Bamenda I Council Administrative Accounts Session Begins and Ends in Confusion

Fai Cassian Ndi

Confusion, they say is a seed when planted grows very fast to maturity. Seemingly the seed of confusion planted by councilors of the Bamenda I Sub Divisional council has grown and yielded fruits that inhabitants of this municipality will start enjoying. The 2013 administrative accounts session of the Bamenda I Council which was held on April 8, 2014 left nothing to be desired but confirmed the fact that the 31 councilors are a bunch of confused individuals blinded by their egocentric tendencies who would see nothing good in anything except in the form of bread.  During the budgetary session that took place last year, these councilors behaved like nursery school children. Many thought it was because they were just voted into the council and they knew nothing about the council system. However, the confusion has grown to full scale that it has contaminated the technicians of the council including the municipal treasure and the Secretary General.

Matters arising

Ni John Fru Ndi, SDF chairman once said that when a thief steals any of his belongings, he (Fru Ndi) doesn’t go chasing the thief. “What I do is that I usually fold my arms to observe how the thief will use it”, he emphasized. After the last September 30, municipal/legislative elections, the SDF folded hands and has been observing how the CPDM is going to use the Bamenda I Council even though the win was contested and acknowledged obnoxious. The choice of the mayor was not only a problem but generated into division. Cracks were created and everyone suddenly became an invisible to everyone. Confusion took advantage and flourished. What transpired during the April 8, 2014 administrative accounts session was indicative of the confusion that is deep rooted in the Bamenda I Sub Divisional Council under the leadership of Caroline Bih Bongwa. The question as to whether the people of Bamenda I council will regret the choice of their mayor abound high. Her 100 days at the helm of the Bamenda I council would have been flattering yet hampered by the confusion that was sown at the early stage of her being there. At close to six months the achievements of the council are moribund ranging from the setting up and equipping of the civil status registry office, the creating of a website, email address, mini agrpastoral show and grading of some axes of earth road, the mayor has nothing concrete to show after 100 days. As observed by the representative of the SDO (1^st Assistant SDO for Mezam) revenue collection has dropped by over 12.9%. A total sum of 170.358.811 FCFA was collected in 2013 as compared to 195.770.240FCFA for 2012 registering a deficit of 25.411.403 FCFA which clearly indicates that the Bamenda II council would depend solely on external funding if care is not taken, the SDO warned.  

The most intriguing was the presentation of the administrative accounts and the deliberations by the technicians of the council. “Is mathematic or accounting disturbing you?”, the 1^st Assistant SDO questioned the Municipal treasurer as tempers flared over disturbing figures. The unexpected happened when the same councilors rejected the report of the finance committee. At the beginning, confusion settled in when one of the councilors whose name I have just forgotten raised a motion that the Secretary General of the Council should adopt the minutes. Everything happened in a mad rush yet came to a standstill when the SDO discovered that copies of the deliberations were not shared to councilors. It took more than two hours for the five page document to be made available. It was at this juncture that the representative of the SDO threatened for the fourth time to suspend the session. Even the deliberation to contract a loan from FEICOM to construct 20 classrooms was resisted and almost ended up not endorsed. From all indications, development will have to suffer with all the confusion. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)