AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY COUNCILLOR DIGHAMBONG ANTHONY MVO, LORD MAYOR OF THE WUM COUNCIL, ON THE OCCASION OF THE HANDING OVER CEREMONY BETWEEN MR. EMVOUTOU BITA BENOIT WILLIAM AND MR.KAMGA CHARLES AS THE OUT GOING AND INCOMING SENIOR DIVISIONAL OFFICERS RESPECTIVELY FOR MENCHUM DIVISION BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH WEST REGION AT THE WUM GRANDSTAND THIS 21ST DAY OF JULY 2017.
Ø YOUR EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF THE N. W.R,
Ø THE SENIOR DIVISIONAL OFFICER FOR MENCHUM DIVISION,
Ø THE DIVISIONAL OFFICERS OF WUM, FURA-AWA, ZHOA AND BENAKUMA
Ø THE LORD MAYORS OF BENAKUMA, FURA-AWA, AND ZHOA
Ø MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT OF THE UPPER AND LOWER HOUSES,
Ø THE PRESIDENT OF THE HIGH COURT AND LEARNED STATE COUNSEL,
Ø DIVISIONAL DELEGATES AND SERVICE HEADS,
Ø LEADERS OF LEGALISED POLITICAL PARTIES,
Ø FONS AND ARDOS,
Ø RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES,
Ø INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ELITE,
Ø DISTINGUISHED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;
It
gives me immense pleasure for rare occasions like this have hardly come my way
in which I have had the opportunity and privilege to welcome all of you to this
land of great hospitality. On behalf of the four Municipalities that make up
this Division of plenty, I heartily welcome not only with these words but with
my heart especially our ever dynamic Governor H. E. Lele L’Afrique Tchofo Deben
Adolphe.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen;
We are
gathered like one family to witness the passing over of the 32nd
Command baton of one of the oldest Division in this Nation. Menchum Division
was created in 1948 founded by the Germans and later colonized by the British
after the First World War. This Division and her hospitable and legendry people
covers a total surface area of 4489Km2 with population 251,998 inhabitants.
The
Division is made up of four Sub Divisions, namely; Furu- Awa, Fungom, Menchum
Valley and Wum that doubles as the Divisional Head quarters. It is a border
Division sharing a very long border with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
Division is endowed with rich volcanic
and luminous soils, encompassed with a favourable climate, forestry and many
tourists sites, such as our famous Menchum falls, undulating Hills, many lakes
like that of Nyos, the exceptional hot springs of Itiaku. The Division is rich
in flora and fauna. We have the famous Bu rice you would not afford to miss the
taste. We are blessed with huge untapped natural needed human resources. A
Menchum man is good by nature, hospitable, peace loving, law abiding and very
sociable, but may easily change from good to bad if pushed to the wall. In
short, we are blessed with huge economic potentials that if well harnessed
could make Menchum an Eldorado in Cameroon.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies
and Gentlemen;
We
sincerely thank you for the countless
visits to this Division which has paid off in many ways amongst which are,
Menchum having the first ever Regional Delegate, and of course the Historic
first ever General for the Division, General Agha Robinson Ndong, who would be
installed tomorrow in Bamenda. We can’t enumerate all here today because by
God’s Grace, we keep trusting in your very sharp pen that, our elephant is in
the pipeline, hopefully in the weeks ahead we shall again be blessed to know
for the first time ever in the history of the present Menchum, how to organise
the reception of a Cabinet Minister, God so willing.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Today
we are sending off Mr. Emvoutou Bita Benoit William after spending four (4)
years, eight (8) months and sixteen (16) days with us. I want to thank you Mr.
S.D.O. for the good moments we shared together, especially those of exercising
your supervisory rule over Councils of this Division as well as the drop in the
persistent farmer-grazier conflicts. You will at least be fondly remembered by
your usual expressing of “Heeh, vous croyez
que”. We however, would hardly forget, as it always sharply brings to our
minds the ugly incident of the burning down of the Military Camp in Wum in
January 2016 by some angry youths, a thing total collaboration would have
avoided. Michael Jordan wrote “Talent
wins games but team work and intelligence wins championship”. It is still therefore our prayer and wish of God’s
richest guidance in your new administrative command unit.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies
and Gentlemen,
It
is with great joy, hope and enthusiasm that I welcome Mr. Kamga Charles as our
32ND Senior Divisional Officer, of course just one less than the age
of Jesus Christ. We are certain therefore, that we are receiving someone today
so closed to Christ. Menchum Division has been fondly and rightfully described
as a nursery for administrators wishing to move to higher heights in their
administrative career. In order to achieve this, President Paul Biya in an
interview on Cameroon Television on February 19, 1987 said “It is not enough to be a
graduate from the Advance School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), but
to cultivate the intellect, to be
abreast
with development, which is the only way in which we can have an administration
that meets the needs and expectations
of the people”. Mr. Senior Divisional Officer for you to therefore
achieve all of these, the panacea shall
be:
· Create a cordial relationship with the local
population.
· Live with your people, by your and for your people.
· Organise skills and help people live together.
· Engage in the fight against the serious Security
threats and curb the rampant cases of robbery, consumption of marijuana, child
trafficking, rape, trading in contraband goods etc. so common within us.
· Give a lasting solution to the long outstanding farmer
– grazer conflict.
· Let your
supervisory rule over Councils not be seen as an arm or domination over the
later but rather as a way of accompanying the Mayors to accomplish the drive
for decentralisation and development.
· Most importantly, work very closely with all and
sundry to better manage the socio – political crisis currently prevailing in
the two Anglophone regions.
I am so confident you would achieve all of these
because in the land of the Bamilikes, I know well of, la tradition de grenier
which states “ceux qui avaient avant la
colonnisation avaient déjà une grande idée de l’épargne et san épargne
pas d’investissement et san investissement pas de progress”. I would go further by sharing with you this wonderful
prayer that also inspired me from Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a former Nigerian
Nationalist and leader. Observing the happenings around him, he cried to God “O God! inspire me with the spirit that I may not be selfish
in seeking for academic honors and thereby forget that my main objective in
life is to make lighter the burden for my fellow man”.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen;
I would not bother you again with a litany of our
problems you already know, but permit me appeal for your usual way of
intervention on our behalf, for effective construction works for the
hydroelectric power project of a dam over river Menchum to begin soonest. This
of course amongst other goodies would enable the nightmare on the Bamenda – Wum
road to be a thing of the past. It is equally our wish that some urgent
solution be put in place to savage the floods that have of recent characterized
three of our four Sub Divisions.
Your
Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is over
eight months today that our national unity is seriously threatened, caused by
the concerns raised by Teachers and the Lawyers trade unions. While
appreciating the Bishops, the Moderator of the P.C.C, the Baptist etc for
already seeing the need for our children to go back to school, I would applaud
the numerous solutions already provided by Government and like in the book of
Mathew 7, 9-10, it says “would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he ask for bread
or would you give a snake when he ask for a fish?”, certainly not our great peace crusader President Paul
Biya. We are confident that the Government will continue to provide lasting
solutions to all these problems. It is therefore, in this note of optimism that
I want to on behalf of this population pledge to you your Excellency, our total
commitment to school resumption in this Division come September 2017.
Distinguished
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Permit me once more thank our distinguished guests who
have travelled from far and near to dignify and magnify this ceremony. Your
presence here is a mark of love for the entire Menchum Division. President J.F.
Kennedy once said “Geography has given us neighbours, History has given us friends,
Economics has given us brothers, what God has put together, let no man
put asunder” let us therefore be more committed to each other in love
and action through prayers, for after
all, all that we have or whom we are today, we didn’t create nor necessarily
deserve, but for sure the joy of the
Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
Long live
the Wum Municipality,
Long live
Menchum Division,
Long live the Minister of Territorial Administration
and Decentralization
Long live Cameroon.
Ndu
Council to Construct Market at Ndu West
"The
construction of Ndu West Market offers a unique opportunity to foster the
growth of local farmers and entrepreneurs, and create 100% affordable sheds and
warehouse," said the Mayor of Ndu Council Bunyui Emmanuel Nyugap "We
are thrilled that the villages of Ntundip, Ngarum and Taku will allow us to
move forward with our plan to rejuvenate a market that will continue to be a
critical community and economic anchor for this neighborhood." According
to information gathered the Ndu West market which is expected to serve the
villages of Luh, Taku, Talla, Ndu, Ngarum, Ntundip and others will be
constructed along the boundary of the three villages. The structure upon
completion is expected to have 32 sheds and a warehouse. Prospects are high at
that the Fon of Ntundip and notables will plant the symbolic tree which
traditionally implants a market this week. At weekend, the Mayor of Ndu and his
1st Deputy, Martin Fon Yembe visited the site to identify the
central point where the fon and his notables will perform the rituals.
It
is expected that the market could be second to Ndu and or third to Sabongari
market in terms of food items. Some of the food items include irish potatoes,
beans, yams, cocoyam, corn etc as well as livestock such as goats, sheep, local
fowls etc. Public opinion holds that this initiative by the council is a
necessary tool for development.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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