Honorable Emmanuel YoYo The Parliamentarian, Community Developer and Business Magnate

Development initiatives should not be politicized all the time

Honorable Emmanuel YoYo

Who is Honorable Emmanuel YoYo?

 I am a native of Baba I in Ndop in Ngoketunjia Division. I am a father of six and a business man at the moment doing general business as well as animal breeding. I am equally a member of the National Executive Council of the Social Democratic Front SDF and te National Financial Secretary of that party.

What are some of the highlights on this long road that you have had with the SDF?

We cannot say anything about the SDF without thinking about how it was created. We all know that the National Chairman of this great party Ni  John Fru Ndi with a certain number of Cameroonians lead the Cameroonian people to understand that we needed Democracy rather than the autocracy that was ruling this country at the time. Of course the party was created and went to the extent of winning the Presidential Elections of 1992. Ni John Fru Ndi was known by the whole international Community and even the Cameroonian people to have won that election but at the time, the victory was stolen by people who were in power and who are still in power today. These people were not used to democracy. All of this notwithstanding, the SDF still marched on and at one moment I left the police force with which I was working and joined the band wagon because I understood at the time that the SDF was fighting a just cause and till today it is still fighting  a just cause. We went ahead and won the Municipal elections and we won in almost all the big municipalities in this country. We won in the urban municipalities because in these municipalities we were dealing with people who knew something about what was right or wrong and their victory could not be easily stolen. But in the rural areas the government was able to manipulate the local population trough cheating and changing of results. SDF won in the much more enlightened communities. Then the government in order to frustrate the party created the post of government Delegates in all those big municipalities. This made the CPDM to hijack our victory and made it impossible for us to show the population of those urban areas what the SDF stood for. These are some of the things you should always remember and of course we still marched on. The government realizing that the SDF was so powerful and its leader so popular went ahead to improve upon its fraud mechanism and made sure that each time we had elections they took all their time to fraud but we were not again taken by surprise as was the case in 1992. That is why up till today, the SDF as not been able to take over power in this country.

As a huge voice in the party, how do you appreciate the activities of the party in this build up to the 2018 Presidential elections?

Under the leadership of Ni John Fru Ndi, we have been able to analyse the problems we are facing in this country ahead of those elections. One of the things we thought we could do is to reorganize our party to put it on a very strong footing and to make sure that all those who are ready to work and bring about change in this country take positions in this party to effect this change. We are carrying out a general reorganization of the party over the whole nation in preparation for the upcoming elections. We intend to make sure that the fraud mechanism put in place is tackled in a manner as to reduce it to almost nothing.

As we carry out this reorganization in the field like in the Littoral where I am working, we have been able to appreciate the popularity of this party because when you look at the enthusiasm wit which people are trying to gain positions in the party. You understand that they know that it is the party of the future and they want to be part of it. So you find out that as we move out in the Littoral the turnout is massive. You find people determined to take positions in the new executive that we are trying to build. This is something that is very promising and very encouraging for the party.

Are you expecting any spectacular changes with the upcoming convention?

Anybody who understands the constitution of the SDF may not ask this question at the moment because there is a way changes are brought about during a convention of the SDF. Militants of the party are authorized to come up with constitutional amendment procedures and there is still a lot of time for them to be able to do so. If any change has to take place, it may be initiated by one of the members of the party and following a certain procedure and introduces this into text that may be visited during the convention. It comes from several sources because as I am here talking about one thing another person may be somewhere suggesting something else. I think it is rater premature to talk about changes in the party. You should however understand that a party is a dynamic unit that has to always revisit its text. I will therefore not be surprised if suggestions are put forth to bring changes to the constitution of the party but this is not the right time for me to say whether there will be changes or not.

Back to your community how do you interact with this community in terms of development and social activities generally speaking? 

I live in Noketunjia Division and since I left Parliament, I have been closer to the population. In Parliament I was a questor and resident member of the bureau of the assembly living in Yaounde but back home now I am with them and we interact much more and I look into their problems much more profoundly at the moment. It is interesting to note that even though I am no more in parliament they come mostly to me to ask for assistance for developmental projects in their areas. The person who took over from me who is of the CPDM is somebody who has his own idea about development. For him development is to share sugar, soap, among other things to some people in the division. One thing that we forget is this; when you are elected a member for an area you represent all the people of that area. Now when you come because you are a Muslim and you give sugar and tea to the Muslims what about the Christians? While not a parliamentarian I have been carrying out development projects that serve the whole population of my area. I have given water to the whole of Ndop town because water source there is one of the main problems we have. And when it is done, no body checks to know whether it is a CPDM or an SDF militant that is carrying the water. I just want to serve the people. I told the parliamentarian to carry out projects that will serve everybody. When I realise such projects with the sum of at least a hundred millions FCFA to bring water to my people, I always tell my militants that this water is for everybody. When I build bridges like some that I have done there are no toll gates and barriers preventing some people not to use the bridges? That is what development means. Development initiatives should not be politicized all the time. If the time comes and I am still interested in politics I think they will remember that. But I may not even show up to be a parliamentarian or take any elective post but that doesn’t stop me from giving certain amenities to the people of my area.

A bill was passed in parliament concerning the immunity of ministers. As an old member of the house, what is your take on this?

Well I followed up very closely the debate on that bill and what I understood was that since the CPDM may be voted out in subsequent elections they are already trying to put in place some few mechanisms that will help the people who have been stealing public money to escape even without being apprehended. What it meant is that if the head of State sees somebody who has stolen money and wants to help such a person, he will easily do so by appointing such a person a minister and from that moment he has some kind of immunity. This is what it meant, to protect people who are not elected. We should talk of immunity for the head of State who is elected, for the members of parliament and senators who are elected. I am very proud of the SDF Parliamentary group that refused to collaborate and I think that what they did is what any reasonable Cameroonian would love to do. I was told that they have revised that bill though I was not told about the content of the new bill. I hope that President Paul Biya who has been fighting corruption should not permit such a bill to pass. I call on SDF militants and sympathizers to continue to have confidence in the party.

As an Anglophone elite, what can you say in the phase of strikes by Anglophone Lawyers and teachers accompanied by civil unrests and arrests in the Northwest and Southwest Regions?

I am of the same mind frame with those who have seen all that English speaking Cameroonians have been through in the form of marginalization, assimilation and a host of other issues that can hardly leave any right thinking English speaking Cameroonian indifferent.

As somebody who has lived and experienced the injustices of the system it is indeed sad that the Government doesn’t yet seem to be ready to carry out real dialogue with disgruntled Cameroonians. 

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-Donatus Achu, Treasurer Paymaster General for the Southwest Region.

At 34, the CPDM is better poised and organised to focus on development.

Donatus Achu, the Treasurer Pay Master General of the Southwest Region in Buea has declared that at 34 the CPDM is better organized to focus on development.

He was speaking recently in Santa at the Joint Section Conference of the CPDM Mezam II Section.

He said from 1990 up to now, the Party had progressively asserted its grip on the National Territory in general and the Northwest Region in particular. “The Party has been organised from the grassroots and progressively the heads of basic organs are being installed. 

With this reorganization, the party is now poised to move ahead in a more organised manner” he said. Most of the development projects that the party is now poised to execute he explained were already being executed across the country.

Talking about political options in Cameroon at the moment, he said the CPDM was the better option that could assure development and that the people knew it. “From the 1990s up till now things have settled down and people are seeing the truth. Truths as they say lasts while lies are short lived. That’s why the party has progressively gained grounds even in the Northwest formerly considered to be the heart and nucleus of the Social Democratic Front-SDF.”  

The top class civil servant and undisputable nation builder with a solid political pedigree said the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement-CPDM was shifting from Party Politics to Politics of Development. He further said and truly so, that Santa is one of the nucleuses of CPDM politics in Cameroon. “In Santa, politics is done maturely accepting differences that might possibly exist between brothers and sisters from Santa. Santa brothers now vote wisely knowing how to differentiate what is correct from what is incorrect. The Party has grown and covered grounds in the past 34 years.”  

The top flight civil servant and nation builder was speaking at a heavily attended event that saw the attendance of a cross section of movers and shakers from the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. Some of these include the erstwhile Prime Minister and Presently Senator Simon Achidi Achu, Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, Coordinator of the CPDM Academy, Hon. Rose Abunaw Agbor, Dr. Chi Asafon Cornelius Internal Auditor, Supreme State control CONSUPE, Ntumfor Fru Jonathan, MezaM II Section President and Secretary  General at the Ministry of Public Contracts, Senator Otteh Andrew, Makoge Ivo Charles, Inspector General for Security in the Northwest Region as representative of the Governor of the Northwest Region Adolfe Lele L”Afrique, President of Northwest Fons Union-NOWEFU;HRH Fon Teche Njei of Ngemboa;  Hon. Regina Mundi, Simon Kumasi, Director of  the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum in Limbe, among many others.

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Makoge Ivo Charles: Inspector General in charge of Regional Services for the Northwest Region.

The post of Inspector general came into being after the 2008 reforms in MINATD Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation. An Inspector general is in charge of Good Governance, fight against corruption and many other things…

Makoge Ivo Charles

As one of the finest professionals in your domain, our readers would like to know the trajectory you’ve so far covered to be where you are.

Well I am an old Administrator because I am heading towards the end of my career. I started off immediately I left ENAM-the National School of Administration and Magistracy as the Sub Divisional officer for Oballa in the Center Region. I later moved to Manjo in the Littoral Region, Limbe and Mbonge in the SW Region. After that, I was promoted to the post of Seniour Divisional Officer for Meme Division and passed 3 years in Kumba in that capacity before I was called up to the ministry for another post of Inspector General No. 2 in charge of Election matters. I worked there for eight years after which I was sent back to Kumba as the Secretary General of the City Council. From the City Council where I spent just a year, I was sent to the Northwest Region as Inspector General.

  

 Inspector General in charge of Regional Services for the Northwest Region recently at Santa representing the Governor of the Northwest Region during the CPDM Mezam I Section Conference.

What have been the most challenging moments of your career?

The most challenging thing in my career has been making people accept the truth. People did not always tell the truth and I was a victim for telling the truth. I found out that when you stick to the truth it becomes very difficult for people to accept you in certain circumstances.

 What is it like working in the Northwest Region as Inspector General?

The post of Inspector general came into being after the 2008 reforms in MINATD Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation. An Inspector general is in charge of Good Governance, fight against corruption and many other things regarding services like people going early to work and rendering services as they are expected to. That’s my job.

What is your message of inspiration to other career people like you?

My message to Civil Servants and to my younger brothers who are coming up is for them to be patient. They should also be satisfied with what government puts on their table as pay package. They should not imitate people. Simply because they see somebody riding an expensive car, a young civil servant will want to do the same. Get on with your career patiently and with God you will get where ever you were supposed to be. We have problems today because people don’t have that fear of God and want to eat where they did not sow. If civil servants render the services that they are supposed to render without asking for favours, it will be a good thing for our country.

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I plan to introduce the production of motor tires in Cameroon.-Kumasi Simon:

 Director of the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum, Beside SONARA-Limbe

This press chat is taking place in the heart of a joint section conference for CPDM Mezam II so it will not be out of place for you to tell us who you are within the ranks of the CPDM in Mezam II.

Politics in Santa is all about the National Chairman who is a model to us. The Head of State has given us a lot here so we cannot really say who is a political Icon. At 34 you can see it yourself that the party has done much in Santa in terms of development. This is summarised in the theme of today’s event From Party Politics to Politics of Development. There is a time for information when people need to be educated and there is a time for people to move from education to reality. CPDM is now doing things for the world to see.

Can you introduce the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum in Limbe to Cameroonians?

You heard the head of State talking about the emerging Cameroon. That’s his vision and as a leader, when he gives the vision, we simply take it along. The vision is, emerging Cameroon in 2035. This simply means becoming a Cameroon that can do things and not a Cameroon on paper. Cameroonians should be people who can do and not only talk. This is what is called emergence. For Cameroon to be referred to as emerging means Cameroonians should be capable of doing these things. We should not wait for people to come from outside and do things for us. We should stop this idea of paper work, certificates and things of that nature. We should begin to do things. So I thought that the petroleum sector is a very complicated one and that being complicated as it is, Cameroonians should be capable of doing anything at anytime because they have somebody who is directing the youths telling them that tomorrow is for you and for tomorrow to really be for you, you should be able to do and not just talk.

So I thought that the Cameroonian Education system must look productive and therefore I came out with the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum which is today the Gulf Field University Institute of Petroleum, Mining and Management Sciences. We Cameroonians must be capable to do seismic studies, to be able to determine where there is petroleum and to be able to drill it. From here they should be capable of getting the Chemical which the refinery should be capable of refining. They should also have the capability to put the logistic aspect together and then you will see everything moving. After seventy years we cannot be still talking about the whites coming to do things for us. We Cameroonians can do it and this is possible my dear brothers.

What is the next thing in your plan of action?

I plan to introduce the production of motor tires in Cameroon. There is rubber in Tiko and therefore we don’t need to transport the raw material back to Europe for tires to be produced and transported back to Cameroon. We are the losers because we pay the cost of transportation and the cost of bringing it back here. That’s why tires and cars are so expensive here and not expensive over there. The raw materials are from here so why can we not do it? This is why I am coming out with this idea of productive education for the Cameroonian people.

Back on campus how is methodology reflecting this focus on savoir faire?

Since we are focused on savoir faire, the second year of our programmes is focused on practical. After practical, the students are selected to travel over there in Europe to do specialised programmes. This permits them to become masters meaning that these are people coming back ripe enough to go into the productive sectors such as the mining,petroleum,engineering, production exploration among others. They are there in Ukraine and in Russia and when they come back they will make Cameroon productive. To become productive will not just mean to sit in class and after that they give you a paper that it’s a certificate. No! Look at the whole country now. Everyone talks about Professors, doctors all over the place but what is happening? Where is the country? This is because we have been mentally enslaved by foreign educational systems that do not reflect Cameroon. It is time we go down and get to do it, to fabricate, to produce. This is the time. When we do this then we can realise the 2035 vision of emergence that the President is talking about.

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HRH Fon Angwafor III of Mankon: The Vice National Chairperson of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement.

“We should solve the Anglophone Crisis as a Nation”

The Party is celebrating its 34th Anniversary and it is but proper that we seek your opinion on the performance of the party so far.

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We celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the country and now we are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the leadership of Paul Biya. The grounds we have covered in more than half of the 50 years is highly commendable and we can only give account of the progress for these 34 years.

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As a political party how far has the CPDM gone in pushing Cameroon towards Democracy and Emergence?

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CPDM has contributed so much in 34 years in terms of progress. We have always operated within a democratic framework throughout the 34 years that we’ve been at the helm of power in Cameroon. What we really need is peace and we’ve done that so it’s a great achievement. President Paul Biya is poised to take Cameroon to the stage of emergence by 2035.

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After 34 years, are you in support of another term of office for President Paul Biya?

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  I am a militant of the party no matter the position and President Paul Biya is leader of that same party. It is his government and it is his party. You do not impose on any militant but if he is determined to continue, it is left for the party to support him and it is left for the population to endorse that taking into account his successful 34 years of peaceful administration.

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How successful do you think the party has been towards bringing people together?

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From the beginning CPDM has been going step by step towards our goal in peace. We’ve also talked to people to work for our country. If you see the improvement and the contribution individuals and organisations are making then you will agree with me that we are moving towards somewhere. We West Cameroonians voted for reunification and so far we’ve had it. We voted it in peace and we are living it in peace. Democracy is what we are practicing and there are hurdles on the way but we are moving forward step by step and it’s admirable.

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What is your take on the fact that some Cameroonians of English expression call themselves Southern Cameroonians and are actually gunning for a separate state?

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Come on, that’s simply politics. I am the Fon of Mankon and I’ve been here for more than fifty years.We worked for independence and we’ve celebrated our fiftieth year of reunification. I have been a member of the party for 34 years. I provided land for the construction of the Congress hall in Bamenda. I was the Chairman of the Mankon Council. We now have the Bamenda City Council with a government Delegate and this is all progress administratively. You cannot have democracy without people talking otherwise it will be a democracy with people who are dead. If we don’t have problems then Cameroon is dead. Cameroon moved from a mandated territory to independence. The Germans and subsequently the British ruled Cameroon. Today we are ruling ourselves. Every time there is change, people must talk. What sense is there to break all that we’ve built as a nation and start all over again? You can’t move forward without talking and without mistakes. The worse of it is to start afresh because if we start a new Cameroon, in fifty years we would have discovered other problems and some may resolve to start again. We’ve gone far more than half a century. If you stop to think you will see that it has not been good for all of us. In that case it is right to say that the government should do something.

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Do Anglophones in Cameroon have a problem?

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They do have a problem. Government has always moved forward by solving problems and if they have a problem the government will solve it just like it’s been solving problems all along. The country should never think of moving backward and starting all over. If the Anglophones have a problem the whole country should solve it. We should solve the Anglophone problem as a nation. If they think that the problem can only be solved trough separation ten when they eventually have a problem after separation maybe another separation will be required. Together we must move forward. We must accept that we solved the problem by the plebiscite we had. We were divided by the colonial people. We became an independent nation by a plebiscite. If we have another plebiscite we should be aimed at solving the problems that we have. We can’t move forward without problems. I am Fon of Mankon. Don’t you think I have problems with the other Fons of the Northwest? We should discuss the problem, find a solution and move on. Life is full of problems and you don’t solve problems by running away from them.

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How has the party evolved in this strategic part of the country called the Northwest Region? 

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I equally have a problem. Why don’t I have a tarred road to the palace? I simply want the road to be tarred but I don’t want the country to be divided simply because I have a problem. Life is changing and we must change with the trends. I am dissatisfied with the level of development in the Northwest region like any Cameroonian is dissatisfied with the problems that they are facing. I normally want the problems to be looked into. Northwest needs a greater share in the national cake.

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Your highness, you certainly have a message for Cameroonians on this 34th anniversary of the party.

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I have been Fon since independence. I have tested the reunification we voted for. I have tested the CPDM. I went to Parliament as an independent candidate in 1960. I became a member of the CNU Party. With my new party I provided the land for the party Congress hall. We are presently working together to solve our individual problems. Cameroon needs everyone onboard so that all of us can be part of that emergence. I have to take myself into development efforts just like anyone of you. To do this we have to accept that all of us belong to one country. Those who are working will get there and those who are talking will continue to talk.

Interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante and Nchong Chrisantus in 2016

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Baba Ahmadou Danpullo :

TheDiscrete Emperor of the Cameroon Business landscape.

According to Forbes Africa, the richest man in francophone sub-Saharan Africa is Baba Ahmadou Danpullo whose fortune has been valued at 547 billion FCFA approximately 920 million dollars. He obtained these riches from his multiple investments in real-estate, telecom and agro-industry.

Just back from the Mosque during the feast of the Ram

The billionaire detains 30% of Nexttel’s (third mobile operator in the country) shares through his company Bestinvet Cameroon (BestCam). However, Danpullo, who according to his close acquaintances holds more assets in Nigeria than Cameroon, is popular in Cameroon for his massive Ndawara Tea Plantations in the North-West Region from where tea is exported by Ndawara Tea Estates.

Additionally, his ranch in Ndawara counts thousands of cattle heads from which, the biggest specimen was exposed at the Ebolowa Agro-pastoral Show. The animal amazed the head of State President Paul Biya.

Residence in  the heart of  the Ndawara Ranch a few KM from Bamenda

Apart from all these achievements, Cameroon’s richest man, has numerous real-estate assets in Nigeria, France, Switzerland and South Africa including two malls in Cape Town and the Johannesburg’s Marble towers, 32 floors and 152 m tall, third tallest in Nelson Mandela’s nation.

In 2009, Baba Ahmadou Danpullo donated 100 million FCFA to the ruling party, the CPDM. He then ventured into the Communication Sector creating the TV channel DBS (Dan Broadcasting System).The Billionaire is also a minority shareholder in state-owned companies such as Sodecoton, Airports of Cameroon (ADC) and took over the Tea Industry from Cameroon Tea Estates (CTE), privatizing it.

Multiple sources hold that he backed the Philippine firm ICTSI to acquire the Container Terminal at the Kribi’s Deep Sea Port which was finally awarded to a Franco-Chinese consortium led by the Bolloré group.

Baba Ahmadou Danpullo is of the Peul ethnic group and is a Muslim. He grew up in a modest family and started his activities as a Truck Driver and owner of a couple of shops.  Having obtained an importation license for rice and flour he obtained a   huge bank loan and immersed himself in the world of importation.

He has been described differently by different journalists across the national territory. On jeuneafrique.com on the 7^th of August 2013 he was described as the discrete emperor of Cameroonian Business. On June 28, 2016 he was again described by the same medium as the friend of the government.

His discreteness was manifested in the surprise of many Cameroonians when monthly Forbes Magazine in the November 2015 edition announced that he was the richest man in francophone Africa. This revelation was completely contrary to the popular Cameroonian imagination.

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Whatever you do as a Cameroonian should be done professionally 

-Dr. Eric Takang Ebai, Ministry of Livestock and Fishery

Dr. Eric Takang Ebai is Holder of a PHD Degree in Quality Control. Prior to this he did Veterinary studies at the University of Nigeria NSUKA from where he graduated in 1992. He later benefited from a Common Wealth Scholarship which opened the way for his Master Degree studies in International Animal Health at the University of Edinburgh. Presently he works at the Ministry of Livestock and Fishery and is one of the finest professionals in this Ministry. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante of Cameroon People.

What is your general appraisal of the road Cameroon has so far covered in the domain of Livestock and Fishery?

The Authorities in Cameroon have done quite a lot to improve upon the Livestock and Fishery Sector. Basically we started off with production units in Cattle and Fish, rudimentary if I may put it as such. We were faced with a lot of challenges especially with the outbreak of diseases that affected the cattle. The Cameroonian government fought it tooth and nail. This has improved our production and today we have over six million herds which is good though we can improve on it.

 In the Fishery sector there is rudimentary fishing dominantly by foreigners and the proliferation of fish ponds though not in all parts of the country. There is the need to train nationals in the fishing sector so as to permit them benefit from certain national schemes. The Cameroonian government is putting in place a plan to improve upon Aquaculture or fish farming. Before now we produced over two hundred tons of fish but with this move things will change reasonably.

What measures are being put in place to enhance sustainability in the sector and how is the common man involved in activities of the sector?

Dr Takang Eric Ebai and Family

 The President of the Republic recently talked of Second generation Agriculture and I think this will involve the Ministry of Livestock and Fishery. This will mean putting in place structures in the sector and making means available to put these structures to use. In this manner the government will be making sure that there is sustainability in the sector. There are a lot of projects that the government has put in place concerning the training of youths. This will empower them and get them involved in activities in the sector with the little capital that they are provided to start up with. That’s why now we see a lot of fish farms as youth continuously benefit from these government programmes. So youths are becoming more interested and are more involved in training programmes. That’s why many of them are now involved in fish farming and animal rearing.

 

If a simple Cameroonian wants to know where to go to for a formal training in the sector, what would you tell him in such a situation?

It depends on what you want to do.  If you are a student with the GCE ordinary or advanced levels and you want to do the Veterinary nursing or assistant veterinary nursing programme, you can be directed to Jakiri or Maroua. If you want to become a livestock technician you can go to Maroua or Jakiri and even in Fumban. There is also the training in Fishery and Aquaculture in Kumba at the diploma level. But if you want to go for higher studies at the degree level say in Veterinary Medicines, Engineering or fish farming, we have the School of Fishery in Douala were you can do a tree year or a five year programme to come out with a Master Degree. You can go to the University of Ngoundere to come out as a Veterinary Doctor. There are some private institutions as well.

This domain constitutes a very important aspect of the economy and if well harnessed can contribute greatly towards the growth and emergence of the nation. Are you of this opinion?

Definitely. The main source of protein in this country is from animals though we may talk of some other sources. From the FAO report which says we need a minimum intake of protein to live a healthy active live, we are not yet there. With the advent of training more people and the government putting in place structures and programs for livestock farmers, we see more and more people creating employment. This generates income and takes care of families in many ways. This is an enormous contribution to the growth of the nation through the provision of employment and poverty reduction. Clearly a growth of the sector will directly contribute to the emergence of the country by 2035.

What last message do you have for Cameroonians?

Whatever you do as a Cameroonian should be done professionally so that you contribute at your own level towards the emergence of Cameroon. Individualistic tendencies in which people only think in terms of grabbing everything cannot help us. We must work in groups and share ideas so as to move forward. This should be done with an open mind and in your own small way you will push the country forward. You will see what you have given your country rather than what the country has given you. Cameroonians should show what they have done for their country and not the other way round.

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“World Bank is finalizing documentation of a tender for the Babadjou-Bamenda road” -Vincent Nji Ndumu, Government Delegate, Bamenda City Council.

Vincent Nji Ndumu handing over equipment recently at the Bamenda Regional Hospital

Can you please throw light on how Vincent Nji Ndumu took those first steps and how he passed through the early stages of his education.

Well within my professional career I have been a little bit lucky in the sense that I have had a very smooth ascension from the day I was recruited as a Civil Engineer right up to the day when I took my anticipated retirement. In a society where many people stick to the very positions and some of them even ask for an extension of their working life if somebody is not very comfortable with himself and with his career he or she will not ask for anticipated retirement at the age of 45, So I cannot point out any particular peak of my career. I can tell you that serving in the North West here between 1993 and 1997 as Provincial Delegate of Public Works actually exposed me to knowing the Region where I come from. This means that I did a lot of work then as Provincial Delegate, discovering virtually the entire North West Region. I can say that it was the best part of my public service career.

A look at your professional background presents you as a nation builder by virtue of the things you have done and those that you are still doing.You are the Board Chair of the Bamenda Regional Hospital and you have done much to improve upon the state of the Regional Hospital.    

Yes it is true that by virtue of my position as Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council I automatically become chairman of the Bamenda Regional Hospital and as somebody who wants to see to it that things move very well, along with the various directors of the Regional Hospital, it is incumbent upon us to work together to see to it that we improve upon the level of the hospital. It is therefore for this reason that the Bamenda City Council for instance initiated the expansion of the mortuary and then the ministry too through the dynamism of the then Director of the hospital, Dr. Awasum Charles brought in new refrigerators, the reason for which we have the mortuary that we have now. Then comes in Doctor Njie Thompson, who is also a very hardworking and inspiring medical doctor for that matter and director with whom we have initiated a lot of things for the hospital with very little means to be able to carry out very great things. 

Vincent Nji Ndumu inspects donated Equipment as they are offloaded at the Bamenda Regional Hospital

Then of course within our cooperation with the city of Dordrecht we were able to work out the possibility of giving us fairly used material to be able to upgrade the level of comfort of the hospital. This is what happened a few weeks ago when we actually handed over a container of materials that was handed over to us through the city of Dordrecht by the Schwarz Hospital within that very municipality.  

As an entrepreneur, can you shed light on the company you run?

Yes I still run my company even though presently I am working as Chairman of that company. It’s a building and construction company and that’s something within my own field. There are definitely a lot of difficulties in running a small or medium sized company in this country because of financial difficulties. When you even manage and have a small advance from a bank, to permit you carry out a job, it becomes very difficult for you to be paid after the job is completed. There are a lot of difficulties in carrying out contracts in Cameroon. However we are actually struggling to live up to our expectations. As Government Delegate here I think it is only a few months ago that the Head of State instituted some reasonable subventions for our daily subsistence. This means therefore that without that company we would not have been able to survive and take care of children.

Being at the head of such a huge city there is always that possibility to be misunderstood and for one’s efforts not to be appreciated in the way one would have expected. How is the situation in Bamenda?
   

If I were a normal or simple citizen as I will inevitably become one of these days when I will no longer be Government Delegate, I would complain if within my own city we don’t have good roads, we don’t have portable water and everywhere we don’t have street lights and you have garbage all over the place. But as somebody who has had the time to work and know exactly the means that are required for all these needs to be met with, I think I now go middle ground. The issue is that we are still a third world country which means that we cannot even make up to 2 or 3% of what a normally developed country is. The city of Dordrecht with which Bamenda has a twin relation has a population of 120.000 people while Bamenda can easily be about 700.000 people. In 2013, the budget of the city of Dordrecht was about 950 million Euros in FCFA that is almost 750 billion FCFA. How do you compare that with the city of Bamenda with a budget or net income of about 1.5 billion FCFA in the same year? So you see the difference. We are all human beings with the same needs whether you are a white or a black. In 2015 for instance the income of Bamenda City Council was just 2.2 billion FCFA. If you have to spend about 650 million FCFA just to collect garbage an activity that does not even solve 50% of our garbage problem in town and then you engage in a project like upgrading certain inner city roads like the ones around the city council, the ones at the Pastoral Center, end of tar and the one at Foncha Street, Virgin Island and so on which took about 750 millions amongst others. When you do that calculation you can know exactly what is left for the City Council to pay salaries to take care of security around the market, drain the toilets and so on and so forth. When you measure all of these and you begin to know what problems we have to manage in a city like this. I can easily tell you that if you can give the Bamenda City Council ten times their income, we will still have difficulties in satisfying everybody. It therefore means that we should understand ourselves and keep on striving to be able to get better and manage the little that we have with a lot of care. That is why you find out that up till now the Government Delegate of the Bamenda City Council is using a second hand vehicle that he was authorized to buy when he came in as Government Delegate in 2009. That second hand vehicle is still the one that I am using. I cannot even drive that vehicle from here to Bafoussam. These are the issues that we go through and unfortunately some people who are supposed to understand don’t. 

How politically involved is Vincent Nji Ndumu?  

Some politicians in this country told me when I was appointed that my political life is basically just two weeks during a period of five years. What this means is that you have the whole of your time working for the entire population. When you move around the streets of Bamenda you see that these streets are not meant for CPDM militants alone nor are they meant for UDC or whatever it is. It is meant for everybody. When it is time for politics we carry out that politics within the rules applicable. I can tell you that I militate for the CPDM but my job as Government Delegate is not a political job but an administrative job and it is supposed to be construed as such.

Somebody may ask about those landmarks that will be remembered of your reign as Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council.

I don’t want to go into self aggrandizement. I’d rather want to look at the brighter picture. We have done a lot for this city and I think it’s just a question of being a little bit patient. If you want to talk about the road infrastructure, we know that the World Bank is finalizing their documentation for a tender to be done for the Babadjou-Bamenda road and also about 15 Kilometers of dual carriage way within the city of Bamenda. In so doing, it will take care of about 75% of the difficult parts of our roads within the city. I also know that Bamenda has been enlisted within the third phase of the French debt relief. I know that it is something that is going to take a little bit of time but the fact that we’ve been enlisted gives us hope that when they come our road infrastructure projects will be carried out. I also know and we are presently doing it that within our project of upgrading of inner city roads with double surface dressing we will be able to have about 30 Km of road by the end of 2017 that will facilitate movement within the inner city of Bamenda. I also know that we have a programme for labour intensive projects of maintaining earth roads within the city council that will start in 2017. Given the fact that we have decided that in 2017 HYSACAM is going to come and take care of collecting of garbage, it therefore means that we will transfer our energy and our resources towards actually upgrading even the earth roads in the city of Bamenda. I equally know that the Chinese are presently investing something like 10 billion FCFA on increasing and transporting water within the neighborhoods of Bamenda. I know very well that the Bamenda City Council has initiated the public private partnership programme to be able to take care of some infrastructures like the main market and the Nkwen Market as well as the construction of a Central Bus station using the same public private partnership scheme. With all these I think the future can only be bright. All we need is to be patient and accept that our needs are many but our needs are few.      

Les Gens Du Cameroun /Email:francoeko@gmail.com/Tel: +237678401408/+237696896001/