By Stephen Ojang
 |
| Councillor Dighambong Anthony Mvo, Lord Mayor Wum Council |
AN ADDRESS PRESENTED
BY COUNCILLOR DIGHAMBONG ANTHONY MVO, LORD MAYOR OF WUM COUNCIL, ON THE
OCCASION OF THE HANDING OVER CEREMONY BETWEEN MR. KAMGA CHARLES AND MR. ABDOULAHI
ALIOU AS THE OUTGOING AND INCOMING SENIOR DIVISIONAL OFFICERS FOR MENCHUM DIVISION
BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH WEST REGION AT THE WUM GRANDSTAND
THIS 16TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2019.
Ø YOUR EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF THE N.W.R,
Ø THE SENIOR DIVISIONAL OFFICER FOR MENCHUM DIVISION,
Ø THE DIVISIONAL OFFICERS OF WUM, FURU-AWA, ZHOA AND
BENAKUMA,
Ø THE LORD MAYORS OF FURU-AWA, ZHOA AND BENAKUMA,
Ø MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT OF THE UPPER AND LOWER HOUSES,
Ø THE PRESIDENT OF THE HIGH COURT AND LEARNED STATE
COUNSEL,
Ø DIVISIONAL DELEGATES AND SERVICE HEADS,
Ø LEADERS OF LEGALISED POLITICAL PARTIES,
Ø FONS AND ARDOS,
Ø RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES,
Ø INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ELITE,
Ø DISTINGUISHED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;
Here we are today once again to begin the celebration of another chapter
in the History of this famous but seemingly forgotten Division. Today is
certainly a day the Menchum people would write and re-write in their history
books that in spite of the security challenges, they stood against all odds of
course, as cows without tails to welcome their new Shepard. This for the
purpose of peace, development, justice, living together and above all for the
love of our dear fatherland. I want to welcome in a special way the Governor of
the North West Region,H.E
LeleL’AfriqueTchofo Deben Adolph and his entourage to this land of great
Hospitality.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and gentlemen;
It is my singular pleasure once again to
have you all during this 33rd convocation of this land of plenty.
Menchum Division was created in 1948 under the Native authority. This Division
and her hospitable and legendary people cover a total surface area of 4489km2,
with a population of about 251,998 inhabitants. The Division that gave birth to
the present Boyo Division is made up of four Sub Divisions, namely; Furu-Awa,
Fungom, Menchum Valley and Wum that doubles as the Divisional Headquarters. It
is a border Division sharing a very long border with the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. The Division is endowed with huge natural, touristic and human
resources which if well harnessed and exploited, would make it Cameroon in
miniature. Some of these are, the rich
volcanic and luminous soils, favourable climate, forestry, our famous Menchum
fall and KastinaAlah which can be used to export electrical energy. The
Division is rich in flora and fauna, blessed with five creater lakes, amongst
which is the famous Lake Nyos. You would not afford to miss the Bu rice as well
as the Esimbi Oil. The Menchum man naturally is hospitable, peace loving, law
abiding and very sociable but can always easily change from good to worst if
pushed to the wall. Infact, the economic potentials are soenormous that when
carefully tapped, could make Menchum the Eldorada in Cameroon. Today therefore,
I assure you our future is brighter than everything they have said or done to
us.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and gentlemen;
We are all here today for Administrative
imperatives which arepartly the sending off of Mr. Kamga Charles who has being
with us for exactly two years, two months and sixteen days. I want to on behalf
of the Menchum people thank you Mr. S.D.O for the quality time you spent with
us. We would continue to remember your approach of “ehemm, eheem” which gave
us hope that you were listening even if at the end, the answer was not
favourable. We learnt from you that
administrators being human as they are can also say “I am sorry”,when they at
times cannotlive to the expectations oftheir population. We acknowledge your
tact, clairvoyance, ingenuity, savior fair, wisdom, self-service, simplicity
and fatherliness in handling the socio-political unrest in the Division. If calm and serenity is gradually and steadily
returning to Wum and Menchum Division, it is due to your astute and heroic
qualities of a seasoned Administrator. The people of Menchum Division have
nothing to give you as you move to your next assigned state duty, no gold nor
silver but our beautiful hearts and prayers you have, to cover you and your
family now and always.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and gentlemen;
It is with great
anxiety, curiosity and hope of better days that I welcome Mr. ABDOULAHI ALIOU,
our 33RD Senior Divisional Officer, of course the age of Jesus
Christ. We are therefore optimistic that you are going to be Christ like
throughout your stay with us. I want to heartily congratulate your appointment
to this Division well known and described as the nursery for administrators
wishing to move up the Administrative Ladder. President Paul Biyain a televised
interview on February 19, 1987 said “It is not enough to be a graduate from the
Advance School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), but to cultivate the
intellect, to be abreast with development, which is the only way in which we
can have an Administration that meets the needs and expectations of the
people”. Mr. Senior Divisional Officer, you are coming at a moment when
the Akus and the Hausas are pitted against the natives. I want to congratulate
and salute the collaboration of the elite both at home and abroad who have done
everything possible for peace to begin to return in this land. The challenge of
bringing back these communities to once again truly love each other is going to
be your first litmus test. This needs very urgent attention not to degenerate
to another deplorable situation. After all, the intense farmer grazier conflict
was partly solved by the Koumpa Isa Commission report which is the most talked
today during one of his working sessions in Wum. He spoke in the dialect to
reason most of the fulanis which yielded results. After all, Roger Crawford
quips “We are the product of the choices we make, not the circumstances that
we face”. We are all here present as a testimony to accompany you
succeed in your daunting task of Developing this Division. To achieve these,
the panacea shall be nothing other than;
§ Create a cordial and
enabling relationship with the local population
§ Organize and improve
on skills to help people live together
§ Engage a serious
fight against insecurity, curb the rampant cases of robbery, consumption of
marijuana etc.
§ Provide solutions to
the protracted farmer-grazier conflict gradually escalating to an intertribal
war
§ Modeling your
supervisory role over councils not to be an arm or domination but rather to
accompany the mayors develop their various municipalities
§ Live with your
people, by your people and for your people to provide adequate solutions to the
socio-political unrest plaguing the North West and South West Regions.
This is my humble advice to you, for a talent is cheaper than table
salt, and charisma without character is equal to aneverlasting “Had I
known”.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and gentlemen;
Your numerous visits to Menchum Division
has yielded fruits that are worth seeing. We believe and know you are our
number one Ambassador, that is why we are convinced that you could rekindle the
construction of the Dam over River Menchum promised by the Head of State,
President Paul Biya during celebrations in Bamenda marking the 50th
Anniversary of the military in 2010. We are aware of the challenges of the
socio-political upheavals in the North West and South West regions being partly
because of unemployment. The construction therefore, of dams over river
KatsinaAlah and Menchum Falls, re-opening of the Wum Area Development Authority
(WADA), the opening and tarring of the corridors of Baworo and Gayama to link
up with Nigeria, which before now was already serving as an entry point for
imported vehicles, would provide opportunitiesfor employment in Menchum
Division in particular and Cameroon at Large.
Your
Excellency, Ladies and gentlemen;
Whenever we gather, the purpose of being
human should always dominate our minds, as we are told in the book of
Ecclesiastic that there is a time to start and a time to end. Any
evil done by man to man will be redressed, if not now, then certainly later, if
not by man, then by God; for the victory of evil over good is temporal.We
must all learn to show true love to each other during this trying moment in our
country, for after all, sherrilyn Kenyon asserts “Lips and tongues lie, but
actions never do. No matter what words are spoken, actions betray the truth of
everyone’s heart”.
Long live the Wum Municipality
Long live Menchum Division
Long live the Ministry of
Decentralisation and Local development
Long live Cameroon.
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