Mayor set fire on council building to cover embezzlement -Councilors

Councilors of Menji municipality in Lebialem in a vote of no confidence passed against their mayor and forwarded to Territorial Administration minister, have disclosed that the mayor, Martin Fondong Atabong Awung, orchestrated the burning down of the council’s building in a 2014 fire incident in attempts to cover traces of his own embezzlement.

The letters, procured by the Cameroon Journal were signed by some 20 of 28 councilors of the municipality who sat in an extraordinary session April 22. They addressed them to Rene Emmanuel Sadi, Territorial Administration Minister, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in-Charge-of the Supreme State Audit, and Dieudonne Massi Gams, Chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

In the letters they notify the three institutions of their vote of no confidence on the Menji Mayor on April 22 and are requesting that they carry out investigations which they believe will uncover shady dealings they say the Mayor is involved in.

The letters, accompanied by a balance sheet of the council under Martin Fondong, sharply are in contrast to the previous held claim that the fire was provoked by a short circuit problem with the building’s electric panel. A confidential and an expert report of AES/SONEL, (now ACTIS) rather indicates that it was not a short circuit problem that led to the fire. The report states even more consecutively, that electricity had nothing to do with the cause of the fire.

“What is certain and clear is that it was a criminal act. The crisis committee set up by the Senior Divisional Officer was shocked and embarrassed to discover that only FCFA 76,100 and 256 pieces of papers signed by the Mayor authorizing the municipal treasurer to cash out sums of money, were found left in the council safe after the fire.” The councilors wrote.

The Councilors allege that the fire incident occurred just two weeks after FCFA 21 million was withdrawn from the council’s bank account in the Dschang branch of BICEC Bank and paid into the council treasury. Employees of the council had gone for five months without salaries. They had still not been paid at the time of the fire incident. In spite of the fact that 20 million CFA was just deposited ino its treasury before the fire, only FCFA 76,100 was found left in the safe alongside few pieces of documents.

A source hinted The Cameroon Journal that when the matter was taken to court, the Mayor bribed the court and it dismissed the case.

“Though I cannot prove it to you, what is sure is that the mayor paid a bribe of FCFA 10 million to have the court throw out the case on basis of technicalities.” The source said, adding that the court dismissed the report on grounds that investigations were not conducted by the right experts.

The complaining councilors who are at the neck of Mayor Atabong are also condemning him for awarding contracts to his own companies. They disclosed that government allocated FCFA 13 million for a Menji-Nchenalah farm to market road and FCFA 23 million for another farm to market road – Azi-Atulah road, “…but the projects were poorly executed.” They said.

In Menji, no family allowances and National Social Insurance Fund contributions of employees have been paid them since the current Mayor took office. The Menji Council Bank account is said to be frozen. The councilors say it is due to the inability of the Mayor to put in checks and balances over the municipal treasurer.

They equally said in the letters that there was a bizarre disappearance of millions of FCFA noticed in the administrative and management accounts of 2013 presented by the Mayor and treasurer. To the agitated councilors, the loopholes indicate that the embezzlement activities are carried out by the mayor and the council treasurer.

“We were shocked to realise that since 2013, the municipal treasurer has collected the Decentralization Fund in cash without it passing through the Menji council bank account and the money has not been paid into the account,” Minister Sadi’s letter read in part.

Menji councilors granted a request from the Mayor in November last year, to have him travel to Belgium to sell the image of the council and lobby for development projects. FCFA 3million was disbursed from council funds for the trip. The councilors are complaining that they are yet to get even a report on the trip.

They are equally angry that the mayor has failed to pay their sitting allowances for the extraordinary session during which he was authorized to take the trip to Belgium. They say the mayor wasted FCFA 3million which could have been used to support schools and pay workers.

On charges of highhandedness, Menji councilors say the mayor is not convening council sessions as required by law. In their report, they state that the councilors have so far met only once this year to adopt the budget.

It has been two years since the CPDM won the municipal elections in Menji, yet, insignias which the law requires councilors to be provided with are yet to be bought in Menji.

When the Cameroon Journal contacted Mayor Fotabong by phone, the only statement he made in defense of all the allegations against him was to brag that some of the councilors who signed the Vote of No Confidence against him are already apologizing to him. Then he added that most of the councilors were misguided.

The councilors have asked the Minister to order the sealing of the offices of the mayor, the finance clerk and the municipal treasurer, to prevent them from tampering with evidence before the arrival of inspectors from the Supreme State Audit office.

“We were elected to serve the people and not ourselves…we have a social contract with the people; we cannot accept such acts of the mayor which have tarnished the image of our great party and frustrated our militants and sympathizers.” The councilors stated.