Officials of the Kumba II Council have identified Fru Ndi's bodyguard, one Fai Dieudonné, a.k.a. Bobilash as a longtime ghost worker in the council’s payroll.
The identification led to immediate termination alongside three others, including former Mayor Ferdinand Asapngu’s wife who were notorious for absences and unproductiveness.
An insider who opted not to be named recounted that Bobilash, a renowned weight lifter in Kumba was first recruited as a council worker by Asapngu when he was Mayor. He was one of Asapngu’s bodyguards and errand boy. During one of Fru Ndi's visits to Kumba, he is said to have admired Bobilash in the way he executed assignments given him.
As a result, Ndi asked Asapngu to release him to join his security team. Since then, our source said, Bobilash has been serving Fru Ndi in Bamenda as a bodyguard, but on the payroll of the Kumba II council. Our source wondered why Fru Ndi, who is reputed for preaching transparency in governance, will be an accomplice in defrauding a local treasury by using a ghost worker.
The firing of Asapngu's wife didn’t happen as an isolated case. Amadine Mbanya, the wife, was removed from her function following a call by Meme SDO for council executives to trim down a cumbersome over-staffing situation in the councils.
According to Ngolle Julius, Kumba II Council Secretary General who spoke to reporters, Asapngu's wife was not a duly recognized worker. She neither had a municipal order recruiting her; no job order. "Under her husband's influence, she had become more of a liability than an asset to the council." Ngolle disclosed, suggesting that Asapngu must have used his power as Mayor to give his own wife a job at the council without proper procedure.
Talking to another reporter, Chia Promise, First Deputy Mayor of Kumba II and SDF electoral district chairman pointed out that two other workers were redeployed to the revenue collection service. However, he said they voluntarily refused to accept the transfer, thereby declining their jobs.
Besides their unwillingness to show up at their new stations, statistics from the Kumba II Council indicate that the dismissed workers, including Asapngu’s wife recorded excessive absences from work, thereby justifying their sacking.
Some critics have been quick to point out that the firing of Fru Ndi’s bodyguard may not be unrelated to a revenge attempt by the incumbent mayor who at a time was rejected by the SDF for contesting the Kumba II mayor position exclusively against the instructions of party hierarchy.
However, Ngolle, the Council’s Secretary General dismissed the argument. He told The Journal that but for the Municipal Treasurer and Secretary General, all present Kumba II Council workers are still recruits of the erstwhile mayor as far back as 2007 when the council was created. "As such, it is unimaginable that the sacking of four workers out of the multitude absorbed by Asapngu should be considered by whosoever as a form of pay back," he said.
After receiving her termination notice, Asapngu’s wife reportedly continued to visit her office but spending very little time during such visits. Contrary to allegations, she had made that her office was ransacked; her office colleagues who spoke to The Journal said the ex-worker's desk in the financial clerk's office was merely relocated to another service after her dismissal.
Contacted to comment on the terminations, Forcha Martin Ndobegang, the new Mayor of Kumba II, who carried out the dismissals, stated that "administration is different from politics." He, however, declined to comment further, branding the sacking as a non-event.
When we also contacted Asapngu to get his own side of the story, the former mayor claimed he was not aware of any firings at the Kumba II council. Asked if he was at least aware of the fact that Bobilash and Amandine his wife, were illegally lodged on council payroll, Asapngu got angry and dropped the call: "I have told you that I have no idea. Don't impose questions on me, I am not a child." An angry Asapngu said before hanging the call.
It is, however, not clear whether Fru Ndi was aware that his bodyguard was still under salary from the Kumba II council. By press time, Fru Ndi was not available to comment.
