Douala III distribution of Minimum Package seen as politics

Some people have seen the distribution of the ‘minimum package’ from Government to public primary schools by the Mayor of SDF-run Douala III Council, Theophile Job Kwapnang, as political manipulation.

The Mayor distributed the minimum package in Douala III Municipality on October 16, one year after his election.

Kwapnang was elected Mayor of Douala III Council on October 16, 2013, following the defeat of the CPDM by the SDF at the September 30, 2013 twin elections.

While the Mayor said it was just a coincidence that he scheduled the ceremony for October 16, CPDM officials and militants hold that he deliberately chose that date in his political interest.

The militants further boost their argument with the fact that Mayor Kwapnang used the same occasion for other things which included the handing over of a generator that was bought by the Council, to the Civil Service Registry. The practice in the past years has been to distribute the minimum packages in the five different municipalities in Douala and such ceremonies are reserved for the minimum packages alone.

Another point is that the distribution of the minimum package on October 16 came from the Head Teachers of the 40 public primary schools in the municipality that benefitted from the package, which included boxes of chalks, exercise books, benches, among others.

Meantime, the Head Teachers complained about the lateness in the distribution of the materials, which took place after over one month two weeks of the new academic year.

They stated that the instruction from the Ministry of Basic Education, for example, is for Head Teachers to give their teachers exercise books by the end of August, to enable them prepare their lessons by the time the new school year takes off in early September.

Mayor Kwangnang, on his part, attributed the delay to the slow administrative process to get the funds allocated for the minimum package paid to the Council.

However, the Head Teachers expressed the wish to see the Mayor do like the Mayor of the neighbouring Douala II Council, Barrister Denise Fampou, who has made it a tradition to distribute the minimum packages in her municipality in August.

She explained that once the Council receives the document from Yaounde for the allocated funds, she gets the Council to use its own funds to immediately pay for the minimum package, while following up the long and slow process to get the money from the Public Treasury.