The people of the Nkor Council area, Noni subdivision, Bui division of the North West region has lauded the development strides attained by Mayor Francis Wache one year, three days after taking office as the mayor of the Nkor council.
This was during a three day event to explain to the people of the council area what the new administration voted into office in September 2013 has done so far.
These involved a two day training seminar for municipal councilors on their roles, responsibilities and functioning of councils. A stormy meeting with the SDF Noni electoral district on the functioning of the party, one year after the football final of the first ever Nkor Council Unity Cup.
The three day event that ran from Friday October 17 to Sunday 19 2014 culminated in a public meeting with key development stakeholders in the municipality.
While addressing the public, Mayor Francis Wache explained that his administration, upon taking over office opted for the slogan “working for the people and with the people” In this regard, progress has been made such as the construction of a new and befitting council chambers and a gendarmerie brigade.
Also, feasibility studies for the provision of electricity which is absent in the subdivision have already been carried out. Though the studies put the cost of providing electricity in the area, at FCFA 500 million, a total of FCFA 90 million has been allocated and a sum of FCFA 25 million made available for work to start.
The mayor went ahead to explain that though the law spells out how councils must raise revenue, these sources have been greatly insufficient. For this reason, he and his administration have been exploring other sources of funding for the council.
A typical scenario he said, was a recent trip to Canada during which the mayor explored avenues for getting partners to come to the assistance of the council.
He pointed out that though some 50 councils in the country filed applications to the minister of territorial administration to be part of the trip with their project proposals, only seven, including the Nkor council were selected for the trip.
He said the council area has some resources like coffee, cattle, banana, maize, beans, sand, taking the final products to where they are needed remains a daunting tasks given deplorable and near impassable state of roads linking the council area to the rest of the region. However, the mayor intimated, the council has maintained the road from Lassin to Mbinon while another farm to market road has been earmarked.
The quarries, few markets and jangali tax from cattle cannot provide the needed funds for the several projects. The mayor also said the council has received all the quarterly subventions from FEICOM and the money is helping the council to take some of its responsibilities. Furthermore, there has been construction of the temporal bridges as well as the backfilling of the Mbim bridge.
Commenting on the debt status of the council, mayor Francis Wache pointed out that though inheriting a deficit financial situation in the council, all staff salaries have been paid up to the month of September 2014, while the thorny problem of pensioners is currently being examined by the municipal treasurer.
In the area of education, Mayor Francis Wache explained that contrary to widespread information that schools in his council area had not received minimum packages, the mayor said there was some misunderstanding while he was away in Canada but the problems were solved upon his return. Thus, all the schools in the area have had their minimum packages for the academic year.
Also, books from The Fomunyoh Foundation have been used to set up a public library in the area as well as the provision of Holiday jobs.
A council forest has also been initiated and about 8,075 trees planted, mostly of Prunus Africana and Mahogany species while the Noni Community Radio with the support of PNDP will soon be launched.
