WUM COUNCIL ECHOES: March 2018

SDO Kamga Charles, addressing Councillors

The Wum Council on Wednesday March 28, 2018 sat to examine the administrative and management accounts of the council for 2017 in an ordinary session presided over by the Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum, Kamga Charles, in the presence of the MP for Menchum South, Hon. Wallang Richard Ebua. Traditional rulers and ardos, as well as some divisional delegates, answered present.

In the roll call by the Secretary General of Wum council, Mrs. Berthy Bikuchung Cheng Edickson. Two councillors were absent.

The session opened with the traditional welcome address from the Lord Mayor, Dighambong Anthony Mvo, who welcomed all in attendance, before disclosing that the administrative and management accounts of the council is a document which portrays the true image of the council’s income and expenditure.

He said the administrative and management accounts to be examined stands at four hundred and fifty million, two hundred and seventy four thousand, seven hundred and nine (450,274,709) francs as Revenue and Expenditure stands at four hundred and twelve million, nine hundred twenty two thousand five hundred and fifty-five (412,922,555) francs giving a percentage realization of 48.49%.

Local revenue realized was thirty five million, six hundred and sixty two thousand and eighty two (35,662,082) francs representing about 7.9% of the budget. The difficult socio-political situation of our country made it actually difficult to realize the budget as planned.

Councillor Dighambong Anthony Mvo, Lord Mayor Wum Council

AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY COUNCILLOR DIGHAMBONG ANTHONY MVO, LORD MAYOR OF THE WUM COUNCIL ON THE OCCASION OF THE EXAMINATION AND ADOPTION OF THE 2017 ADMINISTRATIVE/ MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS AND THE ADOPTION OF THE COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR WUM COUNCIL, TODAY 28^TH MARCH2018 AT THE WUM TOWN HALL.

Ø THE SENIOR DIVISIONAL OFFICER FOR MENCHUM,

Ø THE DIVISIONAL OFFICER WUM SUB DIVISION,

Ø HONOURABLE COUNCILLORS,

Ø DIVISIONAL DELEGATES AND SERVICE HEADS,

Ø POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES,

Ø THE FON OF AGHEM, FONS AND ARDOS,

Ø PRESIDENTS OF DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATIONS,

Ø ECONOMIC OPERATORS ,

Ø PRESIDENTS OF SOCIO PROFESSIONAL GROUPS,

DISTINGUISHED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Today marks our fifth Administrative and Management Accounts session. I am so delighted, favoured and honoured. It is in this vein that I want to welcome you all on behalf of the councillors and staff of Wum council, especially the Senior Divisional Officer, Mr. Kamga Charles and his entourage. Permit me welcome in a special way our main development partner, PNDP as well as our Local Support Organisation - PVC in charge of the update of the Wum Council Development Plan.

Dear Councillors, distinguished ladies and gentlemen;

When we execute, we have to come back and evaluate in order to access our successes and failures. It is therefore the moment and opportunity to do projections for our evaluation to always aim high. The budget we are about to evaluate was baptized “budget of community involvement and Participatory development”. We could not therefore do otherwise than respect the budget as per its name. In short, the projects were orientated to march with the baptismal name of the budget.

The Senior Divisional Officer, Hon Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen;

The difficult socio-political situation of our country made it actually difficult to realize the budget as planned. The Administrative and management accounts for the 2017 financial year to take stock of today, stands at four hundred and fifty million, two hundred and seventy four thousand, seven hundred and nine (450,274,709) francs as Revenue and Expenditure stands at four hundred and twelve million, nine hundred twenty two thousand five hundred and fifty-five (412,922,555) francs giving a percentage realization of 48.49%.

Local revenue realized was thirty five million, six hundred and sixty two thousand and eighty two (35,662,082) francs representing about 7.9% of the budget.

Functional Expenditure stood at one hundred and ninety-nine million, one hundred and sixty six thousand, eight hundred and eighty three (199.166.883) francs giving a percentage of 48.2% whose maximum is 60%, while the Investment expenditure stood at Two hundred and Thirteen million, Seven hundred and Fifty five thousand, Six hundred and Seventy two (213,755,672) francs, giving a percentage of 51.8% from a stipulated minimum of 40%. The amount collected enabled us to realize the following projects:

· Construction of a parking lot at the entrance to the general Hospital

· Construction of a culvert to the Naikom Palace

· Contribution for the take-off of the Wum Community Radio

· Purchase and planting of Trees at Kom –Wum forest

· Recruitment of Holiday workers

· Organization of craft exhibition

· Organization of Mini Agro pastoral show

· Organization of Wum council unity sports tournament

· Payment of three Nurses and two Night Watch men at the Ukpwa Health centre

· Purchase of four SANILI Bikes to reduce employment of youths

· Construction of generator and transmission rooms for the Wum community radio

· Acquisition of a video projector

· Maintenance of street lights in Wum council area

· Grading of roads in Wum Municipality

· contribution for the organization of the Divisional Craft Exhibition

· Assistance for the follow-up of SEEPD Program

· construction of two classrooms at GS Mujang – Bu

· organization of Livestock competition in Wum

· fight against plastic packaging in Wum council area

· construction of a sanitary block of six compartments in GS Wanangwen

· maintenance of rural roads in Wum municipality

· Supply of minimum package to schools in Wum

· Supply of workshop materials and stationery to Women empowerment centre Wum

· Supply of benches, Head teacher’s tables and chairs to GS Mujang

· Purchase of two second handed trucks, a 20 and a 10 tons.

We are glad to announce that in collaboration with the chief of social centre, the Wum council paid for the operation of one underprivileged child as well as dished out the sum of four hundred and Ten thousand (410,000) francs to some handicapped persons to start up some petit businesses. The ongoing construction of the magnificent edifice of the Town hall as well as the functioning of our darling Wum Community Radio, are worth mentioning. Anatole France once said “to accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream; not only plan, but also believe” I believe therefore from the charts in front of us that we accomplished big, taking the accounts from 232,111,324FCFA to 450,274,709FCFA today. I feel therefore, as Agama lizards, we all deserve an applause.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are everything with God and so my prayer is for us all to submit ourselves for our unity and most cherished and needed peace for our development. I know we are each capable, yes we are. After all God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the call.

Long live the Wum Municipality

Long live the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development

Long live the Republic of Cameroon.

Wum council has just embark on a new initiative so as to financially empower inhabitants who are ready to keep the municipality clean. The Wum council entails to give money to people in exchange for collecting discarded plastic bags. In April 2014, a government ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags below 61 microns had come into effect. The intention was to reduce the millions of bags being used every day, which were clogging up waterways, creating an environmental hazard for animals and humans, and damaging soil fertility.

But many businesses complained that they had no alternative and a black market for the bags flourished. Despite the ban, plastic waste remained a problem. Wum council hopes that, the recent move could encourage people to clear it up by offering FCFA 4,000 for every kilogram of dirty plastic collected, and FCFA 2,000 for every kilogram of clean plastic collected.

However, the plastic collecting initiative is more than just an environmental strategy. With unemployment high – and with jobs being lost since the ban on plastic bags – the initiative is also aimed at providing young people with a way to gain an income.

While the initiative might provide a small temporary income for some unemployed inhabitants of the Wum municipality, it cannot work out for everyone, and critics insist that it is not a sustainable and lasting solution to the Wum municipality’s high unemployment rate.