Mayor of Mamfe, John Ayuk Taku Nchung
The courageous and astute Abey Napoleon, Divisional Delegate of Economy Planning and Regional Development for Manyu Division have revealed that the mayors of Mamfe, Eyumojock and Akwaya councils are lazy, too unserious and self-centered.
To him, Mayor Ayuk Ako of Mamfe, Mayor Julius Nkom of Eyumojock and Mayor Martin Ekwalle of Akwaya councils respectively are architects of underdevelopment.
Eden accosted the seasoned Divisional Delegate of MINEPAT in his Mamfe office recently when he disclosed that apart from the Mayor Bate Robert Epie of the Tinto Council the three others are a hindrance to development in their municipalities. They lack time to develop their communities; they take a longer period to submit proposed priority projects in their communities, at times the projects are not even submitted, he stated.
Abbey Napoleon wondered why people voted to represent the interest of the state are rather embarking on personal interest. All efforts by the MINEPAT Manyu to support them draft their priority projects always proved futile.
So far, the rate of award of the 2016 Public Investment Projects, BIP, in Manyu division stands at 90%.
Out of the 64 projects granted to Manyu division for the 2016 fiscal year, 20 are to be awarded by the tender’s board that is four by the regional Tenders board and 16 to be awarded by the Manyu divisional Tenders Board.
Through the efforts of the Ministry of Economy Planning and Regional Development, a consultation meeting chaired by the Manyu’s SDO and stakeholders involved held in other to strengthen the effective and efficiency of the awards.
Mr.Abey disclosed that all projects below five million have already been awarded except 15 projects pending awards. It is against this backdrop that the divisional consultative organ set a latest that by all vote holders to judiciously ensure that all projects of this categories are duly awarded so as to enable timely execution.
Due to the long border distance between Mamfe and Akwaya, Mr Abey stated that it poses a lot of difficulties executing projects in that part of the country. The reason why he has called on the government to facilitate the total disenclavement of Akwaya sub-division, so that projects destined for this area can be easily implemented in record time.
Notably, Akwaya always led the execution rate in manyu division but due to the short distance border with Nigeria. Most construction materials except Zinc are bought in from Nigeria and at less expensive prices, he said. The development purse of Manyu division for the Public Investment projects is estimated at FCFA 6 193,845,000.
The divisional delegate expressed optimism that by the end of the first quarter, Manyu Division will certainly be at 30% execution rate. The excessive enclavement of the division have been uncovered as the leading cause of slow execution rate.
The 2016 Public Investment Projects for Manyu division according to sub-divisions with the highest to the lowest number of projects include Upper-Bayang, Akwaya, Mamfe Central and Eyumojock respectively.
