Workers of the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance (FEICOM), have joined their counterparts nationwide to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee of the body, with a high feeling of success.

Under the distinguished patronage of the Governor of the South West region, represented by the Secretary General, Clement Fon Ndikum, the workers converged on the premises of the Limbe City Council hall, on Monday, December 1. The celebration was themed FEICOM: 40 years at the service of local developments.

Clement Fon Ndikum said FEICOM has every reason to celebrate its 40 years with pride of a job well done. He said the over FCFA 20 Billion collected by FEICOM as Council Additional Taxes CAT have been well managed and has given a positive impact in improving living standards in municipalities.

The SG however said that the institution is expected to do more in the years ahead, especially in the domain of properly following up the award and execution of projects it funds, total commitment of all personnel, elaborate and strategise for the effective collection of CAT and pay key attention to issues of local government.

In a welcome address earlier, the government delegate to the Limbe City Council, Motanga Andrew Monjimba ,said FEICOM as an institution, has distinguished itself in fostering development in the municipality.

He mentioned that the institution has been outstanding in its achievements and realisations these past 40 years, and it has brought utter satisfaction to all stakeholders. “We are not just celebrating 40 years of its existence, but also positive impact, we are celebrating a success story” he said, and concluded that Limbe looks forward to a better working relationship with FEICOM in order to completely transform the city to a distinguished touristic site.

According to the regional chief of FEICOM, Nkweta Margaret, the celebration gives them the opportunity to evaluate their efficiency so far and determine the way forward. After stating the history, values and dynamism of the institution, she said “FEICOM is about stepping into its promised land”.

She equally mentioned that the institution has earned both national and international recognition, which justifies the certification of its services and products by the International Standardisation Organisation ISO 9001 version 2008 “a status which has attracted several international funding bodies such as the ADB, PNDP etc to partner with FEICOM in local development”, Nkweta Margaret emphasised.

Nkweta Margaret explained that FEICOM looks forward to finance more socio-economic projects which are income generating in nature for the councils.

Also, to strengthen ties with its national and international funding partners in a bid to obtain more funds to cope with the upcoming mega projects like municipal stadiums, equipped municipal ambulances for the hospitals, heavy duty equipment pools etc. “On the part of the municipalities, they will be expected to optimise the use of the funding opportunities available in FEICOM”, the FEICOM regional boss said.

Talking on behalf of the United Councils and Cities of Cameroon, UCCC, the regional president, Aboko Patrick ,said FEICOM has helped in the smooth running of councils, training staff etc, thus playing a vital role in councils. He said the institution’s management policy is good because it does not consider the political leanings of councils before supporting them.

Aboko Patrick however said the CAT have witnessed an embarrassing delay in recent times which has slowed down the decentralisation process and urged FEICOM to do more to ensure that the taxes are received on time.

The ceremony also witnessed two exposes, on the relationship between FEICOM and the Fiscal Services of the State for the past 40 years and the perspectives, and the realisations of FEICOM in the South West region, difficulties and perspectives, by the representative of the regional chief of taxes, inspector, Mesumbe Henry and the regional FEICOM chief, Nkweta Margaret respectively.

There was a visit to the exhibition to the stands to see how far FEICOM has gone for the past 40 years and meritorious pupils from various schools were handed prizes, offered by FEICOM.

FEICOM from its effective existence since 2006 in the South West region has funded 148 projects to the tune of FCFA 12.958.071.393 which have touched all the 31 councils of the region. Also, FCFA 18.666.115.069 in terms of Council Additional Taxes as well as Taxes subject to Equalisation has been distributed to the councils and city councils while revenue collected during this period amounts to FCFA 3.086.904.398.

However, according to Nkweta Margaret, some difficulties that have been encountered have been the debts of some councils, inaccessibility to carry out projects in some areas, abandoned projects, low number of personnel and the criteria of distributing CAT, since the figures which were taken since 1987 do not reflect the growing population.

Income generation, revising out-dated funding mechanisms, exploiting new areas, road maintenance and having a partnership agreement with ministry of sports and physical education to build stadiums, etc, will be FEICOM’s focus in the years ahead.