Revenue collection in Konye Council Meme Division, Southwest Region has been suspended due to the disappearance of FCFA 4.6million.

The suspension is contained in a Prefectural Order recently signed by the Senior Divisional officer, SDO for Meme Koulbout Aman David.

According to article 2 of the Order, "revenue from cocoa shall be implemented in the Councils' offices or the local market as this suspension shall be lifted only after a meeting by the SDO, the Mayor of Konye and other stakeholders".

Genesis of the crisis

The Post gathered that, after the September 30, 2013, elections that saw the election of Mayor George Musima Lobe, a contractor, Isreal Kombe visited the Mayor with a supposed complementary card from the Meme SDO which carried the inscription “see the mayor of Konye".

Kombe is reported to have pressured the Mayor to give him the contract on revenue collection, claiming that the order was coming from the supervisory authority.

It is also alleged that, when the Mayor visited the SDO's cabinet, he was told that the decision for the contract to be given to Kombe was coming from the cabinet of the Southwest Governor in Buea.

Later on, Mayor Musima is said to have drafted a contract for revenue collection between the Konye Council and Bau Mani Bauk I Enterprise represented by Kombe. The drafting was reportedly done in October 2013 and was endorsed by the SDO in November 2013.

According to the terms of the contract, Kombe was to be paying FCFA 200,000 into the council's coffers per week.

It is alleged that, Kombe started respecting the terms of the agreement, but later on, payments into the council's coffers became irregular amounting to FCFA 4.6million.

Mayor Musima, The Post learnt, one day met revenue collectors assigned by the contractor at a checkpoint in Dikomi and requested to see the tickets being used, but was surprised that, the (tickets) were different from those issued by the Council to the contractor.

The Municipal Authority is reported to have left the scene with the tickets promising to unmask who was defrauding them of millions. As confusion waged on, the prefectural order was issued suspending revenue collection on the roads. An expert in council management explained to The Post that, according to the financial regime of 2014, revenue collection is reserved for council staff not contractors.

When contacted, Mayor Musima promised to call back for comments on the situation, but never did.