CAMEROON COMMUNITY DEVELOPERS

At its creation, Bamenda II Council was like a girl who gives birth to her first child.

-Balick Awa Fidelis

Bamenda II Council Hall

Almost everything about Bamenda II has your imprint and we are of the opinion that you are the Alpha and Omega of the Municipality. What has been your inspiration?

You refer to me as the Alpha and the Omega of the municipality but I will beg to differ because the Alpha and Omega is no other person than the Almighty God. I cannot arrogate to myself those very powerful descriptions. One can never do anything alone so in effect I am not the Alpha and Omega but we are the Alpha and Omega of Bamenda II. It is not Balick but it is“we” because it is not Balick alone who has made things possible. I work with very powerful stakeholders and very intelligent young men and women who are in the Council and the community at large. I got into community work during my childhood in the days of the Teacher Training College. I saw a lot of things being done around and I thought I should contribute my quota to the community, participating in everything that the community was doing.

What are those avenues that you have used to serve humanity?

 Initially I became the Ward Chairman for Ntarikon West Ward of the SDF for quite a long time. From there I got elected into the Board of Azire Cooperative Credit Union but before that I had been elected as Chairman of the Ngomgham Catholic Church Mission Station. This Mission Station was eventually raised to the status of a Parish and I became the Parish Council Chairman after elections. After my two terms of office, veteran Arch Bishop Paul Verdzekof felt that construction work had just started in the Parish and the person with whom he had been working was Balick and if he were to leave, then the new Rev. Father was going to face some problems so he extended my mandate and I worked with the new priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish Ngomgham till work was finished. Afterwards we embarked on constructing a church at the Alakuma Mission Station. After the third mandate I thought it was necessary to give way. Within this period I also was the Parish Works Chairman.

As a militant of the Social Democratic Front you certainly exploited certain avenues to work for the community.

I was elected the District Chairman of the Social Democratic Front SDF for the Bamenda Electoral District. When we talk of the Bamenda Electoral District, we are talking of Mankon, Bafut, Chomba, Mbattu, Nsongwa, Nkwen, Mendankwe, seven villages in all. A very large area and there is no way anyone would have succeeded in these places without working with the local communities. That is what drove me again to get down to the grassroots getting to the communities and working hand in hand with them to make sure that even in your absence things would continue. That is how I got so close, working with local communities. 

How did you find yourself at the head of Bamenda II Council?

In 2007 the President Created the Bamenda I,II and III Sub Divisions. This meant we were now going to be an independent Sub Division and that is how I found myself in Bamenda II uniquely. Luckily I was elected Mayor of the Bamenda II Council meanwhile my friend Prince Amando, may his soul rest in peace was elected Mayor of Bamenda III Council while Mr. Acho Simon was also elected Mayor of Bamenda I Council.

We understand you’ve also had a rich spell working with the Micro Finance Sector.

Yes, I also continued working as President of Azire Cooperative Credit Union AZICCUL and only stepped down after my mandate came to an end. After this I was elected President of Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union Leagues CAMCCUL. You can imagine the role of CAMCCUL in Micro Finance Development and other projects in this country. In all these positions of responsibility, working with the population was imperative. As the President of a Cooperative Credit Union, the money is not yours but the peoples’. It is the poor man’s money and so you need to work with them in all aspects in order to let them know how they have to use this money. After which you must give this money to them so they can use it in developing themselves. This, put in a nutshell propelled me to be a Community Developer.

At the head of the Bamenda II Council, what modus operandi did you have in mind?

GATE WAY INTO THE BAMENDA II PREMISES

When I was elected as Mayor of the Bamenda II Council, that Idea of working with the people did not go off my mind. It kept ringing in my mind that the only way to make people satisfied was to keep working with them. As a mayor, I was only going to be a guide or a Taxi Driver, driving the others. Just like the target of the Taxi Driver is to drive people to their destinations mine as a mayor is taking care of the people and driving them to where they want to be. This is the one road that the mayor cannot unilaterally construct alone.

Road Linking CAMCCUL Head Quarters and Merry Land Printers in Metta Quarters in Bamenda

The money first of all is not there so one must work with the people. In some cases the people themselves provide finances. Sometimes some of them give their graders, some give Front Head Loaders.

Road linking Azire Old Church Junction and the Bamenda Regional Hospital. Part of the package to build 11 roads within Bamenda II Municipality has enhanced fluidity of traffic in a hitherto crowded Municipality.

 When you see us doing what we do in Bamenda II, it’s not because we have money but because we work with the people in our communities. It is because the people themselves are willing to help develop their own communities.  The mayor being somebody who loves working with the people supervises to make sure that these things work. So from here you can see how the idea of working with the people began.

What kind of Bamenda II did you meet immediately Bamenda was segmented into three Sub Divisions?

It’s like a girl who gives birth to her first child. She’s got thousands of challenges. She wants her child to grow but she doesn’t know how to make the child grow so she learns every day. That is just what happened.
 

Road in the heart of Metta Quarters from Merry Land Printers

 When Bamenda II Sub Division was created, the council subsequently followed and we were elected, the first challenge we had was how to start. Thank God the three Sub Divisional Councils were created to work within the Bamenda Urban Council. The Government Delegate at the time, Tazong Abel Nde thought that these three councils were going to need some technical and humanitarian expertise to be able to propel it to success. Originally he transferred some of the personnel from the City Council was transferred to the three sub divisional councils. I think Bamenda II Council had 12 workers transferred from the City Council. Bamenda III Council had 9 and Bamenda I Council had 6 so these are people who had worked in the Bamenda Urban Council. They guided us.  We started with these people but the next thing was the issue of housing. How were we going to start? For my two colleagues in Nkwen and Bamenda I, they rented premises but there were some empty rooms in the Bamenda Urban Council that were handed over to Bamenda II. When we started I knew that one day we will leave. I started negotiating to get land and to get a deliberation to obtain a funding loan from FEICOM. We did obtain the loan and eventually acquired a piece of land and with God’s help we got a contractor with whom I worked and we came up with the building we have here today. We finally left the Bamenda City Council premises to this building in 2014.  

Nitop Modern Market. A laudable initiative By Balick Awa Fidelis and team

The challenges kept coming considering that Bamenda II is a very large Sub Divisional Council. It is the largest Sub Divisional Council in the Northwest Region. We need man power and we have a lot of work to be done. We are struggling and I want to believe that with the help of God if the crises abate we will find our feet on the ground. 

Nitop Modern Market under construction

Your Council is found in the Northwest Region, one of the Regions affected by the crises. Many people are skeptical about the future but permit us to source from your informed mind what you think is the best way forward for Cameroon? 

Bamenda II Council in relation to the present socio economic crises has suffered most. The 8^th of December, the famous day when a meeting was to take place in town here and “the boys” came out. The number of people who were killed all came from Bamenda II. Since then my people have been dying on a daily bases. Gun firing and all types of things are happening. Despite all, I believe there can be a way forward and the way forward is for our Head of State who in fact at this moment is the father of all Cameroonians to open his hands. It is often said in our tradition that when you beat a child you don’t send the child out of the house but you rather send him under the bed. You beat the child but incorporate the child into the family. If this kind of thing were to be done by the Head of State by opening his hand to the people and calling them to a dialogue, I want to believe the problem will be solved and things will once more pick up. So it is my humble appeal concerning the crises that there is a way forward. We should get all the parties on board no matter how small or stupid anybody may look. The Head of State can simply ask to know who they want to sit on such a platform and I think competent people abound. We will propose the names and they will sit with them and get the peace that is needed.

As an elite with many caps you certainly have a message especially at this time of the year.

I will want to wish everybody in Bamenda II, everybody of the Social Democratic Front and everybody in the Country a very prosperous and happy new year. I want to wish them a very happy birth of Christ which whom we will be receiving once more in a few days. I want to appeal that if we all want to live peacefully and happily, then there’s need for collaboration. There is need for you to look at every human being in the nature in which God created him like yourself and feel that the blood flowing out of him is the same blood that can flow out of you. If you take all of these into consideration then I want to feel that no one will be able to remove a gun to point at his brother. If we all could look at God as our creator then we will live peacefully and happily and tomorrow will be a better place for us not only in Bamenda but throughout Cameroon because I am sure our other brothers across the Mungo are not happy to see us being killed as is the case at the moment. I also appeal that though we are living in difficulties, we should at least try to pay our taxes for it is with it that we are able to provide portable water. The roads you see being tarred are done with the tax payer’s money. The health facilities and all the earth roads that you see us doing are from the tax payer’s money. I appeal therefore that they should always pay their taxes so that we use these taxes to develop their communities.

To all the medical personnel in Bamenda II, I want to appeal to them that this is a time when they have to sacrifice. I know there are so many corpses entering the hospitals and health centers on daily bases. Let them know that the sick that have been wounded should be well treated. It is time for them to show that they did not only get into that profession to make money but to serve humanity. We appeal that they should contribute their utmost to our people who are wounded.

I will not forget teachers because I am a teacher too and I know teachers are the foundation of every nation. Teachers should always understand that without them there is no nation. With this in mind, they should mould the children properly. They should continue to persevere and to do their work. Money is not all but it is necessary that a teacher should do all in order to be capable of getting books and other needs. I appeal to Government that professionals in the domains of education and health be paid in such a way that is commensurate with the services that they have been providing to humanity.

Interviewed By Francis Ekongang Nzante Lenjo  

CameroonPeople/Email:edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237 696896001