Biya Creates Tech College in Kumba, SW

President Paul Biya has created a technical teachers’ training college in Kumba, weeks after he paid what’s been called an unrewarding visit to the South West.

The college came amid public disapproval of the visit, which unlike others by the president did not promise any development in the region.

It appeared to have been timed to douse public anger by granting a key demand of Anglophone teachers’ unions for many years.

It will be a school of the University of Buea, with its campus in Kumba, the region’s largest and most populous city.

Kumba already has a College of Arts, Science and Technology which had since creation failed to evolve into a polytechnic as wished by the city’s inhabitants.

The creation of the training college was a surprise move given the number of years that has gone into advocacy with no result.

“This was probably aimed at appeasing the people of the region,” said our correspondent in Buea, who has been talking to members of the public there.

“Many people were of the general opinion that their expectations were not met in President Paul Biya’s reunification speech on 20 February.

“While in Buea, Biya received many delegations and this is probably one of the issues that was raised with him.”

In spite of the creation of the school, roads and a sea port in Limbe still remain the most important needs of south westerners, our correspondent said.

Whatever motivated the president, political elite in the region are expected to draw political capital from the decision and reverse what had become a difficult political terrain after the president’s visit.

Details about how the school will function are still being worked out but the presidential decree creating it said it will depend on the University of Buea for staffing.

The school will have 14 departments in Forestry Development, Topography and Lands Management, Law, Computer Sciences, Education, Family and Social Economy, Renewable Energy Sources, Tourism and Hotel Management, Electricity Sciences, Guidance Counseling, Mechanics, Management Sciences, Administration and the department of Agriculture Sciences.