The Mayor of Kumba I, Abel Ebako Ndoh, has said his Council has survived numerous petitions written against it at the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance, FEICOM, as it battles to secure a loan for the construction of a new Council Chambers.

Ebako was addressing Councillors and stakeholders on March 13, 2015, during the 2014 administrative and management accounts session of that Council.

According to the Mayor, despite the numerous petitions filed against the Council, the Board of Directors of FEICOM has agreed to give the Council money to construct a befitting Council structure.

It should be recalled that, of the three Subdivisional Councils created in 2007 in Kumba, only the Kumba I Council is yet to construct a permanent Council building.

While enumerating the Councils’ investments in 2014, the Mayor outlined the construction of culverts, grading of streets and the putting in place of a pediatric ward at the Family Planning Unit Hospital, PMI, worth FCFA 70 million and a maternity block worth FCFA 30 million at the Bekeume Health Centre.

All the health structures in the municipality, the Mayor said, have been equipped at FCFA 38 million.

On the educational domain, the municipal authority announced that the Council’s scholarship scheme for students within his municipality is well on course with some FCFA 1 million spent in the last financial year.

Ebako said, at a time when environmental concerns remain vital for tomorrow's generation, the Council, in partnership with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, has planted over 4,700 trees in the Southern Bakundu and Barombi Mbo forest reserves.

Revisiting the business sector, the Mayor said a host of business centres are under construction, while others are already being used, thanks to the Build Operate and Transfer, BOT, concept of development.

CPDM Councillor Challenges Achievements

Despite enumerating the many projects achieved, one of the five CPDM Councillors in the Council, Emmanuel Kwatio, challenged his SDF colleagues for showering praises on the Mayor, forgetting to know that most of the projects are sponsored with money from the Governments’ annual Public Investment Budget, PIB.

Responding to the remark, the supervisory authority, SDO David Koulbout Aman, said there is no problem showering praises on the Mayor because, in some places, the Government sends resources but those in charge fail to implement the projects.

Observing the balance sheet of the Mayor, the SDO expressed worries on the state of most streets in the municipality and the consumption of FCFA 40 million for fuel.

According to the SDO, it is only the population that can grade the Mayor for the projects the Council has realised.

Reacting to the worries raised by the SDO, the Mayor said, in the course of the year, most of the machines used to execute projects were old caterpillars from the City Council, which caused the Council a lot of waste, but promised that in the days ahead, caterpillars from MATGENIE will be used to perfect the streets.

Petition-writing Councillor Absent During Deliberations

Meanwhile, Councillor John Kinge Lysonge, who has been accused of writing a petition against the SDO, was absent from the session. Kinge had been stopped at the door and asked to wait for the Mayor to finish reading his address, but he disappeared from the Council premises and only resurfaced at the end of deliberations.

The administrative and management accounts of the Council showed that, FCFA 339 million was raised as income in 2014, out of a budget of FCFA 701 million and FCFA 337 million spent.