Issuance of civil status documents, other services: NW PIC warns mayors to respect laws, stop extorting citizens.

The call to order of the independent regional authority is contained in a communique he issued Tuesday January 9, with Reference No: 014/2024. 
The communique, a copy of which The Guardian Post obtained, is addressed to the City Mayor of Bamenda City Council and all Mayors of the North West Region. 
In the communique, Tamfu Fai, who is responsible, inter alia, for amicably settling disputes between users, regional and council administration, regretted that he has “observed with dismay that some mayors are resistant to change”.
Tamfu Fai was categorical that such municipal authorities, who are adamant to change, “continue to extort users and beneficiaries of council services in violation of the law”.
Such extortion, the independent regional authority noted, is common in the issuance of civil status documents by mayors and other services which are supposed to, by law, be rendered to citizens free of charge. 
“The Public Independent Conciliator seizes this opportunity to remind Mayors that according to Section 17 of the Civil Status Registration Ordinance, the entry of a certificate into a civil status register shall be free of charge,” partly read the missive from the North West PIC. 
Tamfu Fai further lamented that: “…apart from extorting money from citizens for the issuance of these documents”, his institution has also “noticed that some Mayors, acting as Civil Status Registrars, go as far as affixing communal and fiscal stamps and even pictures on these documents in violation of the regulations in force”. 
He vowed to, as part of his responsibility, continue to “defend the rights and freedoms of citizens and ensure that persons serving in regional or council administration comply with their ethical obligations”.
It is in this light that the Public Independent Conciliator, through the communique, called on “Mayors to respect the laws and desist from engaging in unethical practices”.
The Public Independent Conciliator, used the opportunity to once more appeal for the collaboration of regional and local authorities and the population of the Region in “building a culture of good governance for sustainable peace and development”. 
Tamfu Fai pledged to, in the days ahead, “carry out field visits to all councils in the North West Region to ensure ethical compliance”.

Move hailed by citizens 
The communique from the Public Independent Conciliator for the North West Region, it should be said, has received applauses from not just the population of the Region but from across the national territory.
Many have lauded the move engaged by the Public Independent Conciliator, noting that it will help rescue the population from the fangs of overzealous municipal authorities who often go extra miles to milk citizens dry in rendering them services.

Revisiting duties of Public Independent Conciliators
The duties of the Public Independent Conciliator, it should be said, are well spelt out in the Law No 2019/024 of 24 December 2019 instituting the General Code on Regional and Local Authorities. 
According to Section 367 (3) of the law, the Public Independent Conciliator shall examine and amicably settle disputes between users and regional and council administration, defend and protect rights and freedoms with regard to the relationship between citizens and the region or the councils thereof. 
The law also permits them to design and implement measures to prevent and combat direct or indirect discrimination that may affect users of regional or council services, ensure that persons serving in the regional or council administration comply with their ethical obligations. 
Public Independent Conciliator, the law also adds, shall conduct any investigation on the functioning of regional and council public services at the request of five parliamentarians or regional councillors and prepare a report on the functioning of regional and council services.