the Fumteh Clan, the Yamba Clan and of course the Mbaw clan but all along the Sub Division has been having municipal administrators only from the Yamba Clan. Fortunately or unfortunately the Mbaw Plain is the most fertile and the richest part of the sub-division. Because it is a plain, most people are doing their farming there and that is therefore the most developed part of the municipality. The hilly Yamba area is essentially good for animal rearing. Most of the Yamba people have moved down to the Mbaw Plain to engage in farming. For some reasons the road could not get to the Fumteh area which is nearer the wimbum land and the resources in the area have remained untapped.

How has the influence of the Social Democratic Front and the ruling CPDM party influenced politicking in the area?

You will be surprised that for about 55 years that is since 1963, I am the only person from Fumteh to have risen to any reasonable position in the council. Most of the administrators have come from one clan; the Yamba Clan. From 1963 to 1967 it was Honourable Yoh who came from Luz and since then no one has come from that area. From the Mbaw Plain there was Honourable Mboya in the fifties and since then no administrator has ever come from Mbaw so the political scene had been dominated by the Yambas up to the time I took over. Coming to the SDF and the CPDM since 1996 the SDF controlled the council up to 2007. I am unable to see a single building they ever built anywhere. The only thing I saw that they supported is the bridge between Sih and Ndoyadji. I don’t see anything that they did, not even a latrine to show for their stay in the council. With the CPDM I think I changed the face of the council in Nwa. Where we are sitting is in a magnificent building and it is the first of its kind in Nwa Sub-Division. Nobody should say it was in those days. In the days that SDF was in control here, town halls were being built.  It was when the CPDM came in that the road from Gom to Nwa was done and we are now able to pass through Gom from Nwa. For 11 years, nothing was done and despite all that is being done, many villages remain enclaved. They may say that at the time the setup was not decentralized but there was the additional council tax which was 26 million FCFA and now they are giving us about 40 and something million FCFA. At least you should show us one thing which was done with 26 million except the bridge in Sih and this came with support from the Ndoyadji people. They have testified to me and if you get there they will testify to you.

How satisfied are you with regards to meeting up with your aspirations as mayor?      

I always tell anybody who cares to know that if you want to improve upon the life of a person you educate that person and he will eventually use his senses to improve upon his own life. I therefore took education as my first priority. When I came, children were reading under trees. We have been able to build at our own standard however and using a participatory approach more than 20 primary schools. Today we have more than 60 support staff for our primary schools and out of this number 40 have been trained at the Baptist Teacher Training College BTTC Ndop to become Grade one Teachers.

Do you have a message for your people?   

 I want to tell the municipality that one of the reasons why we have not been lifted to the level of a Division is the complete absence of infrastructure in this Sub Division especially in Nwa. That is why infrastructural improvement has been one of my main preoccupations. To realise this, I have allocated parts of the forest as free land for any elite who is prepared to come home and construct. Once we have the buildings, Nwa will be uplifted.    

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“Widikum has become a battle ground between Military and ADF” –Lord Mayor

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

The Lord Mayor of the Widikum-Boffe Council Tayo Denis Aghem has declared that “Widikum has become a battle ground between the military and what many people call the Ambazonia Defense Forces” and that as a result, the populations have deserted their homes. He was speaking during the joint Widikum-Boffe council session for the presentation of the 2017 Administrative Accounts and update of the Council Development Plan on Wednesday April 25^th 2018 at the Council Hall in Widikum.

Mboh Barnabas Petiangha in speech while Mayor looks on

The session was rendered stormy to say the least by the confrontational stance taken by Mboh Barnabas Petiangha, the Divisional Officer for Widikum and Tayo Denis Aghen, Lord Mayor of Widikum-Boffe Council. The set up was rendered more eerie by the quasi deserted Widikum Municipality with its empty streets and sealed up buildings.

Reacting to the request from the Project Committee and from many other quarters within the council that bike riders should be permitted to work between 7 am and 4 pm, Mboh Barnabas Petiangha, Divisional Officer of Widikum said for any structure to improve, people had to continuously learn. He further said the Council was rated last in the Northwest Region by PNDP classification. This was viewed by the mayor and the councilors to mean they had not learnt anything and that the council was still being poorly managed.

Tayo Denis Aghen, Mayor of Widikum

The DO said bikes should be registered and that it was on the bases of the number presented to the Governor of the Northwest Region Adolfe Lele L’Afrique that permission could be granted. Commenting on the tense relation between the military and the population and the complete breakdown of confidence in the military by the population due to casualties following deadly confrontations, he pushed the responsibility to councilors calling on them to convince the population that the military was there for their protection and not the other way round.

Lord Mayor Tayo Denis Aghen on his part stated categorically that “Widikum-Boffe Council was not the last but among the last and our position was praise worthy considering the problems that we had.” Tayo Denis Aghen said such a comment from the DO was uncalled for since it referred to a particular time in the past and did not seem to take into consideration the fact that much had been done along the line to bring to justice individuals who were responsible for the financial imbroglio of the council. Such utterances he said were inspired by bad fate and could not be condoned at such sensitive times when every hand was needed on deck to push the municipality forward.

Tayo Denis Aghem summed it up in the following manner; “Everything went on well because we now have a seasoned Municipal Treasurer who replaced the former one. His accounts have been very administrative, very technical and straight to the point. Now things are moving on very well.”

The President of the Widikum Fons Union HRH Menti Ignatius Wancho said the session had taken two days with the first day dedicated to a detailed study of everything that had to be done on the day of the session its self. This was to make sure that things moved fast on the day of the session itself for purely security reasons. The council has been moving smoothly and this time we don’t suspect any embezzlement. The local Administrator who represented the SDO didn’t seem to be aware of this arrangement and it resulted in a little hitch at the tail end of it. We call on the administration to address the situation so that normalcy should return to Widikum.”   

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Bui Women urged to be prepared to get into Parliament

By Francis Ek Nzante Lenjo

Princess Mbinglo Maxceline, CPDM Section President for Bui 1 A and Principal of GBHS Kimbo has called upon women in Bui Division to be girding their loins to get into parliament during this elective year. The politician cum educationist said among other things that women should not only keep voting for others but should start thinking about getting into office themselves. She made this call on Thursday April 19 during a press briefing in her Kumbo office.

Mbinglo Maxceline: WCPDM Section President Bui 1 A

She said despite her lengthy educational trajectory which took her from her native Kumbo to Bamenda and eventually Yaounde, she remained attached to the culture of her roots and committed to the development of her place of origin.

The Section President who passed through the then University of Yaounde which now is University of Yaounde 1 before attending the Higher Teacher Training Institute ENS in Yaounde said her determination and poise came from her background. Her inspiration she said came from her mother. “There was one day she told me that my father on his dying bed said any of his son or daughter who struggles will always have something to do and will always succeed in life. That I didn’t forget and it gave me that desire to succeed.”

As an ambitious woman she didn’t fail to react to the fact that society was suffering from the effects of male chauvinism. In this direction she said the Cameroonian Government was really trying to fight against a completely male dominated society. “If you move to parliament you will see that the number of women have increased and in the senate the number is growing gradually. I call on women to always take up the challenge. If you don’t start you can never get to the finish. There is no smooth path to life. There are always stumbling blocks and you must be ready to ride on.”

Another ingredient that has contributed to her political orientation is the nature of society in which she grew. She explains that in her childhood she used to sit in the Palace Courtyard to listen to how judgment was passed traditional. “One time, something pricked me because there was a woman who wanted to divorce from her man. Traditionally she came with the children and she was told to give the children to the husband’s father that she could not take care of the children.” The decision baffled me and from that moment I decided to take a direction that would help me to change the plight of the woman and help the society as well.”

While acknowledging the fact the way you relate with people can sometimes take precedence over the party in which you militate and thus affect the attainment of your political aspirations, she cautions that there is always need to belong to a political party structure. She however concedes that though someone may belong to a political party an individual always has his or her own views on how a party can operate. “There are people who are born developers and those who are task motivators and those who are task handlers and so on.”

Mbinglo defines development as change in a positive direction and it should have positive effects on human beings or on nature. “I don’t believe in dictating solutions to people but rather that people can sit as a family and look for solutions to their problems.”

“We all need to put our hands on deck as a family and do something for Bui but I can’t say that personally I can do something for Kumbo.”

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