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| Late Bati Rose L. 1st Deputy Mayor |
By
Bakah Derick
Blogger at Hilltopvoices
On arrival at the Bamenda III subdivision Council
premises Friday December 12, 2014 almost an hour 30mins late from the announced
kick-off time for the budgetary session, this reporter was received by a
cluster of councilors like journalists with fallen faces. The unexpected had
happened. Madam Bati Rose Lailam 1st Deputy Mayor to the council had
collapsed a few minutes’ earlier and confirmed dead at the St. Francis of
Assisi Catholic hospital Ntasen in Nkwen. Talking to hilltopvoices, Yufanyi
Ezekiel Secretary General to the Bamenda III Council explained “Mami came here for the session today. In
fact we were together at the civil status registry. I later went with her to
see the Mayor. After discussing with the Mayor she was now supposed to come so
we discuss about the council Agric show on Monday. When we left the mayor’s
office since I was ahead I turned at one point just to see mami on the floor.
We struggled to put her in the car on reaching the hospital that is how Mami
passed away”. While expresses profound sorry, the SG added that Madam Bati
Rose had just returned to work after receiving medical care at the St Elizebeth
Catholic hospital in shisong as she reportedly had problems with her legs. “This was all over. She came had some bed
rest. She started work last week. Today was council session so she came for the
session”. Mr Yufanyi concluded.
It is with this embarrassing development that
Mayor Fongu Cletus T. opened his session with a call for strict focus on the
budget as he declared the day a bad one.
In a practically noise free session, the
councilors listened to the mayors opening remarks, committee reports, the
budget memorandum of the Mayor, made a few reactions before unanimously
adopting the 600million francs budget which witnessed an increase of 200million
compared to the 2014 budget. This increase according to Mayor Fongu Cletus “is tailored to meet the aspirations of the
people” of Bamenda III in 2015. This budget he added “is an indication that
the council will be aggressive” in Revenue collection, project designing,
implementation, follow-up and reporting, creation of fresh revenue sources, and
fight corruption particularly in the tax collection sector in his municipality.
The session was an opportunity for Mayor
Fongu Cletus to present some achievements in 2014 amongst them; construction of
roads, culverts, bridges and ventilated Improved pit (VIP) toilets in some
quarters in the municipality.
Education and Water also featured with some
support to schools and the Town Green water project which has seen the light of
day thanks to contributions from the African Development Bank and the Council
to the tune of 31million francs.
The future the municipal chief executive said
with the acquisition of a front end loader and a grader, attention will be paid
on roads. The creation of green parks and leisure centers, assistance to Health
centers and the empowerment of the municipal agricultural cooperative he
concluded will be priority in 2015.
The 1st Assistant SDO for Mezam,
the Regional Head for local councils, the Secretary General to the Bamenda City
Council, the alternate Member of Parliament for Bamenda Bali and others flanked
the Mayor throughout the session.
Enter the
Fons in Session
The presence of the Fons of Nkwen and Ndzah
did not go unnoticed as HM Fon SF Azehfor III of Nkwen during the session
expressed dissatisfaction with his neighbors
(Bambui and Bafut) for their frantic efforts to deprive the ever patient Nkwen
Man of peace.
On the Bambui end of Nkwen the Fon edged the
administration to hasten the removal of the Tubah Council animal market currently
on Nkwen soil. According to the Fon, the continuous use of the said piece of
land by the Tubah council is outright disrespect for him and his people and
even the administration.
The Mbereboh market palaver between Nkwen and
Bafut also surfaced as the Fon of Nkwen opined that there were violations of
the recent prefectural order on the exploitation of the area which has
generated a near physical confrontation between the Nkwen and Bafut people.
On both cases the administration through the
1st Assistant SDO for Mezam , gave the end of January to find a
lasting solution.
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| Current executive on installation Day |
Pioneer
Council Executive finishes Seven years on.When the Bamenda III sub divisional Council
was created in 2007, the municipal elections of the same year elected Prince
Pius Ngwa Amandou as Mayor, Madam Bati Rose Lailam as 1st Deputy and
Mr Koti Emmanuel as 2nd Deputy. In April of 2010, Prince Amandou
passed on. Pa Koti the 2nd Deputy Mayor as he was fondly called
joined Prince Amandou and his ancestor in 2013. He was not lucky enough to get
a second mandate but Madam Bati was. While maintaining her function as 1st
Deputy Mayor, Madam Bati had to take a second Mandate with a new team though
with Mayor Fongu Cletus who joined her in completing the pioneer mandate.
Unlike her pioneer colleagues who died in hospitals after staying there for
some time, Madam Bati died in active service (in fact some people have it that
she died at the council before being rushed to hospital for confirmation) and
on a decisive day in the life of the council Friday December 11, 2014 budgetary session. Will this mark the end
of the dream for the most beautiful city in Cameroon which almost became a watch
word during the pioneer mandate? Only time will tell.