The President of the Executive Council of Southwest Regional Assembly, Zacheus Bakoma Elango has urged the people of the region to exercise patience, noting that the insti-tution has come to solve their development worries. He says the Regional Assembly has started off and plans to erect an architectural master piece worth 14 billion FCFA as its permanent office in the near future. The President spoke to AFRICA EXCELLENCE Editor-in-Chief, Christopher Ambe
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What is the 2021 budget and what is the rate of realization this far?
The Southwest Regional Assembly is waxing strong. Its budget is 2.75billion Fcfa and the rate of execution is good.
The budget is not only for projects, it is also a recurrent budget. We are buying stationeries, replacing ink in our computers, going on missions. For projects, during the recent back-to-school, the Regional Assembly gave out didactic materials to schools, which have effectively taken off, to encourage other schools to take off. There are other projects in the pipeline. We are publishing tenders .I think there is no cause for alarm.
We are in September, what are some of the major achievements of the Regional Assembly?
We have an office premise. Our office is well-equipped. For now, we have a temporary office like the nine other regional assemblies in the country. You know the Regional Assembly was put in place in December 2020. We have a project to put up a permanent structure (for the Southwest West Regional Assembly) ,which will cost the state of Cameroon fourteen(14) billion FCFA.That will be an architectural master piece in the whole of the Southwest region. There will be no building in the region like it.
Apart from the well-equipped office which you have, what are the other achievements?
I earlier informed you that on the September 7, the Southwest Regional Assembly was in the field to distribute didactic materials to schools of Basic Education and Secondary Education ministries.
The Southwest regional delegates for education expressed their needs and everything that they wanted was supplied.
The Southwest Public is expecting a lot in terms of development from the Regional Assembly, are you confident that public expectations will be met?
There is no doubt. Public expectations will be met. We have launched a tender to construct an administrative block in Kumba District Hospital to the tune of 128 million Fca.
The procedure will be followed and the project will be realized soon; we have launched a tender to construct a maternity block at Ekondo Titi Hospital to the tune of 67 million Fcfa and the project will be realized. Other tenders for projects have been launched. So the Southwest people should just be patient; these projects will be theirs soon.
The Regional Assembly is made up of two entities: House of Divisional Delegates (70) and House of Chiefs (20). How is the working relationship between the two houses?
Let me reiterate that there is one Regional Assembly. It has two main structures. It has a deliberative organ and an executive organ. The deliberative organ is made up of two houses-Houses of Chiefs made up of 20 traditional rulers and the House of Divisional Representatives made up of 70 divisional representatives. The President of the House of Divisional Representatives whom I am,doubles as the President of the Regional Executive Council. He summons and presides over the Regional Assembly.
The President of the House of Chiefs doubles as the Vice-President of the Regional Executive Council. So there is no problem of collaboration between the two houses…So far, no problem!
There are two members of the House of Chiefs who are in the Executive Council; there are six members of the House of Divisional Representatives in the Regional Executive Council. The Executive Council works like one council.
At the level of the Executive Council, there is no House of Divisional Representatives; there is no House of Chiefs. The Executive Council represents the 90 regional councilors.
As a new office, you must be facing some challenges. What are some of them?
The first challenge was that we did not have means of movement, which handicapped our going to the field; but there is some hope in the horizon.
We started off in January, but delayed a bit because we had to get a budget and the budget was only voted last June. I think the State of Cameroon has taken all the necessary measures to ensure that the budget is executed. So there is no problem.
Is the on-going Anglophone crisis not negatively affecting your functioning?
The crisis is not a secret to anybody. We are functioning like other services are doing. Areas that are a bit secure we go there. But we cannot abandon the other parts of the region. We are making gradual progress to realize our mission.
Many members of the Public just know you as a seasoned administrator. Would you mind telling our readers more about yourself?
I am an administrator, a graduate of the then University of Yaoundé; I am a graduate of the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) Yaounde.
I was a field administrator uninterrupted for 27 years before I went on retirement. I worked in various places in the Nortthwest; worked in Lebialem Division (where I started my career).
I served as Divisional Officer for Bonaberi -Douala for seven years. There, I was the second Anglophone to work there as DO and the longest serving administrator. From there, I proceeded to Douala Where I served for two years before retiring from Public Service.
Do you have any special message for the Southwest People?
I want to assure Southwest people that the Regional Assembly has come to answer to their worries. Thus, they should just be patient. I think they are already seeing that, the Regional Assembly has started somewhere. They should know that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
We have begun with the first step and will end with a thousand mile.