We were cheated in the sharing of German Donation- Ekondo Titi Mayor

The Mayor of the Ekondo Titi Council, Ndian, Southwest Region, Alfred Mbongo Ngoe, has decried marginalisation in the management of FCFA billions recently donated by the German Government to stimulate development in some selected Regions of Cameroon.

Mbongo made the revelation lately while presiding over the 2013 administrative, management and stores accounts of the Ekondo Titi Council.

According to the Municipal Authority, his Council feels cheated in the way the selection of some four councils in the Southwest to benefit from the funds was done.

Mbongo lamented that, it is unacceptable that for a project which involves a whole Region, all councils selected come from the same Division.

Of the four councils, the Mayor noted that, one is a ghost council which does not even exist.

Quizzed to disclose the Division and the councils to benefit from the German Largesse, the Mayor said he could not comment further, but insisted that, it is unjustifiable for the said Division to have swallowed everything on behalf of an entire Region.

He however stated that, his institution has petitioned the authorities concerned to see if the situation could be redressed.

The Mayor's outcry points to the German donation as the Ekondo Titi Council grapples with acute portable water challenges, despite being surrounded by water.

In the centre of the crisis, the Council is still far from getting funding for the FCFA 650million water project for the entire Municipality which, he sustained, continues to experience population explosion.

To him, his council area or other councils with pressing projects should have been considered in the sharing of the donation rather than carry the money to the same Division when the government is preaching emergence by 2035.

Beyond the opportunity the Council missed from the German butty, the Mayor explained that, the water crisis in his Municipality certainly needs God's intervention. It is as a result of the number of years the problem has persisted.

For him, all the elite, politicians and ministries in Yaounde already know that, the Municipality of Ekondo Titi lacks water, reason why prayers must be sort to salvage the situation.

The First Deputy Mayor of the Council, Kenneth Nanje, on his part urged the Councillors and the Council Administration to give the Mayor every support needed to lobby for funds so that, by the end of their mandate, the water crisis in Ekondo Titi would be a story of the past.

Ban on beaches rages on

In the meantime, all the beaches in the water-blessed Municipality have remained closed for security reasons. The ban which was issued during the era of former Ndian Senior Divisional Officer, Peter Tien Nde, has remained effective till date.

According to the Mayor, the council's repeated attempts to get the ban uplifted has met with strong disapproval from the security forces as the Government continues its crack down on the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram.

With the recent transfer of Babila Akaou, the Mayor told Councillors that, the beaches which are a potential source of revenue to the Council may take a little longer to open.

Going by him, the incumbent administrator who was close to reversing the ban recently decided to stay mute claiming that he is no longer in charge while the military remains in support of the ban for safety reasons.

Besides the situation of the beaches, the Council Administration resolved to seek a solution to the protracted Balue road problem which, resources amounting to FCFA 85million, remains unaccounted for.

The Municipal authority promised that, something can only be done on the road in November 2014 when the dry season must have set in.

At the end of the deliberations, Councillors adopted the accounts which showed that, out of a budget of FCFA 400 million, the Council realised over FCFA 443million giving a percentage realisation of 111 percent.