By Fai Cassian
 |
| Balick Awah (middle) flanked by Tamukong Roland (left) |
The mayor of Bamenda II Sub Divisional
Council, Balick Awah Fidelis has been honoured again by World Echoes. The award
which was handed to Bamenda II mayor during a fun-filled award ceremony at weekend was another
mark of recognition to grease the landmark achievements of the mayor of Bamenda
II Council. The euphoria was total when the Bamenda II
mayor was named “Best All Round Mayor of The Year”. The award ceremony which
took place at the Bayelle Catholic Hall in Bamenda was described by
impressionists as one of the highest crowd puller in the North West Region. Before
handing the award to Bamenda II mayor, Tamukong Roland, Publisher of World
Echoes described him as the most development oriented mayor and true council
manager. He said other mayors could learn from the Balick exemplary successes
to change lives in their municipalities.
This is so because Balick Awah has been
able to delineate that politics is development and that alleviating poverty and
miseries in rural areas is precedence of priority that makes politics and
development bedmates.
Life, they say is a combination of
trials and tribulations but great people look beyond trials and tribulations.
They look beyond the horizon that appears to be the end of the world and see
other opportunities that nobody imagines can exist. And their interested act of
dreaming, acting and realizing the dreams have positive multiplier effect on
society. This is because they are born with talent and to make things happen,
they combine talent with hard work and determination. The very essence of rural
development is that you need to have vision since you can’t blow an uncertain
trumpet. Nevertheless, innovation distinguishes between a great politician and
a charlatan.
Balick Awah Fidelis has proven beyond reasonable doubts to be a great
developer. While at the helm of the Bamenda II Council he has taken development
to the doorsteps of his people with the “Small Money Big Project Initiative”
with councilors. But unlike ordinary visionaries who see far and remain on
their original position, Mayor Balick does not wait on the spot for things to
happen for his municipality. As a great lobbyist, he lobbied and obtained
financial support from FEICOM, PNDP, GP DERUDEP and other partners in
development to achieve his vision. The most interesting thing about this
innovative mayor voted by readers of World Echoes is found in the knack that he
has rumbles of serious innovative ideas that have kept afloat all development
initiatives. For these reasons, Mayor Balick is succeeding where others have
fumbled, stumbled and tumbled over.
Rudyard Kipling, one of the finest
English writers once said that “if you can keep your head when all around you
are losing theirs and if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat the
two the same, yours is earth and everything that is in it”. This is a
straightforward reality and in fact there is no doubt that Rudyard Kipling had
this inspiration from the obstacles and barriers we often crush to get to
prominence. In our contemporary society this statement could only be referred
to one person, Mayor Balick.
What is important about this award
winning mayor is that he is innovative, down to earth and fertile in
expedients. He falls within the ranks of the new breed of politicians born with
extra abilities to surmount all sorts of barrier to emerge successful. If we go
by Albert Einstein who declared that genius is 1/10 inspiration and 9/10
perspiration, Balick is a genius. This means that for somebody to be termed a
genius that person must be a workaholic. In this light, Balick Awah merits to
be mentioned first among development luminaries if not the story of North West
politicians will remain unfinished. What is so interesting about this pragmatic
mayor is that he has done extraordinary things in a very common way.
If has become a celebrity it
is because he is doing extraordinary things and he is entering history books in
great names: Meet him for a discussion then you will discover you have met an
honest intellectual. The courage and the frankness he expresses tell you that
he was naturally born a workaholic. It is this frankness, hard work and
determination that have made him the most admired man of all men in action.
The Great Politician
John Quincy Adams says that if your
actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you
are a leader. Balick is a politician with exceptional leadership qualities. He
has served the Social Democratic Front in various capacities. He is being
remembered as one of the most vibrant District Chairman the SDF ever produced
in Bamenda II. He planted the SDF in almost all the homes. Being a
great support of Ni John Fru Ndi and the SDF, Balick has distinguished self as
a developer and career politician. In Mankon, they say he is the litmus test of
what a politician ought to be. And since the final test of a politician is that
he/she leads the young as their role model, Balick is actually youth
emancipator who doesn’t talk about development politics in speeches but puts
them into practice. In getting to where he is today and especially excelling in
local politics, he toiled laboriously to transform vision into concrete
reality. That is why today he is building common frontiers for all segments of
society. In doing this, he followed the principle outlined by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow that ‘heights by great “men” reached and kept were not obtained by
sudden flight but, while their companies slept, they were toiling upward in the
night’.
Development
Oriented Mayor
Those who have had the pains to visit
the Bamenda II Council chamber would agree, Balick Awah is an exemplary man.
The newly constructed edifice which was commissioned by the Minister of
Territorial Administration and Decentralization is the best in the region. Even
FEICOM Director was flattered the day of the inauguration to the point that he
described Mayor Balick as a true manager in council activities. Minister Rene
Sadi even advised other mayors to learn from Balick’s dynamism and workaholic
nature. A major challenge in Cameroon is accountability and transparency. But
Balick Awah on the contrary is hailed for being accountable, transparent and
result oriented at the helm of Bamenda II Council. From Mankon to Mbatu down to
Nsongwa, and Chomba, every community in the municipal has something to be proud
of. For being a mark of difference in the fight against poverty, Balick’s
legacies are many ranging from the provision of potable water to construction
of classrooms, market sheds, slaughter houses, community halls, health centers,
farms to market roads, etc.
In fact World Echoes was absolutely
right to have given him that distinction given that he has proven exceptionally
that his being there at the helm of the Bamenda II Council was by merit and not
a favour. He established a program aimed at supporting local initiatives and
projects that are geared towards sustainable development. From all practical
demonstrations, he is going into history books in big names: the development
luminary, promoter of sustainable development, Best Mayor etc…Ever since he
became mayor, the administrative account of the council has registered sanity
and has also risen.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
