Community Development
Bakah Derick
Reporter @ hilltopvoices.blogspot.com
Nkwen is one of the seven villages that make
up the Bamenda city Council Area. The village is one of the first in this area
to develop a community water scheme. This water scheme has not only served as a
catalyst to the development of the Village but also as a means of survival in
Bamenda particularly now that the city of Bamenda is currently facing serious
water crisis.
With the rapid population growth it has been
the concern of the Paramount Fon of Nkwen HM Fon Azehfor III to improve on the
water supply. As it stands work is currently going on in some parts of the
village by villagers who turn out to prepare the catchment area and the pipelines.
Pipes have equally been bought for the extension.
Like the palace, the Bamenda III Sub
divisional Council with Nkwen as headquarters has been concerned about the water
supply system. Early in 2014 the Mayor of the Council Fongu Cletus Tanwie
received equipment donated by a Germany outfit for the purification and
distribution of water in the Sub divisional council area. This equipment has
been in the Council premises getting to a year now with the council expecting a
team of engineers from Germany for the installation.
A close examination of these efforts will
only conclude that both institutions are concerned about the wellbeing of the population.
However early this Friday February 20, 2015,
Hilltopvoices was contacted that councilors of the Bamenda III Sub divisional
Council were in the palace to meet the Fon following the discovery of a traditional
injunction placed on the envisaged site for the planting of the council water
purification plant. According to a councilor we spoke to on phone on condition
of anonymity, they needed to know who placed the injunction and for what
reason.
Opinion
At the time of this report the councilors are
currently at the office of the SDO for Mezam to present the issue to the
administration.
With the administration about to be involved;
will this not spark unnecessary division? This question may sound stupid but questioning
why the traditional injunction is not an issue for the SDO since the council carries
out its businesses in Nkwen. It may sound like disrespect for the Fon who is
the traditional custodian of the land.
This opinion submits that the councilors
should have waited for the Fon because the injunction order might have been
placed simply for reasons of clarification on land ownership.
Politics?
Nkwen being the latest political melting pot
in Bamenda, one may be tempted to see politics crippling in. let’s leave that
one there.
However it will be important to exhaust all
avenues for amicable settlement of this issue at home before seeking administrative
or even legal redress.