Asapngu, Kumba II Mayor clash over 6.8m FCFA

Social Democratic Front, SDF, National Organising Secretary, Ferdinand Asapngu who is also a Councillor of the Kumba II Council, clashed with his Mayor, Martin Forcha Ndobegang recently, over the non–payment of 32 mission orders totalling FCFA 6.8 million.

The mission orders were engaged between the periods of 2007 to September 2013, when Asapngu served as pioneer municipal authority of the Kumba Council.

As deliberations move to a close during a session focused on examining the 2014 administrative and management accounts of the Council, the friction between the duo came to the fore when the supervisory authority, SDO David Koulbout Aman, demanded Mayor Forcha to explain how he has handled the benefits owed his predecessor.

The Mayor explained that there is the need for a close look at the 32 mission orders amounting to FCFA 6.8 million before any payments can be made. Forcha averred that it is doubtful that, in the entire Council, it was only the Mayor who was out on mission in the last mandate.

Forcha told the SDO that, besides the benefits owed Asapngu, the Council has other pending debts to be cleared. He recalled that he took over from Asapngu a Council indebted to the tune of over FCFA 50 million and a host of other litigations.

He recalled how Asapngu kept him waiting for over five hours on the day of handing-over and even refused him (Forcha) access into the office.

Reacting to the Mayors’ observations, Asapngu explained that during his time as Mayor, he was a member of CODEFIELD and Secretary General of the United Cities and Councils of Cameroon, UCCC. The extra assignments, Asapngu said, kept him busy from one meeting to another on mission.

The SDO ordered the Council Treasurer to submit the mission orders to his office for observation and if there is no problem, he will order for payment.

He called on Ndobegang and Asapngu to understand that administration is different from political infighting.

Asapngu’s wife, others may pay back salaries Following a question from Asapngu to the Mayor on the entitlements of some Council staff that were dismissed last year alongside the former Mayors’ wife, the SDO ordered that, if the workers were being paid without a permanent recruitment decision, they may be summoned to return the money.

In reaction to this, Mayor Forcha declared that he never dismissed any worker from the Council. According to him, he took over a Council with 11 staff who had no permanent recruitment decision signed by the SDO and later requested for every person involved to recompile their files for submission, but the three staff who were reportedly dismissed did not show interest.

Forcha told the SDO that, he submitted the files of those who heeded to his call and their decisions have been signed. He said further that, among those considered to have been dismissed were workers who were irregular at work.

Besides, the Mayor said, the workers had been receiving salaries even before he took over the Council from Asapngu. He stressed that he drew the attention of the SDO on the confusion prevailing immediately he took over.

In another intervention, Asapgnu said when the Council was created in 2007, it had only three staff transferred from the City Council and the Mayors were instructed to recruit new workers.

The former Mayor said he compiled the files of the workers and deposited them at the SDO’s office from the time when Magloire Abat Zangwala was SDO till the era of the present SDO, but the recruitment decisions never came out.

The SDO said he was going to check the files in his office after which the former workers may be called to pay back money earned in the past years.

2014 Accounts Vetted The Councillors adopted the 2014 administrative and management accounts which showed that, out of a budget of over FCFA 646 million in 2014, the Council raised some FCFA 246.

Most of the money, according to the Mayor, was raised from internal Council revenue sources. He regretted that, but for technical adjustments in an FCFA 312 million loan that was budgeted in 2014, the Council has made strides in every area of development.

Reflecting on his achievements, the Mayor said since taking over the Council, in partnership with Government Ministries, he has opened up new roads and constructed streets.