Chris Mbunwe
10 April 2008
interview
Kampala — The Provincial Chief of Councils for the Northwest, Henry Shey, has said Bamenda City Council has no Government Delegate, as such, any act of Abel Ndeh, former Government Delegate, is considered illegal. According to Shey, Abel Ndeh is not supposed to officiate at any ceremony. In an exclusive interview with The Post on April 1 in Bamenda, the Chief of Councils urged the SDO of Mezam to speed up the creation of a commission to share the assets and liabilities of the Bamenda City Council. He also explained the fate of the dismissed SDF mayors and their councillors. Excerpts: -
What services does the Provincial Service of Councils offer?
The Provincial Service Councils was created as far back as 1977 by a presidential decree. It has been operating, but it would appear my predecessors did not make the service known to the public. The service is under the auspices of the Governor of the Northwest Province. Our service takes care of all the 34 councils in the province.
Every year we come up with a programme for assistance to councils; that is, we assist them wherever they are in difficulties as concerns the text governing councils. We also examine the budget and the administrative accounts of the councils. We also take care of council staff. Formerly, the staff was recruited and their advancements approved only in Yaounde. At our level now, the Governor approves the advancements of council staff from category seven, while the Senior Divisional Officer who is the supervisory authority at the local level, approves from category one to six.
Why is Bamenda called a city council?
The text provided that if you have more than two sub-divisional councils in a place, it should be called a city council. In Bamenda, we have Bamenda I, Bamenda II and III Councils. Then the next decree came changing the appellations of Bamenda I, II, and III to Bamenda sub-divisional councils respectively and finally the government created the Bamenda City Council.
A city council without a Government Delegate?
Yes. We are still expecting appointments of the Government Delegates, but since the other three mayors had won and taken over seats in their various councils, they are operating smoothly because they have budgets that have been approved but the City Council has no budget. There is no Government Delegate yet for Bamenda and the other newly created city councils except Yaounde and Douala.
Then in what capacity is the former Government Delegate to the Bamenda Urban Council, Abel Ndeh, still working?
Abel Ndeh is not supposed to be operating at any ceremonial ground. He is supposed to remain in his house until a Government Delegate is appointed. The person who is supposed to take care of any transition is the SDO. A message from the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation clearly explains what I am telling you.
The Minister's instructions should be strictly respected. If Ndeh is officiating anywhere either at ceremonies or at the council as Government Delegate, he is flouting the law. For now, there is no Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council. So if somebody is officiating he is doing it illegally.
The SDO was expected to have created a commission to share the Council's assets and liabilities between the city and the three sub-divisional councils of Bamenda I, II and III. The 2004 law on decentralisation as relates to council states that when a city is created, within three months maximum, the assets and liabilities should be shared. Since Bamenda City Council was created on January 17, 2008, this commission must have been put in place to share the assets and liabilities of the former Bamenda Council.
Is it true that Minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya has withdrawn Ndeh's signature?
I don't want to say that the Minister has withdrawn his signature. I want to be very clear that the city council that has been created has no councillors and has no budget. It is supposed to have five councillors from the three sub-divisional councils and the mayors of these councils are ex-officio members of the council. So what is he signing when there is no budget, no councillors and no deliberations?
How are Northwest Councils faring, especially the four SDF-run councils whose mayors were dismissed by that party?
Other councils are not faring badly but there are problems with Nkambe, Ndu, Njinikom and Babessi councils where the councillors did not vote their budgets and the Senior Divisional Officers had the right to approve the budgets though they were not debated upon by the councillors.
It is the population of these areas that is suffering because the SDF party has taken the dismissal of the mayors too far. If the SDF followed strictly the text on councils, may be the mayors could have been removed by now, but they took half measures. During the Governor's tour, he and I explained to the population that those who are voted use state laws to operate, it is not when you are already a mayor that your party just comes and removes you anyhow. It does not work that way.
The absence of councillors at the councils is dangerous because the projects on which the councils are operating now might not be checked, and with this situation we do not even know whether they are going to execute those projects because the mayors are not controlled by councillors.
The councillors have boycotted two crucial budgetary sessions; what if they boycott the third session?
As the law stipulates, if they boycott the third session, they would be sent out, and if there are only few councillors that can operate, it means the Minister of Territorial Administration would put in place a committee of seven to manage the council for six months renewable twice and after that, they can call for fresh elections in those council areas before the mandate expires.
What advice will you give to the four troubled councils?
If I were in the shoes of the SDF party hierarchy, I would advise that they should reconcile with themselves and the people instead of insisting that the mayors were already dismissed. In democracy, any councillor can become a mayor.
For now these four who were voted remain mayors until they (councillors) fulfil conditions of the law by coming up with deliberations in council sessions, which will be approved by the highest supervisory authority that is the Minister of Territorial Administration before these mayors are dismissed.
Have you recorded cases of embezzlement in councils?
I have the case of Ndu Council we discovered that about FCFA 7 million was embezzled, but it was not attributed to the mayor. We found out that the municipal treasurer made payments without justification and he was replaced. We have files on embezzlement concerning Andek, Mbengwi, and Fonfuka Councils.
We shall be descending to these councils for control soon. If they are found wanting, they will face the music like what recently happened to the Mayor of Penja who was suspended because of embezzlement.
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