Governors urged to ensure serene end-of-year festivities

The second semester conference of regional governors for the year 2014 has ended in Yaounde with a call for the regional executives to ensure a serene environment for all Cameroonians during end-of-year festivities.

The Minister Delegate in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, MINATD, Jules Doret Ndongo, gave the instruction to governors in Yaounde on Thursday 18 December 2014 while chairing the closing ceremony.

Besides ensuring Cameroonians enjoy end-of -year feasts in a serene atmosphere, Minister Doret Ndongo called on the governors to ensure a proper execution of projects contained in President Biya’s three-year emergency development plan announced during the recent Council of Ministers meeting.

Coming at a time Cameroon is facing serious security threats orchestrated by the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram, the three-day conference that opened on Tuesday 16 December 2014 focused on administrative authorities, security and socio-economic challenges.

Speaking at the opening on Tuesday 16 December, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, noted that since their last meeting, Cameroon has made great strides in the fight against Boko Haram but the enemy has not been eradicated yet. Thus, he called on the regional governors to remain vigilant especially at this period of the year usually characterised by festivities.

Beyond just focusing the fight against Boko Haram, the meeting, Minister Sadi said, helps the government to assess also socioeconomic and political situation of the country.

Holding less than a week after the end of the budgetary session of parliament, the Minister rejoiced that chapter seven of the 2015 state budget adopted at the end of the November session provides a budgetary head for information gathering on matters of insecurity by administrative authorities.

During the conference, other members of government briefed the governors on measures being put in place to ensure the safety and security of Cameroonians.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, in the general report of the conference, revealed that the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguele, and General Elokobi of the Secretariat of State for Defense, in a joint presentation, briefed the governors on security measures being put in place at their level which they were urged to ensure proper implementation.

The Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, spoke on their role in implementing the three-year emergency development plan which is aimed at relaunching the economy while the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, assisted by the country representative of UNICEF, focused his presentation on the role of regional administrative authorities in the fight against poliomalyties. Minister Mama Fouda advised the governors to coordinate vaccinations and verify reports that are forwarded to Yaounde from the regions.

The conference also featured a restricted plenary between the governors and the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation in which the regional administrative authorities presented field realities in the domains of security, politics and socio-economy.

Reactions

South West Is Calm

Okalia Bilia, South West Governor

“The South West is calm despite the fact that the borders are closed. The border has been closed because of the fight against the Ebola virus. Economic operators have suffered but thank God that according to the last instruction; the border has been opened for goods. Exchange of goods can now take place but for the circulation of persons, it is still closed. Concerning the socioeconomic aspect, the consequences of the heavy rains have destroyed the roads. But with the beginning of the dry season, enterprises in charge of road maintenance are carrying out their work. I want to mention particularly the military engineering unit that is working on the Mundemba—Isangale road. We hope that in the next two weeks, the road will be passable. So we can say that the situation in the South West region is calm and people are preparing for the end-of-year festivities. We have instructed opinion leaders, administrative authorities and the forces of law and order to remain vigilant because of what everybody knows particularly coming from our neighbor”.

East Is Under Control

Ivaha Diboua Samuel Dieudonne, East Governor

“The security in the East region is under control. We have about 150.000 refugees in the East region and we cannot say that all of them came in at once from the Central African Republic. They came in gradually and the Head of State took measures to secure our region. We as administrative authorities working with the forces of law and order implemented those measures in the field. This year 2014, we have been focusing on how to defend our territory. The population has also been involved and the results are quite good because last year every week we had incursions on a weekly basis from rebels but nowadays we are not seeing them and it is because of what the government has done and the collaboration of the population. I will say that calm is gradually coming back to Central African Republic and our hope is to see these refugees go back to their country.”